South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by JDowns

Hi Señor Throttlemeister,

Glad to have you along for the ride!

The Sherpa has 7.48mm baby shims under bucket just like your mule.

Sweet even better if you are carrying spare shims

Originally Posted by JDowns;

You write a damn fine ride report. Have enjoyed reading about your travels immensly. I'll go over and hug your bike and reassure it Papa's coming down soon if I make it over to Venezuela and it's still down there.

Thanks for the kinds words man

Venezuela is worth the stop even if nothing more than to travel around for free Damn fine people I met there too I'm already looking forward to getting back down after I heal up and get some more travel funds built up.

Originally Posted by JDowns

So I am moving my departure day up. I have to put some windows in a country church next weekend and as soon as I finish that it is time to hit the road methinks.

Pm me if you want a warm place to sleep and shop to use in NE OK on your way South. Would be my pleasure to host a fine traveler

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by Throttlemeister

Pm me if you want a warm place to sleep and shop to use in NE OK on your way South. Would be my pleasure to host a fine traveler

Thanks for the kind offer TM,

I think I may take you up on it. It's fooking cold today. Straight south to Oklahoma is sounding good this morning. I'll PM you for directions before I leave.

Muchas gracias,
Frio Juan

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by JDowns

Thanks for the kind offer TM,

I think I may take you up on it. It's fooking cold today. Straight south to Oklahoma is sounding good this morning. I'll PM you for directions before I leave.

Muchas gracias,
Frio Juan

If you make it before a Tuesday evening I'll take you over to meet a fine bunch of NE OK Advers It just got cold around here yesterday, you better hurry riding sans heated gear

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by Throttlemeister

If you make it before a Tuesday evening I'll take you over to meet a fine bunch of NE OK Advers It just got cold around here yesterday, you better hurry riding sans heated gear

Good enough! Maybe make it down by Tuesday after next.

Heated gear? My heated gear consists of stopping at gas stations and crouching under the hot air hand dryers. Hypothermia builds character.

Look forward to seeing you.

Best,
John

[JDowns]

I know from my younger years that adventurous travel is something that starts with an idea. You hear of people riding to far off places and you wonder to yourself, "hmmmm, I wonder if that is something I could do? "And then you look down at the stoplight at your beater Honda that you bought for 500 bucks and you go, "Nah, no way."

But the idea stays with you. And pretty soon you buy a better beater Honda and finally pack up your stuff and take off for a weekend camping. Wow! This isn't so hard. Freedom of the open road. Go anywhere I want. Sweet!

At least that's how it was with me.

And then you think to yourself, "I wonder what it would be like to ride to Mexico?" And everyone pours water on the idea. Too dangerous. You'll get killed. Blah, blah, blah.

Don't believe it. Sometimes I feel like a voice in the wilderness when I tell people how much fun it is to ride south of the border. All the nice people I've met and great back country riding there is. Most people write me off as nuts. But some people get a far off look in their eye. You can see the gears turning. They are like me 40 years ago thinking to themselves, "hmmm, I wonder if that is something I could do?"

So just like Johnny Appleseed I will continue to plant the seeds of adventure for those who read these stories long from now.

Dream up an adventure and have fun!

Best regards,
Johnny Adventureseed

[crashmaster]

6 pages in and he hasnt left home yet.



Be careful in Oklahoma. Word on the street is that there is broken legged crazy MF'er living there. If you stop in and hang out with Oklahoma John youre going to need a couple rest days after laughing so hard. One funny dude that Throttlemeister.

[TheMule]

Lookin' forward to this one....

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by crashmaster

6 pages in and he hasnt left home yet.



Be careful in Oklahoma. Word on the street is that there is broken legged crazy MF'er living there. If you stop in and hang out with Oklahoma John youre going to need a couple rest days after laughing so hard. One funny dude that Throttlemeister.

You're right Crash. Should have waited to start this ride report until I actually left next week. Ah well, its my job to entertain you this winter while you save up for your next fun trip.

Actually, I look forward to dropping down through eastern Oklahoma and visiting Señor Throttlemeister . Its a beautiful area of the country. And the southeast part of the state down through the Ouachita national forest area into the foothills of the Ozarks is purty country. Most people picture Oklahoma as flat with oilwells. Same as me when I first went to Baja and expected to see a flat desert with rusty cars sticking out of the brush. Boy was I surprised to see how beautiful and mountainous it was.

I'm already gone in spirit. Will be posting from the road soon.

Best,
John Downs

[greygeezer]

Great... love the long distance, small bike trip reports !!!

[Merlin III]

Looking forward to John's story. I can already tell form his posts in this thread that he is an excellent writer. Now I have to find his last Ride Report that so many of the ADV Hall of Famers have mentioned and read that.

[top_dog]

Hey JDowns,


Will you come to Brazil? If not, you don't know what you are missing

Come to Brazil, i live in a city near Sao Paulo, and i have a nice free couch aroud here

I can show you some nice things also.

I have just finished a 4000km and 7 states riding across the country and thinking about a ride report...

If you come here, send me a PM and I send you my email and phone.

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by top_dog

Hey JDowns,


Will you come to Brazil? If not, you don't know what you are missing

Come to Brazil, i live in a city near Sao Paulo, and i have a nice free couch aroud here

I can show you some nice things also.

I have just finished a 4000km and 7 states riding across the country and thinking about a ride report...

If you come here, send me a PM and I send you my email and phone.

Olá cão superior,

Thanks for the kind offer! I would like nothing better than to visit Brazil and learn how to samba, attend a football match and celebrate Carnival. Not sure if my money will hold out that long. If not this year then later for sure.

Look forward to your future ride reports and pictures from belo Brazil.

I learned a little Portagee in Hawaii when I lived there. Mostly swear words though. Brazil looks inviting from what I have seen on the internet:



Obrigado,
Juan

[bk brkr baker]

Originally Posted by JDowns

So just like Johnny Appleseed I will continue to plant the seeds of adventure for those who read these stories long from now.

Dream up an adventure and have fun!

Best regards,
Johnny Adventureseed

Carry on JD.
At 18 I had a Honda 350 that I mostly rode around the surrounding counties with no real thought to how far I 'could' go.
Then one day I went with my Dad to store/welding shop and there was a guy there changing ther oil in his FLH 1200. He had the rack piled high with gear including a 3 burner Coleman stove. He was a big fellow , so I guess he liked to have big meals.
We were in Kentucky but, the plates were from the far off land of California. He told me of his travels, he'd ridden to his uncle's place in New York the year before and now was on his way back to California.
I mentioned I owned a bike , a little 350. He said that was enough to go anywhere, so why not go ?

The next year i took my first out of state trip on that 350 and really haven't stopped since.It's still one of the best ways I can think of to spend my time .
So thanks Harley guy from Ca. for planting the seed. It's still growing .

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by bk brkr baker

Carry on JD.
At 18 I had a Honda 350 that I mostly rode around the surrounding counties with no real thought to how far I 'could' go.
Then one day I went with my Dad to store/welding shop and there was a guy there changing ther oil in his FLH 1200. He had the rack piled high with gear including a 3 burner Coleman stove. He was a big fellow , so I guess he liked to have big meals.
We were in Kentucky but, the plates were from the far off land of California. He told me of his travels, he'd ridden to his uncle's place in New York the year before and now was on his way back to California.
I mentioned I owned a bike , a little 350. He said that was enough to go anywhere, so why not go ?

The next year i took my first out of state trip on that 350 and really haven't stopped since.It's still one of the best ways I can think of to spend my time .
So thanks Harley guy from Ca. for planting the seed. It's still growing .

Hi triple b,

My first bike was a beater Honda 350 twin as well! Hard to imagine its been over 40 years ago. Time flies when you're having fun.

ADVriding is good for the soul.

Best,
John Downs

[lualca]

Reading and wishing
someday I will figure out how to take my DR350 or the KLR out of this island (hispaniola)
Thanks for your previous report John, this one will be eagerly expected .