PanAmerican Vagabonds

New video from PAV

2009-12-27T14:43:00.001-08:00

New PAV Clip Mix #1

2009-08-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Our Other Blogs!

2009-05-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

Make sure to visit Andrew Linker's blog as he and Milan Salva continue their travels through South America.

Also be sure to check out my new blog at http://hangdryonly.blogspot.com/

To find us on Facebook:
Andrew
Callie
Milan
Chris
Lawson

Out of Monteverde- Leaving friends behind

2009-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Where: Hostel Pangea
Music: Some unknown Reggae and Hiphop

As always, more pictures to come tomorrow....

Today I left Monteverde with Ran, his two kids Rian and Jackson, and Rian´s friend Liam. We made the 4.5 hour bus ride to San Jose in 2.5 hours riding in Ran´s Cabover Bongo. The original plan was for Ran, his kids, and I to goto the Monster truck show, "Monster Jam" today in San Jose, but last night while hanging out Ran called and told me about the son of a close family friend whose father promised to take him to the show but flaked and forgot to buy tickets. The show would´ve been awesome and I´m sure we would´ve had a great time but thinking back to the feelings I had at my first Monster Truck show, there´s no way I would want to do anything other than give my ticket to Liam. Ran told me Liam was afraid to goto school on Monday, the day he would´ve been coming back from San Jose, because all of his friends would think he was a liar for saying he was going to the show (getting to leave the mountain for the sole purpose of going to a show like that isnt common).

So here I am in Hostel Pangea in San Jose hanging out and enjoying the reggae on the soundsystem. Although pricey, the hostel has a great atmosphere, clean facilities, great service, and fast computers. It definitely gets my vote for a someone needing to spend a night in San Jose.

Tonight I´m meeting up with Ran and kids for dinner and a final farewell.

Leaving my old friends and new ones in Monteverde is the hardest part of going home. It was great to be able to spend time with my friends Diego, Allen, Eduardo, Perro, Monkey, and everyone else. Living at the hostel allowed me to hangout with them almost daily while they were working. The friendships we developed, I feel, will be lifelong. I´m going to miss especially, Diego. I wasn´t able to say goodbye to him which was a real disappointment. He was visiting his family in San Ramon and didn´t know I would be leaving so soon. He´s got an amazing heart for people and may be the most geniune person I´ve ever met.

The generosity of Ran and his Family and Shannon (his sister and co-owner of the hostel) was more than I could ever deserve and I´m more grateful than I know how to express to them.

Its difficult becoming part of such an awesome community, to the point where people think you´re a local and then having to leave it all behind. I suppose its not something I absolutely had to do but my responsibilities back at home have been calling and need to be taken care of before I can spend any more time out of the country.

I have seriously considered living in Monteverde though don´t see myself being completely happy there without my dog. I think the potential for building a business in Monteverde is excellent and if I end up coming back to stay I would most likely find a niche which needs filling, and fill it. There is a great need for technical support for small businesses and locals. The most reliable help comes from San Jose and isn´t practical for quick fixes. The major drawback to running a business in the town is that the average pay per hour is roughly $2, and while the cost of living is much lower, $16 dollars a day, $80 a week, $320 a month hardly makes life comfortable.

I´m tentatively coming back for Ran´s birthday and the 5th anniversary of their hostel La Pension Santa Elena in November.

Calling the Mountain Home

2009-04-05T11:15:00.001-07:00

If there was ever a time to write about something, the last few months meet the criteria. I cant say I haven't had time to sit down and write, I just find myself beginning a post and getting caught up in other thoughts.

I've been bumming around Monteverde for nearly a month, spending time with old friends, making new ones, and entertaining the idea of staying for another month or more. Tomorrow I ride down to the nearest Customs Office in Puntaranes to fill out paperwork releasing my interest in the bike, completing the sale. Its strange to imagine myself without my wheels after coming so far and having depended on them for so long, but it's necessary that I sell them to make it home or continue traveling.

...my computer has crashed now four times in a row. Funny how something like that happens when you finally get the motivation to write!

2009-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I last sat down and got in some good writing time. We've been in Costa Rica now for nearly three weeks. We've taken a trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama and a trip to Samara beach in Costa Rica with Ran, his family and friends.

There are so many things going through my head thats its hard to know what to write about. Part of me wants to stay in Costa rica in Monteverde with friends for a few months, geta job, and a place to stay and enjoy the fact that Im already down here because when I leave I probably wont be back for a while. I already have a few options for places to stay and jobs, which is more than I can say for the states.

The questions "who am I?", "where am I going?","how am I going to get there?", ring through my head while the music plays at Chonchos bar and tint my thoughts, my actions, and my words a shade of hesitation. In a setting as social as this, hesitation in any way can be draining. Unsure what to say, how to say it, and when makes a person unstable in conversation.

Today Chris is leaving for San Jose to fly out tomorrow. I'm going to head up to Mikes house and hangout for Chris's last few hours here but I'll be back to ramble on this evening.

Time to catch up... Puerto Escondido to Monteverde 2.20-3.20

2009-03-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Location: La Pension Santa Elena
Music: Ray La Montagne
Feelings: Missing the road

Acapulco to Puerto Escondido
We left Acapulco much later than planned, but we were used to it by now. The drive out made up for the drive in (one lane, bumper to bumper for two hours). Leaving the city we climbed the ocean cliffs below massive hotels and homes balancing on stilts. Around the last and highest bend, just before the road began to descend, the real beauty of Acapulco came into view. The smaller of the two bays was surrounded by beautiful resorts and vacation homes. I imagined celebrities sunning next to their pina coladas, waving to their pool boy for another.

We rode for a solid 10 hours to Puerto Escondido. At one point I was standing, riding in the back as we rounded a corner, when out of the dark came a dog from the inside of the corner barking so loud I almost jumped off my bike. Fortunately I held my grips and buzzed past him, my heart still racing, laughing rediculously. Arriving at the edge of town around 9pm we found a place to eat and relaxed for a while. We asked a few travelers about places to stay and we were directed to The Mayflower Hotel. We were more than impressed and decided to stay. The gated parking sold us.

The Hotel/Hostel had a great atmosphere and plenty of nice people to hang with. The beaches were awesome and stretched for miles to the south. To walk to the end of the main stretch of beaches took nearly an hour.

We made some awesome new friends and one in particular stuck with us. Jarkko Vasko from Finland bought Lawson's bike and gear and joined the Vagabonds. We were sad to see Lawson go but our new friend would prove to be an addition we couldn't have predicted.

San Luis Video

2009-03-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Into the mouth of the bull - Welcome to Bocas del Toro

2009-03-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

We made it from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro, Panama in 4 hours. We caught the 8:30am bus to the border town Sixaola. A few minutes from the border we grabbed our bags and got ready to jump off the bus. When you're headed to the border it's you vs the bus full of people, most are looking to cross. If you don't make first in line you chance waiting for a few hours, we made it through in 30 minutes, not bad for five people. It's definitely much easier without motorcycles. Many borders have rivers with a narrow bridge full of semi's and people. Crossing them is an experience all its own. Ive included a short clip of my crossing, due to the slow internet speeds I've had to keep clips shorter to upload them. I have a number of videos that are too large to upload. I'm looking forward to adding them.

A day at San Luis Waterfall

2009-03-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

We're currently hanging out in Monteverde, Costa Rica at Ran Smith's hostel called La Pension Santa Elena. It's rated by Lonely Planet travel guide as the number one hostel in Costa Rica and by my account it most definitely is. They are currently adding 17 rooms and in the next six months a rooftop bar. What sets them apart is their commitment to hospitality. If you need help planning your day, your week, or the rest of your trip, they are a fountain of knowledge on the country and will send you in the best direction.
Thought it was necessary to give them a little plug, not that they need help!

We're all currently trying to figure out is where to go and what to do next. We're considering leaving the bikes here and bussing our way to Bocas del Toro Panama. Panama was our final destination, though our plan was to sell our bikes in Costa Rica, so paying to get our bikes into Panama and then back into Costa Rica doesn't make much sense!

We're also considering traveling into South America which would mean staying put for a few months, getting a job, and saving for SA. There may be an opportunity for us to work at a hostel in Bocas called Mondo Taitu, but a number of things must fall into place for that to happen.

PAV blog: Into Monteverde

2009-03-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Location: Chunches Cafe accross from La Pension Santa Elena, Monteverde

Music: Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Coheed and Cambria(yes I listen to Imogen alot but her music helps me focus.

Feelings: Like I've reached the top and am going to take my time coming down.

The day I'd been waiting for since I left Central America last year was finally here. We were leaving San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua for Monteverde, Costa Rica. We had one border to cross and 50k to travel through the mountains of Costa Rica, and the weather reports hadn't been good. It was hard to believe it was raining in Monteverde standing in the 90 degree sunlight at the border. We gassed up our bikes and hit the PanAmerican tarmac. It was good to be on the PA1 and actually be in my destination country. If I'm being honest with myself, La Pension Santa Elena in Monteverde was to be my finish line.

The ride South on the 1 towards Cañas was powerful. The sun was dropping below nearby rolling hills and as the road crested, the Nicoya Peninsula and its bay glimmered orange and red. To the east the breath of the cloud forest fell into the hills and disappeared onto the valley floor. A wall of rainbow traveled through the mist as we moved under a nearly full-moon, rising just above the clouds. If this was my finish line I'd been welcomed with a celebration.

We took a left off the highyway at Cañas and headed toward Tilaran. As we gained altitude the clouds began to come down and the air began to cool. Before leaving the gas station I mentioned to Chris that we had a long ride ahead of us, little did I know I'd made the understatement of the trip. While we were stopped asking directions in Cañas Andrew lost his footing and the bike. He cleared the bike before it hit the ground but he ended up pulling a muscle in his back.

As we moved higher into the clouds the wind picked up and the mist stung my exposed skin. My windshield and faceshield are both tinted and conspire against me while riding at night. The water droplets like the compound lenses of an insects eye. I opted to ride standing, faceshield up, bearing the sting, giving me some visibilty and chance at surviving. The shine of tailights off the surface of the road was unerving, we were riding on luck. At one point Jarkko stopped to put on his jacket and used too much front brake, loosing his traction and his bike to the loose gravel on the shoulder. He jumped from the bike and avoided injury, though the boxes on the back took a good bending.

Into the clouds the road became more steep, more slick, and less visible. I had been having some electrical problems with my bike earlier in the day which joined forces with my face and windshield to end me. The positive terminal on the battery had loosened from vibration and turned my headlight into one half of a sound and light show. At times I had no light, others I had full power, and the rest it flickered like a candle. It caused me to fall behind at one point, which I discovered was even worse because I had no taillights for reference and no help from the other's headlights. I made good time on the straightaways to close the gap and eventually caught up.

After a short stop to change gear I pulled out front with the help of the lights behind me. As we descended a gravelly hill I turned my GPS light on to check our location and in the instant I pulled my concentration from the road it banked sharply to the right leaving me in a straight line towards a small mound and further, a cliff. I locked my rear brake, dropped my gear to first and said a short prayer, very short. Chris said my bike was sideways and he thought for sure I was going down, but true to my first 5500 miles I kept my wheels underneath me and then paused for a quick breath of air as the guys crawled past me. There's nothing like nearly avoiding injury and death to make you feel truly alive.

As the kilometers counted down I thought of the ride I’d imagined into Monteverde. It had been of warm air, clear skies, and dry roads. This ride couldn't have been any further from that, and for some reason I was in love with it. We were climbing a hill nearly 20km from Monteverde when we rose from the clouds into heaven. Above the rain, the wind, and the danger the moon lit the mountain and the road ahead. The intensity of the situation is hard to capture. It's one of those memories where your spine chills in waves, tearducts swell, and euphoria becomes tactile. Life can make you feel like a demon or a god. I was hanging onto the edge of divinity with my feet dangling into the abyss.

We climbed in and out of the clouds a few more times before finally arriving two hours later in Monteverde. I hooted and hollered like a cowpoke on the range, while the locals looked at me like a steer.

We were here, we'd made it. What started for me as a joke, "...ya we should ride down from Oregon, chuckle", became a goal, a reality, and last night, an accomplishment. I have no idea what will come next, but I'm hoping the stories are good.

I have a few weeks to add to the blog that are full of good stories and awesome people. I'm going to continue to add information including a gear list, do's and dont's, favorites, info on hostels, hotels, and camping, borders, toll roads and booths, topes, bike setup, locals, and more!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you! Please email me with ANYTHING!

See you soon!

Pictures and Panoramas from Central America

2009-03-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Shotgun Wielding Guard, common in Mexico and Central America.
Pictures below taken by Andrew Linker

Cooling off after a hot day on the beach!

A long ride to Playa Azul, Mexico warrants flagrant laying down.

Playa La Luces outside of Acapulco.

The Crew minus one.

Two guys, one door.
Pictures above taken by Andrew Linker

Sunset in Puerto Escondido.

This guy buzzed the beach for an hour or so. Awesome but never would've happened in the states.

He fell asleep wishing for a pony.

Cutest vendors in El Salvador.

Dash in action.

Jarkko at the border.

Old man winter enjoys a Gatorade.

Andrew finding something to do at the border.

Me finding something to do at the border.

On our way out of Atitlan

Bikes parked in the courtyard at Jungle Party

Bean and Jarkko waiting for tacos.

Street food is the cheapest at best tasting!

One of the Volcanoes on Lago de Atitlan shot from the boat.
From Panajachel on Lago de Atitlan

Milan getting Jiggy

Andrew getting Jiggy...I think

Helmet cam on the way to Atitlan

The gentleman from Quetzaltenango who welded my rack together!

The new guy

Old man winter on his adding machine.

Pano from Gringo hill in San Juan del Sur.

Pano of the bay at San Juan del Sur

Expect to see an updated blog in a day or so. We will be in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua by the end of today and into Monteverde, Costa Rica within the next few days. Thanks for checking on the blog and I hope your interest has been kept up through the last few blogs!

PAV Video

2009-03-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

Video Description:
I decided to take a few clips from the last couple of days and put them up for fun.
Clips locations in order:
-Shore of Lake Atitlan
-In a tuktuk on the way to Budda Bar
-Through the streets of town near Atitlan on the way out of town.
-Up the switchbacks out of Atitlan
-In the streets of Chichicastengo with a guy in telling us how cute we were on our bikes over his loud speaker.
-Racing through the switchbacks ahead of the group
-This evening through the backtrails of Antigua on our way to a viewpoint

Music courtesy of a live band at the Rainbow Cafe in Antigua that we listened to this evening.

PAV Blog Day 18-30_2.08-2.20: Mazatlan, San Blas, Puerto Vallarta, Ramadas at Tecuman, Playa Azul, Acapulco

2009-02-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

I've come to terms with falling behind and decided to post all of the highlights from each city!

Location: San Pedro, Guatemala
Music: Frou Frou
Feelings: I'm enjoying have time to myself to put my thoughts into words.

San Blas:
This was a small local vacation spot with very few tourists. We rode through the town to find a place to camp and ended up getting an offer from a local "restaurant" owner to camp on the sand underneath his rooftop. It was tempting but the sandflies were horrible so we found another place more towards the center of town. I had been coming down with some sort of sinus cold and had really taken a hit from the day of riding so I stayed at camp while the guys went out for dinner. It was a pretty uneventful pit stop but we all got our much needed food and sleep.

Puerto Vallarta:
This was a huge tourist city with a large enough port to fit two large cruise ships which were quite a sight to see after having been through so many small villages. We ran around most of the afternoon looking for oil and motorcycle paraphernalia. We found an RV park to camp for the night but they told us there was no room. It was already dark and we werent in the mood to find another place to stay. We talked to a number of the friendly Canadians staying there and one mentioned there was plenty of room to stay behind his camper. He and Milan went into the office and they convinced the owner to let us stay. Peter and Carole Borgman were the couple we were camping behind. Once again we were graced by the hospitality of complete strangers. We hungout with them all night and talked about life and traveling. Peter was a Gideon and his son loved to race motorcycles. In the morning they made us breakfast and coffee and wished us on our way. I'm thinking about writing a book about traveling retirees because they are some of the nicest people I've met.

The Ramada at Tecoman
This was an interesting place to stop. We were on our way to Playa Azul but hadnt made good enough time to get there before dark. We were stopped at a military checkpoint and had our bags checked. The guy checking my bags was a nervous, pimply, teen carrying a gun almost as long as he was tall. He pointed to the two tubular shaped pieces of luggage (my tent and sleeping pad) that were strapped in front of my back box as a seatback. I realized I had slipped my machete between the two and began opening the pelican case on the back of my bike. I guess he assumed I didnt fully understand...
The guys with the guns suggested we go back a few hundred feet to a road that would take us to a fishing village. You may have noticed the title of this paragraph was The Ramada, but this was no Ramada Inn. The dirt road was lined with small stick huts with thatched roofs that lined the beach for a good half mile. We passed a family as they were closing their fence and asked where we should setup camp. They offered us their Ramada which fortunetly for us was the nicest one there. Milan and I rode to a small village ten minutes up the road where they had a store. I was impressed at how much they had for being in the middle of nowhere. We bought fish and beers for dinner. We we got back to the hut the guys showed us a bucket of water the owner had brought us before he left saying, "cafe para manana". The water was filled with mosquito larve and was a orangish green. Though we all had a good laugh the gesture was appreciated.
Bean had a rough night with his stomach and had to toss the cookies a few times. He was the first to get sick to this extent.
It was such a cool experience to stay in an authentic fishing hut. This was where the owner and his family came to fish and make a living and here he was offering it to a bunch of roughnecks on bikes. Traveling has showed me there are more good people in the world than we give the world credit for.

Playa Azul
We finally made it to Playa Azul and decided to stay the night instead of pushing it to Acapulco in one day. This was another small locals destination. We stayed at a small hotel with airconditioning and cable for two days and enjoyed relaxing. Nothing special here except in the middle of talking to a local expat some local boys rode up and made a drug deal. It wasnt a new thing to see except I was sitting right in the middle of it.

Acapulco
We rolled in through a winding, gridlocked rode that took FOREVER. After waiting in line with the cars for a good fifteen minutes, our bikes overheating, we decided to play the thread the needle game. The guys took the sidewalks and open spaces to the right of the cars while I threaded the Mexican needle up the center line. The trick is to make time when the oncoming lane is open, get their attention as they're headed towards you, and hope they make room, and if they dont, duck in close to a car or open space on your right. Its definitely a move that takes precision and good timing but after 2ooomiles of weaving in and out of Mexican traffic we've become pretty good.
We found a cheap hotel and posted up for the night. We went out to a dance club and hungout with some people from the hotel. We had a good time and good drinks. It was nice to hangout with english speaking people again.
In the morning we fixed Milan's radiator fan by replacing it with a small metal bedside fan. It worked but we would have to end up replacing it again soon.

Pictures tomorrow? Hope so.

PAV Blog Day 17_2.06-8: Ciudad de Obregon to Mazatlan

2009-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

You can leave comments at the bottom of each post! The more feedback the better!

I've decided to give the reader an idea of where I am and what I'm doing while I'm writing. The rest of my blogs will start out like this:

Where and what while writing:
Location: The Mayflower Hotel, Puerto Escondido, in a hammock in the lobby
Music: Imogen Heap

Feelings: Would love to goto the beach but also want and need to catch up on the blog.

It was nice to wake up indoors away from the bugs, sun, roosters, cars, and everything else that tends to wake a person up in the morning. It was the best sleep I'd had yet. We were so thankful to have had such and nice place to stay for the night. Safety is always one of our biggest concerns, so having our bikes locked in a courtyard surrounded by 20ft walls topped with razorwire takes away alot of stress.

We packed our bags early and left the city before 8am. We gassed up just outside of town and left Ciudad de Obregon for Mazatlan. It was another long hot day. Fortunately the roads were straight and smooth. The day went well but we were losing daylight much faster than we had anticipated. With less than thirty minutes of daylight left we stopped to weigh our options. We could look for a place to stay in a town a few kilometers back or guarantee ourselves a minimum of fortyfive minutes riding in the dark continuing towards Mazatlan. We opted to keep moving.

After hearing so much negativity about Mexico I found myself paranoid and expecting trouble around ever corner. So riding into the night on a Mexican highway was most definitely breaking the cardinal rule of motorcycling in Mexico. I would rather be a moving target, even a slow one, than stop moving and become a sitting one. I wouldn't say people are necessarily wrong about Mexico, because each story has its truth, but unfortunately so do the places we come from, call home, and find our security in. How many times have you been ripped off in your neighborhood?
A year or more ago my parents awoke to my Mom's Chrysler on blocks in the driveway missing its wheels and tires! Do you know anyone whose home has been burglarized at knife or gunpoint? Whose home has been broken into? Whose lost there life to some violent act? My point is, the unknown has always been and will always be scary, especially when that unknown is a place that will soon become your reality. The beautiful part of immersing yourself into that unknown is you realize it is rarely what you expected. In our case, Mexico continues to exceed our expectations.

The ride into Mazatlan was our first in a big Mexican city. We were all worn out and ready to sleep but had to navigate the massive city with it's Friday night pedestrians and drivers. After stopping at one RV park which didnt have vacancy we made it to another we were satisfied with. A nice Canadian gentleman loaned us a six pack of beer to help us cool off and suggested a restaurant, called The Fat Fish, with a two for one deal on ribs (possibly a little questionable by the sound of it). When we walked into the restuarant American looking fellow greeted us from his table and asked where we were from. He and I struck up a conversation and after a few seconds we figured out that I had seen his website, http://burrohas3wheels.com/ while searching for motorcycle information. His name is Gary Smith and he's ridden to Tierra del Fuego, Alaska and accross Canada and filmed it all! He actually sells his movies online! We spoke for a few minutes and he invited us to come hangout on his boat with his family the next day. Our first night in a big Mexican city and we'd already made some friends. The ribs were great by the way.

The next day we found Gary and his wife Marilyns boat and hungout for a while at the Marina. It was lined with beautiful condos and shops. The pool for the condos was also open to the people who had their boats moored there, so we went swimming and talked about motorcycles. Gary had alot of great things to say. He was the first person we'd talked to who'd already done the trip. At one point Gary was sitting on the side of the pool and the five of us were in the water listening to him and one of his buddies walked by and said, "Teach me oh wise guru!". We all started cracking up. A few minutes before that I looked over at the guys and noticed we were all staring with our mouths half open like a bunch of nincompoops. They invited us out to dinner at a locals restaurant in downtown Mazatlan and we left to get ready, planning to meet Gary on the main street to the restuarant.

We found Gary on the side of the boardwalk and he jumped on the back of my bike to show us the way. We parked our bikes and locked them together. The restaurant was in a sketchy part of town but we figured there was enough foot traffic that someone would see a thief hack sawing the cables! The restaurant was full of local families and loud live music. We were the only gringos there, definitely a cultural experience. We had a few beers, shrimp, and talked about life. It was a great time just hanging out and getting to know Gary and his family. After dinner we went back out to the bikes where one of Lawsons boxes had been broken into. His sleeping bag and a number of other things had been stolen, even his suntan lotion! He was really bummed, already running on a shoestring budget.

We went back to the campsite, loaded our gear, and rode to a really cheap campsite a few miles up the road. We camped out on a concrete pad under the stars. We were right next to the ocean and woke up covered in mist! Marylin, Gary's wife, had invited us to their boat in the morning to use skype and get some breakfast, awesome! We loaded up and made our way to the marina. They gave us cereal and coffee and we called our loved ones. It was a great way to start the day once again. We said our thanks and goodbyes and headed out of town. Thanks again Gary and family for your hospitality!

Stay tuned for Mazatlan to San Blas!

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post, once again, they're coming:)

PAV Blog Day 16_2.05: San Carlos to Ciudad de Obregon

2009-02-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

As we were packing up, our neighbors Jean and Graham, a sweet retired couple from Canada, gave us breakfast! We had apple juice, bagels, and breakfast bars! Free breakfast is a great way to start the day. Thanks Jean and Graham!

From San Carlos we left for Mazatlan, hoping to make it before sundown. We had to buy our visas and Mexican motorcycle registrations past the city of Guaymas, or so we thought... Twenty minutes outside of Guaymas we stopped at the "Registration Place", (for lack of the spanish term) and let Milan feel the situation out. After ten minutes of talking to the lady inside he came back and told us we had to go back to the border for our visas!! After a few seconds of suspense he said, "just kidding, we've got to goto Guaymas". This was better than the border but none of us wanted to back track. Getting back into town we found the "Visa Place" right in front of Coca Cola distribution center. After taking turns, for around 45 minutes, watching the bikes and going upstairs to sign documents we had to goto the bank, pay for the visas, and come back to the "Visa Place" to get them. Talk about jumping through hoops! What a pain!

Finally, we made it back to the place of registration and got or documents together. After Milan got his registration and then rest of us started reading over what we needed, I got some bad news. We were all required to have a credit or debit card with our name on it to charge the price of the registration and to cover the cost of the bike if we didn't return the registration upon leaving the country permanently or after the six month expiration. Everyone had brought cards with them, I however, did not. My other option was to drive back to Guaymas, again, and deposit a $200 fee in case I did not return the registration correctly. Not only did I not have a card and not want to drive back to Guaymas, I didn't have $200 on me!

When my turn came I tried passing off another of Bean's credit cards as my own, hoping the girl wouldn't look at the name, of course that didn't work. Milan, acting like he had no idea what the problem was, came up to the window and asked if there was a problem. The girl explained the problem and Milan was astounded. He tried his sweet talk saying, "un excepcion? por favor? excepcion?", and while the girl melted in front of us, she couldn't make an excepcion. The one thing she finally said she could do was take the $2oo deposit instead of making us go into town. So, for the next ten minutes I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to scrape up $200 from the guys so we could keep moving.

We finished the paperwork and got the heck out of there! With all of the setbacks we knew we wouldn't be able to make it to Mazatlan so we aimed our sights on Ciudad de Obregon (I thought it said Oregon the first time I saw it too).

Rolling into Ciudad de Obregon around 4pm, we stopped at a small restuarant for something to eat and to figure out our plan of action. We always aim low when trying to find a place to stay. We ask about good places to camp, hear about RV parks, and sometimes end up even better off. Because of the antics earlier in the day, I was fresh out of cash and had gone all day on breakfast. I pulled out a Ramen and started eating it at the table while the guys ate their food. The lady looked at me and asked if I wanted her to boil it for me! I guess I looked pretty pathetic. She boiled it and brought out to me in a nice bowl. I used what was left of the taco dressings, lettuce, onions, sauce, and made myself some authentic Mexican soup. To be honest, it was amazing. In the course of collecting the table scraps I must have looked even more pathetic because the lady brought me out a small plate of ceviche on the house! So far, every Mexican I'd met had been amazing. Despite all of the negative media we see about Mexico and all of the horror stories a friend of a friend has heard, Mexicans are very a very kind and giving people.

While paying our bill Andrew pointed towards the street at a local on a BMW GS650. The gentleman rode over and greeted us. He asked where we were from, and we asked if he knew of a good place to stay. The second sentence out of his mouth was, "Ive got an empty apartment down the street with a gated courtyard where you can stay if you want". What? Seriously? He parked the bike and sat down to talk with us. His wife had seen us riding through town and called to let him know, thinking he might want to find us and say hi. We talked with him for a few minutes and he invited us to a bike gathering with him and his buddies. They had one every Thursday and he wanted us to come! We followed him to the apartment to take a look. He said he could leave us with the remote to the gate if we wanted to stay, but we didn't have to. We were all blown away and obviously said yes to a free and secure apartment for the night. He said he'd be back around 7pm to pick us up for the meeting, which were all looking forward to.

We settled in, washed some clothes on the washboard, bought a few beers and ate some cow tongue tacos until Jorge arrived(You may notice he follows the blog! Hello Jorge!). He showed up with his buddy Cesar who was riding a Kawasaki Concourse, a sweet bike. By 7pm it was night time, and we were riding with a Mexican motorcycle gang called "The Yaquis", (I think). We met at a local bar where you bring your own meat and grill it on a giant indoor charcoal barbecue. Lawson went with Cesaer to"The best meat shop in all of Mexico" and picked some carne asada for tacos. Everyone in the group was awesome. Most of them were college educated and ran successful businesses. We hungout and talked for a few hours, learning about places to stay and places to stay away from. We said our thank you's and goodbye's and rode back with Jorge and his two friends to the apartment. All of us had a great time riding back and rolled up to the apartment laughing. We thanked Jorge and said our goodbyes. The hospitality of the people we've met along the way has been totally unexpected. A good lesson to all of us guys. One thing Jorge said I'll always take with me. He said, "I wish someone had done this for me".

We rolled out our sleeping mats, turned on the ac, and prepared for an indoor night of sleep, sweet indoors.

Another great memory because of someone elses hospitality.

PAV Blog Day 15_2.04: Santa Ana to San Carlos

2009-02-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have to preface the next 8 posts. I've had a hard time finding the energy to journal after so many hours of riding so most of the next posts will be from memory and will be short on details! Sorry for the long wait! I thank Andrew Linker for letting me use his photos for this post!

We left Santa Ana around 9am. It was easy to pack up camp because 3 of us had slept in hammocks and left most of our gear on the bikes. It was a cool desert morning and all of us knew we had to enjoy it before it was gone. The sun, still somewhat low in the sky, was a strobe through the mountain tops and cactus forests. We rode for 4 or 5 hours, stopping for breaks every 100 miles or so. I kept thinking to myself, "we're finally in Mexico". To some people, the unknown can be terrifying, to to others, exhilarating.

We took the highway towards San Carlos. As we rounded a bend, we saw the deep blue of the pacific lined by white beaches and rocky cliffs. It was a long straight shot for another 30 minutes into San Carlos. The town was beautiful, clean, and alive. This was definitely a tourist destination. Many of the signs were in english or had english on them somewhere. After riding to the end of town we doubled back to an RV park called Totanaka. We settled on a campsite near the back, took our gear off and went out on our bikes to see the city. We stopped for tacos down the street and then hit the road. Just before the end of town we turned onto a road that cut to the right up into some hills. From the top of the hills we could see the coves that continued to swooped in between the sloping cliffs of San Carlos. Vacation homes and small hotels perched on the side of the cliffs like a scene out of a James Bond film when he finally has time to relax after kicking butt.

Our bikes full of power without the burden of our gear, we glided up and down the hills. We stopped at a small beach just past town to get our feet wet. We were all in a good mood and excited to have made it another day. We got back on the road and took it to the end where it turned into gravel. Unsure whether to turn back or keep going, a local stopped and told us there was a village further down. The road was rocky and full of dips and bumps, the first of many on the trip. A ways up the road we entered a small town where the locals lived, obviously segregated from the tourist area. Part of me felt bad knowing they probably used to live on the beautiful shores of San Carlos but were now forced outside because of the cost of living in town. The other part of me figured they also made alot more money because of the tourism and probably didn't mind where they lived. It reminded me of the American indian, except we left them with dusty dry patches of desert in the middle of nowhere.

On our way back to camp we stopped at an outdoor pool bar atop a small shopping mall. It was very upscale and trendy but still cheap. Because it was happy hour we shot pool for free and had a beer or two. It was nice to relax and have some fun. I know some of you are probably thinking, "isnt that all you're doing on this trip?". To be honest with you, so far its been alot of work. Riding a motorcycle everyday for 6 or more hours takes a toll on your body, and then setting up camp just to tear it down in the morning and do it all again the next day can wear a guy down.

We went back to the park, took hot showers, and turned in for the night.

I forgot to mention, Andrew set his hammock up high in a tree at our site and slept like a monkey.

All photos by Andrew Linker

PAV Blog Day 14_2.03: Puerto Peñasco to Santa Ana

2009-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

This posting has been completed! Please read the rest!

After a great morning with The Louds, we exchanged some money at the Banco and hit the road for Santa Ana. It was a straight, hot ride through the desert. Fortunately traffic between the cities is fairly minimal. Most of it lies within the cities and consists of locals. The cars on the roads between the cities are mostly semis, and expensive personal vehicles. The day was pretty routine. We stopped for tacos and gas in a small through-town, the highlight of our ride. I found myself more bored on my bike than I've been in the last 2000 miles. I rode standing up most of the way, practiced steering with my left hand on the throttle, sat in every position possible, and I almost forgot, at one point narrowlly missed a cow(not while riding with my left hand on the throttle). Bean and I were at the back of the pack when he pointed quickly to our left. The first three bikes had startled the beast and sent it running wildly through the grassy median. At 65mph and closing fast both of us had to decide whether to gas it or brake. I was a few bike lengths behind Bean who decided to gas it. He cranked the throttle and ducked to the shoulder just as the cow came up onto the road. My only choice at this point was to brake and hope I had enough room. The cow dashed across the highway and down the other side. I passed her yelling some unintelligible string of words that expressed how angry I was at her stupidity.

A few more hours of hot, boring riding and we were finally to Santa Ana, our second stop in Mexico. We stopped in front of a small taco joint to figure out where we were going to stay. The owner of the place knew some English and kept saying, "Deals for Motorcycles". After a few minutes of listening to him and talking amongst ourselves we decided to go up the street to continue talking. As we left he pointed at us and yelled, "Marijuana! They have marijuana! Police police!". I was infuriated that this guy would do something so reckless, something that could cost us time and possibly money. He was upset that we had parked in front of his customerless taco stand for five minutes and not bought anything. We parked a few blocks away and I asked the guys if they knew what made him yell. They said he pointed to the leaf Lawson had painted on the back of box which is called the Qualmark, a symbol for quality in New Zealand. It looked like a fern...

As we sat on the counter tops of an old outdoor kitchen, Milan walked down the street to a gas station to ask about camping and a store. They told him there was only one place in town to camp and strongly suggested we not camp in the desert outside of town, something we're always game for, unless a local suggests otherwise. So we rode about five minutes through town to a small, gated, RV park. As we got off our bikes, a white haired local man with an awkward gait, swung his left forward and followed with a strong right step until he met Milan in the middle. His English was great but a thick Mexican accent brought him right out of an old western. He and Milan haggled in Spanish on a price for the night, and at the lowest the man would go we all nodded at Milan, time to set up camp.

I was in the middle of figuring out how to setup my hammock between a tree and my motorcycle when Milan told me the owner wanted to take me to the store to look for 4stroke engine oil. At first I was hesitant because not only was I disinterested in going to the store at that moment but I also wasn't sure I wanted to be in a car, in Mexico, with an older fellow whose name I didn't yet know. After a second or two of very careful consideration, I figured this could be interesting. So I jumped in the car, which is already running and ready to go. As soon as the door closed he asked me, "como te llama?", in a serious, business-like voice, which reminded me of the way my Grandpa Bob used to talk to me when I needed a talking to. I answered him and replied, "y tu?", to find his name was Edgar, which I thought was a very fitting name. He pulled out of the park and I braced myself for the unknown.

He casually ran the stop sign cutting off cars coming from both directions and we were on our way. We made small talk to the first auto-shop where he parked diagonal in no apparent parking space, blocking both shop bays. After going inside we were redirected to another shop down the street. Getting back in the car I noticed Edgar had to lift his left leg into the car and set his left arm on the steering wheel. Against my normal judgement I asked him how long his leg had been hurt, knowing it looked more like a permanent injury. It's funny how topics of conversation become personal more quickly when both parties know there wont be much time for talk. He told me his story. When he was young he played in a rock band that traveled the states where he met his wife of 30 years. He told me he owned a motorcycle when he was my age and ended up wrecking into a concrete wall without a helmet. The right side of his brain was damaged, hence the problems with the left side of his body. He said it took him 6 months to learn to walk again, a sobering story. After a few more stop sign runs and a block or two down the wrong side of the street we made it back to the RV park intact.

After a dinner of Parmesan encrusted chicken(made by Andrew) and overcooked noodles salad (made by me) cooked on an old rim, we turned in for a much needed night of sleep. Lawson and I successfully hung our hammocks from our bikes to a tree and slept like babies. The next day we would leave for San Carlos and the rest of Mexico.

PAV Blog Day 13_2.02: Tempe, AZ to Puerto Peñasco, MX

2009-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Goodbye USA!After seven days in Tempe the day has finally arrived. Even though we've already traveled 1400 miles, today feels like the beginning of the trip. Flying out of the country is one thing, riding out with everything you need for the next 3 months of your life strapped to your bike is another.

We rode to Lukeville, a small border town south of Phoenix. None of us knew what we'd be in for, life is so much more worth living this way. We crossed the border, not needing to pullout our passports. Just over the border, Milan riding out front, was waved through and then immediately after a bell rang and Lawson was waved to an inspection
station. The rest of us pulled off with him. It was a very small border with only a few people on hand. A police dog was barking at the end of his leash, which made everthing seem somewhat more official and definitely heightened all of our levels of seriousness. They told him to get off his bike and open his boxes so they could check them. Milan was the first off his bike and casually walked over. He told us it was a random check as he walked by us. He immediately started a conversation with the two inspection agents. Milan has a way of doing things that flows naturally. He caught them up in conversation as if there were actually reason to distract them from
Lawson's boxes. After a few minutes of chatting and questioning back and forth, most of which I didn't understand, they wished us good luck and we were on our way. I later realized they completely forgot about making Lawson open his boxes, it was brilliant. I had a feeling the rest of the trip would have similar situations where Milan would save us time and furstration just by being himself.

We spent the next two hours buying insurance and having the tourist info guy prepare our registration documents to speed up our immigration check in Hermosillo, a few days down the road. The sun dipping low in the sky and we weren't positive how long it would take us to get to our first destination in Mexico, Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point. Yes it is a tourist destination, hence the English name. We hadn't had anything to eat yet and it was around 4:30pm, so we stopped and grabbed some authentic Mexican tacos; my first REAL Mexican food. Goodbye Taco Bell.

The next hour and a half was a beautiful ride that really made us feel like we were in the middle of nowhere. Mountains rose dramatically from the plain our highway wound through. Because vegetation is so minimal you notice the landscape much more than in the northwest. The plain literally met the mountains at their base with little to no rise. It was strange.

We were racing the sun now, night time on a mexican highway is unanimously bad news. After a long straightaway of half developed properties we made our way into the town of Puerto Peñasco. The streets were busy with cars and people but fortunately Milan knew where to find a place to camp. We rolled down a sand covered road up to a fortressed camping area. It was beautiful and right on the ocean. A few campers and buses lined the beach front and we decided to setup camp between two of them. We were greeted by the neighbors which made us feel somewhat at home. The beach stretched for a mile or two with the city on one end and resorts on the other. The half-full moon hung overhead and lighted the ocean. It our first night in Mexico and none of us could have asked for more. There are a few pictures from that night but unfortuntely they're on everyone elses cameras so I'll have to post them later.

At one point, after everything was setup and we were on our way to bed, a neighbor came over and offered us some of their firewood. They were a husband and wife with four kids, "The LOUD family" (an acronym to preserve anonymity), who'd been travelling for the last six months or so. After talking for a while we found out that TLC and Discovery Channel had filmed them for six episode of their own reality show called "Six for the Road". The camera crew would follow them for a week at a time and film they're everyday life on the road. We had a great talk and they invited us over for breakfast in the morning! How amazing! They already had four other mouths to feed and they were adament that we have a hot breakfast before getting back on the road. We said our goodnights and went off to make a campfire on the beach. What an awesome ending to a night that already went down as one of the best we'd had.

I decided to sleep in my hammock, hoping the night wouldnt be too cold. After a bit of lounging in it, I threw my sleeping pad in to add extra insulation. The light breeze was enough to chill my backside. On the beach in Costa Rica I wouldve been too hot had I used anything more than my cotton liner and boxers.

In the morning we woke up early and packed our gear before joining The Louds for breakfast. They'd prepared pancakes, toast, bacon, eggs, and much more food than I'd seen in weeks. It's amazing how happy food can make a person. They insisted we dish up first, we protested, they insisted, so we didnt argue:) We talked about their life on the road and how it was packed into the megacab dodge and the converted toyhauler fifth wheel. This was their home, everything they owned. They all agreed that they loved it and wouldnt rather be anywhere else. We talked about our trip and our plans for the future. They were very encouraging to talk to. i think they made us all more excited about what we were doing. One thing that really got me was they wanted us to all write something in their leather memory book. They'd met so many people through their travels and yet they wanted us to be apart of their book. What blew me away even more were some of the other people who'd signed it! To name a few, Al Roker, Kate Couric, Captain Sig from TLC's "The Deadliest Catch". They recently been on the Today Show! How cool was it that they'd wanted us to be apart of it!? So we all wrote a little something and felt like we were a part of something bigger. We started talking about their Blog, which is how TLC found them in the first place, and they insisted we give them our Blog and Facebook pages so they could link to them from theirs. Cool right? Now consider their page got over 1.2million hits last month...wow... And this was only our first day in Mexico. They also offered to get us in touch with their production agency and mentioned one of their cameramen, whose name has escaped me, would be all about filming a trip like ours. Perhaps our return trip will be a TLC special? Who knows?!

So after filling up on fantastic food and conversation we went outside for more packing, goodbyes, and a group photo. We've got some great pictures, but it'll be a few days before I can add them to this post. We chatted more about the trip, gave the kids motorcycle rides, and Vern (Mr.Loud) took a spin on Lawsons motorcycle, his first time ever! He did great, riding by us one time yelling, "where are the brakes?!". Just before leaving, the kids ran out with homemade snack bags to hold us over until lunch. Just thinking about it makes me choke up for some reason. These people were so nice to us and yet they had nothing to gain. They were just genuinely nice people. We took an awesome group picture, gave some hugs, and rode off towards the dusty town. Any problems or worries we'd come into Mexico with, had surely been left behind. It was a day I'll never forget.

PAV Blog Day 12_2.01: Still in Tempe

2009-02-01T23:44:00.000-08:00

Hey, thanks for checking up on us. We're still in Tempe and ready to leave. If all goes as planned tomorrow morning, we're heading to Rocky Point Mexico, has a real Spanish ring to it huh? It's basically been a week since we got to Tempe and we've been staying at Milan's. His roommate, Trevor, has been really cool about sharing his house with us this long. It's been nice to have a place to hangout but with 5 guys in a small house, tension tends to build and the stress levels are running high; we all need the open highway. Today we all rode to Kinko's to make copies, wow was it nice to be on the bike. I've been working on documents for the last few days and am tired of sitting in the house, especially when its so beautiful outside! It's consistently been in the upper 70's, a huge change from the weather in Portland right now, 10's? teens?

We watched the Super Bowl together and ate some awesome chili Andrew made, the guy can really cook! Last night he made us each two giant breakfast burritos for under $5 a person. Even though I don't care much for professional football, I had to choose a team. Being in Arizona means everyone was rooting for the Cardinals, so I jumped on the wagon (though secretly I couldn't care less who won). What a close game!

Our first night in town we decided to go out and have some fun. We went to a pool hall a few minutes away. It was $3 long island ice tea night. I've never been one for ice tea, but for $3 I couldn't say no. We we're shooting pool and having fun when one of Milan's friends arrived. We all took turns meeting her. I went up to meet her and was greeted by a fairly firm handshake, the kind you expect from someone a few inches taller than you. As she shook my hand the fingers of my left hand slipped from the icy surface of my long island and it fell in slow motion to the ground. Fortunately it was carpeted and the glass didn't break. In the split second after it landed life's comedic timing fell in line. We both looked down, I bent over to pick up the glass as she threw her head back to laugh and then bend over to pick it up as well. Unfortunately for her, I was already on my way back up before she'd noticed and I got a nose right in the back of the head. She immediately covered her face and speed-walked to the ladies room. So in the course of 3 or 4 seconds, faster than my brain could process what was going on, I dropped my drink, picked it up, broke a girls nose, and made her run away. It was so ridiculous I just stood there dumbfounded. What a smooth operator. She came back about ten minutes later, less angry, but with a slightly bigger nose. We "laughed" about it, but I'm sure it wasn't really all that funny to her yet.

I love when things like that happen so fast there's no way to stop them or change them. Moments like that give me a glimpse of fate. Although you have the ability to make choices everyday that affect your future, it all goes by so fast that you're left standing there dumbfounded thinking, "..wow, I'm such a smooth operator".

Ive got pictures to accompany this post but It's time for bed. The next post will be from Mexico.

Keep us in your prayers!

PAV Blog Day 6-11_1.26-31: Santa Barbara to Joshua Tree NP to Tempe AZ

2009-01-31T13:16:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm sitting on Milan's couch in Tempe, AZ. We've been lucky enough to stay here for 4 nights and tonight are moving to his friends house to give his roommate his house back, haha. So I've got a few days to cover...

1.26
We left Santa Barbara behind racing towards LA down 1o1. It had been great to have a day with my feet firmly planted on the ground instead of pegs, but I was happy to be back in the saddle. The drive down 101 was beautiful. Lawson comically gave us a tour of the stars from the freeway. Out across the ocean huge oil rigs lined the horizon between the shore and the Channel Islands. They were strangely beautiful.
As we got closer to LA the traffic increased along with everyones need to be somewhere five minutes ago. California's cities are a maze of highways and freeways with strings of side streets and avenues strung in between. The gps is invaluable through these crowded cities and takes alot of the guesswork out of navigating.
Sometime in the afternoon we made it to Andrews buddies house to pickup a part and made a stop at In-and-Out for some Animal style fries and burgers. We threw around the idea of trying to make it to Tempe, which was totally possible, but would keep us on the road for another 6 hours or more. We also had a number of places to stay in LA but they were all the way across town in the wrong direction. We decided to head towards Palm Springs to find a place to camp and hoped it wouldn't be too cold in the desert for camping.
We made our way toward Palm Springs, down highway 10, as the sun started setting. It was a beautiful sunset, one of the first I'd payed attention to on the trip so far. Somewhere near Palm Springs I turned to see a valley full of wind turbines silently lumbering in the night. They ran in rows from the road to as far as I could see into the dark. In every row one or two turbines were not moving, they just sat there, still, while their brothers and sisters danced with the wind. And for a second, for some reason, I felt bad for them, like they were missing out on the fun everyone else was having. Most of the time these types of thoughts stay in my head. Hours on the road makes a person more contemplative, and possibly more hullicinative.
As we climbed the hills outside of Indio, just past Palm Springs, my bike began to lose power, like clockwork. I was able to maintain a speed of no more than 60mph. At this point disappointment with my bike was nothing new but the feeling that it could cost me more than I had saved for the trip has consistently been stressful. It was nearing 8pm and we decided to pull off and camp.
After stopping at one road and watching Bean and Lawson offroad it towards Mexico to find a spot, we continued until we came to a sign for the Joshua Tree National Park. We exited and found an awesome camp spot just before the entrance on blm land. We made a fire and setup camp. If you click on the picture above and look just below the back of the bike on the left you'll see Bean enjoying some morning quiet time. I actually didn't know he was there when I took the picture. He blends in well. Something we'll need south of the border.
The wind began to pick up as we started falling asleep and it continued through the night. At one point I awoke to what I thought was a car door closing and a bag dropping from someones hand. The horror movies have clearly planted themselves in my imagination.
I awoke to howling winds, crisp air, and a bright morning sun. It was a strange mixture of beauty and power. The tent was rippling next to my head and nearly collapsed on top of Andrew and I. Turning to see if Andrew was awake I started laughing at what appeared to be the grim reaper taking a nap in my tent...to be finished later..

PAV Blog Day 5_1.25: A day in Santa Barbara

2009-01-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

After a long and much needed night of rest we awoke to a beautiful California morning. The sun was shining and the air was crisp. I slept diagonal on a mini futon mattress and couldn't have been happier. Brett and his roommates made us pancakes and bought donuts for breakfast, notice the picture to the right. It's a good feeling to have friends like Brett.

This was our first break day and we definitely needed it. We went to Westmont and played ultimate Frisbee, went to church(I missed it because my bike had a tantrum on 101), and then went back to Brett's for a bbq. It was nice to know I didn't have to be back on my bike until the next day. Everytime we stop for a break or somewhere for the night I'm so glad to be able to rest but also excited to get back on the bike.
It was great hanging out with new people and having time to clear my head. Navigating has put me under alot more stress than I was expecting. I love doing it I just find myself stressing about the guys more than I should. I need to keep in mind that they're their own riders and as long as I'm giving them heads up on turns and stops then we should all be fine.

PAV Blog Day 4_1.24 San Francisco to Santa Barbara

2009-01-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

Hello! I'm really wondering how long I will make an entry for everyday, even if its a few days later. One of the things I dislike about traveling is the days all start to blend together like the rest of my life and lose their value as experiences. Keeping on top of journaling is going to be one of more difficult tasks.

We left SF Saturday morning around 11:30 and made our way to a Yamaha dealership to buy oil. It appeared Lawson's bike as well as my own tend to burn a little oil. After adding our oil we geared up to leave the dealership and Chris mentioned that my chain was loose. I jumped off to look at it and noticed my rear sprocket was horribly cupped. The use of the word "horribly" may seem somewhat overboard, but in this case it was accurate. Fortuntely I'd made it that far without my chain failing but it was a problem I had to take care of before we could rack the miles up again. After visiting two more shops looking for a chain and sprockets we located a set in Santa Clara for $12o. This was definitely something I wasn't planning on and really couldn't afford. Side note: I also had to buy a new Chatterbox headphone/mic set because they completely failed on me, which set me back another $30. Spending $150 in one day on such a small budget really put me into a bad mood, not to mention by the time I had everything reinstalled it was 4:30pm and another day had been wasted working on my bike...or had it?
We potentially had a place to stay in San Jose, a half hour South, but that would only have put us 45min out of SF, which hardly pleased any of us. So we decided to start heading South and leave the rest to decide on later. We rode into the dark, which we fortunately have the option to do in the US. All riding out of the country will be done during daylight hours and we will need to be religous about getting off the road in the early afternoon to be safe. A few hours in we decided we could push into the morning hours and make it to Santa Barbara so I called Brett Stuvland to see if he had any vacancy. In my amazement he told me he had been planning and hoping to hear from us and offered for us to stay at his apartment(which is more of a house). We had 2 hours ahead of us and we were all getting exhausted. After a few break stops we made it to the shortcut highway 154 which reminded me alot of Oregon highways, two lanes, through the mountains, and winding the whole way. Towards the end of the highway, within 15mi of the apartment, we encountered what I thought to be the biggest test of our riding skills yet.
We came to the tightest turns yet, cliffside, with wind gusts that had to have been 1o-15mph. As we decended the wind grew stronger and our bodies tired. It was the hardest 15mi I've ridden yet. With cold hands, aching backs, and cramped legs we pulled in to Brett's complex around 2am, thankful to have food, a warm place to sleep, and more good friends to hangout with. We crashed and slept hard. ps...this is unedited, its too late for editing. sorry!

PAV Blog Day 3_1.23 part 2

2009-01-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

What a night... We stayed with Lawson's cousins last night in SF. They were great hosts. It was nice to have another warm place to stay with food and Internet. We definitely aren't roughing it quite yet.

There are a few details I left out of yesterdays blog, it was late, I was ready for bed.

We had decided to take I-5 to SF instead of 101, hoping traffic (on Friday night) would have let up by the time we got close. Nearly an hour from the city it started raining. It was enough to fill the ruts on the freeway and spew up from tires of passing cars. As if riding a motorcycle wasn't dangerous enough already, we found ourselves riding in a pack, at night, in the rain, during rush hour, at speeds less than the locals were satisfied with.
At 55mph the rain stings bare skin like standing in a hail storm. Why did I have bare skin showing while riding at night in the rain? I made the mistake of buying a tinted windshield AND a helmet with a tinted visor, they were both really good deals. Being that I purchased the helmet only two days before leaving I hadn't noticed the two don't work well together at night, especially in the rain. Two plastic shields covered in rain turn the headlights and taillights of passing cars into a 4th of July fireworks finale. So, I had two options. Ride in the rain with my face shield up while looking through the windshield or stand up on the bike with my face shield closed and my head above the windshield. I chose the latter and saved my face the exfoliation.
We paid our toll at the Oakland Bay Bridge and tore up the freeway towards the city. I was third in the group. A quarter of the way up the bridge my throttle began to cutout! My speed dropped from 65 to 35 almost instantly. Andrew dropped back with me to make sure I was alright. My bike is a wildcard. With cars all around me and no emergency lane I thought to myself, "awesome, I'm going to die on the bridge into San Fran without having even made it there". After a few seconds of mildly freaking out I realized I had run out of gas and switched to reserve. I think the main reason I didn't first think I was out of gas was I had only gone around 130mi, and so the issue with my fuel system continues. Fortunately, after switching to reserve my power was back and we raced to catch up with the Lawson and Bean.
As I crested the bridge the tops of the buildings rose into the low hanging clouds. I had never seen a city like this; massive towers of lights packed tight like overgrown Christmas trees hung with lights before they'd been cut. I stood on my pegs and the bike dissappeared below me as I burned the four dollar toll into the city. We'd made it to San Francisco.

PAV Blog Day 3_1.23 Medford to San Francisco

2009-01-24T01:31:00.001-08:00

Today, the morning of our third day, we were ready to put the road (and broken parts) behind us. Our goal was to make it to Chico California today. We made it through the Shasta pass without any problems and actually encountered warm air at higher elevations! On the south side of Mt.Shasta the sun was out and our hands were beginning to warm up. We made it to the Chico turn off around 1pm with plenty of energy to ride on, but our next contact was in San Francisco! With the sun shining and the miles rolling smoothly by we decided it was a good day to keep going.
As we continued the clouds moved in and the first rain we'd seen started falling. From Portland to Cali without a drop of rain and not a day into the sunshine state and it starts pouring! It rained off and on all the way into San Francisco, what a treat...We made it safely to Lawson's cousins house around 8pm. We are all beat but excited to be this far into California.

I'm going to make sure I have better pictures on my camera for day 4!

PAV Blog Day 2_1.22 Eugene to Medford

2009-01-24T01:29:00.000-08:00

The morning of day two Chris's bike had a dead battery and Andrew lost a glove after a photo shoot near REI with Lawson's friend, I'll spare you the details, it was for a project. The good news is she found the glove, the bad news is we had ridden back 5 miles to look for it, called her, and then figured it had been picked up, so hopefully she'll be able to ship it to us. The hills I-5 cuts through south of Eugene were beautiful and tested the power of our loaded-down 650's.
Near Rice Hill my bike started randomly dieing. It would run for nearly a minute and then die. We managed to make it to the exit at Rice Hill. I called Ran Sill, a friend of my dads. He's been working on motorcycles and snowmobiles for nearly 40 years and could name every nut and bolt on my bike. He talked me through a number of things to check on the bike. I ended up taking off the tank, replacing the spark plug, taking apart the carb, none of which made a difference. We decided we'd see if we could make it another 11 miles to a Kawasaki dealership(actually ended up being in Roseburg, another 30 miles). I filled the gas tank and took it for another test drive. Low and behold the problem had been in the gas, something in the bottom of the tank was fouling up the carb.
We were back on the road but by this time we had only traveled 50 miles or so and it was already 3pm again! Talk about disheartening. We decided we would try and make it to a contact Andrew had in Medford. With the air temperature dropping nearly 20 degrees after sunset there was no way to ride more than an hour into the night. We made it to Medford around 6 and called it a night. We were all ready for California Sunshine, little did we know...

PAV Blog Day 1_1.21 Portland to Eugene

2009-01-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

The day is finally here! We didnt get on the road until 1:30pm! It was great having all the bikes loaded and ready to go! My bike ended up being heavier than I'd orignally wanted which made it more of a bear to control. We made good time from Portland to Corvallis until Chris got a flat tire! It took nearly two hours to change the tire, regroup, and get back on the road. So by 3pm we'd only made it to Corvallis! It was 45 degrees and getting colder as the sun went down. As much as we'd wanted to make it to Medford our hands and legs were too cold to go much longer. We were all prepared to endure the cold through Oregon and Northern California but not looking forward to camping roadside in below freezing temperatures. Lucky for us Lawson and a friend in Eugene who was willing to let us stay the night. We were all thankful for a warm place to rest our heads.

2009-01-21T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Its four thirty in the morning on the day of departure! We're all packed and ready to go but I think we'd also like one more day to wrap a few things up. Hopefully those of you who belong to our facebook group will also follow this blog. I figured a blog would be a better way to show the progress of our trip. Time for some sleep.