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the Kamloops "motorcycle riding fools" south american adventure
- Thread starter 04klr
- Start date
Ann Vandrick
New member
Hi Guys - I figured you’ve all been working so hard on your adventures that it was time for a good old chuckle…
“As good as this bar is," said the Scotsman, "I still prefer the pubs back home. In Glasgow , there's a wee place called McTavish's. The landlord goes out of his way for the locals. When you buy four drinks, he'll buy the fifth drink."
"Well, Angus," said the Englishman, "At my local in London , the Red Lion, the barman will buy you your third drink after you buy the first two."
"Ahhh, dat's nothin'," said the Irishman, "back home in Cork at my favourite pub, the moment you set foot in the place, they'll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like. Then, when you've had enough drinks, they'll take you upstairs and see dat you gets laid, all on the house!"
The Englishman and Scotsman were suspicious of these claims. The Irishman swore every word was true, but they asked, "Did this actually happen to you?"
"Not meself, personally, no," admitted the Irishman, "but it did happen to me sister quite a few times.”
“As good as this bar is," said the Scotsman, "I still prefer the pubs back home. In Glasgow , there's a wee place called McTavish's. The landlord goes out of his way for the locals. When you buy four drinks, he'll buy the fifth drink."
"Well, Angus," said the Englishman, "At my local in London , the Red Lion, the barman will buy you your third drink after you buy the first two."
"Ahhh, dat's nothin'," said the Irishman, "back home in Cork at my favourite pub, the moment you set foot in the place, they'll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like. Then, when you've had enough drinks, they'll take you upstairs and see dat you gets laid, all on the house!"
The Englishman and Scotsman were suspicious of these claims. The Irishman swore every word was true, but they asked, "Did this actually happen to you?"
"Not meself, personally, no," admitted the Irishman, "but it did happen to me sister quite a few times.”
Well, Guys....
I am off to Mexico in 4 days to spend 2 weeks looking for Roads of Death on rental KLR. I hope it has brakes and tires.....and a stock shock.
I will occasionally pretend I am riding with you guys (battling Wayne for the "sweep" position...) and will be trying to catch up despite mud, rain, crooked cops, bad food, swollen rivers, and the usual forms of entertainment that you guys are taking for granted by now.....yeehawwww....
Chile seems like a country with a lot of variety re: topography....perhaps a bit of beach-time?
Floyd....hope your shoulder is not as sore...
And that the rest of you are healthy....happy....and having fun...
No snow this past week...Reid has apparently been ripping up the slopes between straightening out fenders...and trying to keep up with Bryce.
Murray took Cathy to San Jose del Cabo for a holiday...Poor Cathy.....spending a week or two w/ El Mur in "Bikeless Baja" is worse than being waterboarded: not only is he up and ready to roll at 4:00 AM, he doesn't have anything to ride........you know how much he like his whine....I am sure his cup will be full...."Whaaaaa.....I wanna ride...."
So, things could be worse than eating somebody's pet guinea pig for supper, eh ?!
I am off to Mexico in 4 days to spend 2 weeks looking for Roads of Death on rental KLR. I hope it has brakes and tires.....and a stock shock.
I will occasionally pretend I am riding with you guys (battling Wayne for the "sweep" position...
) and will be trying to catch up despite mud, rain, crooked cops, bad food, swollen rivers, and the usual forms of entertainment that you guys are taking for granted by now.....yeehawwww....Chile seems like a country with a lot of variety re: topography....perhaps a bit of beach-time?
Floyd....hope your shoulder is not as sore...
And that the rest of you are healthy....happy....and having fun...
No snow this past week...Reid has apparently been ripping up the slopes between straightening out fenders...and trying to keep up with Bryce.
Murray took Cathy to San Jose del Cabo for a holiday...Poor Cathy.....spending a week or two w/ El Mur in "Bikeless Baja" is worse than being waterboarded: not only is he up and ready to roll at 4:00 AM, he doesn't have anything to ride........you know how much he like his whine....I am sure his cup will be full...."Whaaaaa.....I wanna ride...."
So, things could be worse than eating somebody's pet guinea pig for supper, eh ?!
Well we,re in a town called la serena in chile , in equador things were ridiculously cheap and in chile there ridiculously exspensive. Going back about 5 or 6 days we were in a town in bolivia which the name of i can,t remember,anyway we thought we would fill up the tanks there. Now remember in bdlivia turist pay three times the rate and have to go to special stations . Well it turns out there is no special stations in this town , thats right they refuse to sell us gas and there is no other stations within 200 kilos and we are out of gas! Wtf. At one station we meet a dude on a bike , he can,t speak english but we manage to fill him in on our situation. He leads us to another station and tells us not to speak he;ll do the talking , well that didn't work now what, i ask him if he has a gas can at home and he does , so we follow him and his buddy doubling on their 125 moto home. We get their and exchange names , victor turns out is aa moto mecanico and works and lives along with numerous other people out of the family home, now to us in canada you would not set foot in tjis place but this is the norm here, there is a rusty 6 foot steal sheeted fence with a makeshift lockable gate around the yard and all the neighbours have similar yards. Inside there is junk and junking motos everyware, dogs and the nasties that go along with alot of dogs. We meet mum and she goes out of her way to make us fell at home bringing out chairs and pop for us. The house is a pieced together borderline brick and wood shack .i offer victor some money to get the gas but for some reason he does't take it and we aren't comunicating that well { spanish isn't that good when i'm tired lol} 20 minutes go bye and we start thinking its a setup they got us in a trap, no it wasn,t turns out they were waiting for buddy with a car. Buddy finally shows up and off they go for gas. Another 20 minutes and they return with 20 liters enough to fill 2 bikes , so we figure they got to go back for more oh boy this is starting to tke a long time but thats the way it is, we notice they have the hood up on the car down the road aways and there is more and more people around us all the time , there all coming to see the gringos and their bikes. Mark finally walks over to the car to see whats going on , well it turns out their pumping gas out of it through a 1/4 inch line to fill the can again , this takes what seems forever and it has to be done a couple times. Finally the bikes are full 2 and a half hours later ! Ok , so i ask victor if i gave him enough money and he hands half it back to me, i say no way you keep that and we're giving you more, but hes refusing. All they want for their trouble is the whole family and half the neighbourhood have picture with thiers and our cameras of them and us posing by the bikes.it was quite a scence and thank god for people like this, they know what their goverment is doing isn,t right and they really went out of thier way to help us out. Thank you victor , family and freinds
Ok we had some long and crazy border crossings on this trip but none like bolivia into argentina. We thought we would get a hotel right at the border so we could grt up early and get across and put some kilos behind us . Got to the border and went through the usual crap of getting the bikes parked in the right spot .getting stamped out of bolivia went resonably smooth and clearing the bikes went good to , now for the argentina border. There was a tour bus ahead of us so there was a huge line up for imagracions, after some time one of the " helpfull " imigracion officers finally showed us the short line for people on bikes and in cars . Ok yhis is better , i get to the window and the guy behind the desk says "canadiense " then starts blabbering in spanish and hands me a peice of paper with a web site and some english print that says canadians , americians and australians must pay to enter argentina because the goverment of these countries charge them to enter their country, in the case of canada its $75.00 and has to be payed on line, great. So i go tell the guys the problem and that we have to go back to the bolivian side and find a internet cafe, to make matters worse we don,t really know what were looking for when we open the site , nobody could explain it to us . After asking around we found a internet cafe , the slowest f'n internet in the world , we decided to have two cumputers going to see if we could figure out what we need,it took 12 min. Just to get the google home page up , we waited another 15 min. Trying to open the argentinian gov. Page. There was a couple from australia there who had been trying for 45 min. To get the form up and they gave up to find a faster internet so we decided to do the same thing . We found another cafe next door and the guy assured us his internet was faster, i asked him if we could print off the computers and he had a memory stick that we could down loud to and print from their printer. Ok lets give it a try. So between two of us we started at it. We go the site up but couldn't find the forms antware , after about 40 min. Wayne found the form but couldn't get it to open , we found out we had to sign in with a user name and password, ok i got the form open ya hoo . Ok fill it out and hit add ok, i added every one and filled in all their info , ok put in my visa info hit pay and were laughing , yep excepted payment , forms came up lets print them and head to the border, wrong , the forms would not transfer to the stick,i went and got the girl at the desk to show me how because they assured us the computer would print, she simply tells me it won,t print . What! Wayne tryed for a hour to try and transfer the forms with no luck , meanwhile als on the street out front making freinds with everybody walking bye , aleast somebodys having fun. After 3 hours of f,n around we find out they're sucure forms and they can't be transfered, shit. Ok frustration is setting in really bad. I decided that i was going to use the main computer at the desk that was hooked to the printer ,the catch is we'll have to pay again because we had to start over. After 4 hours and $150.00 each we finally got our forms. Back to the border and we got our passports stamped , now over to aduanas to get the bikes regestered. Oh great aline up that isn,t moving . We meet a couple from england in the line who had meet al at the equadir border so we had some one to chat with while we waited in line for 2 hrs. Finally we get to the window, wrong line! Thats right 2 hours in the wrong line! Now we go to the right line and they try to tell us its the wrong line, get your shit together argentina. 8 hours to cross the border! We ended up getting a room on the other side of the border so we made 2 kilos that day . Later
Robin,
A great story.....kindness and generosity abound more, it seems, from those who have little. Worth the wait, I bet
Next time, when you want to pay "that extra", say, "Por los ninos...' (For the children").....they will maybe accept $$$ under those terms.
Ecuador just had a landslide somewhere that killed some folks....and as you guys have been through the steep and muddy mountains, it doesn't take much imagination such an event.
Ecuador is also one of the "places of choice" for international retirement.....good weather, inexpensive, and you don't have to eat a pet.....
How is the group morale? No fist fights yet, by the sound of things.....
Any KLR tips?
Que via bien, amigos
A great story.....kindness and generosity abound more, it seems, from those who have little. Worth the wait, I bet
Next time, when you want to pay "that extra", say, "Por los ninos...' (For the children").....they will maybe accept $$$ under those terms.
Ecuador just had a landslide somewhere that killed some folks....and as you guys have been through the steep and muddy mountains, it doesn't take much imagination such an event.
Ecuador is also one of the "places of choice" for international retirement.....good weather, inexpensive, and you don't have to eat a pet.....
How is the group morale? No fist fights yet, by the sound of things....
. Any KLR tips?
Que via bien, amigos
I sure hope things stay smoother now, that "no fuel sale allowed" sounded just plain scarey. Thank god Victor and family turned out to be the good people they were. Thank you for the great updates. It sounds like its pretty trying at times but the good times must out weigh the bad.
Good luck for the last leg of the journey!!
Good luck for the last leg of the journey!!
Ann Vandrick
New member
Hola! Clearly, you’ve all had your patience tried on numerous occasions. The equanimity with which you have handled everything so far is admirable! It’s been said that travel is intensified living and your adventures (and misadventures) are certainly proof of that. That the trip has gone as well as it has is a real testament to the preparation you did beforehand (especially you, Robin! Spanish lessons? Really?) Balancing the trials and tribulations of daily travel with the breathtaking scenery and rich variety of locals, you are each amassing enough sensory input to last you a lifetime of rumination! Keep savoring.
And for heaven’s sake, please keep your notes and photos coming – we, your adoring audience, are eating up your offerings. Hugs, Ann
And for heaven’s sake, please keep your notes and photos coming – we, your adoring audience, are eating up your offerings. Hugs, Ann
If it looks like the shock is going to be a big problem, I can fed ex your original down and you can square up with me when you get back. It would be approximately 1 week to Argentina and $350.00. You pick the place and I can ship it "hold for pickup" at the local fed ex depot. Let me know if you want that done. Stu
I feel your border pain, guys.
My flight to Mexico out of Kamloops last night was delayed 2.5 hours....and out of Vancouver by 4.5 hours today (still waiting for them to find a plane that works....!!!).
At least there is free booze in the Maple Leaf lounge....but the pre-load from that activity can be troublesome.
I guess the adventure starts when the first things go haywire
My flight to Mexico out of Kamloops last night was delayed 2.5 hours....and out of Vancouver by 4.5 hours today (still waiting for them to find a plane that works....!!!).
At least there is free booze in the Maple Leaf lounge....but the pre-load from that activity can be troublesome.
I guess the adventure starts when the first things go haywire
Dorky
Moderator
My flight to Mexico out of Kamloops last night was delayed 2.5 hours....and out of Vancouver by 4.5 hours today (still waiting for them to find a plane that works....!!!). I guess the adventure starts when the first things go haywire
Ged, you need to start your own thread. I always enjoy your Baja ride reports.
cactusreid
Active member
Ged, i second the motion,your ride reports are some of the best most riveting and entertaining i have ever had the pleasure of tagging along on! so get at er man,find yourself a putor as you travel and keep us snowbound folks a breast of what your doing as you travel south!!
Hi people, well it seems the net keeps getting worse the further south we go. We've been through alot of desert in the north of chile hundreds of kilos of rock and sand without so much as a blade of grass sticking through, cool at first but gets a little boring after three days. Got al to valpaisio to the plac e we'll ship are bikes from. Al is now back in kamloops and i understand is needing a rest. Mark was to purchase the tire al bought back in lima from al because al never did install it , he got almost 16000 kilos out of the first tire , not much left of it. Turns out however al thought all bikes run 18" rearr tires , we had to inform him he lugged the wrong size tire around for 5000 kilos, bummer. Did get the shock off his bike for mine , all is ood now , and marks shock is hanging in . Got a scolding from the argentina police the other day , turns out riding like pigmen is not tolerated here, passing on double solids, riding down sidewalks , going the wrong way down oneway streets and speeding was ok in most of the other countries we've been in ! After the warning of a $650.00 can. Fine and playing dumb they let us go but did tell us we would be riding in a police car next time, with a smile and a handshake we were on our way.mark cut a big gash in his rear tire yesterday and we are in the town of zalpala today looking for a replacement, this is one of the last big towns before the bottom wich is about 2300 kilos from here , the wether is hot right now , a high of 42 c yesterday. Things going good, had a 7 hr. Traffic delay two days ago before going over the andes from chile to argentina, went by mount anconcagua the tallest miunt. In the western hemispere, however it was 9:00 pm at the time just light enough to see the mountain still. Nice riding from there into mendoza . Waynes been tring to get some pictures up but having slow internet problems. The boys are all feeling good since we got out of the 12000 ft. Plus elevations . Oh ya they have meat in argentina ! Thick juicy steaks ! We're tlking about maybe tking a boat up to portomont in chile up from the bttom , its a three day trip.oh wow i just took a bite of a breakfast crousant that was actually made today, i was just wandering what fresh bread was like, one misses the small pleasures in life. Anyway later folks
Dorky and Reid,
Sorry if it sounded like I was hijacking his ride report....just excited for these guys.
I am now in Mexico and won't be ruining my trip time with a ride report....maybe once I get home....this wifi craps out every 45 secondsWhat I will say is that my flight from Van to Mex City was delayed by 10 hours....no refund for prepaid hotel room....and lost one of my 2 credit cards somewhere in Van airport....and my hotel sink doesn't drain.
The adventure has started.....no pics of me falling in muddy rivers .....yet
Sorry if it sounded like I was hijacking his ride report....just excited for these guys.
I am now in Mexico and won't be ruining my trip time with a ride report....maybe once I get home....this wifi craps out every 45 secondsWhat I will say is that my flight from Van to Mex City was delayed by 10 hours....no refund for prepaid hotel room....and lost one of my 2 credit cards somewhere in Van airport....and my hotel sink doesn't drain.
The adventure has started.....no pics of me falling in muddy rivers .....yet
04klr
Well-known member
tooo funny, both the ride report jibes and the adventure that has begun for ged already and he hasn't even swung a leg over the supposed KlR yet! Isnt that special losing a card at the airport what could go wrong there.
well whadda know, we took a kinda forced day off here in Zapala (in dire need of a new back tire for Mark, baaad cut in rear) and I spent most of it uploading pictures, and it even worked!
I havent posted or awhile as the connections hae bn unbelievable, as I said in an email home, it's funny, when in poor central america the internet was great an the payphones easy to find here in rich (compritivey) south america the internet really sucks and the phones are nonexistant. the expenses of chile made us decide to head back into Arg. for the last lg to the bottom of the world (sort of) and we'll suck it up and pay the way on the trip back north through Chile, maybe even take a boat ride back.
As usual the pics are outdated and out of order, so enjoy. Awhile back I mentioned the exhaust filed air that was thick enuf to chew, well I back up my words, start chewing! you can arely see the bike ahead of me just inside the white line.
well it's almost 830 here, dinner hour and the connection has begun to f/up! as i can no onger get to the photo gallery, um, arggggg! oh well lets see if this short post wil go.
all for now Wayne.
well whadda know, we took a kinda forced day off here in Zapala (in dire need of a new back tire for Mark, baaad cut in rear) and I spent most of it uploading pictures, and it even worked!
I havent posted or awhile as the connections hae bn unbelievable, as I said in an email home, it's funny, when in poor central america the internet was great an the payphones easy to find here in rich (compritivey) south america the internet really sucks and the phones are nonexistant. the expenses of chile made us decide to head back into Arg. for the last lg to the bottom of the world (sort of) and we'll suck it up and pay the way on the trip back north through Chile, maybe even take a boat ride back.
As usual the pics are outdated and out of order, so enjoy. Awhile back I mentioned the exhaust filed air that was thick enuf to chew, well I back up my words, start chewing! you can arely see the bike ahead of me just inside the white line.
well it's almost 830 here, dinner hour and the connection has begun to f/up! as i can no onger get to the photo gallery, um, arggggg! oh well lets see if this short post wil go.
all for now Wayne.
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04klr
Well-known member
tooo funny, both the ride report jibes and the adventure that has begun for ged already and he hasn't even swung a leg over the supposed rental KlR yet! Isnt that special losing a card at the airport what could go wrong there.
well whadda know, we took a kinda forced day off here in Zapala (in dire need of a new back tire for Mark after getting a huge cut in rear) and I spent most of it uploading pictures, and it even worked!
I havent posted or awhile as the connections have been unbelievable, as I said in an email home, it's funny, when in poor central america the internet was great an the payphones easy to find here in rich (comparativley) south america the internet really sucks and the phones are nonexistent. the expenses of chile made us decide to head back into Arg. for the last leg to the bottom of the world (sort of) and we'll suck it up and pay the way on the trip back north through Chile, maybe even take a boat ride back.
As usual the pics are outdated and out of order, so enjoy. Awhile back I mentioned the exhaust filed air that was thick enuf to chew, well I back up my words, start chewing! you can barely see robin on his bike ahead of me just inside the white line.
here's mark and soon al dining on diesel
and robin again sucking up some just before lunch in peru
all for now as we are off for dinner and the connection is beginning it's usual bs.
more pics to come as they are already on the site! whoo hoo!
wayne
well whadda know, we took a kinda forced day off here in Zapala (in dire need of a new back tire for Mark after getting a huge cut in rear) and I spent most of it uploading pictures, and it even worked!
I havent posted or awhile as the connections have been unbelievable, as I said in an email home, it's funny, when in poor central america the internet was great an the payphones easy to find here in rich (comparativley) south america the internet really sucks and the phones are nonexistent. the expenses of chile made us decide to head back into Arg. for the last leg to the bottom of the world (sort of) and we'll suck it up and pay the way on the trip back north through Chile, maybe even take a boat ride back.
As usual the pics are outdated and out of order, so enjoy. Awhile back I mentioned the exhaust filed air that was thick enuf to chew, well I back up my words, start chewing! you can barely see robin on his bike ahead of me just inside the white line.
here's mark and soon al dining on diesel
and robin again sucking up some just before lunch in peru
all for now as we are off for dinner and the connection is beginning it's usual bs.
more pics to come as they are already on the site! whoo hoo!
wayne
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