It was a steep climb out of Tegucigalpa. After about 10 kilometers, I stopped at a gas station to replenish my water supply. The gas station was beside a Police/Army check point. While I was sitting there drinking my water, a police office approached and started asking about my trip and about the bike. He then wanted to see my passport and some other identification as well as proof of ownership of the bike. I explained that I did not have the bike's ownership but that it was back in Canada. He seemed satisfied with that explanation and wished me luck on my trip

         I started to look for a camping spot when it started to get dark. I no longer had a watch because it died in El Salvador when it got wet and, of course, I no longer had my GPS. I cooked supper, listened to some short wave radio and crawled into the tent.

         The next day was downhill through a sparsely populated area. I found a restaurant for lunch where I had chicken tacos and an orange drink for $2.50. Later in the day, I crossed the Rio Grande and started an uphill climb when the rains came down. I came to a store and sat on the porch with the locals until it changed to a light drizzle. I carried on down the road and found a spot to set up camp

         On September 22, I was awakened to the sound of horses munching on the grass. I had no ambition to get going and I had no sense of time without a watch. It was still cloudy and threatening rain. The climb went on forever up the side of a mountain till I finally reached the top at Las Crucitas. I stopped at a store for food and sat on the porch to eat lunch. People were coming and going, getting on and off buses. I could see a wall of fog making its way towards the town and when it arrived, the temperature dropped and the drizzling rain started. When the rain subsided, I headed out into the fog. Every once in awhile I could see mountains and sun in the distance.

         I rode by a group of cars, a bus and a bunch of people at a dangerous curve in the road. A couple of kids on bikes started to ride along with me and at one of my rest stops, they told me that a car, coming down the hill too fast, had flipped and five people had been killed. They told me that I was near the top of the hill and then it was downhill into Danli. In Danli, I found a hotel for $14 a night that was like a palace compared to the dump in Tegucigalpa. It was clean and modern with hot showers and cable TV. I had my first hot shower since Guatemala City, went out for the usual chicken supper and returned to the hotel to watch "The West Wing" on TV.

         The next day was spent lying around watching TV and generally recovering from the last few days. On September 24, I went in search of a shop to get some work done on the bike, did some laundry and picked up some food and water. I wanted to charge my light battery but discovered that, along with the GPS, they had also taken my battery charger.

         On September 25, I quickly made it into El Paraiso and stopped for lunch. From El Paraiso, it was all uphill to the border of Nicaragua but the rest must have helped as I reached the top and the border by late afternoon. I checked out of Honduras and then made my way to the Nicaragua Customs. As one of the officials was working on the paperwork from the passport, another kid with a badge kept asking me something which I didn't understand. It turned out he wanted proof of ownership of the bike which, of course, I didn't have. He said I could not get into the country without it.