Update Day 15, 275 Miles

January 25, 2008

Today was an early start. The night before I had spoke with a few of the guys who were planning on riding to Guatemala and then returning to Panama and I decided to tag along with them. We met for breakfast at 7 am in the local town square where we reintroduced ourselves. The ring leader of the group was Paul on a KLR 650, a resident of Panama for the last 15 years, I think. He is a transplant from the States who at one time was in San Diego and a desert racer. Next up was Norm he is originally from England and has been in Costa Rica and Panama for the last 6 years or so and he is riding a Honda Valkyrie 1500. Norm´s bike will play a neat roll in the days to follow. Then there was David who is on a BMW 1200GS who has been living in Panama for the last year and a half. Last but not least is Ken from Missouri. He has flown down to buy a 92 BMW 100GS from Paul and Paul has agreed to give him a tour of Central America as part of the deal. And now there is me as the fifth wheel.

After getting acquainted for a bit it is time to ride. It is a nice 30 minute ride over the mountains to the ocean. This is the same road that we did last night but it is much better when you can see the surroundings. Once we regroup at the Pacific we break off into three groups because we are going on a dirt road and the dust is bad. First to go is Norm. We gave him a bit of a head start because he is riding a cruiser bike which weights in excess of 800 lbs. Next are Paul and me. We went together because we would be riding at a faster pace and then it was David and Ken. The road was crowded with cars and trucks so there was a lot of passing to do but Paul and I had a good time anyway. At the other end we had planned to meet up at the gas station which we thought everyone knew. As it turns out Ken never got the info. We waited at the gas station for an hour before Paul went to find him. Of course soon after Paul leaves Ken pulls up. He said he had ridden past where we were two other times before he saw us or we saw him. Shortly after Paul arrives and we are all together again.

Now that everyone is refreshed we go on. We make it about 2 miles and we come to a bridge we have to cross. It is small so we have to wait for traffic coming the other way to go first. We cross with no problems and move on. Another mile down the road David is slowing down. As I get close to him I see his rear tire it flat. It turns out he had something puncture his tire when crossing the bridge. Lucky for us, or planned for them, there is a tire repair shop 100 feet from where we stopped. 10 minutes and $2 later we are rolling again. We stop once for lunch and then we make it to the Nicaraguan border with plenty of daylight to make it to our destination for the day, or so one would think. We all get through with ease except for Norm. He is having problems exiting Costa Rica and has to wait until 6 pm for the shift change to get some paperwork filled out. $60 later and at 6:10 he is in Nicaragua and the border is getting ready to shut down for the evening. He makes it thorough at 6:50 with 10 minutes to spare but it is now well after dark, again. When leaving the border area you have to show your paperwork to another person before leaving. Paul has done this many times and has found out that there are many things they charge you for with no authority. He tells us this when we go past the last inspection because they want you to pay a $1 local tax and will be waiving at you to stop but then tells us to keep on going. Sure enough as soon as we cross they are waiving us down and running in the streets trying to block us but we keep on moving and saved ourselves a whole dollar! Another 30 minutes goes by and it is 7:45, we are now at The Hotel California in San Jorge Nicaragua. The hotel is owned by another former US resident by the name of Frank, a nice guy who just got tired of the rat race and is living a nice quiet life running a hotel. We also met two Canadian brothers who have been traveling for a few months named Andy and Darryl.

Update Day 12, 378 Miles

January 22, 2008

Today was not very exciting yet still a good day like they all have been so far. I left the hotel in La Cruz Costa Rica and headed south toward San Jose, the capital. The roads were straight and fast with a lot of wind. To take a quote from Seinfeld and to make it fit my situation, "The wind was angry this day my friends. Like an old man sending back soup at a deli". I have a lot of time on my hands so bear with me a little. I get into San Jose and the main highway runs straight through the center of town but on streets not on a freeway. I miss my turn so I pull over to check my map. Before I even get off my bike a car has pulled in behind me and the gentleman is approaching me. He asks in perfect English if I am lost and need help. I tell him I think I missed my turn a few hundred yards back and he confirms that I did. He then proceeds to tell me he will take me to a better route and to follow him. He goes, I assume out of his way, a few miles and then sends me on my way. It was not the best marked way but after asking a few more times I was out of San Jose and heading south again. Once out of San Jose the road starts to climb and climb. I would keep pulling over to take a picture of the altitude on the GPS thinking I was at the top but it kept going up. I was not able to see very far because I was in the cloud forest as I believe they are called. When I finally reached the top I was at 10,973 ft and a cool 43 degrees. At the very top there was some construction which held up traffic. I cruise to the front of the line and when they let us proceed I am the first one and have a clear road all the way to the bottom to have my way with. Needless to say I had fun.

As I am nearing the border of Panama it is close to dark so I decide it is time to find a place to sleep instead of trying to cross the border. I see a sign for The Rain Forest Hotel and it says it is 7km off the road. I follow the dirt road down and go a little bit faster than I should because it is just more fun that way. I finally reach the hotel and ask how much for a room. He tells me $135 and I politely tell him no thank you. I think it turned out for the best anyway. As I was walking back to the bike I hear what an actual rain forest sounds like and there is no way I would have fallen asleep with all that damn racket! Now it is back to the road but now I need to go a little bit faster because it is getting darker. I make it to the next town and find a hotel. I get the room with air conditioning for $18 and it is a nice room. I go back to the bike to unload it and before I even get one bag off a guy walks up and asks if he can give me a beer if I will tell him about my trip. So the next 4 or 5 hours are spent with my new best friend in the world, his wife and a bunch of their beer. They are from Canada and flew in a few days earlier and are touring around for two weeks. It was a nice end to another good day.

Update Day 6, Part 2

January 16, 2008

After finishing my updates Mike and I walked around a little bit and then decided to have dinner. While we were ordering we met a couple that we had met earlier in the day. When we arrived at the ruins we saw another motorcycle in the lot. As we were getting ready to leave the man and woman returned and we struck up a conversation. Turns out that Ian and Carolyn are from New South Whales Australia and have been traveling since early August. They started by shipping their bike to Seattle and rode up to Alaska taking almost the same route I did last year. Since then they have been slowly working their way South and will end the trip a little bit early in Panama next month. They did have plans for Tierra Del Fuego at the tip of Argentina but have run out of time. The worst part is they had been in the rain almost the entire time. Anyway we had a nice dinner with them, exchanged info and went our separate ways.

The Machine

This was post was written by David and includes pictures from Mike.

Mike has a new 2007 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure to accompany him on his journey. He picked the bike up on January 2 and has been getting it prepared for the trip, including busting out a quick 600 miles for the first service.

For those of you not familiar with the bike, here’s some information from the BMW Motorcycles web site.

Globe conquering ambition comes standard
Twenty-six pounds lighter than the R 1150 GS Adventure and boasting 100 bhp, the R 1200 GS Adventure sets an unreachable standard for a world-touring enduro. Add a taller windshield, adjustable seat, extra wide footpegs, rugged 8.7 gallon tank and engine guards, and optional ABS, and you get a bike that will take you to the ends of the earth. Too bad there are only seven continents.

Dimensions
Overall Length: 88.6 inches
Overall Width: 37.6 inches
Wheelbase: 59.5 inches
Seat height: 35.2 inches
Weight – Dry: 492 lbs.
Max permissible weight: 1025 lbs.
Fuel Capacity: 8.7 U.S. gallons including 1 gallon reserve

The Journey Begins

As some of you already know I am planning a motorcycle trip to Panama. I am going to be leaving sometime in the next week or so and returning in 5 or 6 weeks after departure. My old (2005 BMW R1200GS) has been having transmission and final drive issues so I have decided to leave it at home and get a new bike. I am going to be picking up my new 2007 BMW R1200GS Adveture today. Once I get it home I have a lot of work to get it ready for the trip.