July means that it is time to head back south of the border to this year's 2014 International AREM Rat Ride / IBA SaddleSore Rally in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

As usual, my Ride Reports and trips seem to have a tendency to take the long way around. Why go from point A to point B in a straight line when you can always find much longer routes to take. This RR is going to be a little more extreme than usual. It is actually going to start before the ride starts.

Felipe from Mazatlan, and Carlos from Mexico city arrived at my house on 24 June. Carlos had just bought a new bike in Dallas, TX. The next morning he decided that he needed to do a turn around trip, head for the border, and make sure that his bike got imported OK. Felipe and I took the day off to give him a rest from his trip from Mazatlan up to the deep south.

The Tail of the Dragon is famous even in Mexico. First priority was to take Felipe on a ride so that he could attempt to "slay the Dragon".

We headed north up to Tellico Plains, TN. It did not take Felipe long to find the Dragon, but he was a little disappointed with the fact that he could not yet ride this Dragon.

Before heading over Cherohala Skyway, we took a side trip over to Balls Falls.

After the Cherohala, we rode up to the Tail of the Dragon where Felipe completed two runs without having to leave any parts from his bike on the "Tree of Shame".

After the Dragon we made our way to Bryson City, NC to our motel. Moe had rode up to the motel and would be joining us on the ride the next day.

Today turned out to be a short ride, and I was too lazy to take any pictures.

We headed south on Hwy 19 to Wayah Rd which runs along the Nantahala River and up to Nantahala Lake. Lots of fun corners and we eventually came back out on Hwy 64 which is a relaxing ride with some great mountain views. We eventually made our way down to Blairsville, GA but was now riding in heavy rain. The rain did not appear to be letting up anytime soon so we decided to call it a day and took the fast route back home.

Today we were joined by Brian, Will, and McBride.

Main routes were Hwy 60. Wolf Pen Gap Rd, and Richard B. Russell Parkway. We had a few showers here and there, but overall it was a good day.

Moe rejoined Felipe and me today for a ride over to Little River Canyon, AL.

After a few back roads, a few corners, and slooooooow service at the restaruant in Cedar Bluff, AL, we finally made it to Little River Falls where some of the members of the American Cruisers MC joined us.

Trace (International President of the American Cruisers MC), me, and Felipe

Moe, Trace, me, and Felipe

A quick ride along Little River Canyon

Felipe at an overlook on Little River Canyon

Trace with his wife

Felipe and Trace

With a lot of miles and days ahead of us, Felipe and I decided to take the next two days off and prepare for our departure out to east Texas for a few days of bad behavior. Beer, Bar-b-que, and more beer. Following Texas we will be Baja bound. As I said, the long way around. We will eventually get to Cuernavaca and the Rally.

First 85 miles was secondary roads through Georgia and then we picked up I-20 shortly after entering Alabama.

Typical ride on the slab into Vcksburg. Reached Vicksburg in the early afternoon and the temperature was in the low 90s. Much better than the 100+ that we had last year.

Another typical ride across I-20 and the state of Louisiana.

Every time that I checked my mirrors I found that I was being followed by a masked Mexican bandido.

And soon we were able to find the state of Texas without too much trouble.

After a couple of hours of Texas back roads we reached Ric's farm, which is actually in the middle of no-where Texas.

By the end of the day we had 8 riders at the farm, 4 gringos and 4 riders from Mexico. Pork loin from the grill, beer, and lots of BS took up the rest of the day until the early hours of the morning.

Us older guys went to bed at a reasonable time last night. The other guys, not so much so. Slow start to the morning, a late breakfast in town, and then it was up to the zip lines just east of Athens.

We found a semi-curvy road back to the farm which was much better than the main roads.

Back on the farm, steaks on the grill and not quite as much beer as the night before. Us older guys went to bed at a reasonable time. The other guys, not so much so.