March 27, 2011

Dad and I had to share a futon last night. I slept "okay" but dad only had a half hour of sleep. I think he was excited to see mom. I think but not sure... Dad and I were packed and ready to go for 9. It was raining when we left so we had all of our gear on and were all ready to make the last leg of our trip. We made it to the canadian boarder around 3. Scince today is the last day of spring break the crossing was a little busy. But dad and I thought we just pull a "South America" on the line. We rode our bikes almost to the front and cut in. We were about 5 cars from the boarder. We ended up only waiting 10 minutes. Shortest boarder crossing on the whole trip. After we were in Canada dad and I blasted home. We got home and alot of friends and family were waiting there to greet us. It was awesome to see everyone. It feels amazing to have set out on a gaol and complete. I was just overwelmed with all the people and emotions. Today was a great day. I will remember this for the rest of my life.

March 26, 2011

Today we woke up with 8 inches of snow on our bikes. Well this sucks. So dad and I decided that we will spend another night here and hopfully it would get better tomorrow. So dad and I walked down the road to find some breakfast. We found a nice little resturant that makes awesome breakfast. We talked with some of the local snow plow drivers who where in there having coffe before they start their shift and they told us to just rent a "U-Haul" van and truck the bikes just a 100 miles down the hill. What great idea! So that was dad and I did. We had a van and the bikes packed by 12. We were doing alright for time. We made it to Salem around 6 where we stay our last night on the road with some other Goldwingers.  They were really nice and we enjoyed our stay with them.

March 25, 2011

Dad and I had an early start today. We were on the road for 8:30 and rode for almost 1000 kilometers. We made it to the top of Mount Shasta, which is northern California. There was about 5 feet of snow on the side of the roads, but the roads were all clear. No snow on them. So we got a hotel and just took it easy for the rest of the night.

March 24, 2011

On the road again. After breakfast dad and I packed up our stuff, said good bye to bill and Susan and thanked them for the wonderful hospitality. Dad and I were on the road around 9 ish. We road about 600 km today. We ended up in Lancaster where we spent the night with some other goldwingers. Bob and Nancy, were very nice. They made us a wonderful bowl of chilly wich is exactly what I wanted at the end of a cold day. Not long after that I headed to bed because I was pretty tiered.

March 23, 2011

After breakfast this morning dad and I went out to finish up on the motorcycles and start cleaning up. About 15 minutes later of us getting out into the garage a ups truck pulls up and hands dad a package. We were both very impressed how quick the part got into dad's hands. So dad threw it onto his bike and then we cleaned up. So now the bikes are all ready to go. So bill took us out on a ride. We were gone for a couple hours. It was a nice little ride. Once we got back we went out for dinner at margarita ville. The food was really good there and so were the margaritas. We got back to the house and visited a bit more with bill and Susan then went to bed.

March 22, 2011

Maintenance day. Dad and I got right too the bikes today. We first went and got the bikes washed. Then went and got the parts and stuff we needed. We first stopped at a motorcycle shop where we got a quote on dad's oil problem. It was way too much and they wanted to keep the bike for a couple days. Dad just said he'd do it. Once we got back dad went on the internet and got a part ordered for his motorycle. We will have to stay another night to give us tume to get the part and fix dad's bike. Now we can change our tires. Dad and I put on new tires ourselve only using a couple of car jack tire irons and a hammer. It was alot of work but we saved ourselves 260 bucks, thats how much it would be if the shop did it. Then we just changed our oil and hung out for the night.

March 21, 2011

Today was the day. Our last day in a spanish speaking country. Niether dad or I got very much sleep last night because we were very excited. Dad and I were packed up and ready to go before 8. We made it to the boarder around 9. And there was a line up at least 2 km. Dad and I just sat in the back of the line for a minute or so till some locals told us to ride up the sholder. So dad and I said "Okay" and we cruised all the way up to the front of the line about 12 cars in front of us. We were in the line up for maybe 20 minutes and then we were in the USA! Dad and I start on the road then I come on the CB and say "Oh my god!" Dad replayed " What! What!" Freaking out and trying to look through his mirrors to see whats wrong. "An Ihop." I say with a sigh of relief. I can just see dads helmet shaking back and forth. Nothing was said till we sat down and got a table at Ihop. After our breakfast we just went full throtle to Phoenix. But on the way dad discovered his out-out shaft is leaking oh great. And to add on top of that his battery is low. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. It starts to rain. So dad and I just switched batteries and got to Bill and Susans house as soon as possible. Needless to say we made it there with out any more problems.

March 20, 2011

Dad and I woke up had breakfast and got an early start. We rode all the way to a small town about 60km from the USA boarder. We got a hotel room and just relaxed. Once we got all un packed dad started to charge his battery for his bike. About 10 minutes later I hear a sizzling noise.  I look over at the battery charger and a see flames. My quick reaction was to un plug the charger. Dad and I just stop and look at each other while a cloud of smoke fills the road. We both just started to laugh. Dad checked how much voltage the battery has and it should be enough to get us to Phoenix. After that little excitement dad and I just took the rest of the night off. We rode hard today.

March 19, 2011

On the road again. Dad and got on the road for 8 this morning. We said good-bye to grandpa and nana, and we were on our way. We road all the way to Los Mochis, where we got a place for the night.

March 18, 2011

After breakfast dad and I hopped on our bike and headed over to Christine's place. Dad and I arrived there and she was at the beach so we went and got a beer and some food. We came back and visited with Christine's company. Christine showed up about an hour later and we all had a nice visited. Around 3:30 we headed back to grandpa and nana's. From there we got our selves ready and went out to watch the Xuitla Dancers, Christine and her guests came and watched too. The dancers were really cool. They did a bunch of different dances from the different provences on Mexico. It was a great way to spend the evening.

March 17, 2011

This morning we all went out for beakfast at the "Pancake House" and had breakfast. We met Christine there, dads cousin, and we all went back to grandpa and nana's house.  We all had a nice visit then nana and I went out to the Puerto Vallarta "Botanical Grardens". We had a nice day together. When nana and I returned from our adventure we all went out to the malacon. We had another wonderful night with our family.

March 16, 2011

Today dad and I just relaxed and up-dated our blogs. We also replaced my hub bearrings on my bike. We enjoyed Grandpa and Nana's company during the day. Then when night came we had a nice game of hearts.

March 15, 2011

Today we are gonna see Grandpa Al and Nana Lynda. We left Zihuantanejo at 7 and rode all day till 5. We had a couple problems on the way. Like about an hour on the rode. Dad quickly was slowing down for a speed bumb, because they are everywhere in mexico. Anyways dad quickly slowed down for the bumb and scince dad is trying to conserve energy so his battery will last long he has no head lights, break lights, dash or signals. I saw him dam near stopped and I was only a couple meters behind him. I swirved so I wouldn't hit him dirrectly in the back. This quick thinking on my part help the stiuation in a large amount. I swirved but not soon enough, our side bags clipped. Mine ended up exploding all of the road and dads just broke off. I drove of the road, but kept the bike up the whole way, and came to a stop. Dad was just nudged over a little, but he kept the bike up too. We quickly pick up all of the stuff pack it into my side bag where we discovered a large crack in the plastic. Not a problem the bag still closes. Dads bag on the other hand, the latch was the only thing that broke. So we just strapped it on and were on our way. Nothing much was said then. Later we are going and it feels like my back tire is flat. Oh great. We stopped and checked it out and the tire pressure is perfect, but my hub bearings arn't. Perfect... We decided they will be good enough to get us to Puerto Vallarta. We kept on trucking. We had to stop again because I lost my top bag. Luckyly it was just dangling behind my bike by the strap that was holding it down. Man this has been one hell of a day. Anyways we finally made it to Al and Lynda's place. We went out for dinner and visited for the rest of the night

March 14, 2011

It is time to test dad's theory. We rode all day and the battery slowly diminished. But we made it to our destination for the day, Zihuantanejo. We found a hotel and parked the bikes. Funny thing was that dads battery didn't even have enough power to start up so he could drive the bike from the reception to the room. He planned that right.

March 13, 2011

Today we didn't ride. We just took care of the bike. We took the whole front of the bike apart. Dad check over all the plugs and finally decided that the alternator was toast. Man this sucks. So what dad did was went out and bought a big car battery hooked it up to his battery, and bought a battery charger. So hopfully the car batteries life will last a whole day of riding and charge at night. That was the plan.

March 12, 2011

Now that dad and I are in Mexico its time to make tracks to Puerto Vallarta, to my grandparents place. The day was going great until dad comes up on the cb "I have developed a electrical problem". I replied "Do you think we can make it to Puerto Escondido?". Dad answers "I hope. Wait I'm only firing on one piston! I have to pull over!" Dad pulled over and we took a look at the bike. Dad figured out the the battery wasn't charging so we switch batteries from bikes. We push started mine and rode on to puerto escondido. As soon as we arrived into the town we got a hotel and parked the bikes. We took the night off and decided we'll worry about dads bike tomorrow.

March 11, 2011

Today was the day. The last difficult boarder crossing. Man was I ever looking forward to it. After this boarder crossing only mexico into the states then the states into Canada. Anyways we rode hard to get the to boarder, we left early in the morning and arrived at the boarder around 3. The funny thing was too, that the last 15 km to the boarder it started raining and it came down in 50 liter buckets. The drainage system could even keep up with it on the other side of mexico. After about an hour at the boarder we were in mexico. Once we got the bike permit we just headed to the nearest hotel and dryed out.

March 10, 2011

Another boarder crossing day. But before we did the boarder crossing dad and I went and did a tour of the copan ruins for about an hour and a half. It was really neat and interesting. Once we were finished we all headed over to the boarder. We arrived at the boarder around 12. Wich of course is lunch... So we had to sit around and wait for the lady to get off her lunch break in order for us to get stamped out. So we waited. Finally the lady showed up and we were all taken care of in 5 minutes. Now we have to go and get stamped in, which wasn't a problem. Getting the bikes in wasn't a problem either, its just dad missed placed his passport for 5 minutes. After running arounf this tiny little boarder crossing, getting all the cambios and migration people searching for it, it finally turn up. Wow that was a relief. It turns out when we went over the Juans bike for a second it feel out of dads handfull of documents and was on his seat. Good one dad. After all the camotion we were able to get our bikes inported and everything was fine. But for our friend Juan, he had a special case. So he had to wait and talk with the boss, but the boss was in a meeting. He had to wait around till the boss came by. He told us to just carry on with out him. So we said our goodbyes thanked him for all of his help and hope too see him in Canada. Dad and I rode on but it was around 3 by the time we left the boarder. We didn't have much time for riding. We were able to get a couple hundred km before we bunked down for the night.

March 9, 2011

This morning we didn't get on the road till around 11. We go up had breakfast and then took a taxi ride into town. Juan wanted to check out the town a bit, and so did we. Once we got on the road it was only a short 350 km to our destination for the night, Copan. In copan there are ancient ruins and it is very close the the Guatemala boarder. So it was the prime location to stop for the night. Juan had been to Copan before so he knew exactly were to stay. We got a room at the beautiful b&b up on the mountain looking into the town of Copan. It was very nice. So once again we just relaxed for the rest of the night.

March 8, 2011

Scince dad and I the decided to get home soon then later, today was another long riding day. We left the hotel around 9, Juan with us as well. We rode to the Honduras boarder, and to our surprise, no one was there. To get cheack out of Nicaragua was about 10 minutes. Then we went over to the honduras side and were there for about an hour, because there is alot of paper work to do. But lucky we had our friend Juan with us and he took care of everything. I now call him San Juan (Saint Juan). We are now in Honduras and its time to load on the miles. We rode through the largest town in Honduras, Tegucigalpa. As soon as we enter the 8 lane main street, we got lost from our friend Juan. Oh great, this sucks. We just found our way out and carried on. We later stopped down the road about 50km out of Tegucigalpa to check the map, where we were re-united with our friend. Scince he knew the way, we just followed him into the next town. We got a room at this nice place with a pool and just enjoyed the rest of the evening.

March 7, 2011

Dad and I left the hostle at 6 this morning. We wanted to "really" beat all the traffic at the boarder today. We arrived at the Nicaraguan boarder around 9:30 and were on the other side around 11:30. It was a large pain in the butt but we survived. Dad and I pressed forward. We stopped for gas about 40 km before our destination for the night. We filled up the bikes then went to take off. Accept dads bike isn't starting. So we push the bike aside and try to asest the problem. Finally we decided to just push start the bike, carry on and worry about the problem tonight at the hotel. We got the bike started with no problems, but then i looked at the bike tire of dads bike and it seemed low. Sure enough he had a flat as well with a starter problem. We fixed the tire with no problem and filled it up with the gas-station air hose. But right before dad was about to top off his tire and motorcyclist rides up. Juan was the riders name. It turns out that he is a motorcycle tour guide from mexico. He was just traveling for a week or so through central america and is heading back home. So we tagged along with him and got a place at a hotel in Chinandega and had dinner with him. He is really a great guy.

March 6, 2011

Dad and I had a lazy morning today. Around 12 is when we got up and headed over to the local coffee shop where we were going to Join Jenn, her room-mate Liz and her room-mate's mom, Cataleen. The coffee tour was fantastic. Just what we wanted. We learned alot about coffee today. It was a 6 hour tour and it only cost 25 bucks per person. Thats including all the freshly roasted and brewed coffee. Yummy! After the tour dad and I went back to our hostel, had a shower and headed over to Jenn's place for dinner. Jenn made some great Costa Rican dishes. It was a very lovely evening.

March 5, 2011

Today was our first central american boarder crossing. So this morning dad and I thought we would get an early start and beat the rush at the boarder. We arrived at the boarder at 8:30 and here was a line up around the boarder then. Wow! We got the bike delt with then started to stand in line. After 3 minutes of waiting dad said "Screw this!" And he went and made his way into the line very close to the exit desk. But even being this close to the desk, we still had to wait 2 hours till the lined moved to us. Panama needs to get the stuff together, thats all Im saying. Once we got stamped out dad and I went over to the Costa Rica side. We were only over there for about a half hour and we got stamped in and the bikes taken care of. Once entering into Costa Rica we high tailed it to Monteverde, were we will meet up with one of my old high school teacher. On our way to Monteverde we had a slight delay. We were riding along when one of dads side bags decided to break off. It skipped along the pavment for 200 meters before it stopped. We gathered the parts that we could and headed on the way. Once we got into Monteverde we contacted Jenn and visited with her for the evening.

March 4, 2011

Dad and I left the hostle around 9 and were on the road. We made it all the way up to David today. We were hoping to get a bit further but we had to deal with a tire failuar today. I was riding along when I notice my bike riding funny. I knew right away it was a flat tire. When dad and I found the problem, it was not just a nail or anything it was a slice. So dad and I manage to put 7 plugs into the tire. It was still leaking thou. But it was good enough for the next 10 km to the tire shop. We got to the tire shop and got it fixed. What a job the repair man do. It gluded the slice shut and patched it twice. All for just 4 bucks. It was great. Once we made it to David we found a place to spend the night. Once we unpacked we went and found a place to change our oil. Today was a very productive day.

March 3, 2011

Today was a great day. Dad, the german, then Japaniese and I got up at a decent hour this morning. (the reason I use "german" and "Japanise" is because they both have very difficult nams to spell). Anyways after breakfast we all hopped on our bikes and went over to the Panama Cannal. That was really interesting. We all learned alot about the Panama Cannal. It was a day well spent. Later dad and I went and pick up the computer. We spent a couple hours at the hostal then we went our for dinner with our biker friends. After dinner we hit the sack.

March 2, 2011

One of the worst days, so far, during this trip. It took 6 hours to get the bike papers for Panama. We went to the aduana and they said we needed to get insurance. So it took another 4 hours to get insurance on the other side of Panama City. Then another 2 to 3 hours for them to do the paper work in the office. After that dad and I wanted to go get the mac fixed. We go to the mall and the service guy is not there. So we have to go back into town to the other mac shop. And then we tried to buy some front tires for the bike. And man oh man we just ran around like chickens with the heads cut off all day.

March 1, 2011

Today was a long day. I was up around 5 and dad got up at 6. We got up this early to pack our stuff because we were told that we would be loading the bikes at 8. The other passengers that don't have motorcycles left about 7:30. So it was just us motorcyclists. The boat to pick up the bikes didn't come because the water was too choppy. So the captain phoned around and was able to be allowed to dock the boat. But is was soo windy it was really hard for Lulu to park the boat. So we ended up having to put them in a wooden boat about 100 meters from shore. Once the bike was in the wooden boat it was taken to the dock were 8 guys had to lift the bike up 4 feet onto the pier. Man was this a tought job. It got worse. We still had to do the big GS1200. But in the end all the bikes were saftly on land. Once we got the bikes ready we said goodbye the the Captain and the crew. Then rode off to Panama city. But shortly on the road, not even one km, were were stopped and had the pay the police a bribe... I said to dad after, "So far, I don't like Panama". After the little delay we had a blast on the road our the the Panamerican. The road was like a roller coaster. We all had fun on the road. We arrived into panama and parked the bikes. Once the bikes were parked we went for somthing to eat. then took the rest of the night off. Tomorrow we have to get up early so we can get the paperwork done for the bikes.

February 28, 2011

Just another day in the Caribbean. Drank some beer, swam and soaked up the sun. Then around 3 we picked up the anker and sail off to El Porvenir. We arrived there around 6. We then got ready for dinner. When went to the airport to have dinner on shore. It was a great way to spend the last day in the San Blas.

February 27, 2011

I woke up this morning around 8 and the boat was still rock'n away. It wasn't till about 10 when we ankered the boat. Shortly after that we got out the rope swing and some beer. We swam, swang and drank till around 5 when we all went over to this island close by to have a bbq on there. The food was great and the scenery was absolutly fanastic. We hung out there till late in the night.

February 26, 2011

Not really much to say about today. The boat has been rocking through 20 foot swells scince 11 pm last night. Dad didn't really get out of bed all day, neither did I. We just lazed around and tried not to throw up.

South America Review

My favorite to least favorite country's
The first Country would be Colombia, a close second would be Ecuador, after Ecuador would be Peru then Argentina then Bolivia and last Chile.
Colombia is first on this list because it was very beautiful, clean,  friendly people and good value for your money. And on top of that prior to the trip all I herd were negative thinks about Colombia. Such as "If you go there your gonna get shot, stabbed, raped, mugged, ect". I felt just as comfortable there as I do in Canada.
Ecuador was defiantly a closer second. It was exactly like Colombia except there were too many people.
Peru was great as well, but I felt the people were much nicer in Colombia and Ecuador.
I loved Argentina. The people were great and the was lots of beautiful scenery. But it was almost as expensive as Canada and there was more garbage on the side of the road.
Bolivia as a Country was fantastic but the people in Bolivia weren't. The scenery was great. Very beautiful. But the people aren't as nice, there is alot of garbage and its not much cheaper then Peru, Colombia or Ecuador.
And my least favorite was Chile. I don't really no why, but Chile didn't do it for me. The people are okay but it is really expensive and alot of garage on the side of the road. I also found that the scenery wasn't the greatest.
But all in all I have to say the South America is an incredible place to travel to. Regardless what the travel warnings and the rumors say, South America is as safe as any other "first world" country. The most uncomfortable part, was the language. Not being able to understand the people was a bit of a "downer". Regardless I am looking forward to the next time I visit this beautiful continent.

February 25, 2011

Today was our last day in south america! All morning we got ourselves organised for the boat. We would meet the captain at 5pm at the docks to load the bikes. Dad and I got all packed up and explored cartagena for the last time. We were at the docks for 4:30. Sortly after the other 3 bikes showed up. There was a Japaniese man, a german fellow and a couple from argentina. We all introduced ourselves and waited for the captain. When the Lulu showed up we loaded the heaviest bike first. Which was a BMW GS1200. A huge bike. Then after was mine followed by dads, next the german bike and last the little Japaniese 250. Thats was.... ineresting getting the bikes on board. After the bikes were delt with the group of us went out for dinner and got some pizza while the captain got everything ready on board for the other travelers. After dinner we met back at the dock for 8. Everybody got on the ship and we headed off for the san blas! Goodbye South America.

February 24, 2011

This morning dad and I went and had breakfast with our new friends from london. After lunch we went out and did some shopping. I had to get some new shorts because the new ones that I just bought got lost in the laundry at the hostel. After that we went back to the hostel and waited till we had to go meet Captain Lulu to hand in our passports. Once we did that we just hung out for the rest of the night with our friends from london.

February 23, 2011

Dad and I were packed and ready to go by 9. But it took a half hour to say goodbye to all of our new friends. We rode straight to Cartagena. Our original plan was to stop in Barranquilla to get the mac fixed but there was too much road construction. So we didn't bother with the heavy traffic. We arrived in Cartagena for 1. We went back to the same place where we were 10 days ago. We got some stuff oginized and hung around the hotel. Then at 10 we went to go meet up with some friend we met at the Dreamer hostel about a week ago. There was this roof party at another hostel so thats where we met. It was alot of fun till is wasn't.

February 22, 2011

Once again, another easy day. Dad and I just chilled around the hostel. Dad was busy on the computer and I was hanging out with my new friends from vancouver. Great way to spend the last day in Santa Marta because tomorrow dad and I head back to Cartagena.