Up Date Leg 18

My flight back to the USA is on the 2nd of May, Pie went early and is already in Denver where him, dog and Tex left their bikes when they finished Leg 17 a few days earlier than the rest of us as they were “too afraid of the heat in Houston mid summer,” how precious, so now these three bikes still need to be ridden down to Houston from where we will all depart, but only on the 7th as there is an un-known amount of admin awaiting us in Houston at the Department of Motor Vehicles as the bikes were out of Texas for 5 years and their Annual Licenses could not be renewed as they need to be inspected every year, like a Roadworthy Test before the License can be renewed. I also have extra admin at the DMV as I lost my bike’s Title (we call it Registration Papers,) when we were in Alaska, lekker man, lekker.

But the guys are nervous, we have heard a lot about the drug cartels in Mexico (and the only thing I know about Nicaragua and Honduras is what I saw in War Movies. Leg 18 will go through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and then we will store the bikes in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.

I tired to get us a Professional Motorbike Touring Company to take us on a Tour through Mexico, but the guy also owned a Restaurant and could not take off as it was Mothers day, another company’s quote made my eyes water and I had to tell him we can’t afford his price, he will have to wait a bit longer before he can retire, sorry for him. But luckily Tex had a contact in Mexico and now him and another3 local Mexican Bikers will ride with us, they planned an amazing route for us, they will teach us their culture and food and act as translators as well. It looks like we might get one or two of them to ride with us all the way and not just up to the Guatemala Border.  These guys are professionals and one even has a PHD in some fancy Engineering Field, to do with A.I. (if I understand his Face Book Profile correctly, I will definitely ask him when I meet him on the 7th of May.)

I have not yet started packing as I am still in Hermanus on Holiday, so I feel a little under pressure to get home next week. But I do love Hermanus, I can ride around in Little Jerri and enjoy the beauty of this Village called Hermanus, we are having such great Beach Weather, with beautiful sun-sets, and now that Easter Weekend is over, we can walk into any restaurant for a meal, or explore the Hemel & Aarde Valley to taste wine at one of the many winer farms, what a life I LIVE, so blessed.

But with all the arrangements for Leg 18 now sorted, I am busy with the research for Leg 19, which will also be challenging as the road (Pan American Highway) stops in Panama, there is a section between Panama and Colombia called the Darien Gap which is Rain Forest and there are no road through. So most travellers put their cars on a Container ship, but that takes a very long time. Smaller motorbikes can be loaded onto a Sail Boat and then you island-hop for 6 days, but the option we will probably take is to crate the bikes and fly them from Panama City to Bogota Colombia, it takes three days in total as there is one day of paperwork before and after the flight. So both trips this year are going to be tuff, but oh boy, I can’t wait for next year as then we will have a much safer and easier run down to the Souther Tip of South America, probably another 4 legs after the two difficult trips this year. And then, Australia, but I think I will then switch to a 4×4 and get new friends, surely one can trade-in your friends after 4,5 Continents for new friends. We have also not completed the entire Africa and will in future attempt the section from Lake Malawi to Egypt, if I am spared and live that long.

I know my riding buddies will be upset with my photos I posted above as it is a Motor Cycle Touring Blog, and now I POST FLOWERS !!!! But they never read my Blog in any-case, plus, it is my Blog, and what they forget is that I have to test my new Apple Computer, ( I battled a lot on previous trips to load the photos from my camera onto my old Lap-top, then I stopped using the small Canon and just used the photos from my I-Phone, but on some nights the photos would just not load from the phone to the lap-top, even when I used a cable, but now dear friends I AM CUTTING EDGE as my photos appear on my Mac Book even before I have had time to Sync them, it happens automatically, LOVELY. Plus the software on the the actual blog has been up-dated and I needed to make sure everything is working before I find myself, like a few times in the past, trying to do a Post and nothing is working properly. but it seems things are working fine.

There are a lot of boxes I have to tick to make sure my posts are showen and saved at the correct place on the Website, but also where it is filed, like this post must firstly go to Current Trip, but it is also the 1st post that goes under Central America and also falls under Leg 18, so may my friends not forget that I am not just I little pretty face, I am so much more, LOL.

Excited and nervous

Fleisch