Jim's Dreams Shattered

11/03/2004

I would say that were a good idea to get a bike and get going south. The only thing is to check on the weather down there during the next few months or how long you think it will take. I ran into some serious rain and it sucked then. I reckon 3 months is a minimum to make er to panama and not feel like a road warrior.

Assuming yer going so far, it will be easier for you to sell er in panama and buy er new in south america. you still cannot drive the darian gap. The other issue is the import and cargo fees which i hear are pretty hefty.

I recommend still a Honda for reliability and finding parts and easy resale. With a nice moto there is an opportunity to make some dough. If you got something bigger then a 250 then you can make a bit on the sale down south cause bigger bikes are rare. They consider a 450 like a harley. But ofcourse then parts will be harder to find and you may get unwanted looks. I guess it depends on what you want. You will not have trouble selling any bike though, so prolly yer best bet is an XL 200 in good condition. A bit choppy for the trip to the border but more then enough once you cross it. I recommend Pirelli MT 40 tires front and back and pirelli motorcross MX tubes. Dont forget the spares and the foot pump. And tape er up good to look like shit. Duck tape dont come off easy.

As far as the trip itself goes, i really enjoyed the pacific coast.

Today I tore the whole engine apart. And somehow luckily found all the parts i need. New timing chain and piston rings, gaskets, valve seals... Problem is they gotta re thread the spark plug hole which got stripped. Should be ready in a couple days assuming all goes well. And hopefully then i will have a bit more push too.

> the bahamas trip has fallen through.  mr. jones' mother has taken
> gravely
> ill and so he had to bail.  so i'm thinking now of heading directly
> south
> through central america.  might even get a bike here, in that case.
> any
> thoughts on that idea?

> sorry to hear that you're bogged down at the moment.  you'll get
> going
> again soon, i'm sure.

>> passage to africa.. would be really cool...  count me in if yer in
>> need of "rail weight" or someone to jig the sheets"...

>> well this canadian burnt my clutch and i waited 3 days for a new
>> one
>> to arrive and ofcourse paid like 4x on it and then a day further
>> into the yungas the whole damn bike started overheating (suspect
>> it
>> got something to do with the other) and i go like 5 minutes and
>> gotta wait 20 for the engine to cool. and so i got tired of that
>> and
>> found a lift back to la paz to crack er open and take a closer
>> look...

>> make sure you buy a Honda... and in good condition... and add
>> clutch
>> plates to your list of spares.  and before you even leave town on
>> your first trip cough down the $100 to have the timing chain and
>> piston rings changed just to be sure... and watch them do it.

>> sometimes in travel you feel like your going nowhere...

>>>> one month should see me leaving bolivia and heading strong south
>>>> from santiago to reach the tierra del fuego in time for @the
>>>> season@
>>>> *december thru februarz(  damnit! went from a peruvian keyboard
>>>> to
>>>> this backwards german one. but atleast i can easily type words
>>>> like
>>>> straße and bürächö.

>>> my goal is to make it down there to do a month-long mountainbike
>>> or
>>> hiking trek along the dirt-road pan-am highway south from puerto
>>> montt.  also check out river rafting possibilities.  my outdoor
>>> buds
>>> up here want to know the scoop.  also my friend ken miller is
>>> starting
>>> a new travel adventure company in peru.  i'm setting up his site
>>> today.

>>>> zeah i checked out zer site... i like the pocket updates but got
>>>> confused trzing to read them upside down. i mean from the bottom
>>>> of
>>>> the page up. flip er straight.

>>> yeah, i got work to do.  luckily i was able to download putty
>>> onto
>>> this
>>> library computer in coolidge, arizona, while my dad is over at
>>> the
>>> realty office.  workin' the bugs out of my travel system.

>>>> damn i am crazy jealous of zer month aboard the uss jones.  that
>>>> is
>>>> something i alwazs wanted to do...  bring er a few scuba tanks
>>>> and
>>>> grab some bugs along the waz. reckon zoull be good tired of
>>>> seafood...

>>> yeah, he's talked about doing the trip before but this time it
>>> looks
>>> like it will work out, imshallah.  i'm gonna learn all i can
>>> about
>>> crewing for longer sail trips, and try to get hooked up in the
>>> network
>>> of caribbean boaters.  maybe i can score us passage to africa...

>>> --
>>> jim wiggins (on the road)

>> -Daryl (www.GroovyDomain.com)

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