The reception in Tehuacan was something not to forget. The dinner and drivers meeting was numbing, my notes tell of a band playing, some very pretty girls and the highlight being afterwards, a guy with a contraption on his head like bulls horns, loaded with fireworks, pinwheels and fountains going off, chasing would be Matadors around, as they gave him the "OLAY". It was a good time.Another 6 AM rise, breakfast and off to find time cards and the starting order. Today the landscape changed to the look of high desert, lots of cactus, rolling hills with the Sierra Madre in the backround. The first speed stages we ran were fast and clean ......we done good! Not so for one of the Corvettes, a 60's Stingray that burnt to a crisp. As we came over a pass during a morning speed stage, we saw a plume of smoke in the valley ahead. In Mexico, they're always burning something, so as we passed the flames and it did not look like a Corvette, we didn't think much about it. Later we found out that the pilot and co-pilot just got did get out before it completely melted. This was a day for accidents, a beautiful black Mercury went off road and over an embankment with no injures and a slightly spectacular
head-on involving a Facal Vega, a Studebaker and a civilians car during a transit section. I think there were a couple others that I didn't make note of. What was noted were the "topes" that day. That's prononuced "toe-pay", and basically they are speed bumps, but that doesn't do them justice. They come in all shapes and sizes, everything from a "Botts Dot" to standard, rounded top ones to something more like a parking barrier. The good thing is they keep small towns from having traffic from going full speed down Main St. The worst is having to drive over seemingly hundreds of them in a lowered race car. And there's always a stray one that's not marked, and that's when you want to make sure your exhaust is bolted on tight. 
Today we also had an event that I have a special memory of, passing two cars during a speed stage. I don't know why, but an Alfa Romero and a Porsche 356 started ahead of us, halfway through the stage we caught the Porsche who had caught the Alfa. We both got around the Alfa Romero and a couple turns after that, we got past the Porsche. Navigating while passing cars takes some focus to not just start watching the show, but...OOOOWEE BABY, it sure is fun!!
My last remembrances of this day were of a pink church on a hillside during a transit and gorgeous flower orchards in valleys we crossed. Also in our sights, as we were heading toward Mexico City, there were the
two volcanoes, Pico de Orizaba and Popocatepetl with snow capped peaks. Our next day would take us racing through downtown Mexico City.Today we are 28th overall, 7th in class.
