Last night when I rolled into Yecora, I noticed a very nice BMW 1250GS parked in front of the hotel that I was scoping out. A tall Texan named Jimmy introduced himself. He told me he had stayed at this hotel many times over many years and it was one of his favorites. Good enough for me. We went to dinner together at a little cantina down the way and I learned that Jimmy had been riding in Mexico since 1992. Said he had gotten bored with riding in the US so he took a trip down into Mexico. He was hooked. Since then he comes to Mexico 2-3 times a year. He had encyclopedic knowledge of the best roads, hotels and things to see. He asked me if I had been to Copper Canyon before. I said that this was my first time riding in Mexico. He said... Brother, you are in for the best ride of your life over the next four to five days. He diagramed a route and told me some places to stay along the way. I took a lot of notes. In the morning we met and had some breakfast. He was headed back to Texas today. Since we were going in the same direction for the first 100 miles we agreed to ride together. It was a ball! Twisty, fast and fun. it was very difficult for me to keep up with his powerful bike. Eventually we shook hands and Jimmy headed on towards Chihuahua. I headed to Creel by way of San Juanita. The ride was relentless as I was turning constantly. The road was tight and technical with a very unpredictable surface. Sometimes there were big potholes or gravel in the corners. You could meet trucks coming the other way crowding the center line. There were horses, cows and donkeys wandering in the road. And the views! I had to concentrate on the road but my eyes wanted to look at the amazing views. Creel is a town on the rim of Copper Canyon at a little over 8000 feet. It was windy and cool, about 62º. The sky looked ominous and I was getting rained on from time to time. From Creel, I headed toward Batopilas and literally dropped into the canyon. Over the last 40 miles, I plunged from over 8000 feet in elevation to under 1000 feet. The sheer walls of the canyon rose up on all sides and the road condition deteriorated. I lost count of the hairpin switchbacks. The sun was setting and I still had a ways to go. At one point, a large truck was broken down and was blocking the road. Three or four other vehicles were stopped waiting for the road to be cleared. As I waited, the last of the sunlight faded over the canyon wall. At last the truck was cleared and the other vehicles let me go first. The last hour was mixed pavement and gravel skirting along pitch black vertical drops. Fortunately, I have a pair of very high powered off-road lights just for this situation and I was very happy to have them. At the end of my journey for today, I rolled into an amazing little town right down on the canyon floor where the temperature had risen to 91º. People in Batopilas were so great as they could see I was confused in the dark. They pointed me in the right direction and I found the hotel that Jimmy had told me about. I had to ride my motorcycle right through this lady's living room and into the back courtyard. There were guests sitting on a sofa as I rolled through and waved. What an epic day!