Well, unfortunately this is my last post for this odyssey, (ha I have spell check now!). I am at home now and feel slightly guilty for doing this trip being back in my reality, all the horrendous news from across the world. Oh well as an old business guy and friend said to me you cant fix the fing world but sometimes you can help a little. It's great to be home though with my family though (except for Steve, Noami and Hopers Hoo who live in Washington D.C.)
Going to Mainland Mexico as I said is completely different to Baja. The Mexican authorities don't care at all when you go into Baja. But after going through 1960's style customs at the ferry terminal I was pretty stressed out by time I got on the ferry! Riding crazy mountain trails at night, bandito's and thieves (which I never encountered even once), or pot holes that suddenly appear on "good" roads don't kill you, bureaucracy in Mexico will.
I got on the ferry and saw all the motorcycles carefully lashed down. I thought that's good they tie the bikes securely. Told a ferry worker that my bike was ready to be tied down and he told me they dont do it, ahh! So I used the ratcheting straps I used to strap my luggage on with, worked great.
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Bye Bye Baja, gonna miss you.
I met up with a group of motorcyclists on the ferry. I was trying desperately to avoid them and being rather aloof (because of wanting to be alone) but luckily for me I finally I heard "so do you have a bike to go along with all that riding equipment" or something like that. They were a group of I believe originally 9 friends who rode Baja. There was 5 of the group heading back on the ferry, I guess the others had a different plan. They turned out to be a very cool group of guys much to my surprise! I'm afraid I didn't take a group pic of them and their bikes but I have a few individual pics I took later on in this blog. Apparently Topolabampa can be quite a dangerous port town on the mainland and they were being very careful to go to a safe hotel. Being the safety conscious individual I am I thought prudent to tag along. In the morning they were on a mission to get back to Phoenix Arizona (actually to be exact, Chandler which was my final US destination also), I wasn't on a mission, I had lots of time. My biggest concern was my arse was killing me. You would think (and I say this because this is not a BMW sponsored trip) that one would think a "touring bike" would come stock with a relatively comfy seat, but of course, no! silly me what was I thinking. So a little trick I discovered on a bicycle trip in Nova Scotia with April was using shoe insoles duct taped to the seat, gel works best but I could not find gel at the store so I used these foam ones. |
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Necessity is the mother of invention.
The road up the border is just like any 4 lane we in Canada or the States are familiar with, accept for a few differences. Often you see cattle being grazed in the middle of the four lanes, herded by Caborellos on horse back. Cattle men in full "cowboy" outfits, hats and boots etc, working to keep the cattle off the highway as you zoom by at 120K. Sometimes there would be traffic direction arrows painted in the lane you were on pointing in the completely opposite direction, I guess left over from previous construction, not to mention the occasional random 10, 20, or 40 km/h speed signs. You just kind of get used to this sort of intelligence tests as you ride along. |
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| No Messing around, To keep your speed down (and it also keeps you alert), these seemingly random speed bumps slow you right down and provide a great place for locals to sell there goods. This was my last day travelling and I loved it now my bum had it's new luxo seat. |
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After changing my Pesos back into dollars and handing in my vehicle temporary import documents I kept 100 pesos for lunch and headed into the border town of Nogales just before the border. I was hungry and really wanted authentic food. However I thought I've not been sick once, so far so good, maybe I should play it safe and go to the McDonalds across the street. After sitting there looking at the McD's and this taco open air stand I thought to hell with it, taco's it is. Am I ever glad I did. This is Isabella the cocinara who made me three amazing carne tacos. She cooked the beef al la carbon (bbq) the tortillas she made were cooked fresh at home in the morning. The Tacos were absolutely delicious. We had a conversation in Spanish that I actually knew the appropriate verbs and had enough words to communicate with her (about family of course). After I successfully communicated my thoughts in Spanish I stood there a little shocked with my performance and said ?es correcto? she said si! There's hope for my Spanish, I have to keep at it. The three tacos were 50 peso. I gave here my last 100 pesos because I knew my next stop would be a delightful conversation with a US border guard. Isabella was very happy with the extra 50 pesos (about $4.00).
The horrible poverty and shanty towns I saw close to the border are miserable, You drive through a huge fenced corridor between the road approaching the border and these shanty dwellings. I found it very sad and it moved me to see this stark difference between the have's and the have nots. It really brought it home to me how wealthy or fortunate we are in the west, we have so much opportunity and these people have so little.
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Anyway back on subject
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One of my new friends Bob Invited me to stay at his place on the Earnhardt Ranch. His place is on RHS of this building. Notice the "horns" on the other building behind. It was great to have a place to call home my last few days arranging shipping, flight details, and crating up the bike etc. Bob is a really nice guy and we got on well together. His business card says "motorcyclist" Gotta love that.
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Bob keeps fit, works out, eats well, and here he is off on a bicycle ride.
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| The name say's it all. |
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| And here he is "Tex" Earnhardt himself. Tex is a larger than life indervidual who at 80 rides Baja, still works full time at running his five beautiful car dealerships and ranches. And probably a bunch of other things too I don't know about. I unfortunately did not get to know Tex better, I hope some other time to do so. He has lived in his house in the background since 1951, quite an individual. |
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| This is Bruce (one of the group of riders I met on the ferry) who was kind enough to show me his collection of various motorcycles, cars, (including a full factory spec WRX Subaru rally race car that he campaigns) and his new plane shown here. Bruce has raced open wheel race cars in Europe, raced planes, used to be on "Team Obsolete" racing motorcycles with Dave Roper, I missed him racing vintage by about 4 years approximately, My brother Pete and I raced vintage in Canada and the US from 1999 to about 2005, I think Bruce stopped racing vintage mid 90's there about. Not to mention riding all over the world on motorcycles. |
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| This is a Honda Africa 750 twin that Bruce owns, probably one of the best bikes ever built for "adventure riding" around the world. He has a friend with an identical one for sale. Anybody want to buy it and join me on a around the world trip some time? |
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This morning was crate day. However United Airlines gave me a wake up call. A computer informed me that my flight had been cancelled (weather) and I had been re-booked on a flight (that didn't work) and just like hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, said sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause! So I spent the morning on the phone and finally got it sorted out when I eventually got through to a very helpful United Airlines Personnel. I did manage to get the bike crated in the afternoon.
Ty Hibbard of Victory BMW was so helpful (again) in getting me set up crating my bike as were everyone at Victory BMW. Thank you guys so much. If anybody reading this is in Phoenix Arizona (Chandler actually) riding your bike make sure you drop in here, great bike shop. |
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!Muy Triste! As my bike is going into it's new BMW crate to come home in. It's going to Caprara Brothers in Watertown N Y where I will pick it up in a week or so in the crate and bring it back to snowy old Ottawa!
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A Snowy old Ottawa.
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Ah, home Sweet Home, We did It! After a long but really uneventful fight home it's a sudden dose of reality. Ottawa is hit with it's first real snow storm of the winter and I timed it perfectly (not). But in all honesty (Elaine) It feels great to be home in every aspect. I'll have to get my cross country ski's out. Sorry Bruce I'm not going to sell up and move to Phoenix.
Last but not least will be picking up my bike, it's on the road as I write this in a truck. Somewhere in the good old U.S of A. Where to next?
Well I think that's about it, I hope you enjoyed this blog. I enjoyed writing it. I look forward to seeing you soon!
Thanks Chris. |
