1500 Miles to the Dentist

+1. But what is even more amazing to me is all that food he was able to eat so soon after the dental visit!

Great thread ! ! ! ! !

You did good Amigo.

Yeah, they are semi- laid back at Progreso. I've offered to hand them the keys to my Land Rover in exchange for the keys to their neat Panhard armored truck that they keep at the crossing. No luck so far.

But that thing about taking photos is serious, and I'm a bit surprised that they agreed to photos. You did the right thing about asking, however.

Just for the other inmates who might be crossing somewhere, I've never had any trouble at Progreso with the Mexican military but I have had the military decline to let me take photos elsewhere (at roadside checks near Victoria and Laredo).

And last year two armed soldiers questioned me about taking photos at the downtown Reynosa crossing while I was waiting for some riders to come through.

I have also had both the US and the Mexicans question me when I was taking photos of the flooding at the Reynosa crossing about 6 months ago.

The US has some weird rules that you can photograph them from one side, but not from the other. As I am sure you discovered, 9 times out of 10 the Mexicans are much more laid back than the Border Patrol guys are.

And both sides are sensitive right now about photos that identify their officers.

Looking forward to your return!

Well it's time to head home , so I got up and showered and left Lou's about the crack of noon.

If any of you guys are racers you may remember Lou's Leathers. This is the same guy. He made custom leathers for years.
One of his more famous customers was Elmer Trett. The first motorcycle drag racer to top 230 mph in the quarter mile. The sort of thing you need a top quality suit for.
Lou also made my first custom fitted suit back in 1988. I used it for 20 years ,until it shrank ,or something.

I didn't get far before seeing the H-D shop had some kind of event on. I pulled in for a look and a hotdog.
They had a small show going on.













Inside they had a full brace of '09 R-E s on sale.



Back on the road, I decided to try a Whataburger while I was in the territory.


Like the man said in Pulp Fiction, "That is a tasty burger!"



Later in Alabama I pulled in a nice little dirt road to drink a Red Bull.



The spot wasn't as nice in a different veiw.



While at Lou's he told me of a ride he and some buddies had taken in Alabama to the Little River Falls and Canyon. I found it well after dark and heard the roaring of the falls and decided to stay so I could see it in daylight.

I couldn't find the campground so I set up the tent back a road for some kind of development. It was after midnight and no one was around so , no problem.

old bikes are awesome!

Very true.
Welcome friend.
I'm amazed at the power of the WWW to reach everywhere.

I had to climb out of the tent to drain and it was damn cold out. I climbed back in the sleeping bag and dozed off again.
When stealth camping I like to pop up at first light and leave, so this morning was atypical.
I was awakened by the crunch of tires approaching, busted! I looked out the tent flap in time to see a ratty Toyota P.U. making a u-ie. I guess he didn't want to be seen either.



The canyon in morning light.









The road splits around the Mushroom Rock.




Tree meets rock = love.





The Little River Falls.



I rolled north through Ft. Paine thinking of a southern breakfast.
I smelled something good as I passed a Mexican joint and decided to go way south for breky.
Huevos revoluto, con chorizo,con ceso. Yum.



Up the road I came on the road up Lookout Mountain.
Might as well have a look. I've passed by Lookout Mt. dozens of times through the years and this was the first time I'd ever gone up.



There are great veiws of Chattanoga from the Point Park. The park was a Confederate stronghold during the Civil War.



The biggest surprise to me was that the whole mt. is built up. It's a neighborhood.



I stopped by to see my daughter and son in law in Cleveland before the home stretch run.




The only problem on the home stretch was I got sleepy. I was fine running on my own but, when I got behind some cars I started yawning.
So to restore myself I headed down a farm road and across a field to a creek for a power nap.

I spread my tarp and drank a Red Bull then lay down to nap. I heard a metalic pop and looked up, things were fine, so back down.
I heard another pop and ignored it.
Then there were two pops in quick sucsession and the bike fell over . The sunken side stand syndrom.
That ended the nap.
I made it back into Ky. and was home a couple of hours later.

That looks like Garcia's, upstairs. If you're ever there again have the Bananas Foster. The best I've ever had.

As for the top pic, the time I was in Progresso they had a small sand-bag bunker in the middle of the 5-way, star shaped intersection as you come into town with a 2x12 across it on which they'd mounted a machine gun. Scared me at first until I was told that it was to assure the tourists that they were serious about keeping the town safe from the drug gangs that had taken over Matamoros.

Enjoying your RR very much. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us.

I spent six months working on South Padre (Hurricane Dolly). The locals all told me that they went to Nuevo Progresso for their dental work. Like you, they said it was +/-$0.33 on the dollar and they were always happy with the work. Great place to pick up your perscriptions as well. A nice road trip and dental work for 2/3 off. Fantastic. If you go back you can ride across the border. As soon as you get into town there's a restaurant on the left. The parking lot has a wall around it and a guard. Park there and have a drink or two or lunch. Do that and you can leave your bike in their lot all day, guarded, for free. Do what you have to do and then ride back across the border. If you need the name of the restaurant pm me and I'll see if I can get it from my friends down there. Also, you might look up Pirate John (he can usually be found hanging out in Jo Momma). He lives in an RV between Brownsville and Nuevo Progresso. He probably has more current information than I do as he's still living there.

Again, thanks for the RR. You, ummm, have any plans to do another RR when you return to NP for your final implants? Hmmmm?


Edit: If you go back to SPI, go to The Palms. It doesn't look like much but it's the best food on the island, bar none. I hold the record for the longest continuous stay at the property.

Edit #2: I see that Pirate John has posted in this thread. He's a great source of infomration for that area.

Edit #3: If I'd read to the end before posting I'd have seen you'd been in contact with PJ. I feel like a dope.

Excellent ride report!

Yup, he was at Garcia's, a/k/a the Canada Store. Great place:



For folks that don't understand part of the attraction, take a look at the menu and the prices:




I'm not sure if the OP posted a photo of where he went to see the dentist, but it's a really neat looking New Orleans-style building:

I was intrigued when the OP said that the soldiers left around 11PM. At around 10PM the garbage trucks from Rio Bravo show up and clean the town, and most of the bars close down (the tit bars stay open a bit later, however), and that's about the time that I usually leave.

Anyway, the soldiers used to be camped in tents underneath the International Bridge, so they may not be on duty but they aren't too far away if needed!

They are usually pretty laid back, but they generally check vehicle trunks and interiors these days, looking for weapons I presume.

A few months ago they did want someone that drove across the bridge so a couple of soldiers walked to the US side and asked the Border Patrol to detain someone. The Border Patrol declined, saying that they couldn't come up with any guidelines for holding the person.

There was also a shootout last year on one of the side streets and the soldiers got 1 or 2 bad guys, depending on who tells the story.

Just a little extra free entertainment

Yes, the armored car runs. Most of the border crossings around here have them, and the Army drives them around. They alternate between a .50 caliber machine gun and a big automatic grenade launcher. Every so often there will also be a HUMVEE with a .50 in it backing the guys up.

And their rifles are indeed loaded. Mostly they have .30 caliber Heckler and Koch G3's, but every so often there will be something different, like an MP-5 submachine gun or an M-16 variant.

Great RR!

Friend, if that's the worse thing that you do this month then you need to be nominated for sainthood.

On the subject of people getting dental work done in N. Progreso, we had another thread awhile back about Mexican dental work.

At the height of Winter Texan Season there are swarms of folks going across for the dental work. It's amazing - folks like to brag about their new choppers and how much they save and I have seen this over and over at the restaurants. Just a sign of getting older I guess.

I had a bridge put in a few years ago, and had a canine extracted, which got to be a real bitch because of the condition of the tooth (I had troubles with it for decades). The deal went smoothly and I have no complaints.

I do know that there is a dental lab in town, so while you are getting lunch (or drinking lunch as the case may be ) the lab is getting your dental work done; in that States in some places that can take days but it's a matter of a few hours in N. Progreso.

To bk brkr baker (the OP), just as a bit of trivia, there used to be a small town in Kentucky that specialized in discount dental work years ago. I want to say that it was Burgin or Burnside, or something like that, but it was during my parents and grandparents time.

Things change!

Funny!

Just came back from hangin' in downtown Reynosa with an ADVRider who is on his way towards Acapulco.

As weird as our part of Mexico has gotten lately there are still tons of attractions. Cheap dental work, cheap booze, and very nice people to mention just a few.

Anyway ... this is a great thread.

Great real life ride report.

Love the econmising.

Page 2 with the New Orleans report section really does it for me.

Thanks for posting.

Great Ride Report ! I may head south of the border for my next crown. Thanks

(I hope this isn't a thread hijack; I sure don't mean for it so be. The OP did an excellent job, and I'd just like everyone to know what a neat little town N. Progreso can be, especially considering many of the misconceptions about Mexico these days).

Plenty of mechanics in Progreso doing air conditioning, brakes, that sort of stuff.

The economy has weeded out quite a few of the shops of all kinds (my dentist has evidently folded her tent and moved on for example) but there used to be several upholstery shops there that seemed to do some really great work and I have been planning to give some of them some business.

You just have to walk outside the tourist areas to find them.

Progreso also has a small casino, which is weird since supposedly gambling is illegal in 99.9% of Mexico but they tolerate it here.

The Lucky Seven, where SWMBO'd drops all of $20 every so often for maybe 5-6 hours of play:

I didn't know that anyone but my mother played nickle slots.

My apologies bk brkr baker if this was mentioned earlier in the thread. I went back to try and locate the information but must have missed it. Did you make an appointment with the clinic prior to your trip? I could stand to have a couple of cavities filled and live fairly close to NP. I was wondering if they take walk-ins.

as great as the r&r is. as i sit here with an aching tooth please give a few more detail about how you found the dentist?