DAY 9

We spent the day in Puerto Vallarta again because my bug was caught by Joe and we had to get that fixed before we got too far down the road.  Last night our hosts took us down by the tourist area where we saw some Indians in traditional dress, went to Miguel's artist studio, then to a little area where he used to teach art.  The cans you see in the pictures were done by another artist that shares the studio - I found his sense of humor to be very funny.  The refrigerator magnet is from the place that our hosts order chicken from.  The Italian restuarant where we went to dinner was really good and very reasonable - great calamari.  They make their own pasta and it was delicious.

DAY 8

And on the 8th day they rested.  We decided to take a laundry/catch up/ rest day.  Our host took Joe and I to Wall Mart, Costco, McDonalds, Radio Schack, a Suzuku Shop and Auto Zone.  The picture of the house is where we are staying and the street is in front of the house.  The Cobble stone street is very difficult to ride on and would be impossible if it were to rain - I would be down in a second.  I forgot to mention, Miguel, our host had Cricket Tacos last night at the restuarant and I sampled a few.  Actually very tasty with the sauce they cooked them in.  The picture is of some I took out of the jar of crickets he brought home since the restuarant sells them to take home.  There are delivery cycles all over the place with the boxes on the back.  We saw a Dominos Pizza place that had a bunch of them out front.  I can't imagine how they do their job since I haven't seen a street sign yet.  We will head South tomorrow morning.

DAY 6 & 7

We spent all day Tuesday in La Paz getting our bikes cleared to go to Mainland Mexaco and getting our Ferry Tickets to take the ferry to Mazatlan.  A special thanks to my Auny Myra ( I stayed with her when I went to Alaska last summer ) for sponsoring my ferry ride - it sure beat renting a row boat.  We loaded onto the ferry around 6:30 PM and got off the next morning around 10:30 AM.  Joe and I had a little room with 2 beds and a bathroom - the cute picture was on  the wall.  We headed for Puerto Vallerto and took the toll road ( we spent around $35 on tolls ) so we could avoid the very slow/busy local roads.  The prison didn't look good from the outside - no desire to go inside.  We finally got to Joes friends house where we spent the night.  Got to get to bed - it is 12:30 AM

DAYS 4 & 5

I am lumping 2 days together to save a little time.  We left Sunday morning and headed to the East side of Baja.  The map showed that there was a gas station in a little town but when we got there the station was no longer operational and a bunch of locals were selling gas out of milk jugs for $4.50/gallon - they siphon it out of the jug - that is why the guy is holding it so high..  We decided to buy a couple of gallons each and by the time we got to a real station Joe ran out right at the pump.  This is where we ate at the little taco shack.  The scenery was pretty much like Arizona and parts of Nevada.  We stayed in Santa Rosilia on the 4th - no need to go back.

The next day we made our way to La Paz.  On the way there we went thru some small towns - they love their political posters.  Some pretty barren country yet some huge farms.  The motel with the pool is our La Paz Motel - we didn't use it. 

Day 3 01/15/2011

Today we finally made it to Mexico.  A little confusion at the border regarding what paperwork we needed and where we were supposed to get it done so when we got to Ensinada we went to Imigration and for a little bribe of $5.00 each everything was fine.  Most of the little towns are like the picture, dirt on both sides of the highway and people get on and off wherever they want to. I am not sure what the cactus looking things are but I think they make Tequila with it.  We had some nice views of the ocean and a few potholes. 

We are watching the football game and it is in Spanish so it is even more interesting.  Tomorrow we need to ride about 400 miles so we will need to get an early start so it is off to bed.  Thanks for following.

Days 1 & 2

The first day I rode from Vegas to the LA area and other than a section of I-15 that was under construction (10 miles of 4 lanes choked down to 1) with signs that said expect a 3 hour delay it was a good ride that started out at 50 degrees and ended at 80 degrees.  Fortunately in California it is legal to lane split (go between the cars) so it only took me 1 hour to go 10 miles.

Joe and I got to our friends house within 5 minutes of each other so that was a good way to get our trip started - we thought.

The morning of day 2 started with Joe working on his bike (of course I was compelled to give him a little crap for that).  We finally got started and we were about 45 miles toward Mexico when Joe ran out of gas and had to switch to his reserve tank.  I was in the off ramp off to the edge waiting for him and I am pretty sure that is where I picked up the nail that flattened my back tire when we got to the gas station.  Needless to say it was payback time for the earlier crap.

After much frustration we put a new tube in and took off to go see Bart Gabriel (Bart and I rode back to our high school reunion a few years ago).  After a visit we took off for Escondido to pick up a new tube and find a motel.  A gormet meal at Del Taco and a little time updating the blog and we are off to bed.

Stay with me, it has to get better.

Getting ready to head South

I am working with the Blog to make sure everything is working correctly.  I hope to ride over to Los Angeles on Thursday to meet up with Joe.  Our plan is to ride to La Paz, MX then take the ferry to Mazatlan then continue South to Central America.

 

From Panama we will fly us and the bikes to Bogota, Columbia (there is no road so we must fly) then keep riding South to the Southern tip of South America ending up in Ushuaia, Argentina.  

 

Enjoy the ride, I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Vern