January 26, 2008
At dinner the previous evening we were joined by the two Canadians who are also traveling on bikes. Darryl is on a BMW 1200GS like David and my old bike and Andy is on a 78 BMW 100RS is believe. It is a bike he bought new years ago and decided to ride it because he knew how to work on it which just happens to come in very handy later in the day. Over dinner and beer we decide to do a group ride to the island of Ometepe the next day at 10.
It is up early again for no apparent reason and it is time for breakfast and more coffee for me. I will never admit this in person but it is not half bad. A few of us have Frank the hotel owner drive us into town to get some money while some others go and inquire about the boat schedule. When we get back we get the news that the ferry could get us all over there but getting us all back tonight is not guaranteed. After a little discussion an alternate plan is hatched. We will now drive North toward Managua and then head West to the beach for lunch and return. Everyone is in agreement so we are soon on our way. We ride for about 45 minutes till we hit the town of Jinotepe where we need to go west. Riding down a little side street we come to a block in the road. It turns out the driver of a small truck pulled a gun out and pointed it at some lady and everyone around surrounded the truck so he could not move until the police got there. Paul who was in the lead and speaks fluent Spanish was able to talk them into creating a wide enough gap 
for us to squeeze through and be on our way. We now headed down a very potholed road for the next 10 miles or so and shortly before noon we were in the town of La Boquita looking for lunch. The town was pretty empty and we found a place that said they had food and beer. We all sit down and ask for the menu and his reply was "We have fish". Alrighty then, 7 orders of fish it is! Oh and beer. I think that he actually must have grabbed his fishing rod and ran to the water 200 feet away because it took at least an hour for the meals to arrive. When they finally did we found out it was worth the wait.
While we were there we spoke to a few locals and asked them about the condition of the road out the other direction. We were told that it is about the same as the one we came in on. With this information in hand and full bellies we were now heading south towards the town of Veracruz. The road immediately turned into dirt yet we continued on. Before we knew it we the road was getting worse and worse. It would have been fine if we were all riding dirt bikes and had a lot of off road riding experience, but it was not the case. As it turns out Paul and I were the only ones with dirt experience and some of the bikes have no business being in a dust storm much less riding of dirt. And let’s not forget about Norm riding the 800+ lb motorcycle. Now we find ourselves over an hour into these roads and feel we have reached to point of no return, we must continue. Paul and I were having a fun time as was Darryl but the others were not prepared for this and the fun stopped as soon as they swallowed their last bite of fish.
At this point everyone is tired but the terrain just keeps getting worse and people are going down. We come to a few river crossings and deep sand sections and given the fact that I have off road experience and the lowest on the totem pole as far as age goes, I get chosen to ride some of the other bikes across as well. The one bike I refused to ride was Norms monster but I never needed to because he never gave up. This continues on for a few hours and we are loosing the sun. We break off into groups of two and just keep on moving. It is now dark and David and I are being the sweepers of the group when we come to the last obstacle of the trip. I see Andy and Darryl on the other side of a wide river so it must not be that deep. What I did not realize was they could not get Andy´s bike started and it is that deep. I go first and make it 10 ft from the edge and the bottom drops out from underneath the bike. The water is up to the bottom of the gas tank and I think the air intake for the engine is an inch below that. I make it 2 feet from getting out and the bike dies. I crank it for a few moments and it starts to show signs of life again. With it now running I ride out the rest of the way and turn around to see David already walking across the river. I guess I am not done yet. I walk back across and put David’s bike through the same punishment mine just had. Now we all have made it past that I find out that Andy’s bike will not start. I look for my flashlight which of course is dead and I have no extra batteries. We rob 
Andy’s camera of the batteries and we now have light. We then decide that David and I will continue on to catch up with the others and I will come back for the other two so they do not have to ride out alone. A few miles later we catch up with the rest of the group and it is now 7pm. We come to the conclusion that they will all go back to the hotel and I will go back to be with the other two. Just as we were separated Andy and Darryl come along. I guess his ignition got some water in it and it just needed some drying out. Now we are all one group again so we ride back to the hotel arriving at 8:30.
Sorry for the long post as I am sure it is a boring read. I know I have not been able to convey a lot of the things that happened but it was still one of the more exciting days.
At dinner the previous evening we were joined by the two Canadians who are also traveling on bikes. Darryl is on a BMW 1200GS like David and my old bike and Andy is on a 78 BMW 100RS is believe. It is a bike he bought new years ago and decided to ride it because he knew how to work on it which just happens to come in very handy later in the day. Over dinner and beer we decide to do a group ride to the island of Ometepe the next day at 10.
It is up early again for no apparent reason and it is time for breakfast and more coffee for me. I will never admit this in person but it is not half bad. A few of us have Frank the hotel owner drive us into town to get some money while some others go and inquire about the boat schedule. When we get back we get the news that the ferry could get us all over there but getting us all back tonight is not guaranteed. After a little discussion an alternate plan is hatched. We will now drive North toward Managua and then head West to the beach for lunch and return. Everyone is in agreement so we are soon on our way. We ride for about 45 minutes till we hit the town of Jinotepe where we need to go west. Riding down a little side street we come to a block in the road. It turns out the driver of a small truck pulled a gun out and pointed it at some lady and everyone around surrounded the truck so he could not move until the police got there. Paul who was in the lead and speaks fluent Spanish was able to talk them into creating a wide enough gap 
for us to squeeze through and be on our way. We now headed down a very potholed road for the next 10 miles or so and shortly before noon we were in the town of La Boquita looking for lunch. The town was pretty empty and we found a place that said they had food and beer. We all sit down and ask for the menu and his reply was "We have fish". Alrighty then, 7 orders of fish it is! Oh and beer. I think that he actually must have grabbed his fishing rod and ran to the water 200 feet away because it took at least an hour for the meals to arrive. When they finally did we found out it was worth the wait.While we were there we spoke to a few locals and asked them about the condition of the road out the other direction. We were told that it is about the same as the one we came in on. With this information in hand and full bellies we were now heading south towards the town of Veracruz. The road immediately turned into dirt yet we continued on. Before we knew it we the road was getting worse and worse. It would have been fine if we were all riding dirt bikes and had a lot of off road riding experience, but it was not the case. As it turns out Paul and I were the only ones with dirt experience and some of the bikes have no business being in a dust storm much less riding of dirt. And let’s not forget about Norm riding the 800+ lb motorcycle. Now we find ourselves over an hour into these roads and feel we have reached to point of no return, we must continue. Paul and I were having a fun time as was Darryl but the others were not prepared for this and the fun stopped as soon as they swallowed their last bite of fish.
At this point everyone is tired but the terrain just keeps getting worse and people are going down. We come to a few river crossings and deep sand sections and given the fact that I have off road experience and the lowest on the totem pole as far as age goes, I get chosen to ride some of the other bikes across as well. The one bike I refused to ride was Norms monster but I never needed to because he never gave up. This continues on for a few hours and we are loosing the sun. We break off into groups of two and just keep on moving. It is now dark and David and I are being the sweepers of the group when we come to the last obstacle of the trip. I see Andy and Darryl on the other side of a wide river so it must not be that deep. What I did not realize was they could not get Andy´s bike started and it is that deep. I go first and make it 10 ft from the edge and the bottom drops out from underneath the bike. The water is up to the bottom of the gas tank and I think the air intake for the engine is an inch below that. I make it 2 feet from getting out and the bike dies. I crank it for a few moments and it starts to show signs of life again. With it now running I ride out the rest of the way and turn around to see David already walking across the river. I guess I am not done yet. I walk back across and put David’s bike through the same punishment mine just had. Now we all have made it past that I find out that Andy’s bike will not start. I look for my flashlight which of course is dead and I have no extra batteries. We rob 
Andy’s camera of the batteries and we now have light. We then decide that David and I will continue on to catch up with the others and I will come back for the other two so they do not have to ride out alone. A few miles later we catch up with the rest of the group and it is now 7pm. We come to the conclusion that they will all go back to the hotel and I will go back to be with the other two. Just as we were separated Andy and Darryl come along. I guess his ignition got some water in it and it just needed some drying out. Now we are all one group again so we ride back to the hotel arriving at 8:30.Sorry for the long post as I am sure it is a boring read. I know I have not been able to convey a lot of the things that happened but it was still one of the more exciting days.
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