This morning was an interesting experience. The bike was blessed by the only bird perched on a wire directly above where we parked, right on Tim’s seat. That should have been a sign! Fortunately it didn’t bless my helmet which was close behind with open side up. The moon was full in a backdrop of brilliant pink and blue sky as we left just before sunrise. A quick ride before our work day would begin.
We rode across the Mexican border in hopes of getting a picture for our ABC list. Here are some interesting factoids: It was $3.00 to cross the International Bridge, but only $1.00 to come back. 
People used the bridge as a footpath from one country to the next. We didn’t have to show our passports to enter Mexico. Upon entering Piedras Negras we started looking for an official sign with “Mexico,” but as it turns out this is not such an easy task. It was a fairly quiet morning. I can only imagine it was much quieter than when fighting broke out a little over a year ago.
I’ve never been down so many one-way streets heading the wrong direction in my life! We passed the same newspaper salesman about three times. At one point we stopped to ask someone if there was a post office or “policía?” but his limited English ended in a hand gesture that indicated much too long of a drive. We never could find an appropriate sign, other than the one we had passed over the bridge, which of course we couldn’t stop to take. When we finally decided to take a picture of a pharmacy which said Mexico on the sign, we realized we had left our Touring Guide back in the hotel! Needless to say, we left Mexico without an ABC point.
Of course they checked our passports on the way back home. We had our stories prepared, but Tim still told the customs officer we were only in Mexico for a few minutes. I’m sure that must have sounded suspicious until we explained we were looking for a “Welcome to Mexico” sign to take a picture. He said, “oh no” while laughing and shaking his head. I’m sure he was probably thinking “stupid gringos…” as he checked our saddlebags for contraband.
On the way back we found the Mexican Consulate just inside of Texas, so it turns out we didn’t even need to cross the border to get our picture! Stupid gringos…
À la prochaine (Until next time) … or perhaps I should say “hasta la próxima”!