More details in the City

I am now hanging out at Niels house. He has a nice place with a large pool. No internet though!


So yesterday I spent time
finding a new front tire
finding someone to mount it on the rim
touring the MiraFlora Locks
finding and buying 20w50 oil for the bike

New years eve day:
washed the bike
changed the oil
did the laundry
paid the speeding ticket

Touring around in Panama City

I spent the 93 degree day exploring, rode the bike on the new highway over to the Atlantic side to the seaport of Colon. As it turns out it is an all busyness seaport with not anything to do. So I had beakfast and came back to the city. I found the old US fancy residential area and toured around that taking more pictures of really beautiful ironwork. Then I rode out to Chamai meet Niel, the friend of a friend. American guy moved to Panama to start a granite countertop business. I have the option of leaving the bike at his place for 80 days and then return it and ride it home.

I rode down to the City again to meet the local BMW Club guys for a Club event at the Local Hooters Bar. I got all sorts of suggestions of what to see in the City. The service manager is supposed to call me if he has a new front tire in stock...mine is plumb wore out.

The owner of Hooters..George (who has a drop dead georgous girlfriend) was quite nice and suggested a nice hotel here in the downtown area. So I spent the night there, avoiding a ride back out to the country late at night. George also plans to ride a bike down here from Atlanta in the spring, so he had alot of questions about that.

I plan to tour the Miraflora Locks today, arrainge for a new tire, and then go back to Niels in the country.

You can see from the GPSpoter that my 2 Buddies have made it over to Bogata and are long gone. Good luck to them and there travels down there. I think they have another 7500 miles or so in 6 weeks.

Bye till, tomarow...

Arrived at the Canal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final section down from the hotel in CR is quite scenic going thru palm tree plantations and beautiful flora of all kinds. Again it looks like a planned garden environment in an episode of Lost in Space! I did catch a view of the local palm oil factory which explained alot about the plantations. I think that oil is very unhealthy, but will have to check into it!

We had a great "helper" at the Panamanian Border this morning. The final negotiation with him for his fee...he spent 2 hours with us, went nicely, in my opinion. Again, John, took one of his (in his mind) "principled stands" and refused to pay the $10/person. He offered to pay the man $5 and the guy cursed him and told him to put his $10 where the sun didn't shine. It was funny because most of the time these folks are forced to take what they can beg. My view is that in the end you want to be fair and make people feel okay. When you are traveling the world you are an ambassador of your country.

The ride down thru northern Panama was boring after what ours eyes have seen. Of course I met another of my Policemen friends and another $200 speeding ticket. This cop must be the only one in Central America that has a radar gun!! Anyway, just one of the small sacrifices made by the leader of the pack! Of course safety in the middle is cheaper but less scenic!.

My rear end is sore after approximately 4400 miles and 7 border crossings in 17 days. I need to take a few days to relax and decide on my plans to get back home. I really miss my little dog Foey, but I know he is well and that it is 20 degrees at my house. As usual, it is forecast to be 92 and sunny here.

My 2 friends are making arraingements in the morning to airship their bikes to Bogata. Remember that the PanAm highway does not go thru the Darrien Gap. I'll wish them well and thank them for all the memories! They are already talking about riding the "Road of Bones" from Europe across Siberia to Alaska!!!!!

I'll work on the blog a bit in the next few days to patch it up a bit!!

Nice riding thru CR....Costa Rica

The ride down from Liberia Costa Rica to the border near Panama is quite beautiful. The way through the countryside up to San Jose is nice. but there is a bit of traffic. Not the Honduras kind; big SUV's with rich Americans in them!! The place is noticeably quite clean without the normal roadside trash fires. They must also really enforce littering laws. I navigated quite quite well thru San Jose, coming out of the City on the Southwest and out toward the volcanoes. The Pan Am highway here rises about 4000 feet above sea level. It got really cold, maybe down to 50 degrees, and then began to rain. I passed many trucks and slow vehicles going up that grade, which is great sport and perhaps should be added to the Summer Olympic Games. Fog set in and we needed to go about 5 mph to be safe. Finally we reached the crest and began the decent down to sea level and 90 degrees in the sun. Went another few hours and found a hotel!!

Volcanos on left Playa on right

Okay, sorry for the delay. Riding thru Guatamala was fantastic and yes...there were many volcanos on the left and the pacific ocean on the right. The surface was fantastic and we went quickly. There were many donkey carts and wild dogs to watch out for. Just as it was getting dark we got so lucky to find a halfway decent hotel. We awoke early for Christmas and rode in to the Honduras border crossing. It really looks like a banama republic like in the movies. We were so lucky to get there early on christmas because is was not busy. We had to call the customs guy to come in to help process the paperwork. We rode thru san salvador....which I think might have be the most beautiful country yet. The road was high quality thru the mountains and we all agreed that we would love to be on some liter bikes (1000 cc race track motorcycles)!!

The border crossing into Nicaragua was okay. We found a great hotel in Leon...Jack the pirates place. There is a huge traffic police problem in Nicaragua and we were pulled over 3 times..about $120 in fines. I was always in the lead and as normal I "waved" to the cops as I flew by. John followed but Mike was pulled over by a road block. Mike and I came back after waiting about 10 miles ahead when a trucker told us that Mike was being arrested. Basically all they want is money..very much like Ohio!!!!

The border crossing into Costa Rica was a mess and took us about 4 hours. We are now in Liberia safely in the hotel. We met another rider here coming north from brazil. Drinking beers and swapping tales.

The bike is running perfectly and is a great choice for the ride. It is all great pavement. Bye for now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Making some progress now

We departed Veracruz about 7:00am and made it all the way south to the Mexican State of Chipas. Chipas is the southernmost state and the poorest. We rode thru some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen in the world. Mountains, lakes with huge islands and in general huge vistas. Unfortunatly were were so high upo in the mountains we were in the clouds for about 1/2 the day. When we entered the town of Texpa I pulled up to 2 people on an old 125 Hondfa and pretended to race with them. Then at the next traffic light asked them when the economical clean Hotel was. They understood and lead us thru the city to a very nice little place. We just checked in.. it is $10 per person!!

The owner of the Hotel took us downtown for dinner. The town is quite prosperous and there is lots of Christmas activity. Of course NO SNOW and about 70 degrees!! I also want to add that the women here are quite striking, in shape and with very nice features. I think we must have seen at least 10 Penelope Cruz look alikes.

Lots to do in Veracruz

Scotts brother and girlfriend arrived last night and Scott got out of Intensive Care today. He is doing fine and might get home for christmas. In all a happy and fortunate ending.

I want to also say that at the moment of the accident I had a bad feeling about dealing with the local Mexican infrastructure.....health care and police specifically. After all the bad stuff that is drumed into our American heads about corruption and dysfunction of Mexico, I really had a sinking feeling. But after dealing with at least 10 policemen and 20 medical people over the last few days I can honestly say that everyone of them was as professiuonal as you would find in the States. Everything we hear is mostly bullshit and really a shame.

Over the last few days I have been busy. I took laundry to the Laundramat, had the bike washed, and had my bike repaired (I did not mention that Scott tore off my throttle side pannier and support structure on his way into the back of the pickup truck). Enrique, the service manager at the Veracruz BMW Dealer was a fantastic help. He took me to a metal fabricator that rebuilt the support bracket well enough to get me to the Canal.

We met Jose Carrillo and his BMW Friends for dinner saturday night and had a great time. I am always impressed by the "BMW Fraternity" that exists. You really meet high quality people everywhere you go!

Today Mike and John oriented the brother and girlfriend with Scotts situation, so that gave me a free day to explore. I rode south down the Coastal Road to the Colonial Town of Tlacotacpan. It was really a unique place. I explored it on the Bike and took many pictures of some of the decorative wrought iron stuff. And returned just in time to meet the group for dinner.

We plan to ride in the morning 300 miles down to San Cristobal.

Going South for Real

Okay, we rode from Matramoros down the Gulf Coast about 150 miles. It is slower going and after these miles it was time to stop, get the Hotel and some Beer. We met a very interesting American couple (in their 80's) that live in North Carolina and have traveled by car down to their house on the Yukatan Penisula...for the last 15 years. They never had one problem and loved to do it. They had some great stories. We rode the next day down to about Nauta, and again did the Hotel and beer thing. It had rained all of the days so far.

We awoke to a beautiful thursday morning and got on the road about 7:00am with our spirits soaring!. Now the absolutly horrible news that I am very very sad to report to you. Scott, the youngest rider in our group (30) was going at a very high rate of speed and CRASHED into the back of a stopped pickup truck. It happened right before my eyes and he crashed and tumbled under the bed of the truck!! I thought for sure he was killed. About 5 people had to lift the truck to get him out. Fortunatly a BMW Rider was passing the opposite way at this exact moment,,..Jorge Carrillo. He immediatly got us an ambulance to take Scott quickly to the local country hospital and later arrainged for us to transfer Scott to the private Veracruz hospital. Jorge even introduced us to Dr. Eduardo at the hospital (he is also a BMW Guy!!!)

Anyway, Scott has survived the accident. He has 11 broken ribs, and punctured lungs. but is concious and with it. His bike is totaled and his trip is thru. His Brother is coming down tommarow to attend to him and get him back to Kenosha.

This really emphasizes the importance of concentrating on the task of piloting the bike. It is so easy nowadays to be distracted by all the gadgets like cameras, gps, mp3s, maps, etc.!!!!!!!!!!!

So we will leave for the South when Steve arrives on Sunday or monday. On a very humbled note.

Making Progress

So, we made it smoothly across the Border. They did require one heck of allot of paperwork; evidently to make sure you do not leave/sell your bike in Mexico. It rained for the first 1/2 of the day, but cleared up during the second 1/2. The road out of Metamoros was wet and really muddy, it was like riding thru pudding!! Needless to say we will need to find a car wash somewhere down the line! The terrain is much like South Africa, mostly arid. We stopped for lunch and a rain suit adjustment. My system worked perfectly and I was really quite comfortable during the entire day. We checked into the Hotel here in Tampico (and you can see the spotgps recorded right next to the piscina...pool!!) after riding about 250 miles. We are now checking email and having a few beers to relax and get ready for dinner. We hope to get down to Veracruz or farther...depending how many times these guys want to stop for more beers. I guess I am outclassed in this area of riding.

Final Details in the USA

I spent monday exploring the South Padre/Brownsville area. And relaxed around the pool for a few hours and a nap. Mike, Scott and John (my riding friends) are due to arrive from Chicago any minute. I met Mike on the Adventure Rider website and later met him for dinner in November. He is a real world global motorcycle rider and I was so impressed I decided to join his group. These guys ride those Japanese dual sport bikes (I think KLR models), similar to the BMW GS Series. I have always thought that these types of bikes were for the dreamers; those that wanted to do it all. In my opinion they are lousy road bikes and terrible dirt bikes. Anyway, we will basically be riding the pavement all the way and my BMW is PERFECT for that. I will have to see how those guys do, and keep my comments to myself.

Here is the link to the GPS Spoter that we will be carring with us:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0i4HSfNg3hqfpnCgi0It3ROYKaUqB6LOc

You can check our progress anytime by clicking on this link.

The next post will be from THE foreign country!

South,South, South

So, Ken dropped me off in Cincin on friday morning and I rode the 450 miles to Anthens Tennesee. I keep watching the water on the sides of the highway. All Lakes were completely frozen the whole way!! Saturday I rode to St. Charles, LA on the Gulf Coast. Over the day the ice slowing subsided, but of course it rained hard for the second 1/2 of the ride. 600 miles. Sunday I rode on down to South Padre Island..another 600 miles!! I am now here at the Las Sprisis Hotel relaxing and waiting for my friends to arrive from Chicago about 5:00pm monday. I'll explore this Island and Brownsville for the day, and generally relax for the LAUNCH INTO THE ABYSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting started

So, I was hopeing to ride the bike from here, but it is thursday night and 11 degrees!!! So my friend Ken has agreed to drive my truck-bike-and me to Covington Kentucky friday morning. From there I'll ride down to the Gulf Of Mexico and turn right. Thats West for all you navigation rookies!