Shark Attack

here he comes

Just a nurse shark. Great shots taken by Rob Winter. We were swimming around with three of them earlier in the second dive. Thanks to our divemaster Danny.

and there he goes

Good sized Eagle Ray on our first dive.

"World Famous Chicken Drop"

So you buy squares and wait for chicken security to blow in the chicken's butt then drop the chicken on the squares. Whichever square gets chicken shit wins the pot. Hysterical. This was the big event on a Thursday night on the island.

Off to Belize

Travel Day to Ambergris Caye.

Mexican border into Belize was a joke. More typical Mexican bs/red tape. Wouldn't get my vehicle deposit back immediately like I was told in Matamoros.

Somebody fell in the pool

Here I sit poolside catching up on my travel log. Hotel LunaSol in Playa del Carmen. Fell in the pool last night. Jeans hanging outside the shower and t shirt still soaked and draped over a chair. Woke up naked in my sleeping bag on the chaise lounge on the patio.

last night in Mexico

Espanol retorno?

Bike repairs and maintenance. Was this the day I went and had the rear brake done? after getting the brake pedal bolt rethreaded with a 7mm? and offered dos cervezas? she said heineken. he said 20 pesos. lo siento chica.

Came back to the room with a 6pack of tecate and a fifth of tequila. Proceeded to make some cocteles por nosotros. Mi espanol retorno despacio pero mejor y mejor cada dia. Bueno.

'Temple of the Jaguar'/Beware of bats(and bees)

Made it to PDC
Rode across the jungle from Campeche into Quintana Roo.
Temple of the Jaguar. Beestings.
Bike wouldn’t start
Weird place on the lake

bahia de campeche

nice spot for my morning cafe con leche

never seen a sign to watch out for bats. only in the jungle

or one that says you have to slow down for them

Starting to get tropical

Cruising down the gulf of mexico. Two lane twisties. Potholes. Topes.
Migeli
Bike over the curb and up the steps
Bike didn’t start this morning again
Old mechanic fixed my fuse box.

first rain i've encountered

tropical downpour. we'll wait it out a bit

Tampico Trauma

Logged over 12 horas on the GPS today but not as many miles as I’d hoped. Made Tampico and had some trauma-but minor- for you parrotheads.
Up early. Dawn comes late on the Gulf in November on Central standard time. Fired my bike up and rode it down to my room(left it secure for the night by the main house/office). Loaded up and ready to go. Like a dumbass I plugged in my iphone with the bike off and can’t believe it drained the battery. Fahk mi. tried to compression start it loaded down. Comical fail. Pushed it back to the office area where someone was already ising the trickle charger! Too funny. Here I was worried about getting a jump. Stole the charger from the truck it was charging and hooked it up to mine for a few and I was off.
The ride this morning was totally awesome. Totally tropical two lane twisties without too many potholes. This is what I came for! Tropical clouds. Tropical plants. Tropical birds and their noises. Totally sweet.
The owner of the hotel called the guy in his town about a battery for me but no luck. So he gave me instructions for a place to get one in Tampico. No joy there either. So I’m still running with my battery and it seems to be performing flawlessly but at the same time ive been VERY nice to it at all times since.
As for the Tampico Trauma, I paid my first Mexican bribe today! I’ve been to mexico a lot of times and if you throw in all the driving and trekking ive done in latin American countries too, its pretty lucky I’ve never had to deal with corrupt federales. $10- bill. Totally worth it.
I’m driving through some backwater part of Tampico but the street is crushed and crowded bumper to bumper, bobbing and weaving on my bike. Killin it. When this guy that looks like he belongs at macys in a grubby brown uniform with a toy badge waves at me. I pretend not to notice. I keep going. I hear a whistle blowing behind me. Fuck it. But then his friend on the next block(same uni not as grubby) waves me over to the side and hes standing in the middle of a very narrow two lane. Unavoidable. I pull over.
The other guy walks up and pretends to be mad. I pretend to not understand that im being shook. Then he tries to tell me I ran a light and thinks I don’t know what semaforo(traffic light) is. after I remove my glasses and helmet. I look him straight in the face and almost yell, “NO”. we go back and forth pretending not to speak any English or Spanish and blah blah. I give him my license. He gives it to the other guy so he can get back up the block to his beat. New guy tries explaining still and basically wasting time and meanwhile I am nonplussed. Im parked on the side of a very busy street. Some kids on the other side are in this little shop and looking over and were laughing together. The cop doesn’t like this but im very polite and unruffled and kind of having fun with it. He has his ticket book out but won’t give me one. I’m in no hurry either. I actually lit a smoke sitting there on my bike just hanging out. That’s the game. The end run is to have him actually write me a ticket or take me to the station. He tried to see if I was staying in Tampico. This is so he can keep my license and hopefully extract more from me later. Or something. he kept writing, ruffling, pretending. Nothing. I kept smoking and laughing with the guys across the street. I told them to email me the picture while the cop is standing right there. Everypone is having a great time in the middle of a totally hectic street. At one point a state police pickup truck rolls by. They are in a completely different league than the beat cops. The guys standing up in back with all their huge automatic rifles drive by. They have to go slow because of the traffic. They started laughing too! Everyone knew what was going on. It was hilarious and I was one of the stars of the show. Having a great ole time.
Finally, I say real nice to the guy, kind of conspiratorially, “how much do you want?”
He finally writes on his ticket $200. He meant dollars. I think? I pulled out a $10- bill and said “igual ciento treinta y cinco. No mas” as if I was countering his 200 offer as if he meant pesos. The other guy comes back again. Taps me on the shoulder and holds out his hand. We shook. And smiled. New guy is all of a sudden my best friend and gives me directions to take the second light, go left and id run into the toll bridge I want out of Tampico.
Paddy O’Flynn
Power outlets don’t have a ground prong so cant use to charge my laptop and it died while writing.

A funny thing happened on my Mexican Thanksgiving

not quite tampico. Marina del poto? Well… the day started out well enough. Got up early

Port Isabel, TX

Because yeah, its Thanksgiving! Despite not getting any pumpkin pie, turkey, mashed potatoes, avoiding the cranberry stuff, and a healthy dose of modern family, its always a great day. Have no idea what happened in the football games today. Basketball now too? Oh well. I had 8 street tacos for dinner. Wait for it… up the street. Then got a tecate on the way back. Tried to get four but she didn’t have enough change to give me the balance on a ten dollar bill. So I gave her the single I had and just took one. Why didn’t I just buy more beer? Good question.
My day on the road was a bit more eventful than usual. First border crossing and all. God it went great! I’d made it the 40 minutes back down from South Padre to the crossing, after topping off the gas, caffeine, and nicotine, before 8. It was dark when I woke up and the sun was just coming up as I started the day. Got to the border and the first guard shack. They were jovial while they asked for three dollars. Rode across the bridge to the next point where I drove through the scanner and it beeped at me. Crap, but I drove up to the inspection lane and the guy just sat there so I just kind of slowly rolled on by. I don’t think he said anything  but I had ear plugs in under my helmet and didn’t look back. We just kind of looked at each other. It was really weird.
Then it started to go south. I mean I’m supposed to go south so I just kind of followed my nose and thought I was going the right way. I’d just cruised through the border with the little film canister in the secret pocket, its early, I got a full tank of gas, I’m finally in a foreign land again, and hey… its thanksgiving! So I cruised for a while. Matamoros is not exactly small. Pulled out my gps’s and I needed to turn around. No big deal. But I had to do that like three more times until I was finally on the way out of town on the right road. And even then I had to check again. Welcome away from America. It probably took or cost me more than hour but I didn’t feel bad about it because I set it up so id have a short run to Tampico. Id still get in there some time in the middle afternoon and relax. You’ll notice im not writing this from Tampico.
So I drive about 75k and get to the ‘Aduanas’ station. Customs. Cool. No big deal. I was just here in March and also entering by vehicle so this was kind of expected. What I didn’t expect was that I needed to have a sticker on my windscreen. Id read or heard something to that effect before but didn’t have to do it earlier in the year so… whatever. no big deal. BUT. But, you can only get the sticker at the ‘Frontera’/Border. Yeahp. That’s what I had to do. Rael was great when I got back down there btw and was sheepish when explaining what I had to do. So I drive all the way back up, all the way through Matamoros, and get to the border. It wasn’t exactly obvious where I had to go to get around to the aduanas ao im kind of riding around when this nice looking guard was walking to her truck. Long story short is she takes me through a checkpoint, through the middle, and over to the right building.
So I go in. there is no one behind any of the windows but there are two people at the information desk. But they don’t speak English. At the US border! With incoming english speakers looking to get answers. Quizzical. My spanish got me to the right window but he was to be right back. He got to the window and I had to explain what I was doing. Isn’t this all he does? Anyway, he fills out my form. Very slowly. Its in Spanish but it would have taken me a small fraction. Now I am definitely starting to have to think tranquilo thoughts. He gets done and I have to go across the lobby to another window. I guess I have my visa but now I have to pay. So I go pay. For the visa, for the sticker AND a $300- US deposit. Jeez. And its only good for 30 days so when I come back through I have to do it again. She needs copies of my title, registration, license, passport, and visa. Fifty cents each at another window. Then back to her. Meanwhile she had to take my visa back over to the other guy and use some white out. Yeah they still use a lot of whiteout in MX. She gives it back to me so I can make a copy. Then I go back to her, give her my credit card. Chaching. $350 en todo. Then back to the original window. He does something to my passport and checks my stuff then finally I can go. Oh yeah, somewhere in there I had to wait for another guy so I could go out to my bike and he could check my title against the VIN. So then, its finally time to leave and there is a big orange cone in the middle of the apparent exit lane from this separate little parking lot for the declarations building I’ve been in. So, I salida through the entrada and turn to go back through the checkpoint where the guy and I had the weirdness. They were about to get on me for going the wrong way but I think they could see in my eyes that id had about enough. So after a light scolding they said “ok” and kind of waved me on. Fuck what a pain in the ass. But its still early and its thanksgiving. I’d hate to see what that would have taken on a normal business day, in the middle of the day. Cant even imagine how people do it.
So this time I’m not going to get lost because hey, I already did this once this morning. As I’m coming out of the border area and into Matamoros I immediately realize why I went the wrong way. The way you are supposed to go is closed for construction. So I snake around and get on the highway a block later. I’m on the right road. Awesome. I can be back down to Rael at Aduanas in a hurry and still make Tampico for apertivos y cervezas. Not to be.
It seems there is a jaunt you’re not supposed to miss as you’re leaving town on the right road. So one of the times I stop to check my GPS(I definitely need to figure out how to get my iphone to stay up on display like a real GPS cuz this bites ass) my bike won’t start. It acted kind of funny the last couple times I started it but I thought it was just because I had the fan running for stop and go traffic, the headlight on for safety, and the phone plugged in for charging. Huh. Let it sit for a few with everything unplugged and let it cool off. Still wouldn’t. Not even like the solenoid is engaging the starter gear. Really dead and staying dead. Fuck. I’m parked at an OXXO(7-11 ish) on a busy intersection and my bike is dead. With all my shit on it. And that’s a lot of shit.
A guy from the shop next door came over to see if he could help(then he bummed a smoke) as I took off my riding jacket and gloves and helmet and earplugs. Laid all that crap down and cracked my bashguard toolbox open. Then had to open and partially empty the right pannier to get at my socket set. Took the seat off and the left body part so I could get at the battery. Couldn’t remove the battery holder as it’s a #3 phillips and was crusted solid. I only have a #1 and #2 phillips head and I couldn’t get it without ruining the head of the screwbolt. So I improvised and got the cover off the top of the holder without removing the battery. BTW- I love my bike. The engineers made this thing so it could last in the field and god its awesome in that regard.
My battery is the stock unit. Its not a sealed battery. It has 6 cells. Totally old school. With little rubber caps on top of each cell. I pulled the first cap and looked in. No water! Like none. At all. Hell, there’s your problem. At least it made the diagnostics easy. Now I had to figure out a way to get water in there while its still in my bike with wiring and fuses and frame in the way. And fill six ¼’ holes without getting it everywhere.
I had a bottle of Dasani. Not exactly distilled and ok for the battery. But I figure I need a new Yuasa sealed gel cell anyway so I never have to worry about this again and I’m ok with using it. Now how the hell to get it in there? After asking in the OXXO and looking and asking around(I would have settled for squirt gun), I ended up taking a plastic coke bottle that was in the gutter and rinsing it out with my good water and poking a small hole in one of the bumps on the bottom with my leatherman. Then I filled it up with just a couple ounces with my finger over the hole. I was going to try and dribble it in to each cell. It kind of worked I guess but not really. So I took my smallest allen wrench, held it to my finger and my finger over the hole and the wrench down in the cell and got it to fill mostly efficiently if not slow. Cool. 5 more to go.
At some point a guy stops because he’s riding a Kawi Ninja. I say hey. He says hey. Turns out he lives in Brownsville and his English is better than my Spanish and he offers to jump me. My battery. My moto battery.
I get the battery cells done and the caps back on and the holder/cover back in place and re attach the ground and… presto! Fired up like a champ. I thought the first dude from next door was going to cry. He didn’t think I could be Mexican enough I suppose. Then he bummed another smoke while I shut it down and packed up my tools and yard sale and got ready to FINally get headed south on the right road with the right shit. I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself. Don’t know why I was embarrassed really. It seems so commonplace to have a broken down vehicle down here its just not common for the dude under the hood to be a gringo.
So anyways… I pushed hard the rest of the day trying to still make Tampico but couldn’t do it. I was very tempted to break my rule of no riding at night outside the states on the very first night! Ended up getting a really nice room from a really nice family in the middle of nowhere. Paid too much though. Equivalent of $23.
Eight street tacos and two tecates later I am going to bed. No turkey and not a chance of finding a shot of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey(wild turkey) to say I celebrated the day properly. Oh well. I’m tired. Good day.

Last day stateside

good day. Got a new camelback and some seafoam green at walmart. Bike didn’t surge today either. Like last night coming in after I got that valero 93. put some of the seafoam in when I filled up. Also got a new back tire from the kawi dealer in brownsville. rookie mechanic didn't tighten the locknuts well after chain and i would have lost the locknuts had i not checkec them.

dude wanted to give me two levers plus shift for $20 but they didn't match up. Drove up s padre trying to camp and almost got stuck after 10' into the sand.

jerky redbull guys. Weird acid trip guy at the hotel. Funny loud guy at the bar where I had dinner…padreritaville. But the two guys on guitar were really good. we'll see if the 'golden pole' opens anytime soon.

Lonesome Dove country

long but good day on the road. Bike still surging like it has been for a couple days. Ever since the almost overheat at the inspection station. Inspection station today too where the dog got up on my bike.

so many people saying 'God bless'

crossing the Pecos and being on the Rio Grande and thinking about lonesome dove and texas rangers and driving cattle up the country and acroos the rivers and seeing it for real. And thinking about a little poke too for those that know.

Texas Boonies

this was another really cool day of riding through south Texas. The air force weather balloon. The guy checking out the lights of MALFA that used to have a KLR.

New (not yet in) Mexico

some cool riding through NM and in and through El Paso and then had Madden Haul of Fame Chuy's. Had an awesome Machaca. Did an oil change

Watch for me on the mountain

Watch for me on the Mountain is the title of one of my absolute favorite books. It was written by Forrest Carter. The same author as The Education of Little Tree. Its about Geronimo and goes into the history of the Apache and what we did to them. The mountain is at the top of Apache Pass where we built Fort Bowie. This is a picture of that mountain in the background of the Fort Bowie graveyard.

Fort Bowie/Apache Pass is about 20 miles off the small highway and ends in a dirt road for another couple miles before coming to a trailhead where you can hike into and up to the site. This is where Geronimo, Cochise, and Mangas Coloradas played hell with the Union Army, Wells Fargo, and anyone else after what we did to them.

I've always had a keen interest and I had the place all to myself. It was really cool to see. And, probably because its so remote, it was really cool how its been preserved. How you can't get there in a vehicle. How it's been preserved. It was also nice to go for a hike. My ass is gettin sore.

Doesn't look like much but this is what it was all about. The only water. Apache Spring.

Towards Tucson

Not much really and not very eventful but did have a nice cheap place for the night.

the Dragoons(?)

REI

Kind of a lame day. Did some bike maintenance then went shopping in Tustin at the REI. Great ride up into the hills between LA and San Diego. Turned east at San Juan Capistrano. Did some gambling at PALA. Rode at night and saw the forest fire in the big state park at night. Made it into ElCentro. What an armpit but hey, I needed to crash.

So Cal

great riding day. Went back up into the hills then came down to the beach and did the PCH all the way down to Costa Mesa/Newport Beach where I met an old friend and her boyfriend before going out for dinner.

Cal Poly

Spent a couple days just hanging out with my son. Also did a bunch of shopping. It was nice to be back in shorts and flip flops. Took he and his friends out for pizza. Worked on their bicycles. Played copious quantities of cribbage and ping-pong and pool and had a great visit. Brought back a lot of college memories.

The day before I left we met with his advisors about the trip my kids have been planning. Housing, dining, financial aid and his scholarships, and his advisor in the engineering school and it couldn't have gone better.

Happy Birthday! - Dylan, my youngest, is 18

awesome day! Hiked Bishop's peak and looked down on everything. One of the 'Seven Sisters'(?).

Then had an awesome dinner. Ordered two deserts!! Deep fried oreo ice cream after ribeyes, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, and beans at McClintock's.

SLO

San Luis Obispo from Bakersfield is actually an awesome ride. After you get off the valley ag floor, you climb up into the hills and you're in wine country. Barely missed rain but saw some wet pavement.

Showed up at Cal Poly to see Dylan early afternoon. Yeah!

We just hung out for a while and got caught up. Hadn't seen each other for a while. There was a home football game against Idaho State that night. We went but left after the first half it was such a bad game. Besides, Skyfall opened last night. So we went and got some food and saw Bond

Death Valley...

was actually the nicest part of the day. This day started and ended so brutally. Still on account of Brutus. It blew like stink all night. Woke up super early and got going. Found out later it was 19 degrees. That's before accounting for wind chill. Also realized I had picked up an hour so I was on the road before 7, not 8.

Freezing my ass off but headed south. The front was through so the wind was down but its still a full on winter storm.

Riding down and into Death Valley was so refreshing because of the warmth and the relative calm.

But climbing out over another range put me right back on the leading edge of the front again.

Made it out to a town called Ochala(?) which is on the highway to Mammoth from L.A. and regrouped at a little truck stop. The wind is super tiring and the sun is down.

Bakersfield is only a couple more hours and leaves me a nice easy day over to Dylan tomorrow. BUT...

As I get down to the Barstow-Bakersfield Highway the wind is possibly the worst its been. Right after probably the worst blast I'd taken, one which almost picked me up and dropped me in the next lane, there is a huge, lit text, sign warning of high winds ahead. Fahk mi. RV's and high loads not advised.

No exits. I pull into the weigh station and drive around, park and go inside. The California Highway Patrol tells me there is no other, slower way around. But thankfully they also informed me that I'd been through the worst of it and I only had another 15 miles or so and it should improve. And so it did. I was whipped when I finally crashed for the night.

Et tu Brute? Winter Storm Brutus

It really was brutal. Woke up in the morning early and the sky was ok. Headed south and went by Ruby Lake and did some cool dirt road(s). But that wasn't the fastest route and by the time I got back to asphalt it was getting on in the afternoon and the weather was worsening.

Then it started getting downright shitty. No rain really but extremely high winds. The weather turned into the second named storm of the year. Right after Sandy hit the East Coast Brutus pushed the jet stream much further south than normal. I was on the edge of the front the entire rest of the time. Just nasty, buffeting, inconsistent, puffy gusts that did not quit slamming into me.

I was thinking I would make Tonopah but no way. I was practically riding sideways with tumbleweeds flying into me and no visibility because of all the dsirt in the air and it got dark. and cold.

Fremont was on the map but... Great guy that owned the bar and the quadplex with rooms for rent. We had his wife's home made pirogies. Potato and kraut with onions-That’s it.

Saw some new beautiful parts of Nevada. Man, they got some mountains too.

And so it (finally)begins

It was tough finally getting out of town. Not just all of the last second details but stopping and seeing people on the way out and saying goodbyes. I hadn't felt the bittersweet like this in a long time. Years. Excited and anxious for sure but the reality of being away from everything really hitting home.

After getting everything loaded and hugging my daughter one last time, I had a couple stops still to make on my way out. It was my plan to stop by the office in Ketchum last and then continue on up over Galena and through Stanley before stopping in Boise for the night. And then down into Nevada. Not to be.

Massive cold front moving in. I'd been watching the weather closely, knew today had to be the day, and by the time I got to Ketchum it was starting to look ugly up north. Sure enough, just as I am leaving the office, it starts a light rain. I hope it ends up being a good omen - isn't there something about rain on wedding day?

So I turned back around and headed south. As I am coming through Hailey it just so happened that Meagan was leaving to catch a plane in Boise and she ended up right behind me on the way out of town and down to the flashing light. We said goodbye again one last time at the rest area when she headed west and i kept heading south. 

It was kind of weird getting into Twin on my bike. That was the furthest I'd been from home with it so far. It was getting dark by this time but I may as well have stayed home if I'm only going to Twintucky so I kept going and made it into Nevada. Lost some money at the tables at Cactus Pete's but got it all back and more at Barton's before crashing for the night. 

Only about 130 miles but a great first day.