4-26-2010

I woke up in a cold sweat! Where was I? Why did I feel so beat up? Then I realized that I was wrapped up in my blanket sleeping in a Mexican "Motel" somewhere between Culiacan and Los Mochis, Mexico. I forced myself to get up. I took a well deserved shower and changed my bandages that were now super dirty and probably doing more harm than good. I packed my bag, filled my bike with oil, loaded my bike, and by 10:00 am I was back on the road towards home. Finally it was a really nice day. Pretty much Ideal Riding conditions. I rode some 200 Kms when I realized that my bike wasnt running well at all. I wasn't getting any speed and it was sort of sputtering. "Now what?", I asked myself. haha I pulled into a gas station and topped my tank. I unskrewed the oil filler cap and oil ran everywhere! I had put wayyyy to much in this morning. I stood back and though about what to do for a second. My first thought was somehow gas was getting into the oil, because the oil looked much more runny than usual. The last thing I needed at this point was a blown motor! I dug into my pack for some tools to drain my oil and then it occurred to me that I could just tip my bike sideways and dump the extra oil out. I did just that until my oil level was perfect. Once I got it to that point, I pushed started my bike as always and hit the northbound trail. I stopped a couple times and checked the oil again. I was fine but the thought of blowing up my motor made me super nervous. I went maybe another 100 Kms and came up on the city of Ciudad Obregón. I was sure they'd have some sort of store where I could buy some oil, change it, and get back on the road. I was putting down the Main road of Ciudad Obregón, when on my right,  an answer to my prayers! AUTO ZONE! I went in way excited. I found my oil, the ultra bright headlight that was illegal in Brazil, and a few other little parts i was needing to get my bike back up to good running order. In my broken spanish I tried asking any of the guys working there if any of them were mechanics or if they knew of any bike mechanics that could tell me why my oil was so runny. After talking to almost everyone in the store a younger looking fellow walked in the door wearing an Auto Zone uniform. One guy yelled, Humberto! and pointed at me. He came over and we started talking, He spoke just a little bit of English. He asked where I was from in the States. Utah. He looked at me and said, So you know where Heber City is? I have been working construction there for the past 4 years." After I told him that my Grandmother and a good part of my extended family still live in Heber we were best friends. He helped me check out and then had me follow him on one of his deliveries. He pulled over at his friends bike shop and made sure they knew what was going on with my bike and that they would take care of me. He rode off and I pushed my bike back into this shop. The shop guys were busy so i busted out all my own tools and got to work. I changed my oil really quick, Hooked up a cigarette lighter plug on my battery so i could charge my phone as I was riding, and then I decided to see if I could fix my nonfunctional back breaks. As I pulled my back tire off little pieces of metal and dust went everywhere. My bearings were gone! Completely worn to dust and gone. They busted bearing had worn a good inch of my hub out and made it so the wheel was completely loose in the back. Which probably had a lot to do with my sprockets and chains always wearing out so fast. Once we got it off the guys told me that I needed a new back wheel. They called all over the city and nobody had one. I was ready to spend whatever to get up and going. After almost an hour of searching I finally ended up putting my old tire back on and calling it good for then. The guys let me use their internet. I sent Nian and Dave a message and told them that I'd meet them at the border in Nogales if they hadn't already gone through. Once I realized that I had just written, "Meet me at the border," it hit me just how close to home I really was. I bump started my beast and I was full speed towards home! I was almost 3pm when i started riding again. The next few hours of Riding seemed to take years. I rode though Hermosillo, Mexico just before sundown. Right at dusk the scenery around me reminded me of what I had always pictured Mexico would look like. Cactus plants everywhere and just a dusty haze over the painted desert mountains. I was Probably three hours from the border when it got completely dark. The next three hours of riding were super strenuous.   Most of the time I was standing up singing as loud as I could trying to stay awake. I will admit I fell asleep at the handlebars again about an hour outside of Nogales. About 20 miles from Nogales my heart began to race. I kept thinking, "I'm going to make it! I cant wait to see Dave and Nian here!" and many other things. I rolled through Nogales and didnt even slow down until I was at the border. I got to the Border at 9:55 pm monday night. I looked around for Dave and Nian but I figured if they where theyre they'd be waiting at the gate or office for sure. I cut in line at the border crossing and rolled up the the border patrol agent. He rudely asked me for my documents. I took my Helmet off more excited to speak English than anything! I gave him my quick rundown of what my situation was and what the deal with the bike was. He was short with me and told me to stay put. Twenty minutes later he came back with three other agents and told me that they were closed for the day and that I had to go back into Nogales Mexico to spend the night. I was heart broke. How? He couldnt be serious. I begged him to let me trough. Finally he said I could spend the night in the US but i'd have to leave my bike in Mexico and walk into the US. Yeah right", I thought. Nogales is one of the most dangerous cities ever right now. I argued with the guy for twenty minutes and finally he just told me that I'd have to leave and come back tomorrow when they were open so I could fill out the proper paperwork to import my bike. I just didnt make sense to me. So I walked my bike back over to Mexico, push started it, and rode angry back into town looking for a place to stay. I remembered seeing a Walmart and a mall on my way to the border so I decided to stay there for a bit until I could get a plan. I went in a sports bar in the mall and got on  wi fi on daves iphone. I checked my messages just to find out that dave and Nian Hadn't written me. I stayed there until almost midnight. I left in search of my buddies and a safe place for me and my bike to sleep until the border opened at 7am. I went to a few different places just to find out that they were either way to expensive or sold out or closed. I rode around the main business block towards the other side of town because it seemed a little safer. Riding around Nogales gave me the worst feeling ever. Almost ever major intersection had a big police truck, surrounded by guys with machine guns, sitting in the middle of it. I couldnt quit thinking, "I gotta get outta here!" As I coasted through the old part of town I spotted a beautiful sight. A taco stand! I slammed on my on working brake and ran over there. I ate like 10 tacos while chatting up a storm with some old taco man. I told him my story for maybe twenty minutes when he answered my prayers. He said, "well why dont you just try and go in through the pedestrian entrance.? they are open 24 hours a day." I thanked the old fellow, smashed my last taco into my mouth, and hauled butt over to the pedestrian border crossing. Once again I butted in front of a huge line at the border. I rolled up to the patrol agent. It was a huge black guy. He gave me a huge smile. He yelled, "You American?!" I yelled back, "Yes Sir! been gone three months and its darn good to be home!" He asked for my passport. I showed it to him, he scanned it, gave it to me, and yelled, GET OUT OF HERE! while pointing towards the United States! I jumped off my bike, pushed the heavy beast 10 yards, popped the clutch, fired it up, and roared out of there! Once again, like had done numberless times on this trip, I thanked the LORD for getting me out of a bad situation. Once in the US I went straight to the closest hotel and used their internet to let Dave and Nian know where I was and that I was on the Road! I sent it, got gas, and hit the Freeway! Words couldnt describe how good it felt to finally be back on American Soil. I was feeling great so I rode on into the night towards Tuscon. Somewhere around the area of Sahuarita, Az it hit  me. Or a better way to say it was My helmet hit the handlebars. I had fallen asleep while riding again! I couldn't believe it! I survived everything up until now and die because I fell asleep! Forget that. So I pulled off the free way in search of good hammock trees. I found a great place just off to the side of any Ashly's furniture store. I stretched my hammock up, got in my sleeping bag (because it was actually super cold) and Passed out cold!! Few times in my life have I ever been that Tired! If you google 31.906679,-110.990574 and click satellite view you can see the two trees I hung my hammock up in between. 

 

Mexico to Utah In 2 Days? Impossible

So there I was... Sunday morning, and Probably Two hours outside of Mazatlan where I was supposed to meet Dave and Nian at church. It was maybe 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. After a crazy night of riding though freezing mountains, building a new chain, evading toll booths, and praying that I wouldn't die; one of my greatest fears became a reality. Busted Chain! I took a deep breath and got right to work fixing the piece of junk. After a solid 22 hours of straight riding I was getting a little frustrated. I wrapped my chain around the  sprockets just assuming that I'd be able to just hammer it back together again when to my surprise, My whole master link was missing. So for the next 30-40 mins I was crawling around on my hands and knees along some old Mexican highway. Finally I got mad and started trying to wire it back together the same way I did when I was a kid stranded west of Fillmore.  some old drunk dude came out and started telling me that i was an idiot. He was right. My wire job didn't really work on such a big bike. So I hooked the two busted ends of the old chain together and rode back two or three miles to this tiny town that the old man had told me about. I started asking if anyone had motorcycle parts and just got looked at funny. Turns out no stores like to open on Sundays.  Not only that, there weren't any parts stores in the whole town. After checking two or three places I got directed down some long road in search of an old chop shop type parts guy. I went to where is place was and sure enough, chop shop. Nice bumpers, rims, and other car parts that were probably stolen off of  cars. I knocked and yelled and started walking in his garage to see if i could find anyone. Not more than two steps inside his garage i found someone. His monster Doberman pincher and Rottweiler. They ran straight at me. I was ready to give up. I was just too tired for that. Just before they tore me apart, bam! They were both tied to long cables. Holy Crap! Soon after escaping death by dog a nice truck showed up and a bunch of guys piled out. They looked at me funny and asked if they could help me. I explained what was going on and most of them scattered trying to find me a new master link. The ring leader of the bunch pulled up a chair and started asking me questions. I thought is was funny that one of the first questions he asked me was, "So.. You smoke weed?" I told him no, and explained why. Then he pointed to his Polaris 6X6 ATV. I asked, "How did you get that thing down here?" He proceeded to tell me that he had send for it from the states. Puzzled, I asked him what the heck he wanted a 6X6 down there for.? He then explained how hard it was to get up to his Marijuana farm, and how no police officer could get up there because they don't have 6X6 ATVs. He then started bragging about how he had acres and acres of Marijuana and how he pretty much ran the town because of it. I think he expected me to be surprised, but I was so tired, that I was like, "OH that's cool.. so you think you'll be able to fix my chain?" ha ha He fed me some super good breakfast burritos and we set out on the hunt for a new chain or master link. We went to 5 or 6 places and everyone was closed or didn't have anything of the sort. Finally, we went back to his shop and tried to fix it ourselves. We ended up taking apart another link, putting it through the busted link, and pounding the two together with a hammer. I Push started my bike and it seemed to work fine?.. So I gave em $10 for their time and I was back on my way to meet Nian and Dave at Church in Mazatlan. It took me another two hours of solid riding to get to Mazatlan. By the time I got there I had taken off all my gear and I was back to shorts and a T-shirt and mad about how hot it was. I rolled into the south side of Mazatlan and knew right where I was. I've been there before on a cruise. When were were there we rented a rhino and drove the whole city twice. I drove right into town and headed towards the beach on the main road. As soon as I headed toward the beach I spotted the church! I had made it! Finally met back up with Nian and Dave. I rushed into the church just to find out that the meetings were just getting over. I asked everyone in there where the Americans were?! No Americans here. Almost heart broken, I washed up, walked out to my bike, push started it, and headed on down the road. I road up the beach for a while and decided to check my E-mail. No word from Nian or Dave..... I was pretty bumbed out. I stopped at the north end of Mazatlan and enjoyed a bunch of Mexican carne assadas tacos and flirted with the waitress for a while. I decided just keep going for a little bit while it was still light. I sent Dave and Nian an E-mail saying that I was going to keep going and that if I made it to the state of Sonora Mexico that I'd up a sign up for them on the welcome to Sonora sign. I saddled up and rode on. The next stretch going North from Mazatlan was brutally boring, not to mention the wicked head wind that kept my speed town to about 50 mph. Not only did that suck but  it killed my gas mileage as well..  I rode North two or three hours until I was just so tired that I couldn't stand it any more. I pulled off the freeway and got some gas, there was one hotel but it was super expensive so I kept on riding. I rode over to the Ocean for a bit expecting to see a nice beach. When I got there the water was super brown, there was maybe 100 yards of sand and a ton of rock and trash everywhere. There was one paved road that was maybe half a mile long and both sides of it were lined with lowrider trucks and super mexi rides. I got creeped out so I hauled butt outta there. I was feeling better so.. I t my music on and jumped right back on the freeway headed North. Right before dark I started looking for places to camp or sleep. I was passing through huge farming towns and everyone seemed alot more friendly. I found nice place behind a truck stop where i could hang up my hammock but didn't feel good about it so I just kept on a riding looking for a cheap place to stay. Before I knew it was 2:00 in the morning! I was starting to get delirious. I was willing to pay whatever at that point. I just kept riding looking for anywhere I could pull off and sleep. Every little town was dark and it looked like there weren't any motels.  around 2:30 am one of the scariest experiences of my life occurred. I woke up... Not in a motel room. But still sitting on my bike. Still moving. In the wrong lane. With a Semi truck right in front of me!! I instantly swerved into my own lane and escaped death by inches! Once again in my life I know that God has a purpose for me because I should have died right there on that Mexican roadside.! I struggled to keep my eyes open for the next 20 mins while I rode to the next exit. I was a Mess! I got some gas and a friendly gas station attendant told me where a "really nice place to stay" was. I rode down the street and there it was. Motel Amor. Love motel. It was pretty much a whore house. I rode in and the lady asked me how many hours i needed. I told her all night haha. This place wasn't too bad actually because every room had its own garage so nobody knows who's there doing what with who. I put my bike in my garage. went in the room, rolled my tattered self up into my blanket. and Passed out! I had been riding for 42 hours straight. I had ridden all the way across Mexico in one shift. I was a tired tired boy I had ridden almost around 1400-1500 miles without stopping to sleep. Thats gotta be some sort of record

4-24-2010 Brazil to Utah. T minus 3 days to home

10:30 a.m. I woke up a frantic mess. I had no idea where I was, what was going on, or why I was so sore. I collected my thoughts, realized that I had only been asleep for a couple hours, and went back to sleep. A couple hours later and I was up. I packed all my nasty dirty clothes and put on my second to last clean shirt. I went to the hotel office and talked them into letting me use the hotel computer. Still no E-mail from Dave and Nian. I was still rollin alone in Mexico. I tied all my gear up on my bike and hit the road. Not before stopping and downing a Monster of course. I was definitely feeling the 4-5 hours of sleep. I topped off my gas tank and hit the freeway! I was surprised to find one of the most scenic motorbike rides i've ever been on.  The freeway was windy and full of trees. I was wishing I had a super bike so bad. It was such an awesome ride. The road wound back and forth up to around 8700 feet elevation. My bike is jetted for sea level so once I got up to the higher elevations it began sputtering and choking due to the thin air.

The Yellow line on top is the Road between Orizaba and Esperanza Mexico that I drove

Once I got over the mountains I realized that my back breaks were completely gone and that my back sprocket was almost worn out again. I stopped and Tightened my chain. I looked up and saw an awesome mountain. Pico de Orizaba. Little did i know that It is the highest mountain in Mexcio at 18,500 ft elevation.

Orizaba Peak from the toll booth

The views from up in the Mexican mountains were unreal! I always thought that Mexico was full of nasty cactus desert. Not true.. I rode as fast as I could towards Mexico City. As  I came down out of the mountains a strong wind slowed my roll down to about 50mph  and killed my gas mileage.  I ran out of gas but luckily I had filled up a gatorade bottle the night before. I coasted into a town called pubelo. I filled my tank and set out in search of a bike shop. I got the run around all over town. People ran be back and forth for almost two hours looking for bike parts. I found a little shop that sold me a battery and some mirrors. They sent me to the honda shop to find the rest of the stuff that I needed to fix my bike. I finally found the Honda shop and started talking to some guy about what I needed. An older fellow came up to me and asked me if I spoke Portuguese. I guess he had a Brazilian mother. Turns out he spoke English, Spanish, Portugese and 3 other languages. Also turns out that he owned the Honda Shop. We chatted it up for almost half an hour. He had lived with a Mormon family in the US, lived in sweden, and been all over the world. He was closing his shop because it was saturday and they closed early on saturdays. He sold me all the parts I needed for super cheap and got me back on my way. I checked my E-mail before I got back on the road and what do you know, Dave had written me. They were ahead of me again. They were fixing Nians bike closer to Mexico City. Dave told me to check my e-mail in Toluca which is just past mexico city. I got a new spark of excitement, grabbed some grub, and hit the road. As i got closer to Mexico City the more ghetto my surroundings became. I tried keeping my tracks straight but without proper maps and someone to help navigate while I drove I soon found myself lost in south east Mexico City. I was surrounded my chop shops and GHETTO! I worked my way east in trying to get as close to Toluca as I could. Soon my eastbound road ended and sent my North. This sent me into one of the nicest upscale metropolitan cities I've ever been to! There were sushi bars and steak houses on every corner. Soon instead of being surrounded by trashy old cars i was surrounded by BMW's and Benzs. It was a night and day difference. All the sudden my chain came off as a drove down a busy street! It locked my tire up and brought me to a dead stop in the middle of traffic. Luckily I wasnt run over. I forced my bike to the side of the road and spent the next half hour trying to unbind my chain. Finally, with the help of my handy leatherman, I was able to free my wretched chain. Back on the road again. I began to ask people next to me in traffic which way I needed to go to get to Toluca. I asked probably 8 or 9 people. Not one of them would even talk to me. Some street sweeper sent me east through the center of the city. I would have told you that I was In Washington D.C.  There were were monuments and parks everywhere. Tall trees and flowers were on every corner and in the median of every street. It was simply beautiful.

 Monument in the Middle of Mexico City

I finally asked some soccer mom in a nice car what way I needed to go to get to toluca. She said she was headed there and that I could follow her. I followed her through the heart of Mexico city. As we went out of the city I would have told you we were driving through Denver. There were mansions in the pine trees, best buys, and shopping malls everywhere. As the soccer mom drove away from me on the freeway I once again felt like God had sent me an angel go get me out of a bad situation. The road between Mexico City and Toluca was soooo pretty. It was a giant pine tree forest that never seemed to end. Once again I was almost out of Gas so I coasted down to the first gas station before Toluca. I got some gas, had another drink, got made fun of by some kids, looked for internet without luck, and got back on the road. Another hour or two and I was in Toluca. I checked my E-mail and hadn't received anything from them. From toluca I had two choices to get to Guadalajara. North or South? A chick in one of the toll booths told me that Going north was safer and that the roads were nicer. Once again I began a wicked battle with a hard head wind. I got behind a big bus and stayed like 10 feet behind it for almost an hour. When I got out from behind it I realized that I was pretty dizzy from the fumes!  My surroundings were still way pretty and it was evening so it wasn't super hot.   All things considered I was feeling pretty good. As I left the small town of Ucareo, I started coming down the hill towards lake Cuitzeo. It started getting cold and the sun was almost down so I pulled off to put on as much warm/dry clothing as I had. I piled on three layers, then my sunday clothes, and then,,, I witnessed on of the top three most amazing sunsets of my life! 

 One of the best Mexican Sunsets Ever!

I watched the sun go down until it was almost completely dark. As I rode past the lake I wasn't excited to find out that the whole distance of the lake was pure bugs! These weren't just mosquitoes either. These were like small dragonflys. As I passed the lake I was now mad thanks to the terrible film of bug guys on my visor and all over my stuff. I wiped as much as i could off and pressed on. By the time I made it to Guadalajara it was super late. I found an open internet place just to find out that Dave and Nian hadn't written me. I wrote em and told em to meet me at church in Mazatlan Sunday morning. I fueled up and tore outta there. I hadn't even been on the road for an hour and my chain came off again. I managed to get it back on and cruised slow to the next gas station. There I got some food and a drink and started feeling all strange. I got dizzy and wondered if I was going to pass out. I then laid down on the sidewalk outside gas station store and wondered if I was going to die. I closed my eyes for about 10 mins and started feeling better. I think I just needed some real food in my system. Too much gas station candy wasn't treating me well. I topped my tank and talked to a guy that lived in a wood shack behind the gas station. He was fixing a tire and said that he'd let me use some of his tools to shorten my chain. I had tightened it as far as I could and I was to the point where it was just going to break my sprocket if it kept going with it that loose. I put my bike up on a stump and tore it apart. I was excited to find that the bearings, break, and hub in the back wheel were all completely worn out. haha It took me about an hour to get the bike all apart, cut a link out with an old nail and a big steel hammer, and get everything back together. Once I got it back on the road I was flying! I felt so good. It was probably 3 or 4 in the morning and I was feeling great! As I came down out of the mountains towards the coast it got cold, I mean COLD!! I was doing leg lifts and jumping on my pegs. I even stopped and ran with my rain gear on! The night never seemed to end! I was probably 30 or 40 miles from the next town and I ran out of gas. Once again my gatorade bottle of gas saved my bacon. As I rolled down getting closer to the town I got stopped at a toll booth. I had started just driving around their gates and not paying them because they were wicked expensive. This time I got stopped by a gun. They were determined to make me pay and I wasn't about to spend my last few pesos on a toll. I was more worried that the gas station wouldn't accept card so I would have been out of luck. After arguing with these toll workers for more than twenty minutes I turned around and drove out the other toll exit without paying! I was waiting to hear bullets fly past my head by I must have gone unnoticed. I was then on the old highway. I sputtered on fumes into the next gas station just to find out that they wouldn't take my card. I got a couple pesos worth and the Guy sent me across town to top my tank at a better station. This place was actually pretty nice so I enjoyed a couple cups of hot coco, had some breakfast, and recharged my mental batteries a little bit. Around 5 a.m. I was once again headed towards home. It was so foggy that my rain gear was soaked and my vision was terrible. I creeped through it until the sun started coming up. As it started getting lighter I noticed a sign that said I was coming up on another toll. My Gps showed the old highway just a  few miles to the east so I swerved off the road at my first chance. Of course I wrecked. Then I couldn't get my bike push started. Finally I got it going and made it over to the smaller town and got on the old highway towards Mazatlan. I was probably 20 yards out of town when my bike reved all the way up! What the heck... It's 6 o'clock in the morning.. I looked back just to see my chain laying on the ground. oh crap... now what.......

4-23-2010 One of the most EVENTFUL days of my LIFE!

Soon after falling asleep in my hammock at the gas station, I was awoken up by someone kicking my hammock. It was Nian. He and Dave were almost all packed up and ready to hit the road. Turns out it wasn't soon after falling asleep, we had slept for almost 5 hours. It really felt like I slept for 5 minutes! I was so tired! After a few minutes of disorientation I was ready to roll. We loaded up gas station goodies and Energy drinks and we were off! The gas station we had camped at was somewhere between Arriaga and Tonala Mexico. The three man motorbike crew rode maybe twenty minutes North West. There we came to a fork in the road. The GPS had us going almost completely west but road signs and directions we had gathered from the gas station wanted us to go North. I stopped and contemplated the decision. We had been told that the toll roads were the safest way to get through Mexico and the signs ahead of us said that the toll roads were to the north. So North it was. Little did we know we were about to take one of the biggest detours of our trip!

From Arriaga heading north we took one of the most amazing mountain roads winding up through the desert of Chiapas. It was just barely light and kind of foggy. As the sun came up this scene was exactly how I had pictured Mexico as a child. Desert and deserted but gorgeous all at the same time. Our three man wolf pack rode in formation, as fast as we could, through hair pin turns, going up the mountain side. All I know is the area around Terra e Liberdad, Mexico was breathtaking!

When we arrived at the top of the mountain there came another fork in the road. We looked at the basic GPS map, looked for signs that would lead us to Mexico City, and finally asked for more directions. Dave asked some old man but didn't trust him so he asked a couple guys walking down the road side. For some strange reason both people told us to head back East towards Tuxtla Gutierrez. An hour or two later we found ourselves in the middle of Tuxtla Gutierrez. Its a huge city laced with 1st world stores, walmarts, fountains, and other interesting stuff. We stopped at a stoplight and the guy selling news papers on the side of the road caught my attention. He had huge piece of wood with all the major news papers attached to it. Every one of them had pictures of a lady that had been brutally murdered. I got a sick feeling and was bumbed out for the next few hours.. Ehh.. I hate that! As we rode out of Tuxtla Gutierrez we paid a toll and asked the lady which way we needed to go to get to Mexico City. She told us to continue on the highway we were on. We pressed onward. Suddenly, the green oasis were were driving through turned into pine trees and jagged mountain passes. We climbed to over 8100 feet of elevation and our bikes that were jetted for sea level didn't like it! I had my bike pinned at full throttle and was only going 50-60 kms. Our bike were Sputtering and choking from thin air until we coasted  into San Cristobal. I was absolutely frozen as well! It blows me away how many times we have gone from blistering hot to Bone Cold temperatures!

In the Mountains near San Cristobal

In San Cristobal we got gas and hit the mall in search of a map. Not buying one right off the bat in Mexico was a major mistake. We got our map in the mall and as we walked out to our bikes we asked a security guard where we needed to go to get closer to Mexico City. He pointed us North Eastward and we headed out of town. We were supposed to take the main road down past Zinacantan. Somehow we ended up in the middle of a bunch of indian villages in the highlands near San Andrés Larráinzar.? The roads were almost perfect for road bikes. The next 4 or 5 hours of riding were all hairpin turns. I drug my footpeg like 5 times. That's quite an accomplishment when it sits almost a foot and a half off the ground. We were lucky because the roads were actually really nice. The views from up there are indescribable.  Sheer green mountains with farms cut into them. Cliffs everywhere, laced with rivers, and dotted with mall humble homes. There were indian farm ladies, wearing goat wool skirks, leading goats everywhere. We only saw a couple men. We figured that they were in the fields.

A couple hours into the mountains we stopped at a waterfall and asked for directions. We were eating a snack when Nian realized that we hadn't showered for a couple days. Sooo he got naked and jumped in the river! haha I also washed up and we got back on the road. After making great time going down hill and making a few scary passes on a two lane mountain road we finally made it out of the mountains and back to somewhat of a main road. We were somewhere around Teapa. From there we rode north towards Villahermosa. The road going north was super hot and full of banana groves. It was nice to be back on flat ground though.

 Dave Riding through a Small Mountain Villa

A couple hours to the north and we were just outside of Villahermosa. We were all out of gas and super dehydrated. We fueled up and sat in the air conditioned service station for more than half an hour! It was honestly unbearably hot! After a good break we got back on the road. On the road towards Cardenas was pretty slow going. We hit some traffic and when we finally got back on the freeway. Dave didn't dare go over 80kms for fear of blowing up his bike. So I rode on the far shoulder trying to get some shade from the trees planted in the median. I was miserable. Between Cardenas and Coatzacoalcos we got stopped at police and military checkpoints like every 50 kms. We were stopping at our 4th check point when our whole trip took a MAJOR TURN!

Random Military Checkpoint

Ever since our first check point in Mexico we would act like we only spoke English. The cops would yell at us asking for documents and licenses. We would give each other confused looks and say, "You speak English? English? Inglishesh?" They would more confused than we would and keep yelling at us in Spanish. We played it off super dumb even though we understood more than 90% of what they were saying. haha Finally, most of them would give up and just let us go after 5 or 10 minutes. At this particular stop it was all military and they weren't nice. After like 20 minutes and me showing them all the moldy clothes and junk inside my pack they were going to let us go. They weren't happy about us not having Mexican driving permission though. As I was tying everything up Nian leaned his bike over and put his exhaust pipe on my bare leg!!! I screamed as it sizzled my flesh! "NIANNNN! OWWW! FREAK! YOU JUST BURNED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!" Nian said, "oh sorry dude." No more than 30 seconds later he leaned his back over on me and once again scalded my leg with his Exhaust pipe!! "GOSH DANG IT NIAAANNNN!!! OWWWWW!!! AHHHH!!! Now I was livid! For the last few hours driving slow and high temperatures had been building up frustrations. After the second branding on my leg instead of saying things that I would regret to Nian, I just grabbed my bike, push started it, and rode off down the road in a fit of fury! I rode maybe 20 minutes and stopped. I waited until I could see them coming a few Kms back and started riding again. I could see them in my mirror every few minutes but I was still a little upset so I stayed out front. I passed through two construction zones and stopped at the next fork in the road to wait for them. I took off my shirt and waited like 20 minutes for them. I sat there for more than 20 minutes. No riders passed by. So I rode a couple kms back to last gas station. They hadn't seen the guys, so I got gas and started riding backwards down the edge of the freeway. About half way back to where I had last seen them I got stopped by some cops, hassled by those cops, and they made me got over to the other side of the freeway to keep going back. I rode almost all the way back to the military checkpoint looking for them. No Nian and Dave. So I got back on the freeway and headed out as fast as I could! About 10 kms back towards where the cops had stopped me there was a short portion of road construction. Suddenly, the semi truck that was directly to my left decided that he needed to make a sharp left hand turn and that he didnt have enough room to make his full turn. So.... he came all the way over into my lane and forced me OFF THE ROAD into the gravel. I Slammed on my back brake. My break lever bottomed out. My back breaks were COMPLETELY GONE OUT! Now I had two choices, keep riding off the side of the road and slam into a cement barricade or hit my front break in gravel. It was pretty much a toss up so I decided to hit the front break. That of course sling shotted me to the ground! Right next to a turning semi trailer mind you. I felt the sting of road rash all along my left side. I looked to the right and right next to me were moving semi trailer tires. As fast as I hit the ground I hopped back to my feet and grabbed my bike, almost before it even stopped sliding. I pushed my bike off the road onto a sidewalk type thing. By this point I'm cursing myself out loud while thanking God to be alive in my mind. Keep in mind I had my shirt off trying to get some relief from the intense heat, so my shoulder and side were pretty roughed up. I used one of my water bottles to wash out my road rashes and put my shirt back on. I had broken another mirror and bent my shifter pretty bad. It took me a second to get the bike back together. As soon as I did, I was back on the road trying to catch up to the boys. Another 5 kms down the road and the same cops stopped me again. They hassled me some more but they hadn't seen any bikers go past. They let me go after some good convincing.  I got on the road going as fast as I could to catch up to the guys. Right then, I had a thought come into my mind, "YOU'RE GOING THE REST OF THE WAY HOME ALONE!" Then I thought, "Why? No that's silly, I'll find the guys soon.

It was getting dark so I decided that I had better get to a hospital soon! The last time I crashed a motorbike in Mexico I got a bad infection, so I really wanted to get my road rashes washed out.  I rode into Acayucan, Mexico around 10pm. I rode all around town looking for a hospital but ended up going to an internet cafe instead. I sent the guys a message telling them to meet me in Veracruz. The guy that owned the internet place spoke some English. He gave me perfectly detailed directions of how to get to the local red cross station. I hopped back on my bike and raced over there. The Red Cross staff took me right in and got me all cleaned up! Whatever they used stung like crazy! It seemed to work great though. The fact that the whole visit cost 14pesos (just a little more than a dollar) was awesome as well!

Getting my wounds Scrubbed by a Red Cross Nurse

It as almost Midnight before I got out of the Red Cross. I headed back towards the internet place but I soon figured out that the streets were all one way streets and soon I was lost. I rode through the middle of the town, around a carnival and huge crowd of people, and ended up stopping at a pharmacy to get some more bandages.  As I was leaving the pharmacy I asked a couple people if they knew where I could use the internet. Nobody would help me. I was starting to get a little freaked out. It was super creepy there! I backed my bike back into the street and got ready push start it. Three young teenage kids walked out of the pharmacy. I looked at them and thought, "what an interesting crew. There's the tall skinny pretty boy with his hair slicked back. The funny trouble maker with tattered clothes, two ponytail looking things coming out by his sideburns should be, and his hat on upside down, backwards, and folded in half. And the mommas boy with a huge helmet on, shirt tucked in, and a cheesy smile on his face. After I had looked them over I got a feeling like they were sent to help me. They walked straight over to me and asked me what the heck I was doing?! They told me how dangerous it was where we were and told me that they would take me to the only internet place that was open and then to the freeway. The mommas boy and trouble maker hopped on a scooter and the pretty boy on another. They buzzed through the town while I followed close behind. As we got off into some neighborhood my mind kept going though scenarios. "Ok, if they try anything, first I grab my two foot Brazilian Jungle knife, then I take the biggest one first." and so on. Then the thought came to my head (for those of you who know who the Three Nephites are) "What if these are the Three Nephites sent to get me out of trouble?" I remember getting cold chills and having a super calm feeling come over me. Right then I thanked God for sending good people to always get me out of tight places!! The Three Amigos took me to an internet place. I checked my E-mail. Nothing from Dave and Nian. From the start of the trip the plan if we got seperated was always get on the internet and message a meeting place right away.  I was a little upset that they hadn't written me. I left the internet place and the Three Amigos were sitting out front watching my Bike and gear for me.  We jumped on our bikes and they led me to the freeway on ramp. I got off, thanked them for their help, and they rode off. As they rode away, I once again got the feeling like I was saved by the Grace of God.
Back on the Road! By now its after 1 in the morning.  I rode north towards Veracruz on one of the nicest freeways I have ever seen. There were very few cars and I could see every star in the sky! pretty amazing. I stopped for gas at around 2:30am There at the gas station I found a good guy that was more than happy to give me some advice. I asked him for the best roads towards the United States and where was the best place to spend the night. The guy said I had to options to get back to the US. Straight north up to Texas or North West to Mexico City, then up to Mazitlan, and then up to Arizona. He said that the Mexico City route was the safest and had the best roads. I figured Dave and Nain would go that way as well so I decided that would be my best route. The guy told me that if I went any farther than Orizaba that I would freeze to death so that's where I should spend the night.. I thought... Freeze to death? Its almost 3am and I'm still sweating.? haha I push started the Tornado and headed North. Two hours later and I was only about 50kms from Orizaba and I was soooo cold!! I shivered uncontrollably for the next 30 minutes, being super cold was probably the only thing that kept me awake. I got off the freeway in Orizaba and looked for a hotel. Maybe 5 minutes down the main road I passed like 20 cop cars and tons of cops running around a building with guns drawn and yelling! I rode past thinking, "What in the Heck is going on!!? What a crazy day!" I didn't even slow down until I was inside a hotel parking lot! haha The first three hotels were full. I finally found one that had an open room for like ten dollars. I checked in and limped my broken frozen self into the room. After taking one of the most deserved showers of my life I redressed my wounds and laid down. As my head hit the pillow I realized that I had to get back up and shut the blinds. The sun was coming up! It was almost 7 am!! I had been on the road for almost 26 hours and I was EXHAUSTED! Before laying back down, I realized that I would be ungrateful if I didn't Kneel my road rashed knees on the floor to thank GOD for still being ALIVE! I did so... laid down.. and was instantly asleep

El Salvador-- Guatemala-- MEXICO!!!

 Finally Made it Across the Border

4:45 a.m., I'm wide awake! I think I only slept an hour or two. Two reasons why. First, the night before dave bought me a RAPTOR Energy drink, (which rocked my world). Second, There were ten million birds making squawking as soon as the sky showed the slightest signs light. I was so mad! Anyway, I got up, took my hammock down, and packed my bike up. By this time it was still only 5 am so I tightened my chain up, straightened my headlight, and did some other minor tune ups on my bike.

I took a shower out of a hose, went for a small hike, and by that time it was almost 6 am. I went and talked to the guards at the post. I asked if we were good to cross the bridge into Guatemala. He gave me a big smile and thumbs up and said we were good to go. So I went and rousted Dave and Nian out of their hammocks, they broke camp, I push started my bike, and we rode off.

Dave and I rode past the guards honking and saluting as we went past. As usual, Nian was a couple steps behind us. One ornery guard came out and put his hand up. Nian stopped. By this point I'm across the bridge, I'm seeing freedom and not turning back! Dave made it as well. We rolled up to the Guatemalan Customs office. I started my paperwork while Dave went and looked for Nian. By the time they calmed the guards back down  and made it across the bridge again I had most of my paperwork all taken care of. We streamlined Dave and Nians paperwork and soon we were on the road in Guatemala. The Minute we crossed the river from El Salvador our surroundings went from Semi jungle sub tropical to Super Desert! At around 9 am we got some gas, oiled our chains, drank energy drinks, tested their plumbing, and hit the road! We rode to a small town called Cuiapa. There a guy told us that our best route was to head South again until we were on the Pan American Highway again. An awesome scenic ride through mountains and  down curvy roads lead us straight back to our main road. We through a small town called Taxisco and the next leg of journey seemed to take forever! The scenery in Guatemala was amazing! Hot to cold, Desert to Jungle, Mountains to Plains, City to Farmland. We passed Escuintla and continued up the Pan American. Once we reached Mazatenango we could almost smell the Mexican border! Which meant we were in the last country we needed to get to before arriving in the States. We were all so focused on the journey that we didn't really pay much attention to much else. The road signs stated counting down the distance from the Mexican border. 90kms 75kms 60kms 50kms,,, Once we started getting somewhat close to Mexico, traffic slowed and a never ending line of semi trucks appeared. We all looked at each other like, "what the heck?" We seriously passed probably 25-30 kms of straight semis lined up all along the side of the road. Once we got closer to the front of the traffic jam the cars, trucks, busses, and people had the road completely packed. We bobbed and weaved our way to the front of the jam. BOOM!!! another wrench in our gears. HUMAN ROADBLOCK!

 Dave and I trying to talk our way through the barricade

 No way across. Unless you go back and around which is more than 200km detour! I guess they were blocking the road to protest other countries doing business in Guatemala or something? They had been there since 8am that morning. I simply told them that we were Americans and that we were going to cross. I rode up to the line of people and was about to lift their rope and push my bike under when some dude that spoke broken English told me that it wasn't a good idea. So we waited for 20-30 mins with no progress. Being so close to Mexico made me super inpatient so I walked across their barricade and into the little village on the side of the road. I was looking for a trail or even somewhere I could cut a fence and we could sneak past. I walked up a road and down a long driveway. There was a huge gate open so I walked in. Inside the gate there was a big 5 story house surrounded by what looked like a fortress type wall. On the inside of the wall were like 40 garage looking things. First thing that came to my mind was, "hmm.. What a strange car detailing place." Inside all the garages there was a sign that said "Half price on your birthday." I was so confused. Some kid ran out of the big house, hopped on his little scooter, and headed my way. Then it hit me. It was a massive whore house! GROSE! He rode up to me so I stopped him. I asked him how to get around the Rode block and sure enough... he knew a way. He couldn't explain it but he said for a few bucks he would show us the way. He gave me a ride back to the crowd and we ditched his scooter, We pushed back through the crowd to Dave, Nian, and our bikes. Nain and I didn't have enough room for him on our bikes so Dave was nominated to give him a ride. He saddled up with Dave and the four of us rode 20 kms back up the super traffic jam road.

We then took a right which took us through some small creepy eerie little town. We went through the town, turned down some side road, went through a backyard, and then into the jungle. The whole time the kid was telling us to slow down and be quiet. Like we had to be super sneaky or something? I thought we were going to be like 10 mins on this little side road. Nope..

We drove almost 30 kms through dusty jungle roads! I parts of it were intense! I felt like I was riding trails in American Fork Canyon with my buds again! haha  After like 45 mins of crazy trail rides through jungle, rivers, and rocky mountain trails we finally popped back out on asphalt. The whole time our new buddy was sitting on Daves backpack full of Caribbean giant sea shells. All Dave can say is, "that sucked! I could feel his nuts in my back the entire time!" hahaha We got a good laugh out of that! At one of the steeper parts of the trail the fatness of our buddy made Dave's sprocket slip and stripped it out pretty bad. We dropped our buddy on the side of the road and gave him $7. He was pumped and so were we. 30 mins later we were at the Mexican border. We went through the whole customs process again, I got searched for some reason, and we were soon on the road again!

 
Mexico.. our last obstacle between us and our beloved home country. For some strange reason the second we got into Mexico I got this feeling of Ride as fast as you can, don't stop for anything or anyone unless you absolutely have to! The Customs people told us we had to ride to the next city and buy a refundable permission to ride in Mexico for $400 each rider. haha NOPE! We just got the heck out of there! This feeling of caution didn't leave me until we needed to stop for gas and money.  My cards were shut off, Dave had lost his wallet back in Colombia or Venezuela somewhere, and Nian didn't have very much money on his card. We sifted around Huixtla, Mexico until I found a payphone, called my bank collect and got my card reactivated, got some food, and got a game plan together. The only game plan we could come up with is keep riding until we cant ride anymore! So.. we did exactly that! We rode until we arrived at Arriaga at around 2 am. On the way there we were riding down the freeway and we passed a parked truck. Somehow some Idiot left a 20 foot pole sticking out of the back of the truck and into the road. I saw it in the nick of time, swerved!, and Ducked! Inches from ruining my trip! Dave and Nian weren't much farther away from the same tragedy! I said prayers of thankfulness to be alive until we found our next gas station. There we got some food, and decided that it was too cold and we were to tired to continue on. We made buddies with one of the pump managers and he said he would watch over us if we hung our hammocks under one of the carports behind the station. As soon as I got myself somewhat horizontal I was OUT! I still had a nervous feeling from Mexico so I hung my hammock up almost touching my bike. I knew that it was going to take a lot to wake me up so if someone was wanting to take my bike and bag they were going to have to get me out of the way first!

Where the Lord parted our Red Sea! Nicaragua Honduras and El Salvador!!

 Nicaragua!

As morning broke, I awoke and found out that we were being watched by like three shady looking guys! It was probably around 6:00 a.m. It was starting to get light and we had been asleep for a few hours so hopped right up and asked the dude what he wanted. He didn't even move, just stood there and looked at me, and then slowly walked away. We broke camp and once again started the research process of finding out how to get through customs and on our way in Nicaragua. I went to the office first, fought off all the money changers as usual, and then got in line to get my passport stamped. While I was waiting I plugged in my phone to get it charged enough to listen to my tunes. I got stamped in and went and rode around until I found Dave and Nian. We talked over our situations and decided to find a shower and get cleaned up. We were all Black from road grime! Oh Shoot! I forgot my Phone! I ran back over there and....GONE! I ran around frantically for like five minutes asking who took it! Nobody said anything! I was heart broke. Seriously soo bumbed out! I asked two more people if they'd seen it and nothin. As I was walking out some guy walked up to the counter and said something to the guy that I asked first. He put his head down, walked over to a filing case, and grabbed my phone and charger out. Another prayer answered! haha We found a truck stop, got showered up, and after getting all our bike paperwork done and getting all sprayed for bugs we were once again on the road! We road up the West shore of Lake Nicaragua. The landscape and scenery were amazing. The only thing wrong with the picture were the BUGS!!! I looked down and my knees were Black from Bugs! I had bugs all over in my leg hair and just all over for real! Our visors were pure bug guts! Except for daves... he didnt have a visor!  That Sucks so bad!

Nians Bug Collection after only like 5 mins!

Nian Ran out of gas so Dave and I rode 5 kms to the next town, filled up, and Dave took a water bottle full of gas back to Nian. When they got back and got filled up I had bought lunch of American style fried chicken and Monsters! That is when we sat down and ate the BEST fried chicken of our lives! The owner overheard us say just that and responded to us in english. Turns out he lived in Silver springs Maryland. 10 miles from where I had lived for the last three summers. We finished our lunch and some old war veteran dude gave us detailed directions in english of how to get through Nicaragua the fastest. We cleaned the bugs off of ourselves and rode hard once again. Soon the dudes directions had taken us in a super big loop and were were headed back towards the road where we started. While somewhat lost we did pass through some super awesome Volcano mountains and really cultural small towns.  As we passed through one of them I thought. I bet there are missionaries in every one of these towns. Not more than 2 minutes later. Low and behold, Two Elders walking right at us! haha I locked up my brake and screeched to a halt. We talked to them for a bit, got better directions, and continued our volcano mountain ride down to the Pan American Highway. A couple more hours up the Highway and we were in the middle of a desert surrounded by Volcanoes. Our bikes were burning up and so were we! The first gas station we bought tons of water and got all fueled up.  Back on the road we busted it up towards Managua. Once there we stopped to pee and there was a stalled car. I hopped off and we all helped this dude push his suv to the top of the hill. As he thanked us and hopped in his car I noticed that he had a pistol in the back of his jeans. Guess helping him was the right decision. I never told dave and nian this but I took us on a long detour to keep us out of the city after I saw that dudes gun. The detour took us right past lake Managua which also had tons of huge Volcanoes!

 Volcanoes Across Lake Managua

It was such and awesome Landscape. After 4 or 5 more hours of burning up in the desert we were close to the Honduras border. About 50 kms from the border we stopped, got gas, and spend every dime we had of Funny Nicaraguan money on drinks and goodies. Another hour of riding and we were at the Honduran border.

Welcome to Honduras! ps i hate you Honduras

Once again the border crossing and customs area was super ghetto and full of fools trying to "help us" and change money. We simply told them the truth and that if they wanted to "help us" with our paperwork for free they were more than welcome. We were truly OUT of money! I had used my Safety $150 and we had spent everything else on junk food. Nian and I wanted to use the bathroom but couldn't because it cost money! We turned in our Nicaraguan drivers licenses and got ready to go in Honduras. 20 Minutes later we had our Passports all stamped and we were ready to go. Then some guy told us that we had to wait for the Motor vehicle people to get out of a meeting before we could get permissions to drive in Honduras. Then came the bad news. It was going to cost each of us over $50 American dollars to get the permission. The worst part about that is we were only going to be in Honduras for a couple hours. My GPS said that it was only 280 kms across. So we waited around for like an hour and fought with people about not paying due to our no money situation. Finally, the boss lady came out of a meeting and we were invited to go in and talk to her. Thats when we found out how big of trouble we were really in. The nearest ATM was 40 kms into honduras. We couldn't ride there because we didn't have permissions yet. We also couldn't go back into Nicaragua because we had already turned in our Nicaraguan drivers permissions. We were really jammed! She said that some guy would give us a ride to the ATM and back for $100 each! NO WAY! Not only was that too much money but also too time consuming. All the sudden dave says. Is this your money? He's got a huge wad of money in his hand. I would guess probably more that $1000 American dollars! He found it sitting on the floor in the boss lady's office! She claimed it and was even more ruthless with us! I was starting to get worried again that this was the end of the road!
NOW IT STARTS GETTING CRAZY!
As we walked out of that ladies office with basically no options, the wind started blowing very strange. I walked out to my bike and said "fellas, pack your bags us and get your rain gear on NOW!!" We got geared up for the rain in like 5 mins! It was strange because we had a crowd of like 20 people watching us that all knew our situation. Just before we were all ready to go The heaviest rainfall ever began to pound down on us! At that time, I knew that God wanted us to keep going and that he was opening up the gate to Honduras for us. I push started my bike, as I had been doing ever since my starter went out in Panama. Dave and Nian were right behind me and we FLEW PAST THE BORDER PATROL GATE!!!!  Rain so heavy we couldn't even see the road! Someone yelled as we blew past but there was no stopping now! The super heavy rain suddenly quit 5 minutes after we BLASTED the border! I was actually mad that it wasn't raining because that meant that the frequent road stops and patrols would all be functioning normally. We passed one after another 20 mins. I stood up on my pegs, saluted the officers with one hand, and honked my horn a few times with the other hand. They looked us all confused and never bothered stopping us!  haha We passed 5 more patrol stations using the same technique! We followed the Pan American Through Honduas getting lost here and there along the way of course. We all got ourselves some ultra energy drinks, got on all our cold weather gear, and heaed for the El Salvador border!!! That's when it happened, Stopped by a road block police patrol! Oh Shoot! I thought to myself. We all fumbled through our stacks of papers and showed them some random wet documents we had picked up along the way. And then acted like we didn't know what they were talking about! haha They really only stopped us because people were getting mugged and or murdered on the bridge just down the road from us. So in a way they were watching over us. They finally let us go. It was probably around midnight before we got to the El Salvadoran border! We got in the middle of a huge line of trucks and went as fast as we could as to avoid getting stopped by the Honduran exit customs. Worked like a charm! We all thanked the Lord for our safe passage through Honduras.

Once in El Salvador we used a different tactic on the customs guy. We just talked about how awesome El Salvador was, how excited we were to eat the food, and what we needed to see while we were there! Pretty soon were were good buds and he sent us along on our way. He mentioned something about getting permission for the bikes but we never saw another government building so we just kept on a going. The GPS once again took us on a sweet unneeded 1 hour detour. Soon it was raining again we we geared up and made good time through El Salvador! We did stop in one small town for Papusas. Sooo Delicious! We got to San Salvador around 2 or 3 am and soon we were again lost! After more Energy Drinks, Gas, and directions we were hot on our way. We flew through some territory that I assumed was really pretty but the darkness ruined all of that! At around 4 am we finally arrived at the Guatemalan boder! We rolled in there super confident and cool, sure that were were once again on our way!  There was a big bridge separating the two countries and that bridge was blocked by a gate and like 10 guards. We told em some story about why we didnt have our permissions to drive in the country and of course the didnt buy any of it. We begged them forever to let us through but finally we agreed to hang up our hammocks there and get some shut eye while they called the other border in the morning. The Bathrooms were locked so we went off of a 200 foot bridge. It was pretty funny! Soon we were all camped out and Sound asleep! This was honestly one of the longest, most eventful, hottest, coldest, and most mentally draining days of my life! 

On The ROAD HOME: Panama and Costa Rica

 Panama City

Sunday, April 28th, around 3pm we hit the road in Panama. We were feeling great as we headed North up the Pan-American Highway. Once again we were on some nice big freeways. Panama uses the US dollar as well, so it was cool to buy things in Dollar. About 200 kms up the highway we found ourselves lost in panama city. One of the most modern cities we've visited. I would have told you that we were in Florida. We circled around Panama City for a couple hours and finally found the way out of town. Soon after leaving the city we crossed the Panama Canal. That was super awesome! You can see how much work went into it. After Crossing the canal we road east, southeast for what seemed like forever! We headed back Northeast and after hours of riding we made it to the Costa Rica, Panama border. We were pumped to get into Costa Rica to find a nice campsite. As we crossed the border we were informed that customs didn't open until 7 am. Soo.... we found a couple of nice poles and fence posts right in front of the customs office and hung up our hammocks. We wrapped up in our blankets to keep the bugs off us, and at about 3 am the jungle sounds wisped us off to sleep.

The Panama Costa Rica Border

Monday morning we were woken up a little before 5am. There were people lined up at the border fighting to be one of the first people to get into Panama to go to work. We broke camp and jumped in line to get into Costa Rica. Little did we know we were almost two hours early. Finally 7 am rolled around, the office opened, and when our turn to get stamped into Costa Rica came around.... We had to go a mile back to Panama to get our passports stamped there. We had to wait another hour in line there and then we were back to the Costa Rica Customs office. Once again we made it to the front of the line, we were then informed that we needed our yellow fever shot cards or we weren't going into CR. The lady just told us that we were out of luck and that we had to go back to the city, get the shot, wait 6 days, and then we could enter the city. We were super mad. I went back up to the front of the line and asked if I could get a copy of the card faxed or e-mailed to them. They said that was ok so we got to work. I searched around for a pay phone and called my mom collect. "hey mom can you send me my yellow fever shot card. Jim... you don't have your yellow fever shots." Ummm... shoot. So what did do. We made one! I had my mom email me the shot card and we wrote in the yellow fever section. We copied it and I took it back to the CR office. Turns out Panama stamped my passport with the wrong stamp so..., Back to Panama, then back to CR. Finally they stamped me into Costa Rica. Then it took me 2 more hours to get my bike paperwork all finished up and done. Dave and Nian just got on the internet, found some shot cards, changed the names, printed em off and got stamped in like a charm! Around 2 pm we were finally on the road in Costa Rica. What a head ache!

 A Big Statue of Christ as we Climbed the Mountains In Costa Rica

Once in CR we just road HARD! Its a super pretty country but we didn't have time to stop and  see the sights. Next time I Guess!  We road a few hours through some hot jungle, which was amazing. We were headed North along the Pacific Coast. Suddenly, the road veered back to the south west. That took us up into some mountains and through some pineapple farms. We rode through a small rainstorm and stopped for gas a goodies in the small town of Cacao. As we left the town we hit a stretch of nice windy roads. We're having a blast flying up the mountain on awesome paved roads when all the sudden our bikes start running way crappy! :We were at such a high altitude that our bikes were choking for air. Suddenly it started getting chilly and started to drizzle a little. That was strange because just hours before we were all cursing the blasted jungle heat. Nian and Dave stopped to put on their rain gear. I reluctantly stopped and put mine on as well. I was under the impression that it would just drizzle a little and we'd be high and dry soon.

 Getting Our Rain Gear On Just Before the Coldest Rainstorm EVER!!

Little did i know, five minutes up the mountain road, Boom! An Ultra-Freezing rainstorm awaited us! I had on Three shirts, Two jackets, and all the other warm clothing I could possibly squeeze under my rain gear. Twenty minutes up the mountain road my bike was going 20 mph at full throttle and I was FREEZING!!! I would compare this coldness to the time I fell through the Ice. SOOOO COLD!!! The little mountain that I thought we would pass soon turned into one of the highest mountains in Costa Rica! We pinned our bikes, and rode as fast as we could (25mph) until we were out of the mountains. As we headed down the other side the clouds broke a little and we were able to see just how amazing the place was. We all stopped just before San Jose and told each other how cold we were.

Back on the road we were soon in the middle of San Jose. My GPS only had a couple major roads on it so I just kept us going in the general direction and followed the flow of traffic. Miraculously, we made it right through the city, during rush hour, with no problems. We did get put onto a nice toll road that wasn't cheap. So.... We begged  the attendants to let us through! It worked about half the time. haha It got dark and we rode until we were close to the Pacific again. We got some gas, got some wild central American energy drinks, and hit the road. The stretch of road from San Jose to the Nicaragua border was kinda sketchy! Lots of transvestites and truckers. Needless to say we didn't stop except for some roadside police checkpoints. The cops here were super cool. One of them gave me his address and wanted me to come back and buy his beach property.

 Looking for a Place To hang our Hammocks

Around 3 am we arrived at the Nicaraguan border. We were stopped by the border police and told that we needed to wait until 7 am for customs to open.  This campout was a little different than the rest. As we crossed the border the roads were dirt and the whole area was extremely gloomy and unkept. There was a huge parking lot full of trucks and a few people walking around. The wind started blowing and it was looking like it was going to rain. We arranged our hammocks under a little roof next to the customs office. I pushed my bike up under my hammock and tried to get some sleep. I woke up three or  four times throughout the night to keep an eye on some creepy people that kept walking around us. I didn't get much sleep but it sure felt good to lay down for a bit!

Sail away Sail away Sail away.......

There we were, all pumped up and ready to set sail. Somehow we ended up killing another day at the docks, but finally by Friday night we were ready to set sail! Right at sunset, we hoisted the sails and pulled out of the ports. It was amazing! Our bikes tied to the front of the sailboat, us getting some sailing experience, and eating the best food ever! (which was all cooked for us!) As we literally sailed off into the sunset Caption Pedro went below deck to get his GPS wired up straight. There was some pirate chick on the boat that just seemed to be getting a ride with us to the san Blas Islands. He had her hold the wheel. After watching her put us 90 degrees off course three different times I eased myself into the captains chair. I got the hang of it in like 30 seconds and had us due on course! Captain Pedro came up, looked at his instruments, and said, "wow, you really know how to drive a boat. You good to drive for a bit?" Of course I was. So he said, "Ok then, You're first mate! and I'm gonna take a nap for a bit."

Well a bit of a nap turned into him going to bed on the bench. Soo.... Dave and I drove the whole night until around 9 or 10am sat morning! Captain Pedro is one Unique guy. My spanish Swear word vocabulary increased 100 percent while were were on the boat with him! He truly took the Phrase "Swore like a sailer" to a whole other level. I was dead from driving all night so I decided to take a nap. Before laying down I dug up a spool of fishing line and a big metal spoon and slowly let it out behind the boat. I watched it for a while with no luck so I tied it off to a cleat and hit the hay for a few hours. I was soon woken up by Nian looking for my Pliers. Turns out Dave and Captain Pedro hand Pulled in a monster Tuna while I was sleeping!!

I was mad for like 4 seconds and then passed out again. When I finally woke up for good, dinner was set. TUNA! Captain had chopped it right up and fried it up for us. Seriously some of the best Fish i have Ever eatin! It was amazing as well because the one we caught was just big enough to feed all 8 of us really well! Pretty soon it started getting dark again which for my meant I was up to pilot the boat. This night me dave captain and Nian all took our turns at the helm.

After my turn I went and laid down right on the very tip of the bow and tried falling asleep. The moon and stars were so bright that I couldn't even keep my eyes closed. After two hours of Laying there awake, we hit a huge wave and my pad slid all the way over the edge and me half way over! Getting lost at sea is really low on my priority list so I got myself better situated on the bow and started drifting off. All the sudden  a strange noise and splashing woke me up. ? I Looked around for like 10 mins with out seeing anything. Then all the sudden, I look into the water with is all Lit up with moon and star light. 15 or 20 big whiteish figures right below me at the bow. One rose up and made a huge splash, Dolphins!

Tons of em! I laid on my stomach over the bow for the next 30 mins trying to get one to jump up and touch my hand and watching em do all kinds of jumps tricks all around the waves the boat was putting out. After a while they all left and I finally got some sleep while dave and nian drove.

By the time I woke up Sunday morning we were only like 10 miles out of San Blas. I drove us most of the way in but Cap. Pedro took the help for the last little bit due to coral reefs and low water danger. Which is really funny and you'll find out why very soon!

We sailed ourselves between two paradisaical islands and Captain Pedro yell out, "Drop the anchor boys!" We did as we told which brought us to our new home for the night. As the boat stopped we of course all started flipping and diving off the top of the boat! The water was probably about 45 feet deep and we could see all the way to the bottom! So Blue and so clear! Turns out Captain had a big bag full of snorkel stuff! Of course we spent the next few hours diving around the reefs. There were so many amazing colorful fish, sting rays, and huge conch shells. After we felt how bad our sunburn levels we all headed back to the boat.

Captain was already busy cookin us up a huge meal! We all ate really well. After dinner captain took all of us over to and indigenous island while he stayed on the boat. It looked exactly what an island would look in my mind if someone were to say, "Ok, so youre on a deserted island." Just palm trees and a few indian huts. We walked all the way around the island which is when we got a great idea. Lets sleep on the island! Needless to say, Captain was soon dropping us off again with our hammocks, ropes, and blankets. We treked through the dark to the east side of the island. There we found two palm trees growing out over the water on a 45 degree angle. Dave and I shinneyed up Each tree and we tied all three of our hammocks up over the water.

Laying in our bunk hammocks over the water was unreal. Every star in the sky was out. Small waves and sounds of the islands are all we could hear. Really one of the most amazing campouts of our adventure.

We woke up with the sun the next morning. We rolled up our hammocks and met captain Pedro on the beach.

He took us back to the Night Hawk 2 and yelled for us to hoist the anchor. We were a short 10 miles from the port. We anchored off shore and went to the island immigration office for our visa stamped Captain Pedro came up to Dave and I and said, "Thanks for everything guys! I've never had such an awesome group of people on the boat. Here you go." He gave us each $25 American Dollars! haha He paid us for all our work on the boat! He then told us that whenever we wanted to sail the Caribbean that we didn't need to worry about money. Just call him and he'd take us and our friends for free! Way Awesome!

  Soon we were back on the boat and sailed around towards the port. Captain did a loop through a huge pod of Dolphins. It was pretty cool. When he looped around we got slightly off course. I was on the front deck uncovering the bikes when I felt a huge Jolt.. then BLAM!! Scraping sounds, and I'm laying on my back! The next thing I heard was Captain Pedro Yelling Puta!!!!... and Meirda!!!.... Over and over again! Just a slurry of Spanish swear words for the next hour! He and run the Night Hawk 2 right into a shallow coral reef!! Just when we thought the trip couldn't get any crazier, we're shipwrecked in the Caribbean.! Captain Pedro tried pushing us backwards with the dingy while Dave Reversed the motor turning back and forth. Soon and old Indian man showed up in a wooden log canoe. He dropped a huge rock for his anchor, tore his shorts off, and dove in wearing only some skimpy underwear and a snorkel. I grabbed a snorkel and followed suit. When I got under the boat I discovered that the Rutter was blocked by some rocks from behind, and the fin was completely buried under a bunch of rocks about half my size. So what did we do... The old Indian man and I would to a 1.. 2... 3.... Swim down, Grab a boulder, and walk it along the bottom away from the boat! It was pretty awesome! and Scary. The waves we're rocking the boat deeper into the reef. We were hurrying as fast as we could as the tide was going out. the ship would be left high and dry and if we were unable to free it fast. It took the old man and I about half an hour to move all the rocks. When I got back on the boat all I saw was madness. More Indians had showed up with bigger motorized canoes and boats. Somehow Captain Pedro had tied 4 motorized boats up to the back of the Night Hawk 2. They all floored it at the same time and it was crazy! Boats were crashing into each other, Close-lining each other, and Almost sinking! So crazy! When that didn't work Captain Pedro decided that we needed to get us and our heavy bikes off the Night Hawk. We untied the bikes and hooked em one by one to top of the mast.

We hoisted each bike up in the air, swung em out over the water, and lowered em into canoes! Once again, we all looked at each other and thought, "Is this really happening?" haha We put Daves bike, Nians bike, all our bags, and ourselves in one big canoe. My bike went with 4 other guys in a smaller canoe.

Once we were all off the Night Hawk, the four motor boats began pulling again, two dingeys pushed from the front, and captain Pedro at the helm full throttle backwards! The battled it for a few mins and The Night Hawk 2 was free!! We were a hundred yards away already. We heard Pedro yell a loud slurry of swear words and then, "I'M FREEEEE!!! haha So awesome!

We were already on our way for the main land. This canoe ride was super nerve racking! I was squatting on the bottom holding each side. The water was only like 6" from top of the canoe! Twenty mins later we were going up a river inlet with indians everywhere. The boat drivers took us to their friends "Port." We unloaded our bikes and were informed that we had to pay them $35 American dollars each bike. We only had the $50 dollars that Pedro had given Dave and I. So, we gave em $5. They were PISSED! I was ready for and Indian Fight. We tied our bikes up and told em, "Sorry, we don't have any money." After like 30 mins of arguing they finally accepted out rappelling rope as payment. We road down Jungle dirt roads though mud, mountains, and rivers for the next two hours. Panama's Mountains are soo pretty! After a wild mountain ride we made it to asphalt. I looked down at my GPS and..... Sure enough, We had made it to the Pan-American Highway! 7000 kms up the Hwy would put us at the Texas border! At 3:00pm Monday April 19th WE HIT THE ROAD FOR THE ULTIMATE RIDE HOME!!!