September 15th Riviera to Saltillo (Mexico)
People keep telling me to be careful - mainly friends and family back home - and I am conscious of own well being. Arriving late yesterday and up very late doing the blog I thought I'd better find some accommodation in Mexico before I fell asleep. Tas had told me about Wikitravel so I decided to look up my intended destination San Fernando, to see what was on offer there and this is what I found,

As of April 2011, Tamaulipas has become very unsafe even for Mexicans. The big problem now is the cartel wars (CDG, Z) that are terrifying all Tamaulipas. Traveling north to south has become very dangerous.

The San Fernando area (around 100 km from the north) is one dangerous spot these days. In this region was the discovery of an illegal graveyard where they found more than 100 bodies, some of them were slaughtered with cruelty by the Z cartel, so best not to visit Tamaulipas now. If you really have to, take some measures not to draw attention from drug cartels (no fancy clothes, not too much money, etc).

So my journey was somewhat altered at the last minute and what was to be a short day and some long awaited rest was out of the window. I decided to head up to Laredo and then on to Saltinas. I would pass by Monterey as Wikitravel said it was an  industrial town. This meant another 350 mile day. It was a pleasant road to Laredo passing through some small towns that had a Mexican feel to them. The occasional lorry was caught in my mirrors and as it was a single lane road I would pull over onto the hard shoulder, as I didn't want to travel at their speed. At about 12pm a dark blue pick up tailgated me and I decided to let him pass, which he duly did. As he passed I waved and the nice policeman inside waved back - so perhaps they are not so strict about the use of the hard shoulders!

Because i had hurriedly made a change of plan, i had not really studied the map and  just relied on SS to get me there. Arriving in Laredo I was struck firstly by the poverty, every other lot was either breaking cars or dealing in used car parts, it seemed to be a cottage industry done from one's own backyard. Mexican looking women were selling all manner of tat from outside their front door. In Laredo i misinterpreted SS instructions and finished up going off route and doing a bit of a detour eventually arriving at a Toll. I was surprised that SS was taking me there, but figured it must be the only road out. I paid my $3 and crossed the bridge and before i knew it I was on the other side greeted by Customs officials and Mexican Army guards. They simply waived me through. I could not believe it and in a perverse way a little disappointed. It had taken me completely by surprise and I really couldn't savour the transition from the US to Mexico. Nuevo Laredo as the Mexican side is called, is really a bit of a dump and I just wanted to get out onto the road where there was some space. I did however stop to change a $100 dollars into pesos as I would probably need petrol before arriving in Saltillo. I decided fuel would be got once away from the town.

The road out was a good newly constructed motorway and SS told me to leave the motorway after 20 miles or so, when I took the turn she suggested I found the road was blocked off. So back on the motorway with SS shouting ' Off route recalculate'  - being on a motorbike makes it less annoying than normal as one can hardly hear her through the noise of the engine and the muffling that the helmet provides. However a few miles further on and I had the exact same experience - strange. Further down the motorway I came across something unexpected a French style toll system across the road. I paid my 100 pesos - about a fiver - and drove through to the couple of cafes and shop to my right. I had broken my 70 mile rule by about 70 miles today, so a cold drink was definitely in order. The place had a very heavy army presence, armed soldiers everywhere. I drove on after consuming my customary diet coke and noticed for the first time that there were patrols of soldiers travelling in armed convoys frequently travelling along the highway. SS was still trying to take me off the motorway and the road was either blocked or didn't exist. I decided to change the settings to include tolls,  as after what I had read yesterday and the heavy army presence I figured the motorways were the safest place to be, after all what is a few pesos. 

Strangely though I did not feel unsafe as the landscape and the infrastructure were not 3rd world - though I was getting more worried by a first world problem - I'd been travelling for miles and had not passed a petrol station at all and the motorway was heading into the mountains. I had one bar on my fuel gauge with the next step being a flashing bar and orange light indicating reserve. I guessed I had about 2/3 of a gallon left and it was approximately fifty miles to Monterey. It was touch and go and I was praying around every corner there would be a station. I let my hand off the throttle and eased the speed to no more than 50mph. My dial was telling me I was getting around 60 miles to the gallon. With some relief I eventually hit the outskirts of Monterey and my dial was still not flashing reserve. I didn't really want to go into Monterey and SS was trying to direct me onto the turn that contoured around the outskirts. I didn't want to risk it, so again my virtual girl friend was ignored, with her crying 'off route recalculate!!'

With petrol in the tank. a quick drink and wipe of my furrowed brow I was back on the road with 30 or so miles to do. Again onto the Toll road and heading for Saltillo. It was a new road, built into the side of the mountains but strangely no more than a mile down below was a parallel motorway heading exactly in the same direction. Eventually I joined this motorway and travelled along it all the way into busy and very large Saltillo. I can only guess that the new motorway was for first class customers and the other was for second class - I was happy to join the second class if that was the case.

I found the hotel easily, and a posh hotel too - great. One small problem to be resolved tomorrow - the two ATMs I tried refused to give me money. Don't you just love banks........