Monday, January 30, 2012

Honduran Border Crossing

Day 16, 2012  San Salvador, El Salvador to Choluteca, Honduras

Gas: $19.25 US  El Salvador currency is US Dollars and they sell gasoline by the gallon!  It is over $4 per gallon
Miles: 187
Food:  We had an El Salvadoran buffet at an open air bakery cafe for $11.50 just outside of San Miguel and then in Choluteca we went to the Pizza Hutbfor pizza and Pepsi for $275 Honduran Limpira.  Damn that pizza was good.  The Pizza Hut was very modern and nice.  We had to hire a taxi to find a bank that would take MasterCard to get cash and we stopped at Pizza Hut, picked up pizza and brought it back to the hotel room.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Party, Rest, Air Show, Rest and Photos

January 29, 2012  Day 15
Miles from Huntington Beach, California to San Salvador, El Salvador: 3227

We are at Carlos' in San Salvador.  We arrived Friday afternoon with him escorting us from the Guatemalan border.  Since arriving here we have rested, enjoyed a late night surprise birthday party which included a mariachi band, rested, had the bikes washed, attended a fabulous airshow and now Carl and Carlos are down in the garage working on the bikes.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Acapulco traffic and hot

Day 9 January 23, 2012  Caleta de Campos to San Marcos, Guerrero
Miles ridden: 302
Gas $320
Meals: Breakfast was eggs, beans, chips and salsa and tortillas for $95; Dinner was a hamburger and hotdog and 2  coca colas for $61
Lodging:  Hotel Castillo $200 bare bones accommodations, no toilet seat, no air conditioning but they have wi-fi that works better at  the little diner next door than in our hot, sweltering room!

Twisties continue!

Day 8  January 22, 2012  El Tuito to Caleta de Campos

Miles ridden: 310
Gas:
Meals:  $120 chicken with coleslaw and rice  $70 for some kind of fish tacos (5) and  2 Pineapple juices. 
Lodging:  Hotel Real Campanario $400 pesos, parked bikes inside the lobby

We did get up and out the door earlier this morning but we were still an hour off because Carl’s watch was an hour behind the actual time.  Well, maybe tomorrow!  I know we are retired but we really need to make some miles now because the weather is going to change is South America.  If we want to cross the Andes before the snow flies, we need to get moving.

Today we rode highway 200 that goes along the west coast of Mexico.  There were miles and miles of twisty mountain roads.  Up and down the mountains we went.  The traffic was fairly light, tho.  We were both longing for a stretch of straight road that was more than 1/8th of a mile long.  It seemed like the longest straight stretches were bridges. Carl says that anybody who says they never get tired of twisties has never ridden the west coast of Mexico!

Today I seemed to have more day dreaming time than usual.  I got thinking about what is different about Mexico this trip than our last one in 2006.  The roads seem better, there are more Pemex gas stations and now they have added OXXO convenience stores at some of them.  The toilets are definitely cleaner and the only pay to pee I have encountered was in Cabo.  To me, it seems that there are more big American cars, SUV’s and pickups.  There seems to be more highway directional signs, highway 200 is well marked.  Granted we have the GPS maps telling us where to go but it seems like it would be easier to get around than before.  I suspect the economy in Mexico is better than 6 years ago.  We talked to 2 different young men that had worked in the US for several years and they both said, “the money is good in US but life is good in Mexico!”  I think they are right! What the same about Mexico?  The people are still friendly and helpful and full of good cheer!
Will need to post pictures when we have a faster connection. Internet south of the border does not seem quite as good. 

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Twisty roads all day!

Day 7 January 21, 2012  Tepic to El Tuito, Jalisco, Mexico
Miles ridden: 137, we must get an earlier start tomorrow!
Gas: $248 pesos                                                                           
Meals: Birria somewhere before Puerto Vallarta, Chicken here in El Tuito
Lodging: $300 pesos

Photos

Boulders and Cacti

Friday, January 20, 2012

Ferry to Mazatlan and beyond

Day  5  January 19, 2012   Todos Santos to Cabo San Lucas and then to La Paz to the Baja Ferry
Miles ridden  197 today, 1193 miles from Huntington Beach to Cabo San Lucas

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Long Beach, CA to Todos Santos, Baja California Sur

Good internet service tonight so getting the blog caught up.  We are still having fun and I think we will keep going!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Pick up is stored and now on two wheels

We dropped the pick up off at Norm Wilson and Sons Construction this morning.  Randy Wilson graciously is providing safe storage for the pickup while we are gone on our adventure.  Randy was out playing in the desert and we were not able to meet him but the other Randy and Colin were there to help us unload the motorcycles and store the pickup. 
The unloading crew, Randy, Colin and Carl

Did I mention that it is hot and sunny!

We are officially on two wheels! Now to pack the bikes when we get back to Araceli's.

Tomorrow is Dylan's 2nd birthday party.  Sunday we are planning on crossing the border at Tijuana. Kenya has a soccer game and would like us to stay for it.  We may if it is early enough in the day to get across the border and down the road a ways. 


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Pointed south!

We are pointed south and have made it as far as Beaver, Utah, approximately half way to Long Beach!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Go South, Have Fun!

We are about to embark on another once in a lifetime adventure.  We are going to ride our 2005 Kawasaki 650 KLR's from southern California to Ushuaia, Argentina.  As usual, we do not have many set plans.  Go south, have fun! are the only set in stone plans we have.  We will decide on the road whether we ride back or ship the bikes back or ship them to another continent. It will depend on whether or not we are having fun or not.