Took off from Minnesota 10-1. Left on my trusty KLR that I tore down relubed put together ordered all sorts of new parts(he-manish foot pegs, the XCR silencer, megablaster horn, all spare cables, levers, filters, bulbs, fuses, plugs, oil plug you name it. Entered Mexico 10/10 on a 2012 V Strom that I can't fix have no spare parts for and never even made it thru the owners manual. I was heading down I35 just coming up on Austin Tx where I was excited to be spending the night. It was about 8pm and I heard clanking sound, smelled and saw burning oil took her off the freeway onto frontage off frontage into the front lawn of a Harley accessories and repair shop. I set up my tent and went to the big Harley bar next door for Margaritas. Next morning the Harley place says they want nothing to do with my problem. Directly across the freeway was large multi Japanese bike dealer. I hop the freeway went inside Central Texas Power Sports in Grapevine texas. I spoke to a nice young service manager who had my bike picked up and over to there shop in no time. Heres the diagnosis. The bearings went bad surrounding the shaft which connects to the countershaft sprocket. When it went it started breaking loose it was breaking apart the outer case metal. Shot motor on a KLR with 27k miles and lots of cool extras, Happy trail Panniers, all motor guards, LED flashing brake lights strobe day hi-beam. It was time to start shopping. Settled on the V Strom 650 ABS Adventure. Jump to today and 4150 miles later as I sit outside my hotel room, hot inside, in CD Cahutemonco minutes from the Guatemalan border which I will cross in am. Now here is why this report is going to suck: I dont know how to upload photos on the site, hell I got a great one of the KLR damage as it sat on the lift in Tx, next I am not going to pay full attention to spelling the names of towns, I'll get in the ballpark. But here is a summary of Mexico. Never ever hassled by anyone, cops,federates, inebriated mexicans, no one. The land is gorgeous and I didn't expect that. Yes you can camp, I have 13 or so nights under my belt and camped 5 of them. Zipotle beach south of Puerto Escondido is not to be missed, great beach cheap posadas small and you will know people by the end of just 3days. Met a kid there Jon from the UK and he is "hitching" his way from South America (Ushia by way of Buenos Aires, thru to San Fran then across us to NY. Now here is the interesting point for this forum. When he arrived in Columbia and couldn't afford to sail or fly to Panama, the folks in the last Columbian town told him how he could walk it. He did, keeping the sea to his right at all times, using a machete, found two abandoned camps along the way and of course like my trip Solo. More crappy reporting to come. Oh and the V strom rocks.
I'm glad you finally got your ass across the border into Mexico and found out it wasn't so bad as all the news has it made out to be Now just work on that bike maintance Nice story about the kid walking the Darien, nearly anything is possible Get a photo hosting account like Smugmug and copy and paste the pictures after you upload them to the photo hosting site. Keep up the fun times down South!
Pics! Open a smugmug account. Then follow the tutorials on how to put pics in with your prose. You're especially going to need pics for the LARR you're hosting next year.
By the way, I had saved one of your cans of Coors to drink in case you actually made it. I'm drinking it now.
hey Nickel - I'm liking your style... keep it up. Sounds like you're here in Guatemala by now, planning on stopping in Antigua? Let us know if you need any route advice while you're here. If you do be sure to come by Moto Cafe and share some stories with fellow motorcyclists, join us for a ride, or just have a beer! Always great to meet ADV'rs. Moto Cafe 6a Calle Oriente #14 Antigua, Guatemala 14°33'19.50"N 90°43'52.43"W Safe travels! Chris
I'm going to call bullshit on the kid who claims to have walked the Darien... No offense, Dr., I'm just saying that it's not exactly the kind of place you can walk. For example, there are some huge fucking rivers to cross, and no, you can't just swim them. Especially because of the mud on the Pacific side. At high tide, the rivers are a mile wide. At low tide, it's a mile of mud. And it's the kind of mud that nobody can swim, not even Navy Seals, who, during the Invasion, died in the mud. If you get to Panama, you'll see the mud and the rivers. The only way to walk the Gap is to do it down the middle, where the rivers aren't as wide, and then you take a cayuko down-stream to Yavisa, where you get arrested, which is better than dying.
And another reason its going to be crappy, you won't hear from me for days at a time and for a really good reason I am out having an adventure, even off the bike. I have to admit I can't stand going into any medium size cities ( large no way) I am not using anything more than shitty National Geaographic Adventure maps. No GPS. When I get to a larger city its like starring into the swirl of a toilet flush. So you got to hit San Cristobal so I arrive into the centro area after asking 4 people directions to it and see the word hotel and pull over. I want to escape the narrow uhber bustling going on so It is the Best Wester of San Cristobal, I don't care if its $70 a night I'm off the grid. Next day after walking around I find a posada even closer to the square for $17 a night, nice room shared hygiene facilities. I found the city remarkably european. Next I am at the La Masilla mx-guat crossing which A) only me there (Aduana)B) they did all copies C) the bank to pay the import fee 5steps from Aduana. The town was another story, the first 300 meters were like driving thru a combination of a busy statefair venue and Marakesh. Made my way to Sipacate on the coast of Guatamala now my destination was El Pearadon Surf Camp. After arriving and the then proceeding to ask 7or8 people directions to the actual camp, I arrive at this dead end at a riverbank. Again more questions by me and 9 guys all say I need to get the moto into the boat to get to the camp. I never got any indication from the site or emails with Rafael Sant Angelo (owner instructor) that there was some ferrying necessary. But the direction was all unanimous and they all were necessary to hump the loaded V onto the boat. Look at the Map apparently if I had come from the south I would have been able to drive in, coming from the North boat. Its located in the El Pearodon Buena Vist. And the V made it up the rutted dirt hill from the landing and then a challenging 10 blocks or so of 3 or 4 inch sand, I hate sand. Max I don't know about the DG walk either, the discussion was over Margaritas n other, yet he and I will keep in email touch as his whole trip sounds rowdy to me--hitchiking alone. I at another time will talk more bout it as I too wondered about rivers. Surfin is hard I suck but more in Nicaragua n El Salvador. On my way right now to the Gu Be border, pickin up my sweetie in Belize City and 9 days of 2up on the V. Adios
You're going to like the Wee 2-up probably way better than the KLR that took a shit. If I was going to ride LA on a bike that wasn't mine, I'd probably go with the silly little Wee. We're really, really going to need pics! Go to www.smugmug.com. Open an account (it's cheap, and totally worth it). Upload your photos to your brand-fucking-new smugmug. Once uploaded, it takes about half-a-second to put pics in your crappy ride report. Which reminds me- now I really am out of beer. I was so desperate, I even drank your Coors.
