I'm forced to Leave Real' after having issues getting cash from the one ATM in town, so I head through the access tunnel and down the long cobblestone road back to the highway. I had bought a visor in San Antonio a week earlier for my open face helmet to attach when it rains because it’s no fun travelling 60 miles an
hour with rain piercing your forehead and your lower
face. When I rode down the 20 mile bumpy road from Real de Catorce I jumped off
to check my bags were secure and realize my camping bag was loose at the
drawstring and my visor had fallen out. Great. I wasn't expecting much rain until I hit the tropical zone further south but spent the next hour tracing my steps back up the mountain searching for the visor. I got as far as the hotel I stayed the previous night without any luck, asked around but couldn't find anything so turned around back towards the highway and was on my way to Zacatecas.
I rode for a good hour before my low petrol light came on and noticed that I hadn't seen a gas station for a while so one must be imminent. Hank had warned me days earlier that this stretch was particularly isolated and didn't have many gas stations. The furthest I'd travelled with the light on was 45 miles so I had a bit of distance before worrying about it. I rode and rode and nothing appeared, no highway towns, few cars and warm sun. The signs with hotel and petrol symbols assured me one was coming but eventually my engine began to choke and I was forced to switch the bike off and come to a stop on the side of an isolated highway. I opened the tank and could hear a little petrol swirling around when I gave it a shake. I remember reading somewhere that petrol can get trapped deep on the edge of the tank and pushing the bike side to side may direct the petrol closer to the pump and you may get a few more miles out of it. I gave it a shot and sure enough I rode a further 3 or 4 miles until the engine began to choke again. Still no gas station. I tried to wave down the cars and trucks that occasionally passed hoping someone would stop to help. No one was interested. I walked the bike but got sick of that after a hundred metres when I approached a hill. I continued waving down cars and after about 20 minutes I got the attention of a pick up truck travelling in the other direction who pulled over. I ran across and greeted the man in the photo.
I rode for a good hour before my low petrol light came on and noticed that I hadn't seen a gas station for a while so one must be imminent. Hank had warned me days earlier that this stretch was particularly isolated and didn't have many gas stations. The furthest I'd travelled with the light on was 45 miles so I had a bit of distance before worrying about it. I rode and rode and nothing appeared, no highway towns, few cars and warm sun. The signs with hotel and petrol symbols assured me one was coming but eventually my engine began to choke and I was forced to switch the bike off and come to a stop on the side of an isolated highway. I opened the tank and could hear a little petrol swirling around when I gave it a shake. I remember reading somewhere that petrol can get trapped deep on the edge of the tank and pushing the bike side to side may direct the petrol closer to the pump and you may get a few more miles out of it. I gave it a shot and sure enough I rode a further 3 or 4 miles until the engine began to choke again. Still no gas station. I tried to wave down the cars and trucks that occasionally passed hoping someone would stop to help. No one was interested. I walked the bike but got sick of that after a hundred metres when I approached a hill. I continued waving down cars and after about 20 minutes I got the attention of a pick up truck travelling in the other direction who pulled over. I ran across and greeted the man in the photo.
Hernando was on his way to his ranch and thankfully he had a drum in his tray with a little petrol in it. I managed to convince him to give me a couple litres which he siphoned into the coke bottles in his hand and he gave me some vague directions of a nearby ranch off the highway that I could get more petrol from. I gave him some cash and followed his advice until a gas station appeared, of course it was permanently closed but a little old lady nearby selling drinks directed me up a dirt road to a general store where I was able to get five more litres. Later on I found a gas station as was able to fill to tank up and from then on they appeared every 10 miles or so. Once I had the petrol issue solved and about an hour from where I had planned to stop for the night, the rain came pouring down, just enough to piss me off and remind me of losing my visor earlier in the day.
I finish the day in Zacatecas, an important trade route outpost during Spanish times with beautiful colonial buildings and stay a few days to wander around my first Mexican city.
