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A short day today to Nuevo Cases Grandes. I camped last night halfway between Janos and Cases Grandes. I was a bit nervous to camp at first, particularly so close to such a busy thoroughfare, but it turned out to be pretty much idea, other than a bit on the dusty side. I found a particularlly inviting patch of tall mesquite where I thought I would be well hidden from the rode, unhooked the bottom barbed wire from a fence post, and slid my bike under. My mad barbed wire skillz I picked up on the station in Australia have finally come in handy.

I walked out a ways from the road until I found a nice open spot, and set up camp, cooking a dinner of pasta, fresh tomatoes and onions, and a can of tuna, under a beautiful sunset. During the night, I was woken several times by what sounded like rather large packs of coyotes, but never had any trouble. As far as people goes, I don’t think anyone even knew I was there, nor have I felt threatened int he slightest since I’ve been here (excluding the border town, which are always dodgy, everywhere you go).

This morning, I woke up to a breakfast of corn tortillas (all my fruit had gone sour in a single day), and hit the road. The semis were in full force going both directions, with no shoulder, and a raised road, which was intense. A couple times I full out failed out down the embankment when two semis passed me at the same time, horns blaring. Definitely enough to shake you up at times.

Along the way I stopped for more tortillas, and had a big man in a cowboy hat and boots driving a few head of cattle come up to me, curious to find out where I was from and where I was going. Sometimes it seems as if every man over the age of 15 is wearing a cowboy hat, a checkered shirt, jeans, and boots. I definitely stand out in my bike helmet and shorts.

Cases Grandes is bigger than I expected. I rode into town, looking for a hotel, and immediately ruled out the few along the main street as far out of my price range. I was just starting to home in on one that looked more reasonable, when a guy on a bicycle made a beeline across a busy street, flagging me down in english. He was also very into bicycle touring and travelling, and was eager to see my bike, and show me his. His english was quite good, and he seemed pretty trustworthy, so I asked if he knew where a good hotel that was cheap was. We ended up at the one I was headed for.

The hotel owner spoke english quite well also, and said that a lot of foreign bicyclists pass through this way, and stay at his hotel. So I must be in the right place:) We talked with him for a while, hearing several hysterical stories of japanese motorcyclists who had stayed at the hotel, and then Tony, my new friend and self-appointed tour guide of Cases Grandes, and I went off to grab some lunch, as I was starved. He took me to an awesome chicken place, and I had a gigantic plate of roasted chicken with mole sauc, for a bit under $2.50. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had chicken that juicy. Then it was off to his relative’s bike shop to get a spoke replaced my rear wheel trued (I had a pannier wing into it on my first day and a spoke was bent and my field truing wasn’t perfect). His extended family owns two bicycle shops in town, and everyone in the family either rides or works at one of the shops.

Then it was off to his fathers house, to meet the family. His mom made me a homemade burrito and a glass of mango juice, and we sat and talked with his father and brother for a while, with Tony translating. Later, I met another brother that keeps bees, who was in the process of making food for his hives. He showed me his honey extractor, and I told him about my grandfather and his amateur beekeeping. He laughed really hard when I told him the story about my grandmother’s firned, who, on seeing their honey extractor on the kitchen table (it’s about the size of a chopped down 55-gallon drum), said “My Alice, what do you need all that coffee for?”

Then it was off to where he works, to meet his boss, and see the soil analysis lab where he works. Hector, his boss, spoke perfect English, with almost no accent, and gave me lots of advice on where to go and what to watch out for. He showed me his two computers, an ancient orginal IBM PC with a monochrome 9 pin monitor, and a brand new athlon, with a nice flatscreen monitor. When he heard I was a programmer, he tried to enlist my help in transferring a program from one computer to the other, but alas, we couldn’t get the old computer to boot.

We also talked a bit about philosphy and religion. Both Tony and Hector are Mormons, as is a lot of the area. Cases grandes is one of the first areas in Mexico that the Mormons colonized. Hector said he’s 4 generations Mormon. When were done, Hector admitted it was hard to preach in english.

We made a bunch more stops all over town, saying hello to various friends of Tony, and checking out the nice new homes in the rich part of town, before I finally begged off at my hotel, so I could take a nap, do laundry, and catch up on email.

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