Pa to Panama on two wheels: Pounding out the miles

FINALLY GOT ALL THE PICS UP LOADED

Ok so its been awhile since I posted, I’ll try and think back about what we have done.

our view from the YWAM base

our bunks

Nate on the "beach"

So after Gustavas we road 320 miles to a YWAM base in Masaland. We hung out in their pool, and walked down to the beach. Ok funny story. While down on the beach, well it wasn’t really a beach so much as lots of rocks that we were climbing on while the waves crashed around. We were hopping around each to his own (it was dusk and we couldn’t see real far with any certainty) and there was a huge wave that crashed on some rocks.

As fate would have it Laban was standing on that particular rock seeing if he could feel the mist from the waves. He came walking up to us completely drenched from head to toes, dripping everywhere, fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and his leather riding boots. We all laughed a lot.

cocking some dinner on our stoves at Carlos and Bonnies

The next day we headed towards a ranch that we didn’t know where it was, and it was owned by people we didn’t know. Dwayne had met Scott Noland (I think that’s right) who said he had a ranch in some small town and that if we wanted to stop in on our way through that we could. He said just ask people in town where the ranch was, so we did. And after a driving past it TWICE we found a small road that headed across a rushing creek. Our first water crossing. Now I wasn’t really excited about this, the creek was maybe 50 feet wide one foot deep of rushing water. There was concrete on the bottom for us to ride on but it was slippery. We found out later that the creek was very low and that it gets very high when it rains. (over 6 feet high) and that the owners mother was once stuck there for 3 weeks waiting for the creek to go down. Anyway we found the house and Bonnie and Carlos were in the front yard. Scott wasn’t there but Bonnie was his sister and they said we could put up our tents or they had a few beds for us with a place for us to park our bikes under a roof. There were four beds so I put up my hammock between two poles and woke up to the sound of rain pattering on the tin roof. All I could think of was that the creek was going to go up and we didn’t have much food left. And I dreamt that the creek flooded. Well the creek didn’t go up and we got out without too much drama. But a special thanks to Bonnie and Carlos for letting us crash on their ranch. Carlos even gave us some good tips on the route for the day.

Now I know Dwayne said about the speed bumps already but I want to try and give a picture of what its like driving in mexico. Well first the speed bumps are everywhere, some small some big and some would even be classified as mountains in Kansas. No lie some are over a foot high and sometimes wide enough that the front and back tires are both on the “bump” at the same time.

spider eggs that i woke up with on my hammock netting, they were as big around as a silver dollor

we followed a military truck with about a dozen armed guys, so we figured we wouldn't have any road blocks to deal with :-)

we had a few military check points, some just wanted to see our documents, this one had drug sniffing dogs. but we were clear

And its not just the size either, it’s the sheer quantity that is border line over whelming! We average almost one bump every mile some days, and when you ride for 40 miles without a bump then that means that they are everywhere in the towns. According to my rough estimates we could ht anywhere from six to ten thousand speed bumps till we get back to the states! The bumps can be fun at times but they tend to get old after a dozen in a row and I’m sure the bikes are less then impressed with them. Also not all of the bumps are marked or painted so once in a while we hit one doing about 50 which always keeps things lively.

Ok so we have speed bumps, rough roads, pedestrians, dogs, and road workers to dodge, and because that’s not enough it would seem the place to leave your donkeys is along the side of the road where the grass in green. You never quite know when you are going to round a corner and have one standing there or just have one pop out of the tall grasses along the side of the road.

I led for the day and we covered 350 hard fought miles, we had lots of towns, and lots of twisties too. Both of which slow you down and also force you to stay super alert. And for the leader it’s more intense because he is responsible getting around the cars then making sure that the rest of the crew knows if it is clear to pass or not, along with blazing through completely unknown corners without knowing what is just around the corner. As the sun set over the water we rolled into the hotel for the night. And I was very ready to be done riding for the day. I enjoyed it but I was exhausted. This was our third day in a row of more then 300 miles or about 7-9 hours of riding a day with usually one gas stop, and some days a quick food stop at a taco stand.