Sunday, October 30, 2011

INTO THE MEXICO



My wonderful cousin Jenny and her
two dogs, Nelly and Mr. Wilson

Saturday morning at the crack of 11:30 we pulled out of cousin Jenny’s on our way to the world famous Alice’s Restaurant to meet up with my buddy, and fellow Cobra, Rick Farren. After lunch we road down to the coast South of Half Moon Bay and began Ricks
Moto Tours. This included a blue bird ride down the coast followed by a town tour, even riding by the famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk, stopping in on his local KTM dealer. He introduced us to the owner Tom who knows KTM640’s inside and out. So I took advantage and asked him to listen to Max’s bike and he confirmed the engines always sound as though they are just about to come apart. Dinner and Lodging at the Farrenmont (Rick and Pam’s house) hosted by the owners Rick and Pam. Thanks, awesome dinner, drinks and sleeping quarters not to mention the steak and egg breakfast the following morning. The highlight of course was visiting with Ricks Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob is the oldest member of the Cobra MC and quite possibly in the best shape. He is keen on traveling and was one of the few people who followed my last blog, Jimi’s Great Northern Journey. He even went as far as getting all the maps and marking my route, putting them together with a printed version of my blog and giving it all to me. I probably would not have read my own blog if he hadn’t done that.



In the previous post I half jokingly said “hell maybe tomorrow we’ll even make it half way to San Diego”.  We didn’t.
Sunday morning at the crack of 11:30 (sound familiar?) we hit the road with Rick as tour master again. We rode south through Carmel and along the coast on 1. Another blue bird day! At the Bixby Bridge we detoured up a dirt road that started with a sign reading “Impassable when raining”. Good test for the overloaded GS and the yet to be tested John Briner. Both came though with flying colors! Thanks and goodbye to Rick, who turned around and headed home, and we continued riding on down the prettiest coast ride in the world. Stopped for a couple of tamales and once more to view a shitload of sea lions and decided it was getting too late to camp. Max found a hostel on line. For $80 a night! We ended up with a hotel I got on priceline save a bundle; it was only $75 a night. Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and down for a good nights sleep.

Monday morning we actually got on the road around 8:30. Road down Hwy 1 past Santa Barbara, through Ventura, Malibu, Huntington Beach etc. etc. and arrived in Encinitas around 5:00. We are staying with a friend of Johns named Shasheen, one block from the beach. An awesome host. We have totally taken over his 600 sf house. Shaaheen turned his house and refrigerator full of beer to us not to mention the party favors! We downed a couple of beers and went out to dinner on, you guessed it, Shasheen. A great walk back on the beach, some wine and to bed.

Tuesday was moto maintenance day. I road down to San Diego and had my knobbies put on and also a stripped bolt replaced for my shift lever. Great experience with San Diego BMW. The got me in when promised and out in a hurry. Not a common experience when on the rode. Example: A number of years ago I made an appointment (3 months in advance!) to have my bike serviced at the Motorcycle Shop in Anchorage. I arrived before they opened but somehow became third in line. It took them another day before even getting the bike in. When you’re on the road that’s sucks! I know Logan would say “get over it Jimi!” Meanwhile back at the ranch the other two was doing their chores. Briner getting his hair cut and Max finding a coffee shop. Of course they still had their tires to change, which they managed to do just before the darkness fall upon the city. Dinner that night was on me so on the recommendation of the neighbors we went to Captain Keno. This place is a trip. The best way to describe it is picture a dive bar built in the early 60’s complete with nogahide booths, a bar and a grill except it all was cherry! We all had the meatloaf dinner, which included salad, mashed potatoes and meatloaf at a total cost of $18.50. That’s right I gave them a 20 and got back change for 4 people! My Bay Area friends would recognize it as a Bertila’s but cleaner. Back on the beach and was about to call it an early night when two friends of Shasheen’s showed up. It was Isabela’s birthday so we had to toast that and a number of other not so memorable events. Erica, her friend, was a yoga and massage therapist and was showing her skills on Max. Next was my turn and worked on trying to get my stick body to bend. She finally gave up and gave me what I’d call a light Thai massage (not to worry Charlotte, no happy ending). It did feel great and I was sore in both the mind and body the next morning.

Wednesday

By the time we cleaned the house, packed the bikes and sorted our heads out and found coffee it was pert near noon before leaving. Max needed riding shorts and John needed an ATM so add another 30 minutes. I wanted a pair of reading glasses so we split up and I went for the specs. After looking for max and John all over town (they were in the basement parking of the store I was in) we’ll add another 30 minutes. So by 1:00 we’re headed for the border. Out of 100 cars we were signaled out for a search. At least the customs women were cute. I think they pulled us over cuz they thought Max was hot.
Things went so smooth I completely forgot to go inside and get our visa and importation papers. The next few minutes were a blur. Max leading (he’s been there before) He hesitated at the correct turn, which started a chain reaction resulting in John running into the rear of my bike! No harm no foul. We ended up getting spit out in Tijuana so The GPS came into play. Unfortunately Dufas 3 (my GPS) missed a turn and we ended up back in the city. This time I immediately realized the mistake and was able to turn off on a mid road to make a u turn at the same time a policia car was on my ass hitting the siren a blasting me with unintelligible Spanish. John being on the backside of them decided it best to continue and not try to make the turn. Max and I backed up and began the chase! He was parked at the next turn around and I pull up. Max missed it and continued looking for the next one. There wasn’t one and John and I waited of 5 minutes thinking he couldn’t have gotten lost could he? Turns out he eventually just hopped over the medium divider and we are on our way. On the toll road. Turns out the toll was about 8 bucks to Ensenada and well worth it. Our brains were fried by that time. We found an affordable hotel for the night and hung out.

Thursday
Up early to be the first in line at the immigration office. Got our visitors visas and was told that is all we would need (not too sure about the now but we’ll find out when we get to La Paz). Spent sometime looking for a restaurant not in the tourist zone. No luck so we eat where all the other gringos eat. Ensenada is pretty well set up exclusively for us gringos, the port area anyway. After searching the city for some cinch straps we spend a half hour just getting out of the city. I think this will be the norm for the trip. The ride east on hwy 3 was great. Up and down mountain passes with very little traffic. We found the turn off to Mike’s Sky Ranch without any trouble and rode the 24 miles to the ranch. Before going into the trials and tribulations of getting there a little history….
Mike’s is a haven for off road enthusiasts and a Mecca for off road motorcycles. It was started as a weekend get a way for California exec’s and their secretaries for weekend rendezvous. They had a airstrip nearby where the fat cats could fly into without any worry of getting caught/. Sometime in the 60’s the off road crowd found it and it has become a destination for them. It’s nestled in a small valley in the mountains and has a pool, bar and restaurant. But getting there on an 800# motorcycle is another story. The road in is, of course, dirt and sand. The dirt is fine but the sand is a bitch! In Mongolia they called this sand “slick sand” for obvious reasons. When it gets deeper than a couple of inches (2/3 of the road is this way) the front end of the bike gets a mind of it’s own and tends to want to go right of left, not straight. At first I thought going fast was the best way but after a number of near crashes and Max going down we slowed the pace to 1st and 2nd gear. This worked well in the lighter sand but then we hit the deep stuff. 1st gear while feathering the clutch seemed to work. That is until I forgot to put the clutch in and the mother ship was down! John plodding along behind us was the only one to make it to Mikes without falling. There walks a man, a Man made of anvil granite! A beer has never tasted so good (except maybe in Mongolia) as it did when we arrived. An awesome steak dinner and in bed early.

Friday Mikes Sky Ranch
A breakfast then a hike.  Worked on the POS KTM. Air filter, jetting, and new plug, running too rich. Seemed to have made a difference. We’ll see tomorrow, we’ll have 24 miles of 1st and 2nd gear to try it out. Finally time to catch up on the blog! We were promised the bar would  Great Pollio dinner with a couple living in Spain and his brother from Calistoga.  Early to bed, lights go out at 10.

Saturday
They shortened the road back to the highway! I swear it’s was miles shorter going out even though it was the same road. Must be we are all getting used to riding in 1st and 2nd gear. Max’s bike is running much better since we changed to a leaner main jet. I road it out the last 1/3 of the road to the highway and man is it fun! After slogging through the sand on the GS it felt as though I was riding a dirt bike. It also did wonders for my confidence. The ride East to San Felipe was through mountains and valleys, very pretty.
San Felipe itself is nothing to write home about (then why are you writing home about it?). Kind of a dirty town with beaches lined with gringo pads. Lots of potential development. Square miles of graded land with streets leading to nowhere. The ride down the coast to Gonzaga Bay once out of the San Felipe area was spectacular!  On the map it showed it as a dirt road but 2/3’s of it turned out to be new pavement. Of course the last 1/3 was washboard and sand. Arrived at Gonzaga Bay around 5 and went straight for the “Resort”. Not too much here but the did have a cold beer waiting for us. After talking it up with some other tourista’s it was decided to find a campsite and cook dinner. We were told of some plapas down the beach so we headed out while the sun was setting. We turned off the road where we thought the campsites were. I went first, then Max, then Briner. After about 50 meters I bogged downed and buried my bike to the panniers, Max fell over and John comes walking up and I think he made the right choice and didn’t follow. Not! He went down at the start! After pulling all my gear off we managed to move my bike to safer ground. Now it’s dark but we managed a pretty good dinner, rice veggies and Pad Thai. Set up the tents and went to bed.

Sunday
An early morning walk on the beach at sunrise. I thought about a dip in the gulf but after spotting two sharks out there the day before and also seeing all the feeder fish jumping for their lives I decided against it. Back at camp John and Max cooked up a delicious pot of oatmeal and apples. Being the self appointed tour master I appointed them the official cooks for the trip and myself as chief bottle washer. While taking down camp Max found a scorpion under his jacket. Shit one more thing to worry about! If I remember right it’s the small one’s that will kill you and this one was big so no worries, right? We all made it back to the road without incident and rode toward the Pacific. 40 more mile of loose gravel and sand. Much more of this and I’ll be trading my GS in for a 250 or something.
Anyway the highlight of this portion of the ride was coming upon Coco’s corner, made famous in the movie “ON Any Sunday” and “Dust to Glory”. This guy Coco has been out there, literally in the middle of the desert, for years. His place is a dive in the 1st degree but is so unique I hesitate to call it that. The entire compound is fenced with a 6 foot high fence made of wire and beer cans that whistle and chine in the wind. He also has 100’s of signed panties and tee shirts handing from the palapa. He sleeps out in the open palapa and doesn’t even make his bed! It is a must stop for any off road riders down there because of his notoriety and he also sells gas out of 55 gallon drums. Did I mention he has no legs? He gets by with thick leather cups on his stumps and kind of crawls around or while visiting with folks, a wheelchair fits the bill. At this point I trade Max bikes for the rest of the ride to the highway. Wow! This is actually fun! Unfortunately I feel obligated to let him ride the GS a ways on the paved highway. After a few miles my hands are numb from the vibration and my butt is sore. We arrive in San Ignacio at dark and find a hotel with secure parking for the bikes. Ummm margarita! Dinner, watch some women boxing and I’m out for the count!




While working on our bikes at cousin Jenny's two complete strangers (who also ride) walked up  and asked about our trip. After a few minutes offered to take us sailing on the Bay. I hesitated and Max jumped all over it. Thanks Steve and Tom! 


Uncle Bob at Rick's. Bob is the senior member of the Cobras MC


Changing to knobbie tires in Encinitas. Sorry about the mess Shahsheen!


 Let's get healthy. Breakfast in Encinadas.

GS + Sand = Work!  On the road to Mike's Sky Ranch

At Mike's, a very bike friendly place

Mike's Sky Ranch

John goes down avoiding a Military vehicle


 Coco's

Coco's Corner

 Dug in at Gonzaga Bay

Friday, October 21, 2011

LET THE FUN BEGIN
FRIDAY OCTOBER 21st

Well the trip officially begins today! After spending years of thinking about it, months of planning and days of drinking we are finally on our way (I hope as I'm sitting here waiting for Max and John to get here for our early 11:00 departure). I've just spent 4 days here in the Bay Area shopping, packing and repacking and visiting friends and family. 4 days I figure is about the maximum amount of time I should spend at my cousin Jenny's house. Any longer I'd be afraid I'd no longer be welcomed. Plus I've finish off all the gin in the house and there is not much beer left. Not to mention the two earthquakes we had yesterday. I do not want to be anywhere near this place when the big one hits!

Day 1- We meet Rick Farren at Alices Restuarant South of SF
Rick wisely parked his bike well away from ours

Today we hope to make Santa Cruz via Alice's Restaurant. I know! Your saying "they will never get to South America at this pace" but hey you've got to start with baby steps. Hell, maybe tomorrow we will even make it half way to San Diego!
Thanks for all the well wishes and I promise to start including more pictures to make this Blog a little more interesting.

CATCHING UP ON SOME PICTURES

Dharma Don leaving Skagway

My buddy Oceanius. Friends Steve and Sara's son who I stayed with on Widbey Island

My friend Russ who road with me from Widby to Weaverville Ca.

GS in front of Platina Store in Northern California
Goodbye Jim and Lenny 
A Russian Orthodox monastery in the hills above Platina



A Grizzled old Biker

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

THE BEGINNING





 OK let's get this blog on the road! Most all of you reading this will know by now I'm on
 my way to Ushuaia, Argentina from my home in Skagway, Alaska. My vehicle of choice 
is a 2004 BMW GS Adventure Motorcycle toting a shit load of stuff including tools, spare 
parts, camping equipment, clothes for at least two seasons, cameras and oh yea there is
 room for one liter of wine! I'm also sporting a Spot device from which you can follow my
 progress via the web at:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0mFoBjpvVUtRk7iK81NGJynQYEfuhL7js

Prepping KTM before leaving

Riding with me on this trip will be my adventurous son Max. What an opportunity for 
me to have a son that is willing to spent 7 months of his adult life with his controlling 
father! Also riding with me is John Briner, a friend of mine from Skagway, who was 
already planning a winter trip to Argentina but decided getting there via motorcycle
would add some adventure to his trip. Although he hasn't ridden a motorcycle in over 
30 years he bought a bike, a KLR650, riding gear and everything else he'll need for this trip 
and signed on! 



I began my trip September 8th riding from Skagway to Oakland California (somehow it 
seemed important that I ride from my house, down to the end of the world and back to
 my house). Not wanting to ride through rain, sleet and snow I decided to ride to California,
park my bike there and then fly back home to winterize our properties. I'm currently in
flying south to reunite with my bike. John and Max decided to ferry down from Skagway 
then ride down and meet me in Oakland.

Morning ride along Moncho
Lake, BC
   

Don Corwin trying to squeeze in one more thing
While leaving Skagway from the Smothie Shop


My ride south was somewhat uneventful. I road down the Alcan highway for the umpteenth 
time. My friend Dharma Don accompanied me as far as Laird Hot Springs on the 1st day and 
I was on my own after that. It rained cats and dogs the first night but the morning dawned 
sunny with patches of low fog making it a beautiful start of the day. Muncho Lake and Stone
Mountain were a joy, great scenery and animal viewing combined with smooth twisty roads 
made for careful but fun riding! Chetwynd for dinner. As I was eating a man walks in and
 asks me if that was my bike outside. Thinking he was an admirer I puffed up and said "yep 
that's mine". He then said "well it's laying on it's side". Bummer! Fortunately being in Canada 
I had lots of help getting it back upright. Seems someone hit it while backing out of their 
parking space. No harm no foul I finished eating and got back on the road. In hindsight I 
should have stayed the night there but I pushed on to Prince George. I ended up riding in
the dark, and I mean dark! The highlight of that portion of the ride was as I'm riding along 
envisioning moose, bears and deers lurking just beyond my headlights my mirrors light up!
Turing my head I'm treated with an amazing display of Northern Lights stretching from one 
horizon to the other! I guess it's kind of rare in that neck of the woods. Total miles for that 
day was 730! That's about 200 too many. 


The next day it was on to Hope, BC. A much easier ride highlighted by the Frazier Canyon.
I made it to Widbey Island on Sunday and spent the night with friends. Steve, Sara, Oceanius
(not sure about the spelling) and Ellis were great hosts. BBQ'd the thickest New Yorks 
I've seen. Yum.


I haven't mentioned the weather, probably cause it has been great. Ever since leaving 
Skagway, where it had been raining for three weeks straight, The skies have been blue and
the roads dry.


On Monday I hooked up with my friend Russ (from the old Jewell Construction days) and after
riding around the Olympic Peninsula found the perfect campground. Restaurant,dive bar and 
campground all within 100 yards of each other.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210918567354699193917.0004b74c44674e70c1d95&msa=0&ll=48.156009,-122.799683&spn=0.516697,1.229095
Tuesday broke camp and headed south on 101. Breakfast in Astoria (served by this lovely 
lady named Sherina who had spent time in South America building houses for Habitat for 
Humanity) but I degress..... Shortly after Astoria we tired of the coast and found some cool 
twisties out of Hobo. We then worked our way down to 199 to Cave Junction where we
entered Cobra Country. ( For the few of you who haven't heard of the Cobra MC they are a
motorcycle club I've belonged to since high school. Mostly guys I went to high school with we 
meet yearly and tear ass around Northern California and Southern Oregon occasionally veering 
off course and finding ourselves in the Alps or Colorado). From Cave Junction we road the 
familiar roads in the Trinity  Alps even passing the spot where I started to crash while in 
California and finally came to a stop in Oregon. Spent the night in Weaverville.
Note: We did not get to Weaverville but instead ended up in Rice Hill just off Hwy 5 south of
Cottage Grove, Oregon.


Cool digs in Rice Hill Or.


Wednesday  I parted company with Russ (he had to high tail it up to Medford to hook up with 
his hot new girlfriend). He was later going to meet up with the Cobras but I never saw him 
again. Must have been to intimidated or maybe just having more fun with his squeeze.


Thursday through the following Friday was spent with the Cobras riding most of the same roads
I had just come down on. The rest is as we say "what happens on a Cobra trip stays on a Cobra
trip".


Then it was back home in Skagway for three weeks tending to business winterizing our
properties for the winter and getting ready for phase two of my journey.









Cool digs in Rice Hill