CAtrip1

Day 1 - Jan 9 (Home to Corpus Christi).

The air was cold, 25 degrees, at 7 am when I departed the house. Still dark, I headed south to Chattanooga enroute to Birmingham to meet my riding partner, Gary Dubois. Months ago we had decided to trailer the bikes to Corpus Christi, TX, in the event cold, icy weather might preclude a two-wheeled departure. Our plan was to meet at the BMW Motorcycle dealer (Venture) in Birmingham - Gary would drive his truck and tow a trailer for the bikes. Since it was not icy, I decided to ride to Birmingham - about three hours - and save Marty a round trip.

Chattanooga came and went and as I headed west, a beautiful winter sunrise appeared in my rear view mirror. The sky was a palette of pastels growing brighter and the colors more distinct as the minutes passed. I stopped for a moment to savor the spectacle of daybreak. The ride went by quickly and the air started to warm; by the time I arrived in Birmingham, it was a balmy 40 degrees.

Gary was waiting at Venture when I arrived at the exact minute of the arranged meeting time. Preparing to load my bike on the trailer, Gary realized he had forgotten to bring his helmet. Not to worry, we were at a BMW dealership with many helmets for sale - a new helmet for Gary. So the trip was on and around Baton Rouge, we decided to drive through to Corpus Christi - arriving about 2 am.

Day 2 - Jan 10 (Corpus Christi to San Fernando, Mexico - 274 miles).

After unloading the bikes and storing the truck and trailer at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, we departed for Brownsville and the Mexican border. Driving south, a strong crossword made riding difficult as we rode through flat farmlands interspersed with stands of mesquite and scrub oaks - they don't seem to commingle - must be a soil thing.

Arriving at the border, we managed to cross in about two hours and rode on through more farmland until dark stopped us in San Fernando. We had agreed to travel only during daylight hours and we honored that agreement throughout the trip.

Day 3 - Jan 11 (San Fernando to Ozuluama, Mexico - 308 miles).

We departed later than we had hoped and lost an hour and a half of daylight - my fault - I was still learning to pack so the pac-safe (a net made of wire) would cover the articles on top of the bike. It was overcast all day and cool - temperature in the 60's with a moderate wind from the north. We left the flatlands for a ride through the coastal highlands. Pretty country dotted with Joshua trees, cacti, scrub brush and mixed with the ever-present Mesquite. We arrived at Tampico around lunch time with three tasks: Eat lunch, fill up the bikes with gas, and pay the Mexican motorcycle tax at a bank. After three hours, most of which was spent waiting in line at the bank, we were on the road again. The roads were in decent shape with a lot of semi-trailer traffic. In all villages and towns, "topes" (speed bumps - sometimes 3-4 feet across and a foot tall) slowed the traffic. Topes are usually marked but not always and we found a few through the course of the trip that weren't. Hitting a big tope at high speed is unnerving and we were lucky we didn't do damage to the bikes on a couple of occasions - and just another reason to not ride in the dark. In the country, roadside cleanup was in progress using bushhogs (this was the only time we saw machinery used to cut grass on the side of the highway) with men trimming around rails and fences with machetes. Cattle, horses, and goats were tethered all along the roadside doing their part to keep the grass down; hogs roamed free.

Day 4 - Jan 12 (Ozuluama to Tinajinta, Mexico - 439 miles).

We had a good start on the day, departing at 7:30 am but the roads were rough and the topes in every village kept our speed down. Intending to bypass Tuxpan, we both missed the turn and ended up in town. Following the road signs to Poza Rica (the next town of size), we missed another turn and ended up on the road into Tuxpan that we had already traveled (yep, a full loop and we didn't recognize it right away). When I saw the Cruz Roja Medical and a few other seemingly familiar details, it was "Groundhog Day" all over again. We found the previously missed turn to Poza Rica and were soon back on track. We rode through nice landscapes - rolling hills covered with citrus groves, coconut groves, pineapple, corn and sugar cane fields. At dusk, we found an abandoned campground (retreat) and made ourselves at home for the night.

Day 5 - Jan 13 (Tinajinta to Chetumal, Mexico - 531 miles).

The first one hundred miles was a hard ride - just like yesterday. But after Veracuze, the road straightened and the surface was smooth so we let the dogs run. We rode 531 miles in 10 hours on mostly two-lane roads - not bad. The Yucatan peninsula is a mirror image of south, central Florida - rolling sand hills covered with citrus, banana and sugar cane plantations. Fields of wild cannas were everywhere and prominent on the sides of the road were various types of wildflowers including daisies and lantana. We made it to Chetumal without incident but somewhere along the way, Montezuma had his way with me and my bowels, under siege, lost all composure. Fortunately, Montezuma's visit was short and the next day I had recovered.

Day 6 - Jan 14 (Chetumal to San Ignacio, Belize - 202 miles).

After a brief stop at the border, we were officially in Central America. Belize is the smallest Cental American country and has only two paved roads - we used them both - about 200 miles and in good repair. Gasoline is on the expensive side at about $3.00 a gallon. Belize is largely coastal and has a lot of swamps filled with impenetrable mangrove forests. We passed many houses with thatched roofs - most often, a television antenna was present. A British colony (British Honduras) until 1981, Belize is a friendly country and English is the national language. (I wonder why, as a recent British colony, they drive on the right side of the road?)

We found a campground in San Ignacio (street scene in San Ignacio at right) and as we were registering, Gary noticed something shiny on my rear tire. I had picked up a nail. I plugged the hole and used a couple of CO2 cartridges to get the pressure up so I could ride to a service station for the required 40 pounds of air. One of my PIAA lights (small auxiliary light on the front) had taken a hit and the lens and bracket that held it on were broken so I removed it. Somewhere along the way, Gary lost his camelback (a small backpack with a water bottle). Unfortunately, his malaria pills, and a few other odds and ends, were in the pack but I had adequate malaria pills for both of us for the remainder of the trip. That evening, we hand washed clothes and hung them out to dry.

See route

Day 7 - Jan 15 (San Ignacio to Tikal, Guatemala - 79 miles).

Our clothes weren't dry the next morning so we packed them wet with the idea we would dry them later in the day. Gary needed new rain pants since his were in the camelback, so we stopped in San Ignacio and he bought some new ones. We made our way to the Belize/Guatemala border (picture at left) - it was one of our easiest border crossings but Gary missed the immigration official and did not get his passport stamped. It will be interesting to see what happens when he leaves Guatemala, since in theory, he hasn't yet arrived. The ride to Tikal was short but we did have about 15 miles of very rough, unpaved road. We arrived about 1 pm and set up in a nice campsite. I went through the ruins while Gary stayed with the bikes. Tikal is one of the better know Mayan ruins and the tour is a two to three mile trail through the jungle from one recovered site to another. The Egyptians may have made bigger pyramids but the Mayans had to contend with the jungle. It is stupefying -- clear the jungle for the building sites, clear the jungle for the roads to move the rocks, quarry the rocks - all stone age mind you - and these guys never figured out the wheel either. They knew how to use logs to roll heavy objects (could have been an axle) and they knew about circles but they never got the concepts together. Howler monkeys were present throughout the walk through the ruins. As you may know, Tikal was featured as a location shooting site during the filming of Star Wars. If you have ever heard howler monkeys, it becomes clear how the haunting voice of Darth Vader was conceived.

Day 8 - Jan 16 (Tikal to Finca Ixobel, Guatemala - 115 miles).

We left early for St. Elena (at right) so Gary could buy some Quetals (Guatamalan money) at the bank and then on to a service station to get gas for the next leg of the trip. After filling up, the Dogsteed wouldn't start but an electrical fire did. Smoke came from underneath the left side of the saddle. We pushed the Dogsteed out of the way and started troubleshooting for the source of the electrical fire. After locating the burned wires, I was able to determine they ran from the sidestand to the main wire bundle - altogether about five feet of wire had the insulation burned away and the copper wires bonded together. As BMW enthusiasts know, when the sidestand is extended, the ignition circuit is shorted to prevent inadvertant drive-offs with the sidestand extended. Off came the tank and I traced and removed the damaged wires in the wire bundle. I finally found the wires ended in a plug on the spine of the bike. I cut the wires at the plug and shorted them, put the tank back on and the starter worked but the fuel pump didn't. Off came the tank and I searched in the wire bundle until I found the connection I needed to short the circuit and get the fuel pump back on line. Sounds simple enough when I read this explanation but it took eight hours to solve the problem.

It was very late afternoon when we left for Finca Ixobel, arriving just in time for dinner. Another biker and guest, Gary, met us and invited us to dinner. We dined with Gary and Mike (Gary's riding partner) - they had been riding in Central America since November. Both were from Montana and were waiting out the winter in the warmer climes. Finca Ixobel was a very hospitable place offering a variety of daytime activities, good food, and adult beverages and conversation during the evening. Accomodations included a choice of camping, treehouses, bunkhouse or hotel. Quite the place.

Day 9 - Jan 17 (Finca Ixobel to Copan, Honduras - 229 miles).

See route.

The roads were much better than we had anticipated from Flores to Copan. Even the unimproved sections in Honduras were passable at a fair rate of speed so we ended up a full day ahead of schedule. We found a nice place to camp at what might be considered a Honduran country club sans the golf course and tennis courts. Nice grounds with an armed guard, pool, showers and toilets and a movie theater open on the weekends. Incidentally, Gary's penalty for failing to get his passport stamped when entering Guatemala was to pay four times the entry fee to exit.

A few thoughts on Guatemala. Peten is basically jungle but hilly; the further you travel towards the interior, the more mountainous the terrain -- semi-arid mountains. The sides of the roads were immaculate and well maintained due mostly to the efforts of crews cutting grass with machetes (cut down to the level of a mower) - Guatemala is still very much a labor intensive country. As we rode to Finca Ixobel last evening, I became aware of the large number of villages without electricity. On a positive note, new concrete poles were frequently seen on the sides of the road, ostensibly to make electric and telephone service available to remote villages. The early evening is the social hour and all along the highway people visit with neighbors, lying on the bank or walking down the side of the roadway. Very friendly people; very nice country.

Day 10 - Jan 18 (Copan to La Esperanza - 162 miles).

We enjoyed a light rain all night but it was dry in the tent and had stopped by the time we were ready to tour Copan. (See pictures below.) Copan was much easier to tour than Tikal for several reasons: 1) Not as large an area; 2) not in the jungle; and 3) the terrain wasn't as hilly. Marvelous site -- well kept and well organized.

We finished our tours by 11:00 am and were ready to set out for our new destination. We traveled excellent roads for about 60 miles with turns and twists to match rides in the Smoky Mountains - a great ride. But the tradeoff, 60 miles of unpaved road that started in Gracias and was as rough as the Haul Highway in Alaska except the rocks in the road were smaller in Honduras. Incidentally, the roads that were paved in Gracias were paved with stones about one foot across and rounded on top -- a really rough and treacherous ride through town. Roadsides were not nearly as neat as in Guatemala but the population appeared to be more prosperous.

Day 11- Jan 19 (La Esperanza to Esteli, Nicaragua - 281 miles).

See route.

Had another no notice visit from Montezuma last night - hell of a way to lose weight. We had a nice road to ride on today and a border crossing into Nicaragua; two and a half hours of bureaucracy and we were on our way. While watching the bikes at the border crossing, I talked with a Swede who had immigrated to Nicaragua several years ago. He related that Sweden, Italy and Denmark had sent money and teams of people to repair the road we would take south -- hurricane damage from Mitch in 1998. We rode the Swede's road this afternoon and it was as smooth as glass; tomorrow the Dane's and Italian's sections. Today's ride took us through high desert terrain with the temperature in the low 80's, amazingly cool for 13 degrees north latitude. We have had a few days when the temperature was up in the 90's but for the most part 70-80's and the nights have been exquisitely cool. I did have a bit of excitement as we entered the town of Ocotal, Nicaragua. Gary was in the lead and we were in traffic on a two lane road as we approached a congested intersection. As the congestion cleared, I started to accelerate anticipating going through the intersection -- so did the small blue truck behind me. But Gary decided to stop and wave an opposite direction bus across the intersection. So, the bus was turning and the truck was bearing down from behind and I was forced to choose between trying to beat the bus or stop. I decided to stop but the truck was all over the rear end of my bike with his tires locked in a full skid. I scooted on past Gary to keep from being hit.

Day 12 - Jan 20 (Esteli to San Carlos, Nicaragua - 249 miles).

The day started well as we rode through more high desert, reminding me of New Mexico. We had agreed last night to by-pass San Carlos and stay on the Pan American highway. But curiosity prevailed and we decided to take a look and see if the road would be passable -- the 75 miles of paved road would only take an hour and a half to the turn off on the unimproved road. However, the road from San Benito to Juigalpa, supposedly maintained by the Danes, was filled with potholes. After two and a half hours, we arrived at the turnoff and decided to continue on to San Carlos -- a mistake as hindsight so clearly sees. "The road got worse" was the theme for the day. The unimproved road started as semi-paved, then a smooth gravel surface, then a clay and rock surface with potholes and erosion ruts. We were able to travel at 25 to 30 mph comfortably until the light rains started and the clay started to get slick. (The pictures above are just before and after the first of the showers). I was in the lead and riding slowly on the right edge of the road (a bit smoother there but more treacherous) when I rode into a wet area and the small, path-like edge I was riding on started to lip up on the right. I felt the front tire break loose and almost instantly, the rear tire followed leading to a 180 degree pirouette followed by a 9.5 dismount (the Nicaraguan judge made a slight deduction for a slip in the mud). Fortunately, there was no damage to the bike, not even a scratch. And "the road got worse" -- more potholes filled with water and water collection areas that filled the entire roadway. We went through one mud hole that was so deep, the water was over the top of the cylinder heads. And when we thought it couldn't get any worse, "the road got worse". Attempting to improve the roadway, truckloads of clay had been hauled in and combined with the rain, we were in a quagmire. We knew we could not leave the ruts we were riding in when we saw a bulldozer that was stuck with mud covering the tracks. Eighty miles of "the road got worse" took five and a half hours but we finally arrived in San Carlos with the dark. The part of Nicaragua we rode through today is a very poor area. I refer to houses here as hovelitas, many had thatched roofs and no doors -- sometimes just a frame with a roof. We even saw some hovelitas that were wooden frames covered with polyvinyl and of course no plumbing or electricity. (The house at right was well above average for this area).

Horses are the transportation mode of choice or, walking works. Baseball is alive and well -- on a warm Sunday afternoon, a small field, five miles from nowhere (which was everywhere) and a group of young men would be playing baseball.

Day 13 - Jan 21 (San Carlos to Los Chilies, Costa Rica - 1 mile).

We started the day trying to wash off the bikes from "the road got worse" when the owner of the hotel where we were staying turned off the water -- seems his water is collected and stored and he wasn't happy with our waste of his water. Anyway, we made it to breakfast and joined three Swedes (Hans, Kerstin and Elisabet) who were on a holiday to do some bird watching and would be cruising the San Juan river for the next day or so. We made it down to the river to find immigration and customs and were unpleasantly surprised to find that the ferry across the

Rio San Juan and on down Rio Frio to Los Chilies was a small boat for passengers only -- the bikes would not fit on the ferry. What to do? Options panned out as: 1) Charter a boat (reasonable); 2) take a ship ride through Lake Nicaragua to Granada tomorrow (appealing); 3) ride back on "the road that got worse" (unappealing); or 4) try another river crossing further down the Rio San Juan that was not on our maps and end up in Los Chilies (unreasonable). So, we invested $120 to hire a boat that would float both bikes down the river. It wasn't a big boat, a twenty foot V-hull that was more than full with two bikes and five people. (Above,the boat we rented arrives at the loading ramp and the Dogsteed goes in first). Weighing over 650 pounds, each bike required 6-7 men to lift them into the boat.

(Above, Gary's bike is loaded and then we say goodbye to San Carlos).While we were working through our options, we had the pleasure of meeting Itai, an Israeli on a sabbatical of undefined duration, who was fluent in Spanish and English among other languages (I dubbed him the wandering Jew). He quickly became our interpreter and joined us on the cruise down the river. After an hour on the river, we arrived in Los Chilies where most of the officials of bureaucracy were on lunch break. We weren't allowed to unload the bikes until the officials returned from lunch. Well, seems we were the first foreigners to arrive in Los Chilies with vehicles and the customs officer didn't know how to process us. After much discussion, the customs officer agreed to let us stay in Costa Rica (he could have sent us back to Nicaragua) so we set about unloading the bikes. No ramp and this time no pavement; we were all slipping and sliding in the mud trying to unload the bikes -- it must have been an amusing sight to the small crowd that had gathered. Meanwhile, the customs officer had concocted a plan. We would proceed to Penas Blancas, the major border crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, to process the motorcycles. However, the 100 miles to Penas Blancas would take about four hours since much of the trip would be on unimproved roads and we would have to wait until tomorrow. We were effectively under house arrest for the night and would receive a police escort for the trip to Penas Blancas. But there was a silver lining, laundry service at the hotel where we stayed. After washing clothes in Belize and carrying the clothes wet for two days, they really had a musty odor.

See route.

Day 14 - Jan 22 (Los Chilies to Liberia, Costa Rica - 164 miles).

We were packed and ready by 8 am, the rain had been steady since we got up so we packed in the rain. Our 8 am departure was delayed for unknown reasons but we finally were underway about 10 am to Penas Blancas accompanied by a policeman on a dirt bike. We followed him through some very rough roads, but not as difficult as "the road that got worse", for about 70 miles and then he turned back and we picked up a new escort. The new escort led us for about 10 miles and then handed us off to the final group who took us to Penas Blancas. We registered the bikes, cost was $10 each, and all was well in the bureaucratic world. So, we had a police escort for 100 miles so we could fill out a form and pay $10 -- the cost of doing business is amazing. (Above, I'm riding down the hallway of the motel in Liberia to secure parking.)

Day 15 - Jan 23 (Liberia to Cuidad Neily, Costa Rica - 374 miles).

We left early from Liberia hoping to get to Panama today but wasted about an hour wandering around San Jose trying to get on the by-pass around town -- a lesson relearned, stay on the main road. Driving in Costa Rica, and especially San Jose, is reminiscent of Naples, Italy -- drivers running red lights and stop signs, scooters everywhere but they do stay in lanes. After we left the comfortable climate of San Jose, we started the climb over the Cordillera de Talamanc (mountain range) 11,000 feet plus elevation and it got really cold.

The visor on my helmet kept fogging up and the rain was very cold. (At right is a scene going up the mountains.) After about an hour of riding in the clouds, we started the descent to the coastal plains of the Pacific. We stopped for the night in Cuidad Neily, about 20 miles from the Panamanian border, spending the night in a flea bag hotel and I had the bites to prove it.

Day 16 - Jan 24 (Cuidad Neily to Chepo, Panama - 388 miles).

See route.

We got an early start and reached the border at 7:30 am. Exiting Costa Rica wasn't too bad but entering Panama was an hour and a half ordeal going through four offices all within spitting distance of each other. A pleasant surprise was the four lane highways that we rode on in Panama but we did have a good section of two lanes where we were still able to make good time. In fact, we were making such good time that Gary, in the lead, was stopped by a motorcycle policeman. Gary didn't get a ticket -- birds of a feather I guess. After one or two wrong turns, we made it through Panama City and arrived in Chepo at sundown. Receiving conflicting directions to the local pension, we stopped and asked Eric for directions. He said there wasn't a pension in Chepo but we were welcome to spend the night with him. Turns out he is retired civil service from the US Army and keeps a house in Chepo. A really nice man. He told us that the day before, a bus traveling from Chepo to Yaviza had been held up and the driver shot twice. Since there was no pot of gold in Yaviza, we decided to go to the end of the paved road (the border of the Darien Province) and leave the 130 miles of gravel road to Yaviza untravelled.

Day 17 - Jan 25 (Chepo to Santa Clara, Panama - 177 miles).

After enjoying Eric's hospitality, we left early to ride the 30 miles to the edge of the Darien Province. (Below, I'm at the edge of the Darien Province in my official Hooters Chattanooga riding shirt). We returned to Chepo and met Eric who had offered to take us on a tour of the Panama Canal's Miraflora locks.Pretty impressive. The lock gates are seven stories tall and we watched a ship go through with only 24 inches clearance on either side (at left).

After the tour we left for Santa Clara -- a small resort on the Pacific coast -- hoping to find a place to stay for the night. We tried a Baptist retreat but they weren't interested in giving comfort to the tired and weary so we found the XS Sportmans Bar and Hospedage. A great little campground with pool, restaurant, bar and showers run by Americans. The owners, Dennis and Sheila, were very hospitable.

Day 18 - Jan 26 (Santa Clara to Golfito, Costa Rica - 302 miles).

Had a nice ride today but there were a lot of policemen patrolling the highway, especially around Divisa -- the area where Gary had been stopped on the way down. We made the border crossing into Costa Rica without incident and had to pay no money. We had planned on staying the night in San Vito (a small town in the mountains) but we couldn't find the road from Cuidad Neily to San Vito. It must have been a small unimproved road since it was only 20 miles but my book said a bus ride would take an hour and a half. We asked directions but that didn't help so we decided to go to Golfito instead, about 15 miles off the Pan American highway. We found a campground, Perrula Cabinas, and for $1.50 each, we had the entire campground to ourselves.

Day 19 - Jan 27 (Golfito to San Jose, Costa Rica - 262 miles).

Gary wanted to adjust the valves on his bike so off came the valve covers and the adjustments were made. It was really hot and muggy for so early in the morning. Leaving Golfito, we started uphill for about 100 miles, sea level to 11,500 feet (the mountain range again). On the way up the mountains, we were caught up in a political rally in San Isidro. The traffic was going one way and fortunately, that was the direction we were going. All lanes were full, I even rode on the sidewalk for awhile trying to get through. There certainly were a lot of enthusiastic supporters -- our politicians would be tickled pink to get that much activity. On top the weather was really nasty -- rain, fog and of course cold. I've never seen so much rain in fog before. I stopped to put on my rain suit and Gary went on ahead. I caught up with him about an hour later, still in the fog. We made San Jose and while navigating through the city, I made a turn and suddenly, Gary was not there. I stopped and waited for about five minutes and then returned to the intersection where I lost him. Unable to locate Gary, I spent the night in a Hampton Inn by the airport so I could call my wife and see if Gary might have called his wife. A malfunction in the telephone circuit prevented my call to Marty so I had to wait until she went to work the next day.

Day 20 - Jan 28 (San Jose to Granada, Nicaragua - 259 miles).

I called Marty at work and sure enough, Gary's wife had called there as well and left a telephone number so I could get in touch with her. As it turned out, Gary and I had spent the night about three miles from each other -- so reunited, we started towards Nicaragua . We made the border crossing with the help of a tramitor in about two hours. Gary wanted to go to Granada, the oldest city in Nicaragua founded by Cortez in the 1500's. Enroute to Granada, we passed the twin volcanos, Volcano Madera and Volcano Concepcion located in Lago de Nicaragua (see above). While looking for a hotel, I saw the Swedes we had breakfast with in San Carlos the week before.

They (left, Elisabet, Kersten and Hans) recommended the hotel where they were staying so we ended up there -- it was nice but a bit expensive for this part of the world. After dinner, we enjoyed conversation with the Swedes interspersed with the entertainment of roving musicians. When we returned to our room, we turned on the television and lo and behold, a US station was broadcasting the news -- WKRN, Nashville, TN. I was able to catch up on news at home and get the weather forecast. Really weird.

Day 21 - Jan 29 (Granada)

We decided to stay an extra day in Granada -- our first day of rest, wash clothes and catch up on e-mail.

Day 22 - Jan 30 (Granada to Choluteca, Honduras - 200 miles).

We planned a late start from Granada with breakfast at Central, owned by Bill who we had met the night before. We rode through Masaya and Managua without problems but the road to Leon and beyond to the border was terrible, potholes and broken pavement slowed our progress. We made it to the border and after 30 minutes, we had cleared out of Nicaragua. The Honduran entry was not as easy and since I have previously mentioned the bureaucratic process associated with border crossings, I'm going to detail this one, the Guasaula crossing.. First, a short, heavy, ugly man whose job was to be difficult, inspected my passport, driver's license, vehicle registration and vehicle title and compared the vehicle identification numbers on the title with those imprinted on the bike. After about 10 minutes, he was satisfied and sent me to a teller. The teller refused to do anything because the short, heavy, ugly man had not stamped the copies of the passport, driver's license, vehicle registration and vehicle title (incidentally, we had made multiple copies of all documents to avoid standing in line, finding that we had to have copies, making copies, and returning to stand in line). Back to the short, heavy, ugly man who reluctantly stamped the copies. Back to the teller who filled out a document in triplicate (essentially, an application for the official Honduran vehicle registration), then to another window for the official vehicle document. On the way to the next window, I was intercepted by Jorge, a sub-deputy who wanted to inspect all the documents. Sensing a slowdown and possibly a grinding halt to the entry process which might well lead to a monetary settlement, I asked Jorge if I might borrow his pen. When I wrote down his name and badge number, things smoothed out a bit and the official vehicle document was prepared. Back to the teller where I paid $30 for the registration fee and then into Jorge's office where he informed me I needed a copy of the application for the vehicle registration (previously prepared in triplicate) and a copy of the stamped page of my passport. Off to find a copy machine -- copies made and turned in to the teller which completed customs. Then to immigration where after standing in line, I was informed that I had to return to the same teller for another document (an application for immigration) and pay $2.00. Then back to immigration for the passport stamp and after two and a half hours, all is well in bureau land. Only one of fourteen border crossings we made. We made our way to Choluteca and spent the night there. (Enroute we passed a common mode of transportation and once at our hotel, we relaxed).

Day 23 - Jan 31 (Choluteca to La Liberdad, El Salvador - 217 miles).

Leaving Choluteca, I made a wrong turn and wasted about 45 minutes of riding time. The border crossing into El Salvador was excruciatingly slow but after three hours we were on our way -- we thought -- until we were stopped by the border guards who checked our documents and sent us back to get a policia stamp. Then, we were on our way. Initially, the roads were good but quickly became the worst paved roads we had encountered. Paved and patched and the patches were patched and repatched. The sides of the roads were no better with garbage dumps all along and most of them burning -- lovely smell. Security guards with shotguns were everywhere, there was an armed guard wandering around the restaurant when we ate dinner and I even saw an armed guard in the back of a Pepsi delivery truck -- tough country. Having conquered Montezuma (well maybe it was only a peace accord), Quetzalcoatl stuck his plumes right up my nostrils and sprinkled cement dust in my sinuses. What a one, two punch -- Montezuma turns solids to fluids; Quetzalcoatl creates concrete.

See route.

Day 24 - Feb 1 (La Liberdad to Retalhuleu, Guatemala -246 miles).

The roads were in good shape for this leg of the trip but the over loaded sugar cane trucks slowed our progress. Burning continues in the fields and garbage dumps making for smoggy and smelly air. At the border, we arranged for the services of a tramitor to facilitate the crossing. Seemed like a nice kid with a speech impediment but he ripped us for about $17 each; carelessness on our part. Arriving in Retalhuleu, we stopped at a service station to ask directions to a hotel we had tentatively selected from our travel book. Not an easy place to find, one way streets and such, but a man at the station said he would lead us there in his car -- and he did -- very gracious.

Day 25 - Feb 2 (Retalhuleu to Jucitan, Mexico - 370 miles).

Breakfast was included with our hotel room so we decided to have breakfast before we left. This little luxury requires about two hours that we could be riding since we have to wait until the eatery opens and then go through the order, serve and eat steps. We stopped on the way out of town to take pictures of the local washateria (below).

The border crossing to Mexico was broken into two steps with separate locations. The immigration process was easy and accomplished at the border; the customs process was aggravating and the station was located about 50 miles down the road. We had difficulty locating the station and when we did, the bureauhead I had to work with was very difficult. He had to have copies of all vehicle documents but Gary's pretrip copies were reductions and they were not acceptable. Off to get normal size copies and in accordance with the paperwork reduction act of 1985, I had multiple documents copied onto a single sheet -- not acceptable. Back to copy each document on a separate sheet and we were finally done. The road we traveled was previously a four-lane highway that had been converted into two, two lanes roads -- one was free, one was not. We chose to pay the toll and then let the big dogs run. We made 150 miles in less than two hours before we were greeted by direct crosswords and chilly air. I clocked the wind at 45 miles per hour when we turned downwind for awhile -- it was really eerie -- all the sounds of the motorcycle but no wind noise. I did hit a tope at a great rate of speed today; it wasn't marked and I couldn't get slowed down -- it really jarred my teeth. About every fifty miles, we were stopped by either immigration officials or Federals to check our documents but we only had to unpack and open all bags once.

Day 26 - Feb 3 (Jucitan to Ozuluama, Mexico - 565 miles).

We started early and rode until dusk traveling more miles than in any other single day because toll roads were available. The advantages of toll roads are two fold: 1) Avoidance of small towns (that means no topes) and all the inherent delays; and 2) less traffic because of the tolls. And that leads to the disadvantage of using toll roads, they are expensive. Today we spent about $40 each on tolls -- one section worked out to one dollar for five miles. The road surfaces of toll and non-toll roads are not significantly different so that does not bear on the decision of which road to use. We ended the day at the same hotel where we had stayed on our second night in Mexico on the way south.

Day 27 - Feb 4 (Ozuluama to Edenberg, Texas - 409 miles).

We made good time again today but had to wait in line for an hour to pay the tourist tax in a small town bank (Mexican customs officials provide a form with fee that must be paid at a bank, along with traffic tickets, utility bills, taxes and whatever else) -- the banks are truly branch banks of the government. We arrived at the Reposa border crossing to Texas at rush hour and got caught in the afternoon traffic jam and that caused us to miss the customs office. This was important because if we neglected to de-register the bikes, we would each be charged a phenomenal fee, $200-$300 depending on the value of the bike. I had been contacted by an old high school, junior high school and grammar school friend who lived in Edenberg and had decided to stop by and see her. Edenberg was practically on the way from the Texas/Mexican border and Corpus Christi. Vivian looked great and like all old friendships, we were immediately talking like it was only yesterday since we had been in the high school play.

Day 28 - Feb 5 (Edenberg to Corpus Christi, Texas - 209 miles).

Since we had missed the Mexican customs office when we entered the US, we were compelled to return and de-register the bikes. We chose the Progresso border crossing between Matamora and Reynosa -- I would recommend this crossing over the other two because there is much less traffic. We were on our way to Corpus Christi by 10 am and arrived in Corpus after lunch. We loaded the bikes on the truck and in the trailer and headed for home -- it rained all the way until we stopped for the night in Baton Rouge, we called home and found the weather forecast was for snow and ice in the Birmingham/Chattanooga areas.

Day 29 - Feb 6 (Baton Rouge to Home)

We arrived unscathed at Venture Motorcycles in Birmingham about 2 pm. I called home and Marty cranked up the truck and came to retrieve me since the weather was still real iffy with ice and snow in the higher elevations. By 8 pm, mission complete after 7,182 miles, fourteen border crossings and eight foreign countries.

Observations:

1) If you go to Central America on a shoestring budget, be prepared to take cold showers. Only the upscale hotels have hot water and all campgrounds where we stayed had only cold showers. The good news -- the weather was warm and even a cold shower was better than no shower.

2) Speaking of shoestring budgets, I spent about $50/day on the trip, all inclusive (gas, food, tolls, border crossing fees, hotels/campgrounds).

3) I never felt intimidated or threatened during the entire trip.

4) The food was excellent and inexpensive.

5) The people were all friendly but we never challenged the honesty of the people (excepting the speech impaired tramitor) -- one person was always with the bikes.

6) The bikes were the big attraction. Everywhere we stopped, a crowd would gather and the first question was: "How fast will it go?"; and the second question was, "How much does it cost?"

7) Iguana lizards were everywhere. Kids would hold them upside down (probably makes them lethargic) on the side of the road trying to sell them. Did you know that an iguana lizard starts running on all four legs but as it picks up speed, the front legs are folded back and the torso becomes a lifting body while the hind legs provide propulsion?

8) Topes work; they slow down traffic.

9) Guatemala was by far and away the cleanest of the countries we visited. Nicaragua appeared to be the poorest. El Salvador may have been the dirtiest. Costa Rica or Panama were probably the most expensive. El Salvador had more armed guards than we saw in any other country but I am convinced it was for show -- on the other hand, being a smart ass when the man has a 12 gauge pump could be life threatening. Honduran border crossing were generally the most challenging -- entering and exiting.

10) The quality of roads ranged from the worst I have ever seen to as good as I have ever seen. The fulcrum favors the worst.

11) All in all, the weather was awesome; the mosquitoes practically nonexistent.

12) We bought Mexican insurance on the way south but never bought it again in any country. We probably would have but it wasn't offered at the borders and since we had to ride into the country to find a broker, it seemed like too much effort. The only time I thought about the lack of insurance was when the bikes were floating down the river -- then, I tried to forget that I had thought about it.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Venture Motorcycles in Birmingham for letting us rendevous there.

Thanks to Steve Gilliam at Yamaha Motor Sports in Athens, Tennessee, for mounting new tires at more than a fair price. I was unable to get service from the local motorcycle dealers in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Thanks to Hooters of Chattanooga for providing me a long-sleeved riding shirt.

Thanks to Gary, my riding partner, for being flexible.

And of course, thanks to Marty for putting up with my foolishness.

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