September 21st Parral to Zacatecas 
Strange the different mindsets of different nationalities - or maybe today I just witnessed peer group pressure. I awoke early and packed my bags and gear i had drying out from my camping trip - which took forever. By eight o'clock I was ready for breakfast, I walked outside to find my new biker buddies where I left them the night before - cleaning their bikes. You would not believe  it, they were cleaning already clean bikes. My bike by comparison is absolutely covered in dead flies and insects and red and yellow juices. I now know why non of the 17 Mexicans have parked their bikes next to mine - something contagious perhaps. However Nora virus is low down on their priorities it seems!!
They were all up and away before I'd packed my bike - I'm still tinkering with Tinker Belle, trying to find the best set up for balance, accessibility and convenience. Its still work in progress. The biggest problem being, because I keep changing my packing arrangements when i need to find something I need to go through every pannier and bag before I have success.
I wasn't looking forward to today as iI knew I had a very long ride, mainly on motorways, 420 miles to be precise. After the thrills of the last 2 days this was always going to be an anticlimax. I've found that being alone for so long you do try to find the positive out of the smallest thing - something to make you smile. My first smile for the day was at a filling station at just past the halfway stage. The petrol attendant was transfixed by my GPS and the icon of my motorcycle showing him exactly where we were - which he recognised. He kept looking at the screen and scratching his head. He was perplexed by something  and eventually asked me three times, 'If it showed the bike, how come it didn't show him' Sad thing was, he was serious, he thought I was holding out on him.

On my long journey I had little in the way to distract me and I got to thinking about the blog. When asked before I left if I would keep some form of diary I was insistent I wouldn't . I didn't think that I would want to be bothered, as most of my thoughts and perceptions do remain with me as I have a good memory recall, so what would be the point. However, having given it some thought and brought together the experiences of many peoples over the last few weeks, I believe humans without a sense of purpose can easily get lost. John Paul Satre wrote brilliantly about this in his philosophical work Being and Nothingness. In short he said we need to make sense of our world and our place in it. In order to feel secure and grounded many of us seek the comfort of ritual/routine in order to create a perception of certainty/reality in an uncertain world. I suppose my blog is just that, with an ever changing landscape and no ritual at all, my blog is the only certain thing that I can control.

I have a love hate relationship with this blog , as I now feel I have to do it. last night I started at 12am and finished at 1,30pm (as you can tell from the typos, spelling and grammar). I was half asleep towards the end and just yearned for my pillow. But if I hadn't done it it would have been hanging over me all the next day. Tonight I have the luxury of not having to get up early so I'm happyy to rabbit on. Tomorrow is a 200 mile drive into Guadlaharja so shoul,dn't take longer than 4 hours.

The other memorable thing from today was an area around 100 miles or so north of Zacatecas, there was the most stunning landscape with classical cone shaped volcanoes (extinct I am hoping). It looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings. One especially large volcano dominated the skyline and stood alone with a very large plain all around. In my musings I took it to be Mordor, THEN THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF ME THOUGHT Why didn't Peter Jackson use this landscape - closer to California, cheaper labour and fantastic light etc - Then I remembered he's a Kiwi - probably wanted to see the folks!

A bi-product of this landscape was the motorway, which one could tell had only been surfaced relatively recently, was potholed beyond comprehension, for twenty miles or so there were cavernous holes everywhere. This is the closest I have ever got to playing a computer game. Seeking to avoid as many as possible, the small ones took away five points and landing in a big one subtracted me 50 points. It was a spectacular site as juggernauts, almost in unison appeared to dance around the obstacles making it look like a synchronised ballet or swim or even Mexican Tango. It was bizarre, for all rules of the road were disengaged as traffic in whatever direction sought to find their best route - consequently one had to be vigilant as frequently larger vehicles coming in the opposite direction were meeting you head on. For the anal amongst you, I lost 70 points - one big and four little ones - mind you Tinks enjoyed the change from monotonous motorway riding.

Zacatecas is a pretty town by Mexican standards, set on a hillside with attractive houses in their pretty colours standing out from the landscape - I shall explore more tomorrow. The Hotel I'm in seems to be of a leisure complex and a high spot for the locals. While eating in their restaurant there was the sound of music, NFl in the bar next door and a large event in another room next door that involved lots of female whooping and screaming. I had a lovely meal though and beer, all for £9. Earlier in the evenings I'd filled in an Expedia review in which I mentioned  the wifi was intermittent, the TV was poor quality reception and I couldn't lock my door and to my surprise a few hours later there was a knock at my bedroom door  with a poor waiter offering me a big bowl of fruit. So I now have breakfast for tomorrow! I had a thought afterwards, I should have asked him how to lock the door, but that would have churlish don't you think?

Apart from my ramblings nothing much happened today or perhaps it did and I just didn't notice.