I’m well and alive and was for a long time computer–less. About a month and half ago, I was going to the parking garage to leave the motorcycle, and I asked my friend Lourdes to open the sliding door of the garage. The door was stuck because of some gravel on the rail but she got it open just enough for the bike to pass through. As she turned around towards me, before I could say a word, the 25ft long steel door collapsed on her head and buried her missing and the bike by less than an inch. The gigantic piece of metal was so heavy that I could only lift it a few inches off of her body, but she couldn’t get herself out. Finally people arrived and with some help we lifted the metal gate and rescued her. She still had her motorcycle helmet on, and it undoubtedly saved her life. She came out with lots of cuts and bruises, and as she was wearing a backpack with my laptop in it, the laptop was crushed as well. Everything is almost fixed now and I have a lot of catching up to do. For now, happy late Thanksgiving and early Christmas to everyone.

Finally ready to leave the town of Sayulita, we loaded up the bikes and headed south once again. Having taken 6 days off we were eager to ride and decided to go straight through Puerto Vallarta and continue down the coast. Just as we cleared the metropolis that is Puerto Vallarta my bike died. It’s rather depressing to sit on the side of the road with your trusty motorcycle which was now nothing more than an oversized luggage rack.

With the help of a Mexican mechanic we quickly identified that one of my coils was beginning to fail and therefore continually blowing my main engine fuse. The mechanic charged me eight dollars which I gladly paid as electrical problems are not my specialty. This was a steal of a deal for two reasons: 1) a shop in Canada/US wouldn’t even look at the bike for less than $60 if not more and 2) the man worked ridiculously fast unlike some mechanics that seem to work on their own time. After a half a dozen phone calls my new coils are on route to Puerto Vallarta and Erin and I now have some time to explore this beautiful ocean front jungle.

Free of the initial negativity of the situation we realised that we had broken down in a perfect location and in fact my lifeless bike was a blessing in disguise. We continue to meet amazing people who truly reflect the kindness and the spirit of Mexico. We have been given a wonderful place to stay, so far for free, and have been invited to join their family for an outstanding chicken dinner. The city and the area surrounding Puerto Vallarta also has a lot of beauty and culture to offer which we would have missed had my bike continued to carry me south. We’ve also come to the realisation that we won’t be making it to the southern tip of Argentina this season.  With high mountain passes some above 15,000ft and the southern geographical location of Argentina, the summer months for a motorcycle are only Dec-Mar. So instead of trying to rush we are going to keep our focus on where we are and enjoy the moment.

Our freed up time in Puerto Vallarta has also given us a chance to look into some of the not so distant logistical hurdles like our choices for crossing the Darien Gap from Panama into Columbia as well as the seemingly overwhelming task of obtaining our Brazilian visas. I feel completely relaxed and stress free about the whole situation, I mean what’s the bad side? We have to spend yet another year travelling and exploring beautiful cultures before our window of opportunity opens up again in southern Argentina… it’s a hard life.

Hey everyone

I wanted to post this video a week ago but ran into some technical difficulties… Sorry its not widescreen but its the best i could spit out. We are in the town of Sayulita, Mexico. We planned on spending 2 nights and it easily turned into 5…

Erin had an awesome birthday with fresh margaritas and amazing food. Today we met some fellow motorcycle riders heading south and they invited us to a BBQ… life’s hard.

Hope you enjoy the video

The Sierra Mountains of Northern Mexico are without a doubt paradise for anyone with a sense of adventure. Located throughout the state of Chihuahua the mountains create a vast landscape stretching farther than the eyes can see. Well engineered roads maintained to near perfection seem to stretch on forever into the horizon.  They lead you from 2000ft above sea level to 7000ft and back down as you cross countless mountains and transcend what seem to be endless valleys. As you stand atop one mountain you can’t help but be amazed as you gaze back at the expanse you’ve just rode through.

Colourful little Mexican towns connect the dots between valleys without disturbing the natural beauty of their surroundings. Unlike most Canadian or American towns which often have a substructure that webs out in every direction these small communities are self contained and often have one road in and one road out. Life is simple in these towns and the pace is slow and comfortable. Elderly sit on the park benches while the children play enjoying the sunshine and the imagery everywhere portrays that of the Mexican cowboy. The spirit of Mexico and the kindness of its people shines bright even through the language barrier. A simple “Buenos Dias” is all you need to send a smile through a crowd of people.

The border crossing was almost a joke and literally took about 8 seconds to cross. We crossed from Columbus, New Mexico into Palomas, Mexico where a female officer pointed to a red line, I rode up to it and the gate opened and she waved me through. Erin got stopped behind me and the officer awkwardly tried to ask her a question in broken English. “You have any animals?” Both Erin and the female officer laughed and the gate opened once again and Erin was waved through.  We smiled at each other as all the anxiety of crossing a border melted away into a beautiful day in Mexico. I knew we had to receive some kind of paperwork for the bikes so we pulled into the parking lot of the customs building where we were greeted by a one legged man and his puppy. The man spoke English very well and kindly led us through the process of obtaining our tourist card and import documents for the bikes. We could have easily done this ourselves but thanks to ICBC putting the Insurance and Vehicle Registration on the same page the customs agent insisted that our registration had expired along with our insurance on Oct.19^th. This is where the one legged man came in handy translating as we had to go to another office and have a letter written by someone with seniority approving the whole situation. It’s obvious the one legged man was doing this in hopes of being paid but never once did he ask for money. When we were all set to go, helmets on and bikes running, I could see he would have just let us ride away so at that point I shook his hand and gave him some money. The whole ordeal took about 2 hours and I appreciated his time and help.

Everywhere we have gone we are treated with kindness, hospitality and respect. Worries of where to find food, water, gas or a place to stay are ridiculous. Every town so far has great cheap food and clean water, what appears to be a brand new gas station and kind people who will go out of their way to find you a place to stay. Our first night in Mexico we encountered two closed hotels and we were starting to get worried as the sun had already set. Two wonderful ladies at a gas station called around and found us a room at a hotel in town we hadn’t seen. If that wasn’t enough one of the ladies jumped in her car and escorted us to the hotel stopping along the way to point out her house. When we got to the hotel she made it very clear if we didn’t like the hotel or didn’t feel safe that we were more than welcome to stay at her house. For $20 the hotel was great and we met the owner and his wife who were both very kind and did their best to make us comfortable. The bikes were parked outside our room out of sight from the road and among the other guests staying the night were 6 police officers with machine guns and they parked their trucks next to our bikes. We felt very safe and slept like babies from the sensory overload from our first day.

Throughout our first 5 months of travel we’ve heard countless warnings from people about Mexico and how it’s not safe. The funny thing is this whole media caused fear of Mexico has even spread throughout Mexico itself. Mexicans tell us “Mexico is dangerous. This town is safe but be careful of the next town they will steal everything.” When we get to that town we meet nothing but nice people and they tell us the same thing about the next town and so on. So far the only thing Mexico has been for Erin and I is fantastic! The riding has been some of the best so far, both hotels and camping have been great and we have drank the local water every day and have yet to get sick. We are enjoying riding from one small town to the next and keeping are days short and carefree. The one piece of advice given by everyone that we are following is not to ride at night. We are currently in the town of Creel and are super excited to explore and share with you guys the famous Copper Canyon. So to all our followers, friends and family relax we’re safe and enjoying the beauty of Mexico.

Well there’s no doubt that winter has arrived and it took Erin and I by surprise. The morning of October 27th we woke up to snow in Amarillo, Texas. The official measurement was 3.1” at Amarillo Airport but it was even more in town getting upwards of 4 inches. It was a wakeup call that screamed in our faces “Time to head south!” but despite winters warning we headed north on a road trip with my father and his friend up to beautiful Colorado. Having spent nearly a month in Amarillo, possibly the flattest place on earth, we couldn’t wait to get back into some mountains.

I rented a car Saturday morning in Denver and took off with Erin, heading north towards Rocky Mountain National Park. As we wound our way through the steep mountain passes my thoughts turned to my bike. I’ve become so attached to it and it felt wrong to leave it in pieces 500 miles away while I have an affair with a car. These roads and stunning views were perfect for a motorcycle… or so I thought. The wind soon picked up and the road conditions deteriorated to a slushy mess. Never mind trying to keep a bike upright, it was a battle just to open the car door against the relentless winds.

Amongst all the chaos was a beautiful winter wonderland filled with wildlife and surrounded by the epic Rocky Mountains.  The harsh winds painted a beautiful picture as they swept the snow off the tops of the mountains.  The wildlife didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence as we saw Elk, Deer and Fox closer than ever before. It was a perfect day in the mountains for us and we lingered around the park long enough to see the sky change colors as the sun set. We were lucky enough to have a friend of my father’s offer her place to us and we enjoyed a night to ourselves in a beautiful mountain home. It was an awesome weekend adventure and on the way home we were privileged to see a Da Lorean! (Everyone better know that’s the car from Back to the Future…)

Erin and I have really enjoyed our time in Amarillo with my father and all my family here. It’s been great spending quality time with all our new friends here in Amarillo and we want to say thanks to all of them for all their generosity. We look forward to returning to Amarillo and sharing all our adventure’s with everyone.  So with that said we are finally ready to head south and look forward to exploring Mexico and beyond!  By the weekend we should be crossing the border… it’s okay mom(s) we’ll be fine.

With parts showing up at our door step everyday work has finally commenced on our motorcycles. Although, its an odd feeling to see your bike, the one you are supposed to be riding around the world, look like this…

I started feeling bad that it had been two weeks since I posted a Travel Log so I thought I should get writing. Texas has been a great experience with awesome food, beautiful weather and best of all family. Erin and I are staying with my father in Amarillo, Texas and feel right at home here getting to know my aunts, uncles, cousins and many other new friends. Our days are filled with preparation for Mexico and South America including ordering spare parts, tires, camera equipment and going over a whole list of things to do. We now have Texas insurance on our bike’s and to our surprise we get to keep our BC plates. Everyone back home will be blow away to hear that a years insurance for BOTH bikes was only $97. Crazy! In Canada they would probably be $97 a month…each!

We get to spend our evenings and weekends with my father Rolly doing all sorts of good things from American 10 pin bowling to a short road trip out to the town of Canadian. We had an awesome day in Canadian and got to enjoy their fall foliage festival, partaking in free wagon rides and the beauty of Autumn.

The temperature has started to drop here in Texas going as low as freezing at night but the signs of their overly dry summer are everywhere. They had temperatures reaching 111F (44C) and it basically lasted all summer with no rain… even in the two weeks we’ve been here we’ve only had one tiny rain overnight. Its nice for Erin and I to be rain free but Texas could really use some…

I’m finding it really rewarding to work on the bikes and take pride in all the money we are saving. Today we changed Erin’s steering head bearings, a job that would cost around $500 to have done, after parts and tools it only cost us about $50. My manual gave this job 4 out of 5 wrenches on the difficulty scale but it only seems to be time consuming rather than difficult. It feels really good to take care of our bikes and doing it ourselves is that much better.

Hey check it out a dog in a tree!! The neighbors dogs are awesome and this one loves to jump.

Talk to ya guys soon

Erin and I would really like to thank everyone that helped make our stay in New York City unforgettable. The generosity and hospitality we received from our new friends John, Nick and Don allowed us to experience one of the biggest cities in the world. We absolutely enjoyed every second we got to spend in New York City and look forward to the day we can return on more of a vacation budget than our current travel budget. I don’t consider myself to be a city person but I enjoyed NYC so much that I wanted to put together a little video of our time there. It doesn’t have anything to do with motorcycles but I hope it shares some of the beauty and culture that we were able to experience. Erin and I walked all over the city at all times of the day and night and never did we feel unsafe. It truly is a world class city. (This Video and Travel Log took 6 hours!!! to upload on McDonalds Wifi… I hope you enjoy.)

Through some travelers luck and coincidence we hooked up with a retired couple in New Jersey that we had met In British Columbia at the top of the Salmon Glacier three months earlier.  Our hosts Kathy and Jimmy treated us to an amazing Chinese Buffet and afterwards insisted on putting us up in a motel for the night. We would have been more than happy to set up our tent on their lawn but were excited for our first motel of the trip. The next morning they picked us up and took us for breakfast and after our excellent meal we headed back to their house where they had kindly stored the bikes in their garage. As we packed up the bikes they loaded us up with 3 days worth of food, t-shirts, soap and a handful of rags. Throughout packing we were discussing our plans of making a BMW motorcycle rally in South West Tennessee and they helped us plan a nice scenic route. As a last act of generosity and kindness they gave us $50 to cover any tolls we may encounter on our route.

Erin and I had originally planned on following the east coast down to the Florida Keys, the southernmost point of the United States, but decided that attending a motorcycle rally would allow us to share our story with so many other passionate BMW riders. This change of direction also frees up more time for us to spend with my father in Amarillo, Texas. It was going to take us many long days of riding to make the rally and on our first day leaving Kathy and Jimmy’s place we managed to ride through 5 different states. I was blown away at the end of the day when I calculated our fuel mileage… 66.48 miles per gallon. This was our best mileage to date and I sat staring at the bikes with a big smile on my face proud of our choice of bike.

Over the next few days we rode some of the best motorcycle rides in the United States including “The Tail of the Dragon”, 318 curves in 11 miles.  The weather was fantastic and perfectly accented the picturesque scenery we were winding through in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. We soon found ourselves in Lynchburg, Tennessee, home of the Jack Daniels Whisky distillery. Anyone who knows me is aware of my love for Jack Daniels, it truly was a dream come true for me to experience the tour of the distillery. Excited for our second Couch Surfing experience we enjoyed a short ride to Nashville to meet our hosts Heather and Tyler. Everyday life for them was an awesome night for us and we all partied hard with their friends Brian and Lindsay, two dogs and indoor potbelly pig! These were some of the gnarliest people we have met on our travels and their generosity was outstanding. Our stay in Nashville was way too short but we look forward to the day we can return and slay another night with our new friends.

After a late morning in Nashville we rode south on the Nanchez Trace Parkway heading for the BMW rally in Pickwick, Tennessee. I had no idea what to expect from our first rally and as our headlights lit up the campground I was shocked by the sea of tents and motorcycles. We found a spot amongst the chaos to set up camp and spent the night getting to know a few of our neighbors. Erin and I enjoyed the social aspect of the rally very much but were overly excited to accept a few awards the next day. I received the award for “Long Distance Male” as I had travelled the farthest to make the rally. Erin received two awards, “Youngest Female Rider” and “Long Distance Female”. The word of our travels stirred up a lot of attention for us and we loved telling our story over and over to excited and supportive listeners. The last morning of the rally we stayed to watch the BMW Rams Club meeting, and were absolutely thrilled when they invited us to join their club. They generously waived the entry fees and hooked us up with some awesome patches for our jackets. We are proud to be the only international member of the club and look forward to sharing our adventures with their community.

So the rally for us was a complete success and we are very happy with our decision to change our route and spend some long days on the road. We made so many contacts that will be helpful throughout our travels, anywhere from Mexico to Russia. Now back on the road we are heading for Texas…