Day One: El Paso, TX to Jiminez, Chi, MX [385 Miles.]
Friday the 13th: I have never been superstitious about Friday the 13th, but I will never start a trip on this day again. I left El Paso about 9:30am MT and proceeded to Mexico. There is a gas stop about 99 miles into Mexico at Villa Ahumada that I normaly pass and get gas about 53 miles further down the road at El Sueco with one other station about 25 miles in between. I passed the toll booth about 12:00 noon CT and continued on toward El Sueco. When I arrived at El Sueco NO GAS. The trip meter is reading about 156miles and the gas gauge is pointing to the red mark for reserve. I turn around and backtrack to the previous station I passed 25 miles back. There is NO GAS there either. Now I am getting a little worried as the trip meter is reading 181 miles. I have never driven this far without gasing up before, and I do not know if my fuel light works since I have never seen it come on before. I continue to backtrack towards Villa Ahumada slowing my pace to about 45mph to conserve what fuel I have left. I arrive at the toll booth at 1pm and convince them not to charge me again and explain the situation. They have me sign a log sheet and let me go on. at about 199 miles the fuel light comes on and I pray a lot. At last I can see the town up ahead. It seems to take forever to get there, finally I can see the Pemex station on the left and pull in just as the trip meter rolls over to 207 miles (a new fuel record for me). I fuel up and head back towards the south. Back thru the toll booth and sign the log again so I do not have to pay again. I have lost 2 hours because I did not heed my own warnings about always getting fuel whenever you pass thru a major population center. Do not rely on roadside stations. The rest of the day is uneventful and I arrive in Jimenez about 5pm GET GAS and get a room for the night.
Day Two: Jiminez, Chi, MX to Mazatlán, Sin, MX [500 Miles.]
Saturday: After a good nights sleep, I get an early start at daybreak. I arrive in Durango about 11 am and decide to have lunch at a friend's resaurant but the road is being repaved and I do not want any part of that, so I continue on towards Mazalan.
About 65 miles out of town I stop to top off the tank so I will have enough fuel to make it all the way to Mazatlan. PROBLEM! After fueling up, the bike will not start! I get a push start from the station attendant and continue on. ALWAYS check your battery level before a trip!
After leaving the station, I encounter a brief rain shower. I pass the military base and see a group of soldiers walking toward town (El Salto). There is a small community just ahead and I stop to clean off my windsheld from the rain. I pick a good spot and pull over to the side of the road, and leaving the motor running, clean the windsheld and my glasses. Just as I am getting back on the bike IT DIES! Will not start again. I get some of the soldiers to give me a push start. I am starting to get concerned on wheather or not I am going to make it to Mazatlan. I drive on toward El Salto. As I enter town, I slow down for the many speed bumps (topes), the bike DIES again. I push it out of the road next to bus station. Pull the side cover to look at the battery. No water - bone dry! I say a few choice words and pull the battery out and clean it up. I take some of the drinking water I have and fill the battery. A couple of local youths come over to see what this crazy gringo is doing. I lived up to my nick name of El Gringo Loco on this trip. I ask if there is anyplace to get the battery charged up, but can not get the idea across the language barrier. One young lad goes ahead and puts the battery back in and indicates he will give me a push. I give him 10 pesos and away I go again. It has been 3 push starts in about 20 miles. I think everything is going fine for the next 65 miles as I did not have to slow down for any more topes just kept the rpm's up around 2k for the mountains. About 70 miles out of Mazatlan I was coming down a grade into a small village when a truck stops in front of me to make a left turn. You know what happened next. Yup, the bike dies again. It will not start by coasting down the sloping road, so I just steer it into a small 
market at the bottom of the hill. I try the starter - nothing. I do not want to even try to push start it. I thank the powers that be that I have stopped in a populated location and decide to leave the bike 
and call for help.
I ask around for the nearest telephone. There is NO PHONE in this town. I get one of the locals to drive me to nearest phone which is back up the mountain about 5 miles. I call my friend Judy in Mazatlan and wonders never cease, She's at home. She says she will try to find someone to come get me or come heself if she cann't find anyone. It is now about 5pm MT and it is about a 2 hour drive from Mazatlan, so I clean the bike and make friends with the owner of the market where I have made my unscheduled stop. He agrees to store my bike in his carport for me.
Right on schelule at 7pm, Judy arrives. She has brought Susan (of the Two Sisters Bagel Co.) with her. We unload the bike and transfer all my stuff to her car. I push the bike around to the carport where it will remain for the next couple of days. Then we head out for Mazatlan. Finaly I arrive in Mazatlan at 9pm. Judy runs a B&B and lets me stay at her place in return for helping her with her computer. It is only two blocks from her house to Harley's, so I walk over there for dinner after getting cleaned up and a change of clothes. Everyone has already heard the news about my bike by the time I get there. Man, it's a small town and word gets around fast.
Day 3-6: Mazatlán
Sunday-Wednesday: Sundy is Father's Day, so nothing much is going on, have to wait until Monday to try and get a battery.
Monday, I have Judy drive me over to the 'Baja 1000' Honda-Yamaha-Suzuki-Kawasaki dealer. It is owned by Diego A. Osuna G., a member of the local motorcycle club, whom I had met before. He is not at the shop, the mechanic says they will have to order the battery from Guadalahara and it will take about 5 days to get it. We suggest he call Diego and check with him. Diego says he has one and he will deliver it to the shop in 20 min. Great! When he gets there with the battery, charges it up, we ask him if we could borrow his trailer to haul the bike down off the mountain in case the battery does not fix the problem, he agrees. He and Judy go to his house to pick up the trailer while I wait at the shop.
We go up the mountain to get the bike about 2pm. Get there about 4pm. Bike right where I left it. Thanked the owner of the market and changed out the battery. It starts first time! I give the market owner 100 pesos for keeping the bike. I then decied to ride the bike the rest of the way instead of loading it on the trailer. Made it back to Mazatlan about 7pm (a day late) with the bike. Drove it the rest of the day to make sure it was OK.
Tuesday, we took the trailer back to Diego's and I rode around town some more. About 2 pm I went to the center of town to visit Pedro at his restuarant. Turns out he was on vacation in Chicago. But his sister fixed me a very good meal and said she would tell Pedro that I came by. When I got ready to leave, the bike kind of hesitated when I try to start it. That did not sound good. I took it out for a 50 mile ride to see if it would charge the battery up. Went back to the house and parked for the night. I saw Diego later that night at Harley's, and he said to bring it by the shop on Wednesday and he would check the charging system.
Wednesday, I got up and went out to start the bike, no start! Took Judy's car and went to the shop and got Diego and his battery charger and went back to the house and put the charger on for about 30 min. Judy drove Diego and I rode the bike over to Diego's shop for him to check it out. He said to come back in a couple of hours. Later I returned and got the bad news, the stator was fried. He could not give me an estimate without my service manual. I called a friend in El Paso (John) and told him to ship my service manual to Judy by DHL as they provide the fastest service to Mazatlan.
Went to the travel agent at the Tropicana Hotel and had them make a bus reservation for me to return to El Paso on Thursday at 2pm. They told me the ticket would be delivered to their office by 10am on thursday. Later that night, went to the local motorcycle club meeting at Harley's and got to bed about 1am.
Day 7-8: Mazatlán, Sin, MX to El Paso, TX [880 Miles.by bus ]
Thursday-Friday: Got up and went to Cowtown for breakfast, did the tourist things, shopping etc. Went by the Tropicana to pick up my bus ticket and had lunch. Judy agreed to drive me to the bus station as she was also driving Susan to the airport at the same time.
Got to the bus station about 1:30 pm to catch the bus home. Left about 2:30pm. Nice bus. The driver made the trip from Mazatlan to Durango in 6 hours, the same amount of time it takes me on the bike. We had a 45 min layover in Durango to change buses for the trip to Chihuhua City. Watched Ace Ventura in 'When Nature Calls' on the trip to Chihuahua. Got to Chihuahua about 7am CT and had a layover of 45 min. Driver put on another movie "The Rock' for the trip to Juarez. Called my daughter on my cell phone to have her pick me up at the bus station in El Paso during her lunch break.