Tecate, B.C. Mexico

                                       

                                              Mando and the late Gene Moreno
                                   
By kiki

I discovered Tecate, a beer-brewing border town that sits high up in the mountains of B.C. Mexico. Circa 1978. I had a guy, Tony, working for me; one day, he asked me for a week off; I asked him why he needed a week off. He told me that he was getting married; I said," okay, and you are not going to invite your boss to your wedding?" he said that I wouldn't go if he did because he was getting married in Tecate, a small mountain town just across the border. I did get an invite. My wife, Connie, and I, with some friends, John and Bea Martinez, went to Tecate for the wedding, and we fell in love with the small town.

                                                Tony and his bride

We used to ride Harleys then and started going to Tecate for weekends with friends. In April of 1993, I retired, and around the same time, the company Connie had worked for the last 30 years was moving to Tijuana, B.C., and she was offered a chance to go with the company. Connie accepted their offer when the company offered to provide a rental allowance for us in the San Diego area and moved south to Bonita, Ca. While living in Bonita, we would ride the Harley to Tecate on summer weekends for tacos and a beer or two.

                                                     Da Beer

In December 1995, my brother, Mando, and his wife, Pat, with some friends, came to our house in Bonita on a Friday night; we went to the Tijuana Toy Run the following morning. After coffee that next day, we headed out on our toy-loaded Harleys to Chula Vista Harley-Davidson, where the run would start. Then, after more coffee, we queued and were ready to start our California Highway Patrol escorted ride to the border. We were met by the Tijuana Police at the border, who escorted us to the main drag in Tijuana's Avenida Revolución. There the toys were dispersed among the kids of the Tijuana barrios.

                                                             Tony Barron

After we passed out the toys decided to ride to Tecate for a beer or two. We rode 30 or so miles, and as we were approaching the outskirts of Tecate, we were pulled over by a Tecate motorcycle cop. He asked us what we would do in Tecate; we told him we would look for a place to have dinner and a beer or two. Then, he asked, "a bar?" Of course, "si," we all said in unison; he told us, "follow me," so we followed. He paraded us down the main drag with his red and blue lights flashing to an alley with a restaurant/bar. We offered to buy him a beer; he said no, that he couldn't drink while on duty, but that he would keep an eye on our parked Harleys.

                                        Mando's wife, Pat, is about to start crying.

 

We sat in the restaurant's bar area for an early dinner; as we were having dinner, two old guys (late' 70s) with guitars approached our table and asked if we would like them to play and sing Mexican songs for us for American dollars, of course. Mando asked them to sing Jimi Hendrix's 'Hey Joe' they looked at each other and said they knew 'Aye Jose' but not "Hey Joe" After singing a few songs for us that we requested, they moved on.

After having dinner and polishing off a few Tecates, we left the restaurant and found the cop still watching our bikes. Each one of us guys gave him five bucks for his help.

We got back to the house in Bonita late that night. Mando and Gene insisted on riding home that night. I told them to spend the night, that it was too cold for them to ride, told them that they could get a fresh start in the morning; they said no, that they needed to get on home. So they left. I talked to Mando about a week later, and he told me that they nearly froze their butts off, that it was so cold that they couldn't even talk when they stopped at gas stations to warm up.

When the company closed in 1996, Connie and I left San Diego.

                                                 Tecate Park