Brian and Conchita's Adventures

KLR450R
These new 450's rip pretty good, but the manual says do an oil change every 1000 km and change the piston and rings every 1500 km!!!!! hahahahahah....ya right.

It feels really good to get back into dirtbiking. The quads are sold. We weren't really using them anymore, and the thrill was gone for me. Biking gets the heart pumping again. Let's me know how outta shape I really am!!

Ouch!!

"Is that you, Conchita?"

"Yes, it's me Brian." (sigh, eyes rolling)

Alllllrighty then.......here we are finally in the last week before the big send-off (won't be much fanfare actually).

All our documents have been scanned and photocopied. Conchita is still adding the final touches to our "Red Cross" medical cards that we will carry in/on our tank bag in a visible place (in case we crash and the medics need our vital info: blood type, allergies, etc).

I don't think the whole concept of where we are riding to has really set in yet. I don't feel super excited. That will all change after a couple of days on the road thinking about 70+ holidays left ahead of us. Wow, this will be a first - not only where we are going, but also how long we are going.

It sounds like C and I may be able to scoot off a little ahead of schedule on the 28th. Possibly 3 PM. That should give more than enough time to ride the 450 km to our first stop - friends Ken and Linda's place in Red Deer, Alberta.

Day two should get us into the US and down into Kalispell, Montana, where we have been invited to overnight at a fellow ADV rider's place. Life is good!!! Or rather.....GOING to be good!!!

Dan is also going to be able to get away a little earlier than he had planned. He is aiming to meet us in Las Vegas on Oct 4th. We offered to share our room at the Flamingo Hotel. He will have to sleep on the floor though. I am quite sure he won't mind. The floor at the Flamingo is probably way nicer than some of the places that we will be sleeping in over the next 2 1/2 months.

The idea is to make it as far as we can into the US on this tire, and get fresh ones just before we cross over into Mexico and down into the Copper Canyon. We are going to try and get about 3000 km out of it. The flatness of this tire is a testament to the crap biking roads here in eastern Alberta.

Dan leaves Hinton today!!

We have not heard anything from Dan yet. I hope he has a good ride, and misses all the snow.

Saturday we met up with GS Gal in Kalispell right on time....well, not really. We were an hour and a half late. It must have been Conchita's fault!!

Even though we were a little late, we still met up with some other fine folks for supper. It was really enjoyable and relaxing to hang out with them. It is too bad that we were not able to spend more time with Sylvia. She is a gracious host, whose enthusiasm for motorbiking is contagious. She ALMOST convinced Conchita to start riding her own bike! Thank you so much for the hospitality!! We look forward to meeting up with you again one day. Kalispell is not THAT far from Cold Lake.

Beware!!

I am not sure if the temp gauge goes below zero. Don't really want to find out either!

Today we rode 598 km from Missoula, Montana, to Hailey, Idaho. The twisties were perfect....until the snow hit.

Tomorrow we will have to make a short detour to the BMW dealer in Boise, Idaho. Seems the rear tire isn't going to last as long as I had hoped. Hopefully they have a tire in stock, and are able to change it for us.

The bike was serviced today after a slight detour to Boise, Idaho. Big Twin BMW got us in right away, and we were back on the road in about 2 hours: new final drive oil and engine oil (all synthetic). Now we need a new front tire before crossing into Mexico.

My brother, Mike, and I had an easier time lining up the splines than this guy did.

This Metzler Tourance should do the trick for a while. I figured that the old tire had another 1000 km in it, but Conchita wasn't ready to test my theory.

Don't panic!! This isn't our bike. I guess this guy was doing some serious off-roading, and overheated the clutch which caught on fire and melted the wiring harness. Note to self: do not overheat the clutch!

Tonight we are staying in a town called Winnemucca, 156 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada.

The night before last, we stayed at Donna and Gary's place in Reno. They had invited us over through the ADV Rider forum. The detour we made was well worth it. It was great to meet them.

We had the bonus of Donna's company on the ride into Las Vegas - 710 km worth!! Donna has only been riding for 3 years now, but she does very well on her Bandit 1200.

An early morning start - 7 AM.

Donna was leading the way.

Nevada sure is a different place. I have heard that it is the most 'barren' of all the states. I believe that!!

We had to make sure we had enough fuel. You wouldn't want to run out of gas on some of those deserted stretches.

We did see one tree along the way.

And we met up with Dan D, trip planner and all around good guy.

(No, she is not standing on the bike!)



Joshua Forest somewhere between Las Vegas and Tuscon.

Our accomodations for the night. Friends of Dan's father-in-law's hosted us. They were excellent. We were even treated to her famous Burrito Breakfast!! Thanks a ton, guys!

Dan crossing the Hoover Dam.

We rode into Tuscon expecting to get new tires for the bikes. A front one for ours and a rear one for Dan's. C and I had no problems at all, but Dan was out of luck. No rear tire in all of Tuscon for his bike!! Can you believe that? Not wanting to be stranded in Mexico with a bald tire, the only choice he had was to ride the 170 miles back to Phoenix. Bummer!! We had planned on crossing into Mexico today. Instead we will meet up again in Tombstone and camp there.

"The adventure starts when things stop going as planned" - Striking Viking.

Of course I didn't want to feel I was being left out.

A night out on the town before the first of the famed Central America border crossings. We all felt just a little better crossing as a group.

Dan is surrounded by the "border helpers." It is mostly kids that are trying to make a buck by helping you through the whole confusing process. Notice that one of them is holding his helmet.

With all those people jocking for attention, the KTM got knocked over suffering a cracked windshield. We were all very impressed with the way Dan handled it. He taped it up wearing a smile, and said "I didn't really like that windshield anyway."

After crossing the border, things changed. We all felt it. Gautemala seemed greener, cleaner and more friendly than Mexico. We rode up to 9,000 ft through little indigenous mountain towns.

Mam is the first language in this town, with Spanish being taught in school.

Riding through the city of Quetzaltenango, we met up with the character on the right. He said he belongs to the local BMW club, and invited us over to meet some other members. Dan was able to repair his windshield using a drill and some zip ties, and we met a bunch of good people. Later in the evening, after showing us to our hotel, the club members picked us up and took us out for dinner - with the president footing the bill. Amazing!

Today we are off to Lake Atitlán and the city of Antigua. Our Lonely Planet guide book says these are some of the highlights of Guatamala and of all of Central America as well.

B C and D

Have you ever seen a shower head like this? This head is what heats the water. We didn't know how to work it until after Dan had a cold shower. We just had to flick a switch on the wall. Very neat, but probably dangerous.

These girls were selling souvenirs at a stop overlooking Lake Atitlán. When Conchita asked if she could take a picture, they said "Yes, if you give us a quetzal .....each!!!" They were real little business people.

This photo was taken in the town of San Antonio pictured below - one of the twelve towns that surround Lake Atitlán. This Cakchiquel woman shared a lot about her culture, her language and some of her everyday experiences while finishing this scarf for Conchita. Mantiox (=thanks), Olga.

Lake Atitlán is surrounded by volcanoes. Even though we did not get to see the tops because of the weather, the scenery was impressive.

These buses with their helpers were probably the most memorable thing about Guatemala. These things drove around as if it were the Indy race. It seemed as though actually stopping the bus was against policy. The helper was always moving around on the outside of the bus at any speed, as he prepared the luggage for the passengers that were getting off. The bus would slow down, people would jump off, the helper would jump down hand the luggage over and have to chase after the bus to get back on. All the while with the air horns going to warn people and vehicles alike to get out of the way. It was amazing to watch.

We didn't spend too much time in the Colonial town of Antigua Guatemala (the old city). It was pouring rain, and we were running short on daylight, so we opted to just do a drive through. We could see that the Spanish definitely left their mark here.

Our certified tour guide, Mario, says that there used to be a lake here (San Salvador Volcano) until 1917 when the last eruption happened.

We thought we were cruising along really well, until the chicken delivery guy passed us on his scooter! Check out the chicken waving goodbye. Conchita and I had a good laugh.

Our gracious hosts. Fernanda was wiping the sweat from Mario's brow. He'd stirred the paella once, or twice.

Even though Mario lives in a gated community and inside a secure, guarded condo, I was surprised to see that his apartment had an open concept. This means that there is a wide open area to the outside that cannot be locked or even closed for that matter. Temperatures here allow for this type of set up.

Waiting out the rain at Mario and Fernanda's lake cabin. Now this is the good life. Dan had actually forgotten that we were on our way south!

Our weekend in El Salvador came to an end. We had a blast, but it was time to explore new lands and face new adventures. Mario and his friend Mario (#2) escorted us first thing in the morning, after giving us some valuable tips on the best roads to follow and some typical food we should try.

We have made it to Panama! Everything is perrrfect! The Flickr web site we use to upload our photos is blocked on this server...???? Too bad, we have lots of good photos of Costa Rica and Panama. We will try to upload tomorrow from the airport while we work on shipping the bikes to Colombia. Imagine who we met when we pulled into the Airport hotel here.....Leo and Cheryl!! Remember them?

Check back soon for the update.

B C and D

Zip line gear!! Doesn't she look sexy!??

Zip line gear!! Don't I look sexy!!?

Video of Dan out of control on the zip line. May take a bit before it is available for viewing. U tube needs to verify it first.

Our new friend, Ivan, suggested the ride over to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica to a small hippie/surfer/backpacker type of town called Puerto Viejo.

The sign reads "Let's keep Puerto Viejo clean and safe." Irony or truth?

This nasty bridge crosses the river at the Costa Rica-Panama border. Some bikers have ended their trip on this bridge. Planks are missing in places. Sometimes there is no railing at all. Footing is not easy to find when you lose your balance because of the line between the boards. Worst of all, there is another bridge after this one 15 km down the road that is longer and nastier than this one. By then though, we were pros !!

The five-meter drop into the water doesn't help matters.

Ivan lightening the mood at the border into Panama. He paid this boy to be allowed to clean HIS shoes.

We ended up saying goodbye to Ivan in Almirante, where Columbus first set foot in Panama. We had four fun days together. Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet up again sometime. Cheers Ivan!!!

Ivan, a photographer who's travelling, or a traveller who's photographing? He has not decided yet!!! Ivan has surely found an interesting way to extend his trip in the Americas.

After the bridge crossing, we rode through some of the best scenery and roads through the whole trip. On the northwestern end of Panama, the Ngöme-Buglé dwellings dot the setting. These homes are very simple but also very clean. These girls, another sister and a baby boy live in this hut with their mom and dad.

A new chapter begins: South America!

Disconnecting the battery.

Trying to get an early start for the shipping process and making sure that we were running our bikes really low on gas, Dan ran things a little too close and ran out of fuel two kilometers from the terminal. While we were deciding what to do, 6 other adventure riders waved to us as they rode by. We caught up to them at the terminal, and one said that he had recognized us from our ADVRider thread. Neat.

After spending two hours trying to line up quicker transportation for the bikes to Cartagena, we ended up falling back to our original plan. Leo, Cheryl, Dan , Conchita and I pulled into the Girag shipping office at the Panama International Airport at around 9:30 AM on Oct 29th, along with one other biker on a KLR (Ben from Australia). Several hours later and $550 poorer, the bikes were left in the hands of the experienced Girag personnel. We set off with our fingers crossed to find a flight to
Bogotá for ourselves. The bikes were scheduled to arrive in Colombia at 10PM on the 30th, so that gave us some leisure time.

Conchita, Dan and I opted to fly out of Panama on the same day at 7 PM ($275/each), while Leo and Cheryl decided to fly out the next morning.

The 1 hour and 40 minute flight was uneventful, except for our video cam getting heisted out of our checked-in luggage. Copa Air says, "Sorry, we are not responsible for that sort of thing." It is my own fauly really. I should have carried it on, but I had forgotten about it. Oh well.

Stepping off the plane, we noticed that the temperature was way cooler than what we had gotten used to. It was a surprise to learn that Bogotá's yearly average daily temp is only 14 degrees. An elevation of 8,600 feet is responsible for the chilly weather.

Overlooking Bogotá on Mount Monserrate (recommended by my brother, Mike). It is the funniest thing - we keep on bumping into Leo and Cheryl. In a city of 7 million, what are the odds of bumping into them again at the bottom of the tram?? Very good, apparently!

They had hired a taxi driver as a tour guide for the evening, and he took us all over the city. First stop after the tram was in the University district to try Chicha, a very cheap drink (less than $1) made with cornmeal. It is popular with the students because of the cost. Chicha was unanimously disliked by all of us!!

But it was fun!!!

Then it was off to try some typical Colombian food. A full meal for seven of us including drinks was only $179,000 pesos. About $85.

Now we are off to Girag to find out how the bike made it. Wish us luck!

In our last couple of days in Colombia, we met Carlos and Alba. We ended up riding with them for two days on their way back to their home in Cali. They showed us the sights of ¨The Coffee Route,¨ and we also enjoyed some natural hot spring pools. Just what we needed after riding 13,000 kilometers!! These guys rode to Patagonia two years ago, and had a lot of good tips for us. Carlos's trip diary says that they put on a total of 12,056 kilometers on their one-way trip. Ouch....still a long ways to go for C and I. Thanx for everything guys!!!

Typical Colombian breakfast, Calentado, includes rice and beans, cornmeal arepas, and hot chocolate with cheese. As you can see in the top photo, Alba loves her hot chocolate and cheese!!

On the ride from Medellín to Cali, we stopped at a nice restaurant overlooking this river.

The Coffee Route included a stop at the Parque del Café, where you can see the coffee fields from a lookout tower, get an informative tour on how coffee is made, and stroll through a park dedicated to the coffee traders. Instead of all this insightful stuff, we opted for an ice cream!!

There are many military checkpoints on the roads in Colombia making us feel safe throughout our trip. This was the only time that we were asked to stop. We suspect that checking out our gear breaks up the monotony of their very long days.

This time of the year, landslides are very common.

Ooooppps.....we are being ejected from the internet cafe - it is closing time. More on Colombia and beyond soon......B and C

This is the Tulcan Cemetery in Ecuador. It is commonly referred to as the "Edward Scissorhands Cemetery." If you happen to be in the area, do not miss it!!

The caretaker started a trend when he asked to have his photo taken while sitting on the bike.

Culture is still vibrant in the mountainous town of Otavalo. Children and adults alike can be seen wearing traditional outfits. Schools allow children from traditional families to combine their outfits with the school uniform.

Latin American children are hard workers. They can be seen herding sheep, hauling bundles of firewood, or fetching water in the early morning.

Parents work hard as well. In Ecuador, it was quite common to see women working in the fields.

The Pan American highway in Ecuador.

A good portion of the riding was above 7,000 ft, sometimes even reaching altitudes of over 10,000ft. We were both surprised to learn that the country that is named after the equator is actually quite cold. This is only the second time on this trip that I've used my heated liner for warmth.

Hey!!! Get your head out of the way! I am trying to take a photo here!

Until the next internet connection. In the meantime, be sure to check out our ride report on ADV Rider for more pics and information (the link on the left-hand column).

Here is the Inn. We were having lunch one day, and saw a bunch of dolphins right from the picture window!! Awesome.

The view from our room.

It was a nice relaxing break.

At first glance after the border crossing, Peru is a place that you do not want to be. The Pan-American Highway is strewn with garbage. The desert sand is one big dump. This, coupled with extreme poverty, makes Peru very undesireable. Until you venture inland!!! Then you can see what Peru has to offer: fantastic mountain passes and scenery that rival anything we have seen. Machu Picchu is definitely a highlight of the trip.

Corn drying.

We were riding through the highlands of Peru at over 13,000 feet when we came across a couple of dwellings with kids playing outside. We decided to take a little break, and Ben had the smarts to pull out some cookies and chips for the kids. They were all very polite, saying "Thank you," and also sharing with the smaller children. Mom was sitting nearby smiling, and I thought, "These kids are not concerned about taking food from strangers like they are in North America." It was nice to know that in some parts of the world, people still trust strangers.

Even though these kids had wind/sunburnt faces, they all seemed very happy.

In the highlands, you can find young kids and adults alike tending to the animals. This is the typical dress for the women here.

You never know what kind of animals you will come across being herded down the highway.

Or what kind of debris your tires might pick up. This is the second flat of the trip.

One big sand dune!!!

We met up with this tour, and they offered to show us the way across the flats.

Wow, Dan is stronger than he looks!!!!

This is the view from the "island." It is truly a sea of salt. It is huge!!


This is how they build the salt hotels in the area.

...like the one we stayed in for $3.00 per person. Of course there was no running water, or electricity, but the candles made for a romantic atmosphere!!!

Tearing up the salt flats. Can the KTM keep up to the Beemer couple??

Check out the ADV Rider Report. Dan seems to have lost one of his side cases.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259451&page=18

C and I are pushing hard for the last 3,000 km. There is not really too much to see, and the wind is really nasty. It doesn't let up at all; 800 km makes for a really long day.

Right now we are about 900 km from Ushuaia, our final destination. We should be able to make it the day after tomorrow. Then we have to get the bike loaded onto the Sea Container, do the paperwork, and then look into how we ( C and I) are getting home.

The top third of Chile is all desert. After three days of riding and not seeing anything green, we were ready for the scenery of southern Chile.

Ben decided to lose his muffler first though.

After crossing the Andes into Argentina, we hit the flat lands of Patagonia and it was windy!! Riding in endless wind for three full days (2000km) across barren plains does not make for the best riding. By the time we rolled into Ushuaia, we had had enough riding for the time being.

Now we have to get things in order to get ourselves and the bikes home. The bikes are supposed to be loaded onto the sea container on Friday sometime. Hopefully before our (B and C's) flight leaves at 4 PM. So far, it looks as though we will arrive home on Sunday afternoon. Then it is back to the grind, which we have come to realize isn't all that bad.

First though, we are going to see the Penguin Colony nearby. That should be cool.

For all inquiring minds, the southernmost city in the world is at the same latitude as good old Cold Lake, Alberta, 54 degrees north/south. Interesting indeed.

We went to check out a colony of penguins that were a 2.5-hour boat ride from Ushuaia. These little guys were fun to watch. Man, can they swim!!

The five-hour outing took our minds off the bike shipping problems that we have encountered over the last 4 days. Getting a Sea Container to load our bikes into before we fly home tomorrow is proving to be quite a task. The last word that we had is that it is all a go for tomorrow. We have our fingers crossed.

Hmmmm.....is that ANOTHER flat tire on the KTM??

Securing a Sea Container proved to be quite a challenge. Leo and Cheryl haggled with the shipping agent for 10 days, and were also on the sat phone to their contact in Red Deer.

(The paragraph and the following three photos were taken from Leo and Cheryl's blog)Here is their site:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/guruzers/2007-due_south/tpod.html

Friday, Dec 7 - Today we heard the good news that we've been waiting to hear for over a week..."We have a ship and container for you and your bikes can be loaded this afternoon." Talk about waiting until the last minute and right down to the wire. Brian and Conchita had a flight to Buenos Aires at 6:30pm, Dan's flight was at 9pm and we were told we can load at 4pm. Leo and I are booked to go to Antarctica on Sunday Dec 9, so we didn't have any extra spare time either. It had to happen today and somehow it did. The challenges and surprises continue. In addition to the 3 people we met from Alberta, we also have Ben, from Australia shipping his bike with ours to Canada. Ben is kinda making his plans as he goes and figured he might as well ship while the shippin's good. He is going back to Australia in January and will come to Canada when it warms up to continue his trip.


Even the Kawasaki was experiencing some problems on the last leg of the trip. Ben is in need of a new battery.


Two bikes in and three to go.

The mighty GS 1200 went in first with only one inch to spare from the topcase to the wall of the container. Then the KTM and Kawasaki followed by the two GS 1150's.

We flew from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires via El Calafate. We spent less than 16 hours in Buenos Aires, but it was long enough to know that we would like to go back one day.
We jumped on the subway, and were surprised to see the windows wide open. I guess they figure it is common sense not to stick your hand or your head out the window.

The magnificent Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral on Plaza de Mayo with its Mausoleum, which encloses the tomb of the Argentine hero Jose de San Martin.

"Don't cry for me, Argentina."

We traded in the motorcycle for a Boeing 763 on the last leg of our trip. The 11-hour plane ride from Santiago to Toronto was the longest flight we have been on.