We made it to the house around 3AM. We got up early Friday AM and headed down to Premier Motorsports to work on Chucks bike. He needed a oil change and front tire. He had already gotten his freind Steve to do a valve adjustment, at the last possible minute… “Hello Steve? Chuck Sun here, how about doing a valve adjust for me? Tonight? No, toinght, I’m leaving town tomorrow.” Steve got the job done, plus several other projects on Chucks 950 KTM.

Premier is owned by a lady, Olga is her name and I had no idea what to expect. What a pleasant suprize, she was very nice, very pretty and very helpful. Of course she gave Chuck a hard time, every one does, this helps keep the heat off me!

So we finally hit the road, Pheonix to Tucson, I was picking up a new GPS unit from Cyco Active at Performance Cycle Center. The GPS unit I started with would not work properly, it would not lock on the satalites, I tried and tried, you know I’m an electronc idiot, so I called Cyco Active and got the best advice. The GPS unit was faulty so they sent another to Tucson and we made the pick up. It was not with out drama.

I have been wondering what I was going to write about, well, let me tell you. I had a new Dunlop tire on the rear, I can’t remember what the number was, but. After 50 miles of 90mph Interstate work we pulled over for lunch and I looked at the tire, it was coming apart! The knobs were all gone, giant chunks were missing and I was terrified the tire would come apart on the high way. Then we looked up and the sky turned black and it started to pour. Performance Cycle Center closes at 5PM, they made that perfectly clear, several times. Now we are late. We had to ride through a terrible storm, and I was totally worried about the rear tire coming apart and dumping me on the highway to get run over by trucks and cars. Uggg.

Finally the sun came back out and we made it to the shop with 45 minutes to spare. We went through their tires and chose a Pirelli Scorpion, it’s the standard tire that comes on the 950 and is a big tire but we got it to fit, plus it was the best of the selection they had. We want to thank Sarah Martinez for doing an awesome job helping us out at the end of the day, Thank you so much, we were just about to get in a bind, but good people came to our rescue, again. I can’t get over how many people who have helped make this trip possible, I know you are probabally getting tired of reading all these thank you’s, but they are making it possible.

Okay, so let me tell you a little about my travel buddy, some of you might know him but for all you non moto heads, Chuck Sun was the 1980 500cc Motocross champion. He was also on the American team when they went to Europe and won the MX Des Nations. This is an event where countrys host 4 man teams and add up the score. Chuck was on the team for the first USA win. He has ridden and raced all over the world and is lots of fun to hang with. He has just wrapped up his position with KTM after 10 years, he’s striking out on his own. I’ll let him tell you more about it, so I’ll turn the key board over to him now and let him tell you about him, it is one of his favorite subjects.

My long time friend Ross Williams (Stanford MBA,propieter of SuperMex Las Vegas, and the Hard Hat Lounge plus the Best In The Desert 40+ Champ) has been on my case to get going on to the next buisness-opp gig. I am Certainly pumped to excersize an entrapernial spirit in my blood. I reminded Ross and myself why we love the motorcycle industry, and that is “To ride!” Charlie and I were watching Easy Rider on TV while preparing for the race at Starrs house. When Charlie mentioned a ride to famous Copper Canyon in Mexico I said “Why not?” Charlie and his significant other Wilma Stoughton kinda set me up though…I had a couple Motobrews after the AMA National Enduro in AZ with a slightly impaired judgement. I said: “Yes, I’ll go!” Never to leave anyone out on the trail however, I’m in! Come rain, chunked tires, warm hispanic sunshine or scolding from the local senioritas! Viva Mexico!
I called my freinds at www.wolfmanluggage.com and scored a tank bag and a tail trunk for my 950 KTM. I stuffed some things in them and took off. Charlie has been preparing for months for this trip, I just grabbed every thing that smelled clean and left the house. Wonder what I’m getting in to? Oh well, it will be an adventure and fun. I’ll get back to work when I get home in a few weeks.
I already have a few ideas and have made many contacts with freinds in the industry. I know the motorcycle industry the best and think that is where I should stay, so if you are in the positon and want to talk business with me, contact me here at Charlie’s address and I’ll get back with you. trailridercharlie@yahoo.com
Okay, that’s enough for now, I’m not quite as good on the old ivorys as Charlie is, (or thinks he is) so I’ll turn it back over to him. We cross the border in the morning, so I’d better get some rest, or some drinks, or both!
See ya, Chuck.

Thank you Chuck, that was very informative, it’s kind of funny, the two unemployed guys go on vacation. Some body give us jobs!

I did forget to tell you about the enduro, I plan on writing an article for Trail Rider, but for now I’ll just give you some highlights.
First off, Matt Stavish got second overall again this weekend. That puts him in the lead for tne National Enduro Championship. Yea Matt, keep it up old boy, we are all rooting for you!!!!
Steve Hatch won the event which is cool too, we really like Steve and are glad he is back on the Enduro series. Good job Steve! Mike Lafferty got 3rd place, uhhh I don’t know any more finsihes, you can find out on the Arizona Trail Riders web page.
What I do know is it was a good event. It started out nice and easy. 9 day’s of rain before the race made for perfect conditons, no dust, not hot, just perfect.
Then the first loop was nice and easy, lots of time keeping every one just crusing along. I was on Rich Lafferty’s minute and he kept us on time, then boom, he’s gone and I’m playing catch up till the next reset.
So after the first loop, was the second loop and from there we had the A loop. Oh my, it got tough and rough. It was a 16 mile section at 18mph and I houred out by 4 minutes. That means my speed was around 11 mph. I know for those of you who do not understand enduros 11 mph may not sound fast, but I was going as fast as I could! It was tough!
Then the best part was when the A loop rejoined the B loop and there were B riders laying everywhere! I was passing them like “I” was a Lafferty! It was great, even at 11 mph I was passing riders right and left.
Then the famous water fall section. I din’t have the energy to ride down it so I was off the bike creeping it along when this young girl stepped up and said: “Give it here” She took my bike and walked it down the water fall, the crowd gave her a big round of applause and I was greatful.
I got to the next check 4 minutes after my hour, which was fine because I was quitting any how. All the other Idaho guy’s finished the event, I was 11 miles short of the finsih but I could care less, “I” was finsihed.
It was a good event and I was proud of all my Idaho pals for finsihing, Chuck also finshed the course but he too houred out by 4 minutes at the last check. So technically he got a DNF but he did ride the whole course. ME? I could hardly wait to get back to Starr’s house and the hot tub!

Okay, that’s enough for tonight, we cross the border in the morning. I made a new freind, Bruce Crawford, he told us about a dirt road route that leads from the border all the way to Copper Canyon. He described a 60 mile strech of road that will take 5 hours or more! Now that’s what we are looking for. So find a map, look up Nogales AZ, run your finger along the border to Agua Prieta, now follow an imaganary line south east to Creel, that is our route. I’ll check back in as soon as we can get a internet connection, so keep checking here and I’ll talk to ya later.

Charlie and Chuck

We made the border crossing this morning, after standing in line getting our tourist cards, then getting them stamped, copied, paid for all the loose ends were nearly tied,  One problemo senior, On Chucks bike registration his name is listed as Chuck Sun, on the rest of the paper work, his name is listed as Charles Sun.  No budging, fudging or getting around it.  We are stuck in no mans land, we tried to call home, the cell phones don’t work and we are in sight of the US border.  The pay phones don’t work even with the help of the kind locals.  So we had lunch, my spanish failed us and we got 2 bean burittos and a coke, okay it was cheap, but with all the taste treats to enjoy, a bean buritto was not what I was hoping for.

So we crossed back into the US.  The customs guard asked how long we had been in Mexico? “Uhhh, about 2 hours”  He laughed and sent us on our way.

We are back in Nogales now, we are going to find a cheap motel and spend the night, it is cold and rainy here, too nasty to camp so we are heading to Motel 6 an will try again tomorrow.   Chuck is contacting the Nevada registration place tomorrow morning and getting the correct documents faxed here.  The lady at the Holiday Inn is really nice, she is letting us sit on the big plush couch and make calls and use the computer to write to you, then we go down the street!  Gringos.  Any how we are not giving up, besides we have spent too much money on Mexican insurance to give up now.  I’ll write as soon as I can, keep those cards and letters coming.
Charlie

Okay, I’m at a fork in the road, one way goes through the country to the border, the other, goes along the coast to Tijuana, on this route lives Super Hunky.  I wrote Hunky and begged an audience with him.  You all remember Super Hunky from Dirt Bike Magazine?  Yep I was going to visit him, seek some wisdom.

I had tried to visit Ed Hertfelder on the way down, but he had a NRA meeting with dinner included.  I think it was more the free meal than the NRA meeting, but any how I missed him, too bad, I would have enjoyed meeting the Icon of the last page.

Hunky replied, said give him a call in the morning and he would give me directions.  This plan is fine in the US where I know how to use the phone, but I spent over an hour trying to locate a phone shop where they could help me call.  My cell phone showed a signal but the operator spoke to me in Spanish so I have no idea what she was telling me.  I found an Internet shop and wrote Hunky again.  In the mean time Clipper had written me back and gave me rough directions from memory of how to get to the Hunky compound.

I rode the coast high way for miles.  30 million people live along here with even more stop lights and speed bumps.  Every change I got I would stop and call.  It always seemed to be on the opposite side of the road, then just the act of getting on and off my bike is hard.  It is very tall, and with the luggage strapped on you have to step over not swing around to get on.   Then helmet, goggles, gloves, ear plugs, stopping was no easy manner.  No answer was the reply on the phone.  Back on the bike, U turn and moving North.

I finally found Hunkys street and wandered around in his neighborhood for a while, I guess I was looking for the Great Yellow Dirt Bike Truck to be parked in his drive.  More calls, more e-mails, more traffic.  No Hunky.  So I gave up and headed East, now I had to ride directly through Tijuana traffic and onto the Tecate border crossing.  I spent 3 or 4 hours trying to find Hunky.  When I got home, I had an e-mail from him.  He had forgotten he had to go some where and didn’t get home till after dark…….

The border was easy, no line, just cruise on through and now I’m in California.  Back to riding by the rules, speed limits, no passing through towns, no passing on the right through the parking lots, ugh, I hated it already.  Then I pulled up to the gas station and all three grades were over 3 dollars a gallon!  I had been used to buying it by the liter and having no idea how much it cost.  So I bought a dollars worth and hoped it would be cheaper down the road, it was but by just a little.

So I’m back in the USA!  Yea! Life will be good and easy now, just a few more miles and I’ll be home.  Wrong….  I stopped in Indio California and got a room for the night.  The next morning  I cut across Joshua Tree National Park.  Ugg, the Park Service,  More rules and regulations.  I did not touch my feet down once I entered the park.  Once out of the park I cut across the Mojave Desert.  No traffic here, maybe 3 motor homes in an hour.  I’m dropping down into Baker California which is there because the Interstate cuts through it.  Problem, the chain broke and left me free wheeling across the desert floor.  I walked back and picked up the chain, more bad news, it had broken a side plate, not just a failed master link.  Now what am I going to do?  You need a grinder and tools to fix this.  Well, I must be living right, because before I could walk back to the bike a truck from the rail road pulled up and the driver said:  “Yea!  I got a grinder!”

It was like this was his favorite tool too,  I could not have asked for a more popular tool.  So the chain was cut and a new master link installed, with in 20 minutes of coasting to a stop I was back on the road.  Not bad considering my location.  I went to Baker and asked around, the nearest shop was in Barstow, 60 miles west.  I took off.

The shop I went to was Barstow Motorcycle Center.  The parts guy was super nice and friendly and helpful.  He told me if he I took my chain up to the service center they would cut it for me up there.  How one facet of the business can do such a good job and another do such a poor job, is beyond me.  Why you would become a motorcycle mechanic if you didn’t love motorcycles and motorcyclists is beyond me.  I got my chain cut, but the guy who did it got on the same list Super Hunky put him self on.

Back on the road,  up through Death Valley, it was 3pm I had 300 miles on the odometer, I felt good, it was warm and nice out, I was headed home.  I stopped for gas once I crossed the Nevada border.  It felt good to be of of California.  There was a guy there with his custom Harley on the trailer.  Me I was filthy, covered with bugs and dirt, I was pumping gas as fast as I could, I was going home. He was standing there pumping gas looking at me and I just had to do it, I asked him:

“Whats a matter with it?

I don’t even remember what he said, I was laughing to my self, I’m so funny.

I was heading North and climbing in elevation.  It kept getting colder and when I got to Tonapah at 6,000 feet I was freezing!  I had to get a room, I asked the lady, how cold is it?  37* with a wind chill of 6*.  No wonder I was freezing!  So I turned the heat up all the way and hid under the blankets trying to warm up.

The next morning once the sun was firmly up, I took off again, it was still cold but I had on every bit of clothing in my possession, 8 shirts and 2 coats, 4 pairs of pants and winter gloves.  My hands were the only thing really cold, so I stopped and bought some zip lock baggies and stuck my hands in them, they did the trick and I was back on it.  I’m going home and I’m going to make it today!

Wrong.  About 55 miles North of Tonopah, the bike blew a rear tire and jumped sideways at 80mph, it took all my sweet skills to keep from crashing.  It would run sideways in one direction then swap to the other side, I can’t just grab the brakes, I have to slow slowly and finally came to stop near a intersection with a big rock.  I started wrestling the bike up on the rock but just could not do it my self, so I was going to flag down a passerby.  Problem was they were all old ladies coming home from taking their husbands to work at the mine.  Eventually my new hero Jack Hays stopped.  He was a mechanic up at the mine and it was his day off, he had been to the dump.  I begged him to help get the bike up on the rock, no problem, he was happy to help.

The tire reluctantly came apart, it was still quite cold out and with my helper, I was trying to hurry the tire change, that never makes it easier.  So I got it apart and was feeling around inside for a nail or something and found a tiny burr.  I could not even see it, I could just feel it, so I ground it off using the screw driver and was going to run with it.  Jack, being a true mechanic wanted to do a better job.  So he looked at it and  we finally pushed it out from the inside.  It was a staple.  Not a construction staple, but an office type of staple that had  pushed through the tire and slowly poked a hole in the tube.  It would have done it again if Jack had not insisted on doing a better job than I was ready to do.

Back on the road, now I’m just East of Austin Nevada and the GPS says turn right and go through Grassy Valley.  99 miles to the interstate and my next turn.  Oh boy, it was a gravel road, a nice wide one, well maintained and smooth, but with the problems of the chain and tire fresh in my mind, it was a nerve racking 99 miles.  I did not see another car in that 99 miles.  One house, but it looked abandoned.

It had started to snow by now and I had to cross a pass over the mountain to get to Elko and my next turn North.  When the snow started covering my goggle lenses and the shivering took hold, I gave up.  I have nothing to prove.  I have ridden a bike in cold conditions to know it is not fun.  So I pulled off at the first exit, walked into the Burger King and the first guy sitting there asked me if my bike was a 950.

“No it’s a 640.”

“Pretty cold out there isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, I give up, I’m going to call home and have some one come get me. Unless you have a truck and are going to Boise.”

Well the first guy didn’t have a truck but the guy sitting next to him did.

“Yes, I have a truck and I’m gong to Boise.”

“Well can you take me with you?”

“Sure.”

So we loaded my bike on the back of his semi trailer, I jumped in the passenger door and we took off for the last 270 miles of my adventure.  Mark Kimber was his name and we had an enjoyable ride, I was telling him of my journey and he brought me to a loading dock with in half a mile of my home.  I’m almost there….

Well 3 blocks from home I sense lights behind me and check the mirror, COPS!  I’ve ridden over 10,000 miles and I’m 3 blocks from home and the cops get me.  No tail light.  Will it ever end?  Will I ever make it home?  He asked me where I was going, I could not remember the cross streets of my own home, I just told him I was going to the liquor store.  Always a good land mark when delirious with exhaustion and dealing with the cops.

So I finally made it home.  I’m exhausted, the cold, the wind, the stress of the bike failing, the 50 days on a bike have finally caught up with me.  I’m going to take a nap.

I’ll write another posting here in a couple of days so check back one more time, but for now, I’m at home in my tie dyed robe, taking naps and trying to adjust to real life again.

I’ll talk to you here again soon, and watch for the next Trail Rider, Paul wants an article by tomorrow for next months magazine.  You will want to subscribe now so you get the next issue.  Yes I have many tales to tell I did not share here.  Once I can get back and look back over the trip, pick out the high points a whole new story will come out.

I got word from Chuck, he made it back to Vegas, he said he was tired and sore, trying to become a human again from a rider.  He wants to write a report soon, so check back here for it too.

For now I’ve got to take a nap.  I would love to hear from every one, I hope you have enjoyed this trip.  I’ll get my slides developed soon and have a slide party to show them off.  If any of you have a motorcycle club and have an event that needs some entertainment, a slide show might be a good way to go, and yes, I work cheap.

Good night every body, it is good to be home.
Charlie

I lost my partner Gary this morning, he hurt his hand and foot while falling off his bike yesterday and wanted to take a day to recuperate.  Plus I wanted to cover some ground today and got 618 miles in.  My hands are a mess, that many miles on a big single may be too much.  The vibration and the cold have them working very slow.  They are getting better now that I’m talking about the cool stuff I’ve seen today.

Yes there were huge open plains where the road ran straight as an arrow, but once I got looking closer, I noticed the ground was covered with flowers.  Tiny low growing flowers that went on for miles in every direction, not a bush or a tree or a cactus in sight, just flowers, very nice.

Cross a mountain and the next side would be completely different.  I saw a new kind of plant today, it was skinny and grew straight up, no branches no forks just a straight trunk with yellow fur looking stuff on it.  I’m sure if I had stopped for a closer look I would have seen it was covered with thorns or spikes like every thing else here.

Then it turned into a forest of cactus, every kind I have ever seen all growing thick.  A few miles later it is nothing but the stately Saguaro cactus, billions of them, as far as the eye could see, it was a sight.

Then it turned to giant boulders, every where boulders.  Then it seemed to turn to a alpine meadow, I checked my Cyco-Active GPS and I was over 2,000 feet!  Then it dropped back down to sea level then back up.

I’m afraid Gary may have trouble in his future too, he was way over tightening his chain, so it would stretch to fit.  Well if you do this enough, you will find the weakest link.  He didn’t have any extra master links or repair links, so I hated to lose his company, but….  He was also going to have a problem with gas, his tank gave him about 160 miles.  Today, gas was 226 miles apart.  My bike ran in on fumes and it has a huge tank.  So Gary, if you are reading this, better get a can for gas, you will probably need it.  As far as the chain?  Read the book, it requires some slack.  I hope you make it, it was a long haul.

I got a note from Chuck, so I’ll paste it here:

I really didn’t want this adventure to end but sure feels good to come back in to the US!  It would be fitting if Charlie Old boy were here to high five a great trip, but consider this a high five and a knuckle hit to everyone that have kept us company on an aw some adventure around and through Mexico!  A great thanks to Charlie for inviting me along for a week…..Couldn’t have picked a better travel partner with his Greatfull Dead spin on events!  As I wound down towards Nogales the temp was toasty so I stopped in for one last mexican meal and coke.  Waitress could’nt speak any english,  for the first time I was very glad, then she brought over an english menu in addition to the spanish…Oh well I guess am to close to the border.. trip over…When she took my order however form the english menu she pointed to the spanish menu and drilled out that beutifull spanish language which I did not recognize a word of and I just said SI! …Awe the trip is not over…I’m going to get one last meal in which I do not really know what I’m getting!  Ya! Life is Good!

Paid about fiddy bucks in tolls…Not to bad…but worth it if the trip is over and no real beaches to stop at.  Just lay on the tank behind the wind screen and pin it.  I’ve really been taking it in on this whole Mexico trip without pushing my Orange gal to hard, but now I let the 9fiddy gal stretch her legs on home!  Yaaa!  Cruzed at just under 160cliks (100mph  5M RPM) and got lucky with the Feds!

Took in the Mazatlan 300 on Saturday with bikes & quads starting at 8am and buggies at 10am which I will put together a race report later.  I did just cross in at 4pm…I think Sunday….Left Mazatlan after a quick swim in the surf at 3 pm when the leaders had finished.  Gonna see if I can get a hold of either Kent Nichols or Star for a hook up in Tuscon/Pheonix now.

Would’ve like to have hooked up with Chalie again for a couple of laughs but I know baja is great…I knew however that baja really deserves a seperate journey and with funds tapped would not have done it justice for me.

Later..Chuck Sun back in the USA!

Pretty cool huh?  I’ll cross the border tomorrow, I’ just south on Ensanada,  I’m freezing and Chuck was hot.  It must be the big old Pacific cooling things off here.  Chuck was going 100mph and I was rolling along soaking in the scenery and looked at my speedo?  48mph!  I will definitely come back to Baja, I am so surprised.  I want to call Tim Morton and book a trip with him soon.  I think I want to bring a real dirt bike back though, after that rough road yesterday, I don’t want to ride a dual sport bike here.  Tim Morton knows all the good trails and I’m coming back.  Three places I want to visit again.  San Miguel de Allende,  Puerto Escondito and the entire Baja Peninsula.  Man the Sea of Cortez is beautiful,  I can see John Steinbeck and Doc motoring along and collecting specimens,  man I want to do a sail boat trip of that coast.  Just seeing these things make me want to see more.  Main land Mexico was beautiful but after a while it all became to look the same, then Baja was such a contrast.

Okay, that’s all I can think of now, my mind is still vibrating from the 618 miles I rode today.  I’m trying to reach Super Hunky, he lives near here and if I can I would like to stop in and visit him.  I ran in to a guy at a gas station today.  He said he knew Malcolm Smith and some other names, he was going to give me his business card and I saw he had a KTM card, it was Joe Barkers card and we both went Ohhhh, Joe Barker, it was funny.  Oh while I’m thinking of it, I was on the bike for 6 hours straight this morning before I stopped for lunch.  I stopped for gas but did not get off the bike.  Then I wound up with 618 miles for the day, that should be a good testimony for my Bill Mayer Saddle.  There is no way I could have made this trip with out my Bill Mayer, the best addition to my bike.  My Aerostich coat just gets cooler looking every day.  I turned my Enduro Engineering hand warmers on cause they do.  My Sidi boots fit nice, my Works Enduro Rider suspension sure soak up the bumps and handle the turns well.  Yesterday I was doing a little mental wining:  “Well my shock spring is about 15% too light, my rebound is about 38% too light, fork compression is good but the rebound is too light.”  Well then I got behind Gary on his Suzuki 650 in stock trim with a bunch of luggage tied to it.  I quit wining pretty quickly.  The KTM is one heck of a machine, I would not consider another brand, I would like a 950 for sure, but maybe a 700 twin would be cool too.  You know, big motor but cut all the fat, that would be rockin!

Okay I’m going to take a hot shower and go to bed, I’ve got a long day tomorrow, and should be back in Boise in the next three days or so.  Please keep the letters coming, I enjoying hearing from all of ya.  Don’t forget to subscribe to Trail Rider Magazine and you are always welcome to kick me down a few bucks on the Pay Pal account on the photo album page. Oh, shop repairmanual.com and Pro Moto Billet for all the good stuff.

Later

Charlie

I was reading my tour book last night, and it is toll road from Los Moochis to the border, it will be over $100 in tolls. So I was looking at the ferry schedule, I could cross over to Baja for the same amount of money. Plus I could sleep on the ship and save the nite in a hotel. Done deal, I was heading to the ferry. On the way, a banana truck had crashed and held up traffic. Of course I passed every one and got up to the front and there was another motorcycle, so I pulled up next to him and struck up a conversation.

His name was Gary, he had ridden his Suzuki 650 from Memphis Tenn. He was going to Los Moochis and was going to ride up to Copper Canyon from the bottom. None of the maps show a road but he felt confidant he could make it. I related our trip, and the story’s we had heard. So like a good dirt bike guy, he changed his plans, and headed to Baja with me! I have a new traveling companion! It is much more fun with some one to talk to and share the experience with, I think it is a bunch safer too.

We had to ride about 300 miles, which was no big problem and got to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. A really nice guy who spoke good English got us in the right line and help us buy our tickets. Of course we bought the cheapest tickets available, figuring we would have to sleep in a chair or on the floor covered with beer and throw up. It is a Mexican boat any how.

Well while we were in line to board the surprisingly nice boat, we ran into the nice guy again. His name was Ricardo and his partners name was Miguel, they had been to Guadalajara to buy building supplies for a hotel Ricardo was building in LaPaz. Out of no where he said that he had reserved a cabin and there were two extra beds if we wanted to join them. Gary said he thought I was going to jump in the truck at the offer, and of course we said YES!

After our dinner which was included in our ticket price we went to the cabin and it was just perfect. Clean sheets and 4 bunk beds and a private bath. Since it was after midnight we all fell asleep easily and it was one of the best nights sleep I´ve had in two weeks. What a great deal, thank you Ricardo!

The ship was nice. Brand new in 02 it held a whole parking lot full of semi trucks and cars. Four levels and we got to park by the exit ramp, this meant we were the first one´s off! It could have not worked out better for us. We were at the LaPaz dock just after sunrise and got through the military check point easily and headed down town for some breakfast. Lapaz is a very nice and clean city. But the best news is, I bought a map! Yep, walked into a store, walked up to a lady and said the word MAPA, and she took me to the isle of maps and I bought another map book, just like the one I had! You can not imagine how much easier it is to navigate with a map…… I´m happy again.

Of course the first thing I did was get lost. I didn´t look at the map close enough, or my eyes are getting worse and I missed the fact that the lines did not connect….. Oh well, I never said I was mart! It worked out thought, we found a short cut gravel road and rode over a nice mountain pass with the ocean in the back ground.

Baja is way more beautiful than I ever imagined. Some how I thought it was barren and gray with a mountain ruining down the middle of it, wrong! There are many more plants here than on the main land, lot´s of cactus, lot´s of green, it is very nice. We did the beach front road from LaPaz to Cabo san Lucas. We stopped at a little beach and since Gary brought his snorkel gear he did a quick tour of the reef while I washed my clothes on the beach.

The water was spectacular, turquoise green and dark blue. Black stones covered the beach. It is another perfect place. Then, disaster. I got a flat tire! I was going about 50 down a sandy gravel road when it practically blew out. The tube actually ripped in pieces. I have never seen that happen in such a short order.

I had given Chuck my extra tube and had to put in a front tube in the rear tire. No big deal, just one of those things. Gary seemed impressed. Start to finish, 27 minutes, that includes finding a concrete block to put the bike on, a stick to hold it up and unpacking and repacking all the tools and stuff. Tire changing is my best skill.

We went to the Yamaha shop in Cabo and bought a new tube for a spare. From the sounds of it Chuck should have bought a spare tube too! He is on the main land some where, I can´t fully understand his e´mail, but he had another flat. I´ll post his letters next so the next few paragraphs are by Chuck Sun.

I would never choose to have a flat exactly half way between Telic and Mazatlan for a new adventure..but now that is over I have some new photos and friends…Mango Presidnta of 100 acres hooked me up with some creative tire dudes and they literly recreated a tube from what was left including a new valve stem that was tore off! Drove to 2 towns trying to find an 18inch but no luck as thursday apparently is a day off for most retailers…Drove a combin tractor today and visited the Mango orchards…I think I may have worked out a deal for a semi load of Mango{s to Las Vegas when they mature in Aug.! Hey how about mango juice a blender and vodka? I want one now! Presidenta has drove me around introducing me to his influential buddies…his doctor brother etc….Great help..Now he is going to drive me back to the bike …. and I hope to find a LaPlaya close to Mazatlan before dark. No word from Charlie, but I imagine he is catching some waves close to Mazatlan…Later CLS

Next transmission….
Before the Presdenta and I took off for a tour of his Mango crop the tire guy pulled out this sticky rubber strip..but the stem was grafted from another tube somehow….Road side Comidor lady was just sweet and in a heartbeat she had a wrench from a truck driver to yank my wheel off! She then immedietly hooked me up´with a small family in a truck for a lift into town to a bridgestone dealer…where old boy grabbed the wheel and broke the bead on the machine and peeled the tire off in a flash when chunks of rubber fell out? It was the rubber strap that had apparently got damaged in previous flat and finally let go generating Caliente which caused the stem to come unglued in a perfect round circle from the tube….but I did ride2km on flat creating a couple of pinches . It held air into Maz last night..got in at 10pm Nocturnal rider here, Like a moth to the flame…or a maggot to the city lights! I feel safe coming into a city late…everyone is milling around, dining..safety in crowds. Leaving PV took a nap on a cool beach with great consistent waves…Woke up to..Hey dude is that your 950? James as it turned out has a KLX…and after an early retirement towed his aerostream around the Yukitan and now lives in PV forever lured by the Hispanic life style…However his early retirement is now being sustained by a recent job he ssecured at Century 21…Of course he wants a 9fiddy!

Next transmission…..

I wish I said i was racing this BITD look alike with trophy trucks and over 40 bike entries. I rode the first section of the course that runs a narrow road right next to the breakers out of Maz! I found the race headquarters and tried a freebee but got a room in main Maz accross from beach for 28!

Paul, what do think about a story for TR about this event? I{v upped the res on the dig and have been talking to federation bosses and promotor on details. Race begins at 8am for bikes and 10 for trucks and I{ll be their! A posting on the site could be good for the locals here so they see their pics!

Riders meeting at 8…See ya….Chuck the reporter Sun

Okay, Charlie back with you, That is every thing we know about Chuck. Well I do know some other stuff, but I´m not telling!

Gary and I rode up the west coast of Baja about 50 miles and got a camp site. We will try to go surfing tomorrow morning before moving further north. We rode some gravel today, but it was so terribly wash boarded, it was little fun. Besides my sub frame is broken again, not where Mr. Bitch had fixed it, but another place. Well it is horribly over weighted…

I´m sure I´m forgetting a thousand details but I´m in a hurry, this internet place closes in a few minutes so I gotta go.

Talk to you soon and thanks to all. Write when you can.

Charlie

So yesterday, after I wrote you I cruised the coast, there were many beautiful places andaroundd 2pm I needed a nap, so I pulled off at a sign that said Playa, means beach.  So as I walked up to anabandonedd shelter on a beautiful cove, rocks jutted 100 feet tall on both sides, and the blue water splashed up on the sand beach.  I was going to take my nap under the shelter.  Well the mostpeculiarr looking man came walking out of the water.  He had a spear gun and snorkel gear with.  But his shorts were, well it looked like he had on long basketball shorts that he had rolled up and tucked in the mesh liner.  He also had on a skull cap and a full beard.  A weight belt, with out weight.  But his shorts were the bomb.  We started talking, his name was Warren,originallyy fromPennsylvaniaa.  He had ridden a 305 Honda Scrambler all over Europe and Turkey and all those weird places back in 1969.  Said he almost didn’t make it out of Turkey.  Trouble with the law I asked?  Nope, the hash was too good!

I told him about my trip and how I had ended up here.  He showed me his ‘Bus’.  Sure enough, it was an old school bus that he and his wife had driven down years ago, nolicensee plate on it.  He also had a 84 BMW Dakar bike.  It was rough, but ran, but it didn’t have a plate either.  Oh well, just an observation.  I told him I had stopped to take a nap and eat a Power Bar because I was hungry.

Well once I woke up,  Warren came over with a plate full of friedcalamarii and chunks of fish.   He had asked his wife to cook it for me, and boy was it good.  He told me more stories about riding the east coast of Mexico on his BMW and could have gone on, but I was ready to ride, besides, his stories were better than mine, so I left!

The road was nice, it would be right along the beach for a while, then climbuntill you were a thousand feet above and back down again.  Palm trees,coconutt tree groves, fruit trees, giant leaved plants and a GOAT!  Boy I hit the brakes if I even see a goat!  Or think goat!  Brakes!  I covered 500 miles today and it was pretty easy, I spent an hour at the Internet shop, I had to spend an hour with Warren and still got in 500 miles, pretty good.

I also stopped well before dark at a place call Playa de Iguana.  A nice little cove with a wide sand beach.  I pulled up to a camp ground and the guy wanted 17 dollars to camp.  Okay, let me check around so I went to the hotel next door, a room was 18 dollars.  I went for the room, it was nice and clean and I could hear the ocean.  That is important to me, when I can I want to hear the waves crashing.  Then the lady cooked me the best plate of shrimps I have ever had.  Margarita Shrimp she called it, Ohhh was it good, and a bunch of them too, peeled and veined just a littlepiecee of tail to pick it up by.  French fries, salad and a bowl of chips,  I was a happy camper.

Since Chuck and I lost each other, my speed has dropped a little, now I run between 65 and 70 most of the time.  Before it was 73 to 78 just to keep up.  I know a few miles an hour does not seem like much but it is much more relaxed andpleasantt.  I don’t feel like I have to hit every shift and apex just perfect.  If I want to stop for a photo, I don’t feel like I’m in a race any more.  A little bit of speed makes a bigdifferencee.  I’ll show you.  One letter in asentencee can make a bigdifferencee too.  Read this:  Making good time.  Now add one letter and see what adifferencee it makes:  Making a good time.  That little ‘a’ that’s what 5mph has done to my trip.

Chuck and I have beenemailingg each other along the way, but since neither of us has a good map it’s hard to tell which town we are in.  So the plan was to meet inPuertoa Vallarta at the KTM shop.  Well the address I had led me to a Yamaha shop´, they told me the KTM shop was out of business.  I waited for an hour and a half hoping Chuck would come to this address, but I gave up and left.  Later I checked my mail again and he had found the KTM shop, new owners, new address new location.  Darn.  He had told me to go to the Volcano lake thing we had talked about seeing.  Then a few hours later I checked my mail again.  He had not left the KTM shop when he planned and had not made it to the volcano after all.  So you can see it is difficult to catch up to each other.  Then Chuck rides much faster than I do, I’ve slowed down and I’m sure he has sped up now that I’m not holding him back.

But back to the one little letter, Making good time and Making a good time.  I got an email from Chuck this morning.  You will surley see the instant karma in it, you know, wait for you buddy at the turn, don’t leave your buddy, don’t ride at night.  I’ll cut and paste it here next for you to read.

Hey Jim…Chuck here…Your words are somewhat prophetic….Charlie and I lost touch when we were hammering through Acapulco traffic a couple days ago…Pass whatever and where ever….

So we hooked up on the net a day late and the plan was to meet in Puerto Vallarta…Awesome ride!..vacant beaches…many stops…

Determined I violated the ride past dark rule and made it into PV at about 10:00pm.Disenchanted with the tourist hi-price hotels with drunk kids on the bay…I got a cool place with the bike in the lobby for 38 bucks!

Here is where it gets ugly…I wander out for some nightlife around the corner…cabby’s working everyone….women drugs you name it…I ditch into a bar and ignore them…then on the way to a new bar this dude really is aggressive on selling me something…I turned and walked away only to have him jump on my back with a choke hold from behind!!!  I couldn’t believe this guy had the balls to do that!  Two Policia was standing right their..thinking I was safe..No!..Mugger started screaming I owed him money!!  Policia said I should pay him!  Couldn’t believe this!..but I was outnumbered so I tried 200 Pesos and they demanded more!  I took the 200 back and handed the thief 400 slowly as I stepped back and as I released the money took off and ran down the street back to the previous bar then to the Hotel…I could hear them yelling at each other… over the money split…Bail Bondsman I took care of it..That is the first real trouble in 5 weeks…What maggots!!  That does put us tight on funds for the ride back, but better than jail…One small narrow escape in an amazing experience!!  Should have stayed in Puerto Escondido…Great waves!

Heading to the KTM dealer around soonish..

Chuck Sun

Okay, this is Charlie again.  What do you think of his story?  I’m sure glad he is okay and it was not any worse than it was, but after 5 weeks in Mexico we have had absolutely no trouble of any kind.  He takes him self out and gets mugged.

This morning I got up and took a swim in the ocean, had some papaya and coffee and hit the road.  The drop down in to PV is out standing some of the prettiest I have seen.  All along the coast the trees and plants have been dead.  I’ve come up with the idea that a storm has blown salt water all over them and they died.  Sound good?  Well the storm must have missed PV, the trees were in full bloom,  then there is the river flowing next to the road.  Outstanding, water falls and pools along the way.  This is where I was with the Vondasars years ago.

Here is a funny story that the statue of limitations has run out on…. Jack Vondasar and I were with the whole gang and we stopped by this water fall.  Jack and I went exploring and Jack slipped and broke his finger.  Okay, no big problem, he just didn’t want Janet his wife to find out.  So mum was the word.  When we got back to the jeep, Jack took his handkerchief out and was acting like he was going to shake it out, but when he did he hit his hand on the sharp edge of the windshield, and THAT’S how he broke his finger!  Now years later I spill the beans, sorry Jack, it was just too good not to tell!   Also I don’t recognize one thing about PV from our trip here, not one thing.  So it was like visiting a new place.  It is a tourist place and very crowded and I wanted out fast!  KTM shop, I adjusted and oiled my chain, went to lunch and waited a few minutes for Chuck and I was out of there!

I went to a small beach town north of there, but it too was crowded and I didn’t stay, I just hit the road North, I wound up about 5 miles out side of Mazatlan, it was getting dark and I wasn’t really wild about going all the way into town.  So I got a room here, thanks Papa Joe!  Tomorrow it’s North to Los Mooches, gee that name sound familiar.  Then I should cross the border the next day.  It depends on the time,  they say the border is very dangerous and I want to cross during the day.  There is always a line and people trying to sell stuff or steal stuff    along there, so I’ll play that by ear.

My bike is running great, it is happier at 70mph too, so that’s all for tonight, I’m going to get some dinner then some shady bars, NOT!

Write when you get a chance, I enjoy hearing from all of you, everything is good here and I have had a fantastic experience here in Mexico.  I hope you have enjoyed it too.  Buy a subscription to Trail Rider so when the articles come out you can read them.  Let me absorb some of the trip, give it some thought and yes, there are some things I have not told you here, saving the best for last.  Don’t forget the Pay Pal account, once I cross the border I still have a long ride to Idaho, plus my bike needs some work, so it ain’t over till it’s over.

Thanks to all, and to all, good night.

Charlie

We pulled out of paradise yesterday, headed to the Cancun KTM shop.  There was rumor of another KTM shop in between here and there, so we checked it out.  It was too new to have any inventory but they told of another KTM shop around the corner.  So we took off for that one.  This one was right down town Playa de Carmen, a hopping beach town.  It is primarily a scooter rental shop for the tourists, but the KTM importer for Mexico just happened to be there.

Eric Gallardo, a super nice guy and he took care of us.  We went to lunch, he called the next dealer on our route and had him order tires so they would be there when we got there.  Then we started talking about our route home.  He suggested we ride the course that he had set up and used in the Red Bull coast to coast rally just a couple of months ago.  It goes from Vera Cruz to Puerto Escondito, all excellent dirt road and even some single track!  He Described one section crossing this mountain range.  It sounds like single track and is the only pass for miles in either direction!  You can see on the map all the roads have to go on either side of this mountain range.  It should be good!

But then, trouble.  We lost our map.  I blame Chuck, Chuck blames me, but he has been in control of the map since we left.  Only because it didn{t fit in my map case.  He has done a good job of reading the map, except when we were around Copper Canyon and were lost for 3 days, and nights!  So we are using a map from the tourist office, it has cartoons of mermaids and dolphins on it and hardly shows any thing.   Luckily the roads are very well marked and we can just go from town to town.

We spent the night in Merida last night, it was a pretty cool old city, we went down town for dinner, you know, the square and loads of old buildings, pretty nice.  But while at dinner it started raining and we only had on our good shirts and shoes, so all our stuff was wet.  Clean now, but we.

We got up early this morning and headed west, we rode 500 miles today.  A personal record for me.  My butt is fine, the BIll Mayers Saddle makes all the difference in the world.  Also the temperature was lower so it was very comfortable and not a bad ride at all.  We are in a town that is unpronounceable, I can{t even spell it again, look at the title of this piece.  It is on the beach and we had dinner over looking the gulf.  There is a big ship washed up on the beach, probably 150 feet long and in ankle deep water.  It is recent too, because it is fully rigged and they must plan on rescuing it on the next high tide.

Tomorrow we ride 300 miles to Vera Cruz to the KTM dealer there,  we both need tires, and an oil change plus some other things before we start a 1,000 mile dirt section across the country.  From Puerto Escondito we turn right on the coast high way and head north to home.  I guess Idaho has been getting the snow and the skiing is great!  I miss my friends, and ICE CREAM!  And my dog.  I{ll write more tomorrow then it might be a few days before we are back in civilization.  So keep those cards and letters coming and I{ll talk to you soon.

Charlie

Hello all,

Big events the last couple of days.  We left the Huatla early and hit the rally trail,  it was no problem to follow once we got on track. Plus there would be an occasional arrow or ribbon to mark the way or just reinforce we were on the right route.

From our motel window we could see across the valley and see a small town on the ridge between two mountains, of course it was really pretty, it’s all pretty at a distance!  We had to ride to the valley floor, cross a creek, then start the long climb back up, before we knew it we were at the town we could see from the motel.  Half a mile as the crow flies and 45 minutes of hard riding to get there,  it would have taken 2 hours in a truck.

So down the other side of the mountain, cross a creek, then back up the other.  There were houses and villages every where,  very populated area, very nice though.  We were on the route to Paseo Diablo, Pass of the Devil.  Well eventually we came to a dead end.  There were a group of men there and they pointed at this goat trail going off to??????

‘No No No, weO areO lookingO forO PaseO DiablO!?  That’s Chuck talking if you had not guessed.  They just laughed and pointed at the rocky narrow goat trail.  ‘Moto?’  and pointed.  Moto is Spanish for Motorcycle, they just smiled and pointed.  If we turned back it would have taken hours to get around the mountain.  Me, being the chicken that I am, I wanted to turn around and go home.

Chuck was all excited, ‘We can do it, look it’s just this one part then it gets easy!’  Last time I listened to him he traipsed us around the most dangerous drug controlled area of the country!  I was lucky to survive that and we both agree it was a stupid move, especially after finding out two bikers had been murdered in one of the towns we wandered around and though.  Now he wants to take me to Paseo Diablo,  ‘Olkay’  I must be an idiot or need friends so bad I’ll do any thing.  Jump off a bridge?  ‘Olkay.’

So of course, photo’s were taken, prayers were said, bets were made among the locals.  The first section of 100 feet was rocky steep and narrow, just like Idaho.  Thank Diablo I have some practice there, for if I were still a flatlander, it would have been too much.  I made it to  a flat spot, walked back and took photo’s of Chuck riding the 950 up the first section.  Every thing was good,  Now we are on a very narrow trail with no where to turn a bike around.  We would have had to take them apart and reassemble them facing the other direction.  Yes Chuck, this is fun!

We kept going, it would have been hard trail to ride if I were on my 250 race bike,  but we are on pigs, pigs with saddle bags, then there are the bikes too!  The saddle bags just needed to snag a rock and that would push us off the trail, over the edge.  The next difficult section was an up hill stair step around a corner with dangerous exposure.  We walked it first,  it re mined me of the section going down from Custer Pass in Idaho, you guy’s will know which one I’m talking about, we rode it the day we went from Bull Trout, to Custer and back, well some of us bailed and went to the hot springs, but that’s a different tale.

Take my word, it was a steep rocky climb with no room for error, unless your left leg was 65 feet long and could touch the bottom.  We made it, no it was not pretty, some paddling and Chuck even had to do some pushing, but we made it to the next flat area.  This trail was flat, but super narrow.  I was scared to death,  I could feel my hands shaking, they were shaking so bad I could see the bars wagging back and forth in the mirrors.  Does a steering damper help in these situations?  I wanted to take a Valium, I went through my first aid kit, all I could find was ointment and band aids.  Well I knew ointment wasn’t going to help, so I put a band aid on my arm, it didn’t seem to help but it did take my mind off things while I applied it…

Another rocky rooty steep up hill, this one just a little wider, maybe 3 feet of trail, so it was getting easier.  Or so we thought.  At the top of this climb was a tight switch back to the right.  On a race bike, you might have been able to lift the front wheel and swing it around and be on the trail facing up.  But on these bikes, it was a 7 point turn making the bend.  Then of course another steep climb.  At the top of this climb I waited for Chuck.  He could not make the turn, his bike is heavier and longer than mine so he enlisted the help of a local to help him turn his bike around further down the trail and eventually he came up the hill, tire spinning, legs flailing.

Hopefully I got the photo, if it looks like it did in my mind, we might have next months cover shot, I’m sure hoping!  Speaking of cover shots, every one enjoys Trail Rider Magazine don’t they?  If you are here and reading this, you must be a fan.  You know who is paying to have this web site we are enjoying?  That’s right, Trail Rider Magazine.  A good way to show your appreciation would be to make sure your subscription is current.  If not, go back to the home page here, and resign up.  It will come to your home, every month, in it you will find musings from myself, the classic humor of Ed Hertfelder, Paul can weave a tall tale or two too.  Special guests have included, every body’s favorite, Jerry Bernardo, My very own brother Josh Williams, we even have an occasional Roscoe article thrown in just to keep the fringe in the loop.

I use the magazine as a source book.  When ever I want to call some one in the business, I pick up any issue of Trail Rider and flip through it and find the phone number or web address I’m looking for.  Plus, if you are a shop owner or manufacturer of any motorcycle stuff, Trail Rider is an excellent place to advertise.  It’s not an expensive place to advertise and you actually reach a whole bunch of hard core woods racers and trail riders.  Think about it, there is no sense advertising your gadget to a bunch of MX kids who never plan on riding their bike out of sight of the truck any how!  So do your duty, re up your subscription or run an ad for your products, the whole reason we are here is because Trail Rider makes it possible.  So kick em down some thanks.

Thankfully for Chuck and I, the road book said there was only another mile or so left, we were feeling the effects.  Did I mention we were above 7,000 feet?  Did I mention it was about 80* in the sun?  Of course all the hard parts were in direct sun light and we had just about finished our little bottle of water.  The trail did open up and get easier, but we had that nagging feeling of the unknown around the corner, it was nerve wracking to say the least.  Then, presto, we could see the road below us, we had made it, well almost.  We still had a fairly tricky decent, that was much harder than it looked because the dirt was real loose and the bikes wanted to slide sideways down the hill instead of rolling straight.  But as you guessed, since I’m here writing to you, we made it.  It really was a tough section of trail, just as hard as any thing up in Idaho, I want to congratulate the Mexican Enduro riders for knowing what it takes to make a grown man cry.

Okay, now we are across the pass, do you know where we are?  At the top of a mountain and needing to ride down it to the river at the bottom.  Actually, we are only a few miles from Cueve Cheve, the river in the valley below is the same one we could see from that route, that was pretty cool.  But now we have a 6,000 foot decent on twisty gravel roads, it was great!  At one point Chuck saw a short cut to bypass a couple of switch backs on the road.  Another fine mess….  Well his line dropped off some rock ledges and boulders.  I chose to take a goat path, well it was not solid, it was very loose the bike slid side ways as fast as it did go straight and I banked all my apples on that one little bush having enough roots to carom off so I could make the next hard part.  Well it did hold and I made it, you are probably getting the idea, we made the route or there would be no article. Okay, okay.  Of course we made it.

After about 10 miles of gravel the road ended at a black top highway, and we were glad to see it, we had just spend 3 days in the dirt, the last few miles very challenging and we were ready for some high way work.  Road book said, 5 miles, then right.  Ohhhh we were back in the dirt and in a 25km special test.  It was rocky desert terrain.  Again steep climbs covered with round rocks.  The ground was very white here, then we would raise in elevation a few feet and it turned salmon colored, then it turned tan, then black.  Once we got up on top, and this took some time, the trail was covered in pine needles and just rolled along the ridge top for a couple of miles, pretty nice stuff.  Then down, back through the tan and into the white.  The white road we were on had turned to talcum powder and was a hand full to ride.  Sharp square edged rocks hidden in silty dust, it just keeps going.

Out of the hills, through a town then across some giant pastures with a wide smooth road that you could run 80mph across, it was cool. Then we had a section with a bunch of turns and Chuck was diligently reading the road book.  This is where I got back at him for aggravating me so badly the other day.  While he had his eye on the odometer and road book, I could see faded arrows painted on the rocks and telephone poles.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him.  But he would ask if I thought this was the right way and I could say confidently YES,  I didn’t tell him there was an arrow right in front of him.  I had good laugh, it’s our different back grounds, he’s moto, I’m enduro.

I remember riding an enduro with my friend Brett Parks and locals had torn down the arrows.  So Brett and I were riding through the woods as fast as we could, looking for NEW staples in the trees, old staples were from last year, and yes again, we made it.

We hit the highway and put the throttle down.  We were going to the beach and might have enough daylight to make it if we just hurry.  Man we went back through Oaxaca like nothing you have ever seen.  We had seen this route a few weeks ago and just sliced and cut our way through traffic, jumping the speed bumps, up on the curb, splitting lanes, Diablo on wheels!

Okay, this time we didn’t make it, it got dark on us.  Since we are navigating by using an old globe we found, we didn’t know if there were any towns ahead, we decided we had better grab a bite to eat and plan on camping out…..  So we stopped at the first place we found.  A hut by the side of the road.  There were many friendly people living there and they cleaned off the table and had us in.  Of course they told us what was on the menu for tonight, but since we can only speak Spanish but can not under stand a word of it, we just politely smiled and shook our heads ‘Yes’ to what ever they said.  Mistake.  They brought out two bowls of soup, at least we think it was soup.  In this bowl were two crabs and half a frog.  Now being grateful and polite, I tore into the crabs, but could not find ANY meat on them, I broke them in tiny pieces to at least look like I ate them.  The frog?  Well I’ve eaten frog legs before but Chuck was insistent there were no frogs in this area.  How can you tell this by looking at a globe?  He claimed it was a bird or a bat.  Well, I can recognize a frog skeleton, and since the whole skeleton was in the soup, it was frog.  Then with in half a mile of leaving a big frog jumped across the road and we both just laughed.

The restaurant hut people informed us there was a motel 5km down the road so we risked the night ride, we took it easy and no problemo.  The hotel was very nice and we were both totally exhausted and both agree we had the best nights sleep we had in a long time.  So that concludes yesterday.

Today, to the beach!  Finishing the route we had ridden had taken a huge load off my mind, it had felt as long as we were on the rally route we were just getting deeper and deeper into the trip.  But on that last long down hill run my mood changed completely, my mental i-pod played Friend of the Devil and I was a happy camper.  I’m tired and ready to head home, it will still take a week or more of hard riding to get back across the border but just knowing we are heading that way changed my out look.  Plus we are going to the beach!  Hammer down, 2 hours and we will be there.  We stopped for gas and I left first.  Chuck enjoys giving me a head start then catching me, no big deal, the number 64 bike just does not have the power the 95 bike does, so I just ride my own pace.

Well I rode my own pace and soon enough here comes the number 95 bike, but then it’s gone and I don’t give it another thought, I just keep rolling, I figured he had pulled off to, well who knows what Chuck does when he is by him self…  So I just kept rolling, all the way to the beach.  I stopped at the first intersection and waited.  I stood there for 5 minutes, then sat on a rock for 10 minutes, then laid on my coat for 30 minutes, no Chuck.  So I start back looking for him.  It was 55 miles back to the gas station.  Well my mind just raced,  Crashed? Dead? Injured?  Seriously injured?  Injured but not badly?  Totally missing?  Off the cliff?  Call his brother?  Of course I planned on stealing his wallet, camera and any gold teeth if I found him dead or dying, or just unconscious.  I rode 50 miles of the 55 before I saw him riding in the back of a pick up truck with a dozen other people.  He hollard and we stopped.
He had gotten a flat tire on the 950.  No he didn’t have an axle wrench, no he didn’t have a tube or patch kit’ no he didn’t have air. but.  He had found a house who had a wrench that would fit.  He got the wheel off but could not break the bead.  Could not pry the tire open to get to the tube.  He had tried everything and was on his way to the next town to get it fixed.  He would have overcome all his problems, he had found an old car tube to put in or patch the tube he had,  He was very proud of his McGiver solutions, until he could not open the tire.  I knew the secret there, back the truck over it.  Yep, the only way to break the bead on this sized wheel is with a special tool, or, back a truck over it.  That did the trick and soon we were back on the road.

Okay, I know this is a long posting but it just keeps going.  When I started this trip, I wondered what I was going to write about, well there is plenty, because ship happens.  And boy it happens quick.  I was leading, going about 60mph, Chuck was just behind me.  Presto!  Goat!

Big Goat!  Big pregnant Mama Goat!  I moved left 2 feet,and nailed the throttle.  That was all the time I had, no brakes, no scare, no horn, no nothing, just a 2 foot swerve and BAM!!!!  I hit the goat in the neck, it`s body swung around and smashed my foot and leg.  My body was thrown forward.  My left shoulder hit my right mirror.  My shoulders and elbows ache from the impact.  The bike swerved slightly.  My leg HURT!  My foot HURT!  But I didn’t fall down, just kept rolling, I didn’t even stop.  Just kept going, my leg hurt bad enough it kept my mind going that direction and not in to the WHAT IF? game.

I just kept rolling, I`m going to the beach.  If I had stopped, I would have sat there saying my leg hurts until the farmer came down and made me pay for the goat.  Well mister, that goat is dead, I ain’t buying a dead goat!

If you grab the brakes in a situation like this, it changes the geometry of the bike, it changes so many things, precession, momentum geometry.  Nail it and drive through the goat.  Chuck came by and the goat was still sliding down the road.  He had to thread the needle of the other goats following mama goat.  My foot hurt, so when we got to the beach I took off my boot,  I was sure it was full of blood and toe parts, but no, there was some black bruising on the bottom, but when I took a shower that washed off, so I’m not as hurt as I thought I was, now it is completely pain free.  Now the goat is another story,  some one is having goat for dinner!

Okay, I’ll let y’all go for now, we are going surfing tomorrow so there should be some more good stories.

Glad to be here, glad you are here too.

Okay, we rented boogie boards, I know these  are the four wheelers of the ocean, surfers look down at them, literally and figuratively.  We got flippers to go with the boogie boards and just had a blast!  The waves were huge!  Some of the white water was 6 feet tall or more.  The waves were even taller.  Maybe 10 feet tall.  See the beach is very steep at the water line and the waves build up a puddle.  When there is enough, it moves back out, this is what a rip tide does.  Any how sometimes it will have waves going back out that actually break the wrong way.  Breakers facing breakers, when they collide you have an explosion on water, it is cool!

Of course you want to avoid the center of this, you have to paddle out past this to get to the good waves.  Chucks first wave was a doozie.  He got in a little late, it took him to the top, it was way too steep, then it just dumped him over the falls so to speak,  he dropped 8 or more feet straight down into the guts of the monster.  It rolled him like a washing machine and he came out just laughing his head off, it was fun.

We both caught big waves that pushed us 100 yards to the beach.  The first half you are in white water so thick you can not see any thing, all you have is the sensation of speed, lots of speed.  You know how fast a go cart feels, being that close to the ground, well imagine being in the wash, being part of the wave and bouncing and crashing around, it is fun!  I really like it here, it is cheap, it is pretty and the surfing is good.  I will plan on coming back here.  We have found some bungalows for 20 a night, on the water.   There is talk of having a Trail Rider Magazine Summit in a few months.  Of course every one is invited, I’m going to vote on Puerto Escondito as the location.

We had lunch under a thatch roofed hut and ogled the girls in different states of undress, took a nap in the provided hammocks then hit the waves again.  This time it was low tide and the waves were even bigger.  Oh what fun, I can’t describe the speed, the rush of it all.  I just know I want to keep doing it.  Tomorrow I’m going for the surf board.

So that’s what we did today.  It was nice to be off the bikes for a change.  The last few days had been very hard riding and we were both exhausted.  Not that swimming and surfing is easy, it is just a change and a lot of fun.

So did every one sign up for their Trail Rider subscription?  It’s a good magazine, and for those of you who are new here and also to the adventure riders.  We see a change in the magazine happening.  The Bossman has a 950 KTM and will be doing rides and reports on those bikes and I have a 640 KTM and I’m on this huge trip now.  Of course we will still cover all the races but we plan n adding the new adventure  sport too, so give it a try, I think you will like it.

Plus one more thing,  Trail Rider is always looking for fresh writing talent.  Would you like to get your toe in the door of a career in writing?  Trail Rider might just be the place for you.  It worked for me.  Most of the other publications out there are so difficult to get in, that I don’t even try, my stuff does not “fit.”  That’s fine with me, I don’t want to “fit” I want to go my own way, write my own thing, tell my own stories in my own way.  So if you hear the different drummer, drop Clipper a note and he will give you the particulars on how to submit articles to Trail Rider.   Are you listening Joey?

Okay, not a huge news day, but after yesterday, how are we going top that?  I’m not sure what we are going to do tomorrow after surfing, we probably should load up the bikes and move north a couple of hundred miles, but I’m not all so sure we can get away from here just yet.

So keep those cards and letters coming, we both enjoy hearing from home and how things are there, so let me know if I’m missing any thing and we will talk to ya soon.

Charlie and Chuck

So we left town and headed to Orizaba.  It was a beautiful ride,  Town stopped at the bridge and country started on the other side, it was very nice.  Farms and ranches as far as the eye….  We made it to Cordoba just at dark, Orizaba was only a few miles beyond.  Mistake.  Traffic was a snarl, the road was twisty and the last few miles took almost an hour.  Should have stayed in Cordoba.

We pulled into a motel and Chuck was showing off his ‘command’ of the Spanish language, when the man told him ‘ You should speak English.’  In other words, he was butchering his Spanish soooo bad….  ‘You should speak English,’  I thought it was funny.   Then Chuck is showing him the road book for the rally course we are looking for.  He looked at it and said: ‘Where did you get this?’  I thought that was funny too, I guess it was his inflection because it does not look funny here.  ‘Where did you get this?’  Dirt bike guy’s I replied.  He was very nice and had a nice motel business going and of course he was helpful and sent us to the what we assumed was the starting point for the road book.

The thing with a road book, is you HAVE to start in the correct place and get your mileage correlating with it or you are lost.  That is exactly how we spent most of the day, lost.  3.4 East, wrong, 3.4 West, wrong, 3.4 South, maybe.  18.5 left, nothing 18.9 possible, and that was the way it went,  We rode up and down dead end roads and wrong turns all day.  My self I wanted to go back to town and replace the map we lost a week ago.  Then find our own route across the mountains.  I mentioned it enough that I just quit mentioning it.  We are using a map that shows the entire country on one page.  Like trying to navigate the hills of Kentucky using an entire USA atlas, impossible.  There’s Lexington, Louisville, and Charleston WV.  All we have to do…..  I’m pretty frustrated with the deal.  You know, if I had lost the map, I would have apologized and made every effort to replace it, that’s just the kind of guy I am, but it’s been gone a week and no effort has been made to replace it.

Chuck has called the rally organizer and got instructions from him over the phone, we will see how that works out tomorrow.

We are in a spectacular area, check YOUR map, we are between Mexico City and Veracruz,  Cordoba may be on your map.  If it is email me which way we should turn…..   Any how the mountains are very steep and green.  8,400 feet above sea level was our high point today, we are at about 5,200 tonight.  The villagers are very shy, many run for cover when they see us.  We stopped for a break in one square and it took about 10 minutes before any one would even come near us.  I walked along from store to store and they are just full of clothes and shoes, not just work stuff either, but fashion stuff.  People would just cower when I would say HOLA.  Each village has it’s own dress code, I’m guessing these are Indians more than Mexicans.  It is very much like the places I visited in Peru.  At the head of the valley we are in there is a storm brewing, the sky is black in that direction and fog is coming down out of the hills, it is cool enough I need a sweater.

Tomorrow is a new day, I hope we can find our way on the road book and not spend another day wandering around lost. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Charlie