 I'm a noose. Goodbye, beautiful Zacatecas, as we ride the wrong way on a one way. We're living on the edge. We are going to get back onto the trans Mexico route today. No more highways. And that means, hopefully, a lot more chill riding. And there, time to go. This town will always have a little piece of my heart, my corazon, I love it. So John, when you're in towns, you get a lot of funny looks. Yeah, we do. Most of them are these big grins. People are just so happy to see a dog in the back of a bike, especially Mira. But like the one we just had there, it's this blank stare of confusion. And I just wave at them and give them a good morning or good afternoon with every time of day. And they'll smile. It is a strange sight, for sure, to see it by the... Yeah, it's lovely, because it means that you interact with the communities that we ride through, you know? Otherwise, just be a guy on a bike. So it's, yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, it's really cool. Yup, Mira, you're the star attraction. You're the one bringing all the good vibes. Hi, Mira, hi. Yeah. Give him the hand. Give him the hand. That's it. Give him the hand. One kiss. One kiss. One kiss. And what's your name, friend? Antonio. And you like to ride a bike, too, right? A lot, riding a bike here. All of Zacatecas, riding a bike. Yeah. So John just popped into Okso here to buy some beans, of course. And I waited outside with Mira. And then this friendly fella, Antonio, came up on his bike and just started talking. This is what I love about Mexico. People are so open and they see you and they just want to start talking and learning about you. From which part are you from? I'm from Colorado. Oh, okay. Yeah. Greetings to Denver, Colorado. That's it, that's it. I live very close, a place called Boulder. I visited Fort Collins. Really? I'm going to play. Really? I'm a musician. And he's from Canada. Canada. Greetings to all of Canada. From Zacatecas. Perfect. Now, now you have the magic of Mira. Mira la perra. So Antonio decided to come with us. So he's tightening up his seat. We're going to roll for a little bit with a new buddy. You ready to go? Yeah, you're ready. On standby. Are you ready, friend? Yeah, let's go. Let's go. No flatties, no crashes, no whammies on this beautiful Friday in Zacatecas. Mira, do you know how to fix seats? You're sitting on one. I've seen John do this many times. Fix somebody's bike while we're out and about. He is a very good mechanic, but also just a very good person. He will always stop to help somebody. Okay. Excellent. Mira, trocalo a todos. How many is added counting? You've fixed a lot of bikes. I can't believe it, but we're actually riding on dirt, tierra. This is pretty exciting. This is what we've been waiting for, for eight days. I think we rode. Yeah, pavement for the last seven straight days. We touched a tiny bit coming out of Mazatlan. But now we're on the dirt. Where the dirty boys belong. All right, so we're on dirt. What does that mean? Sometimes it means squeaky belts. And I've discovered that a little bit of hotel soap goes a long way to curing the squeak. And I'll do that maybe once every few days. So it's still pretty low maintenance. And it's cheap. Yeah, right, cheap. Free. It's pink. I like it. Yeah, smells fresh. How you feeling out here? Dude, I love the dirt. The fresh air, the quiet. We can hear our tires. We can talk. No loud trucks. We can see cows. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. It just takes a load off. You don't realize the stress of riding on the road. And now that we're on this little bit of dirt, this dirt track, paralleling the railway tracks into little villages. Yeah, this is what bike packing is, really. Yeah, so much better. I think we both are, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bye, train. Here's your Spanish language. Less than half the train. A train is el tren. Pretty easy. So we've ridden about 15 miles with our boy here. Chocala bien hecho, amigo. Gracias por acompañarnos. Gracias, igual. Y ustedes, gracias. Que les vaya bien. Aquí and damos saludos para todos. Sí. Y primero Dios nos vemos después. El hermano, eso. Animal. Animal. Thank you very much. Sí. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Gracias. Adiós, hombre. Adiós, por favor. Yeah. El hermano. Vamos, amigo. Adiós. I'm really glad that we ran into Antonio there at the OXO. The OXO is where all the action happens. The gas station is a meeting point. And we've had some good experiences there. And he was so fun to ride with and just chat with. He talked about his life. He's 51. He doesn't look like it. But he says he rides all the time. He got that bike from a gringo friend. He bought it from him. And he says the key to a good life is exercise and good food and good sleep. And it seems like he's doing it right. So he got tears in his eyes when he left, John. Yeah, he did, actually, which was a bit of a surprise. Great guy. And part of the reason he got tears, actually, was a couple patrons of mine reached out before the start of this trip. And they're kind of these great people. And what they do is they want to lead by example and pass it forward, pass things forward. And they've given me some money. And I'm kind of their hands or their surrogate, as you will, in the places that I'm traveling through. And so we gave Antonio some cash to help out with his life. It's tough here in Mexico, you know, to get a good paying job and whatnot. So yeah, it's easy for me to do. But really, the thanks goes to my patrons that have been able to share their fortune and we can pass it along to people we meet on the way. Such a great spirit, this fellow. Yeah, it's amazing. And it feels good for us to be able to convey that energy that our supporters have given. Yeah, it's awesome. So we just rolled into this little town at the bottom of, you know, two mountains called San Jose de la Isla, just in time for the town fair. It's beginning today. And you can see they have little games set up in the market and I love Ferias, I love town fairs. This is really amazing. There's a tent full of people. And this guy comes out, he's like, come get some food, it's free. Thank you for visiting our town. This is so fun. John's getting some cake. Oh wow. Look at all this food. This is trail magic. This is trail magic. Enchiladas son, verdad? Yeah, enchiladas. All right, John, what'd you get here? All kinds of goodies. We got some cortitas y tamales. Trail magic, my man. Happens every day, almost. Yeah, it's good. Y es comida de este área, verdad? Es comida de aquí, verdad, muy propia de Zacatecas. Y esta feria sucede una vez al año? La hacemos cada vez, cada al año porque es nuestro patrono, el señor San José. Orita vamos a pasar el templo. I'm used to the guy sticking my camera in people's faces interviewing, but this young girl is the director of communications of the town and she's gonna interview me now about our trip, I think, I don't know. Desde hoy tenemos una visita muy especial. ¿Cuál es su nombre? Me llamo Ryan. Bueno, estamos siguiendo una ruta que se llama el Transméxico y pasamos hoy por su pueblo tan lindo y no sabíamos nada de lo que estaba pasando, pero estamos muy felices de estar aquí. Este pueblo es bien bonito. Fundación de este pueblo en 1543. So our boy Juan here, he found us early on. He's the one that said, come get the free food and now he's taking us on an entire tour of the town, showing us the town queen. They always elect a queen for every little town festival and he took us into the church, showed us around the church a bit. He wants us to stay, for sure, forever. ¿Cuánto vas a making friends? Oh, mira eso. Mira, he's making friends. Gracias por todo, amigo. Este pueblo es mágico. Gracias. Un placer. Sí, un gran placer para nosotros. Dios nos bendiga con cuidado. Gracias. Hard to leave a town like this. San José de la Isla. It's definitely an island of really good people. We came there and everybody had a smile and welcomed us in, wanted us to stay a long time, didn't want us to leave, wanted us to dance tonight and party and have a good time. But we're too rambling, man, we gotta keep going. So when we rolled into this town, it was super steep downhill. And now to get out of the town, it's the opposite. We made it. At many points, it was a 20% grade. Bye-bye, perritos. Bye-bye. We just noticed for the first time on this trip, complete silence. This is what Mira has been waiting to do for the past week. Run free or bounce free in this case. Hiding by this fence and got a little startled and here's why. Look at that. Out of Mazatlan and now we're here. This Friday, it is a different world. It's amazing how far you can get on a bike. Even though it's not nearly as far as a car or an airplane, you can still get pretty far. Fueled by frijoles. That's actually not too bad. There goes John and Mira. Now the trick is gonna be warming up and drying off. We have enough sun before it goes down. Hi, Mira. Give me that stick. Give me the stick. Give it to me. Okay, fine. Perritos. Friday night, perritos. Yum. It is going to be my last night on this bike-packing adventure. Originally I thought I would get to León, which is a few more days away, but I'm feeling ready to go home. I really am. I came here to be with John and Mira, to ride my bike, to create some good content, to fall back in love again with Mexico. It had been two years since I had been here. And all of those things have happened. It has been an amazing eight days. And I'll remember these moments for the rest of my life. There's been a lot of life packed into these eight days. And I'm okay with leaving a little bit early. You know, I'll be completely honest. I miss Amelia a lot. I want to go back home and hug her. And I think that's a good sign. It's a sign that I really, really love her. And I want to get back to her. And I could ride three more days and be there a little bit later. And that would be fine, but I want to go home now, you know? So that's what I'm going to do. One of my followers actually lives in Aguas Calientes, the next big city south of us. And he's going to come meet us tomorrow and he's going to ride with us for a bit. And then I'm going to go to his house and stay with his family. And then I'll buy a plane ticket out of Aguas Calientes and fly home from there. And that'll be that. And another great life experience here, you know, my first one of 2022. And I know I started this year off kind of, you know, in a rough way, burned out mentally and physically. And I still think I'm working my way out of that. I'm not completely in the clear. And there were some moments on this trip that were tough for me, where I questioned why I'm here. And, you know, I've made these videos over and over and over. What am I doing with my life? What's my future look like? I think I might be having a midlife crisis. Is it too early for that? I'm 43, so 86. If I die when I'm 86, maybe I'll live a little bit longer, but it's kind of midlife. And I'm really, you know, on a daily basis, questioning and wondering, what am I doing with my life? And specifically this channel and the content that I create. And I continually want to put out good quality content. And I feel a little bit like I'm putting out the same stuff over and over and over. And it's time for an evolution. And I came here and I got some clarity on that. And this process will continue on as I move forward. And don't you worry, this channel's not going anywhere. I'm just reevaluating things. And the main point is, is because I want to continually challenge myself and feel like I'm putting value into the world. And I want you to enjoy what I'm creating. And I just personally feel a little stagnant. I feel like my creativity isn't quite sparking right now. And yeah, you know, this might be a little too much for y'all to hear, but that's what's going through my mind right now. And that's what I was thinking about all week. And some moments were just absolutely amazing. Actually, most of them were. And there were other tough times where I'm just like, what am I doing with myself? You know, and it was so nice to be with John and Mira. They are such wonderful people. Mira is a person to me. I treat her as any other living creature on this planet. She is a sweetheart. And John has become a dear friend. And I'm really grateful that I had the opportunity to come here and be with them and see Mexico and ride my bike and sing some Ole songs and no crashies and all that good stuff. So tonight's gonna be a full moon, which I'm excited about right next to the water and gonna sleep well and then we're gonna ride tomorrow. And yeah, that'll be that. Look at that. The moon is still full here in the morning. Thank you, lakeside camp spot for a beautiful place to rest. And thank you, Mira, for being so cute. Oh, it's the morning bounce. It's beautiful, isn't it? We found Efraín. How are you, my friend? Hi, how are you? Hi, yeah. Ready for a good day. Very good. I'm gonna try to follow you to see if you don't get a little bit of your money back. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful Saturday morning. No crashies, no flatties. No flatties. I said it all the way around. That's our man, no Whammy's. No crashies, no flatties, no Whammy's. That's right, let's do this. We're watching for the killer dog. Show me the wall. Little John and Mira. It's about the fifth time of the day so far doing this little trick. Dragging bikes under barbed wire fences. So maybe some real mountain biking here. We're stopping for a snack and Efraín brought chili mangoes. These are my favorite Mexican treats in the world. They're just dried mangoes with like chili powder so they got a little bit of sweet and spicy. Gracias, amigo. Mira. It's time to say goodbye, Mira. Yeah. You're gonna have so many beautiful adventures. You're gonna meet so many dogs and wonderful people that are gonna pet you the whole way to Argentina. Yeah. Yeah, you are. Thanks for being such a good buddy. You're special. You're a special dog. Thanks for everything, again. Another amazing adventure. Yeah, another good one, eh? Another one for the books? Yeah, exactly. Realluded Narcos and Saved Puppies. Well, we did a lot in eight, nine days. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. Well, I wish you all the best going south, man. I'm sending you all my no-crashies, whammy's, vibes. Yeah, I'll probably use a few of those. Oh, I love you, brother. Have a good one. Mira, be safe. Be safe out there. And everybody, remember, be like Mira. Wake up every day with so much enthusiasm that people think you're insane. Because that's what Mira does. She's always psyched. And at the end of every long day, doesn't matter how long it is, she still has energy, she's still smiling, she's still catching sticks. There's a lot to learn from this dog right here. And she's got a big piece of my corazón for sure. Bye, sweet girl. See you later, brother. Mike and A. in her mano. Be good out there. Hasta luego. And just like that, I am sitting for dinner with a wonderful Mexican family. ¿Cómo estamos? Yeah. Yeah. Yo me siento muy bien con ustedes. Gracias por todo. Bienvenido. Y gracias por hacer una comida vegetaliana para mí. Gracias. Con mucho gusto. Sí. Estamos esperando desde hace días con mucha ansiedad, con mucho gusto, mucho emoción. Y es un honor que estés con nosotros. Bueno, gracias. ¿Y ya te bañaste? Ya me bañé. Muy bien. No me puedo mover mucho, pero... Muy bien, bueno, gracias. A comer. A comer. A comer. Friends, thank you so much for watching this series. I am so happy to have been able to share it with you and share the best of Mexico. Like I said, in the very first video, Mexico is one of my favorite countries in the world. And it's the people just like anywhere I go. It's the people that make these adventures special. And you're special too. Thank you for watching all my videos always. And if you have the ability, please consider joining my Patreon. You will get early release videos and videos with no ads, which is very cool. And you'll be supporting my channel so that I can keep on creating content for you. And I just wanna say, you guys are wonderful. Thank you. It's been a great year so far. And I hope you're all getting after your own adventures and getting off the couch and challenging yourselves in whatever way that is. And stay tuned. I don't know exactly what's next, but there would be something coming down the line. And as always, my friends, get out there.