A BC Buell goes South

Hey RecycledRS.

The music is great. Different than what I am used to. And, I am finally able to sleep with loud all around me. Its a learned thing

I am glad you are enjoying the RR.

Hi GhostRiderFC
Yep, thats right. After Cabo I will head back to La Paz and catch a ferry to either Mazatlan or Topolobampo, depending on ferry availabilty and how I feel at the time. Then slowly head south towards to CA.

I have budgetted $50 US a day ( or $350 a week with averaging) for living expenses. gas,food, lodging, meals, other day to day stuff that comes up, not including ferries, flights,bike shipping, repairs etc. I have a slush fund for that. I didn't calculate costs for that, as I don't really know where I am going. I didn't really plan on Baja until just before I left home, and I don't know how I am crossing the Darrien Gap yet.

I was planning on leaving in Oct and camping a lot in California. The way it worked out, I haven't camped much, so I was way over budget for that part. Once I got to mexico, the budget fell more into place, and am actually making up for California. Cabo is kicking the crap out of the budget again, but I had expected that :)

I have heard that central america and northern South America are reasonably inexpensive but that Chile, Argentina and Brazil are pretty pricey. So I hope they balance out. I am keeping a speadsheet of expenses and hope to post at the end what stuff cost.

Thanks for the info 1TrackSam.

The food down here is great. I haven't eaten anything I didn't like, and I have eaten some weird looking stuff

And... my stomache has been fine......but

Today I had taco pollo mole con rez y frijoles, which was great, but my daughter has all the windows open and keeps on going outside for fresh air. :eek1

Thanks daffodil60, and welcome to the asylum.

Those turtles were something else. One of the things I hope my grandchildren will tell their grandchildren about.

Enjoy the Road Report and Feliz Navidad

My wife says I ate there as well!

Feliz Navidad!

Got up early to pull my tire off to take to the Harley shop for the new tire. I looked at my tire, and decided it had a bit of life left in it. I decided to buy the tire, and as much as I didn’t want to, strap it to the bike, and change it when it was totally pooched.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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It was still pretty early, and the kid was still asleep, so I figured I would walk around until the Harley shop opened up.<o></o>
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Seen a cop giving a guy a ticket.<o></o>
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I don’t think I have ever seen a chain drive Virago before. Maybe a 250, or something that wasn’t imported to Canada?<o></o>
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Got to the Harley store, and the guy I had been dealing with wasn’t there. After a bunch of talking, and phone calls, and talking to the shop and talking to the warehouse, it turned out they didn’t have the tire, but they did have another one, a soft compound sportbike tire that they would sell me for about $100 more than the one I wanted. Crap.<o></o>
Oh well, I still have a bit of life left in the old one.<o></o>
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Went back, picked up my daughter, and went to look around Cabo. Had a bite to eat, then went to pick up some groceries. Store had a real nice vegetable market.<o></o>
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Not bad for a Wal-Mart.<o></o>
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This was out in the Parking Lot<o></o>
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I like Volkswagens, and have one of these at home that needs to be restored. <o></o>
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In the afternoon, I found the Yamaha dealer and went in to ask about tires. He didn’t have one in stock, but the dealer in La Paz has what I am looking for. I have to go to La Paz to catch the ferry anyhow, so it should work out good. We will see what happens J<o></o>
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The next day we headed out early to check out the more touristy areas. We had been walking around quite a bit, and every time we left the Hotel, we would take a different route to see different stuff.<o></o>
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Saw some cool murals.<o></o>
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Went down to the wheel and deal area.<o></o>
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Dealing on a purchase<o></o>
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Went back down to the marina.<o></o>
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Saw some cool marketing strategies<o></o>
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Checked out some of the scenery on the malecon<o></o>
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We decided we would check out the beach, so we walked around till we found it.<o></o>
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We got there fairly early, and there weren’t many people around.<o></o>
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Looked out at the point<o></o>
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We sat down in the sand to watch the ocean and the boats. Before long, it started getting busy. People, and with the people, beach vendors.<o></o>
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There were people everywhere. Getting in the way of my beach shots, water shots and pictures of beach vendors. I guess that’s the price you pay for being on a busy beach J<o></o>
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After the beach, we went and did MORE shopping, ate, and headed back to the Hotel to sit by the pool for a while.<o></o>

Too bad about the bait and switch on the tire, but that's great you managed to meet up with family!

Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012!!

Safe riding!

Enjoyed the beach views, hehe..
How's the drive belt holding up?
Merry Christmas to you and your daughter.

Feliz navidad.

Not sure if it was a bait and switch, or just them not really knowing what they were doing. Either way, I am glad I didn't pull the rear wheel to take to them.

Having a great time with my daughter. Mostly just relaxing and laying about the beach, pool, hotel room. Oh , and she likes shopping :)

Thanks, and feliz navidad and feliz año nuevo back atcha

I wasthe creepy guy on the beach with the telephoto lens

Belt looks good every time i check it, mind you, it looked good just before I broke the last one, too.......but I was launching it off cattle guards when it let go ..........
I have a spare, thats easy to get to, and its easy to change. Hopefully this one will last long enough that I will forget how to change it

Thanks and Merry christmas and all that to you and yours

Thanks Prime. Merry christmas to you too, and happy biking in the new year :)

Looks like nice weather for the holidays Brian. Certainly a bit warmer the WL.

Had a real nice Christmas in Cabo with my Daughter. It was tough being away from the rest of the family, but we phoned a bunch of times and skyped. Didn’t make up for being away, but it did make it easier. I had told the little kids to call after they got up and opened their presents. They were very exited, and were pretty impressed that I had thought ahead, bought presents for them and hid them so their Mom could put them under the tree. I had told my older kids that if they ever stopped believing in Santa, Santa would stop coming, so my daughter here in Cabo was pretty impressed that Santa found her all the way down here. She is 21 and has never, not once, ever told me to my face that she doesn’t believe J<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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We spent most of Christmas day on the beach. I didn’t take my camera this time as I didn’t want to be “That Creepy Guy on the Beach” with a telephoto lens 2 days in a row J<o></o>
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It was pretty nice for my daughter on the beach, because she could lay in the sun and go shopping at the same time. The vendors liked her, and came around regularly.<o></o>
After the beach, we went……….….wait for it……..……..shopping. There were quite a few stores open Christmas day, and we went to most of them J<o></o>
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We had picked up a few things for Christmas dinner, and had dinner in the room. Chicken instead of turkey, as we didn’t think a turkey would fit in the toaster oven.<o></o>
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I took some “before” pictures, but apparently you need to have the card in the camera for the pictures to work.<o></o>

My daughter was pretty impressed with the pictures of the turtle release, ,and had said that she wished she had been there to see that. I told her it was only an hour away and we could take a bus. So today, we found the bus station and headed for Todos Santos.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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On the bus<o></o>
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While riding the bus isn&#8217;t my favorite form of transportation, it does allow a guy take pictures while moving.<o></o>
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There was lots of road construction.<o></o>
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A pretty&#8221; high ball&#8221; operation<o></o>
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The trucks have these great big boxes, skinny front tires, and they load them RIGHT up.<o></o>
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Flagger with dust mask<o></o>
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We got to Todos Santos and got a room. Last week, the turtle release was at 4:30, so we hang around town and did some &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. shopping, then headed down to the beach. It&#8217;s a fairly long walk, but a nice one. Kind of a rural area with some nice homes<o></o>
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Some small farms and a bit of wildlife.<o></o>
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His guy was right beside the road, having a siesta<o></o>
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Got to the beach, but had missed the turtle release. Seems the release depends on the tide, so they had the release an hour earlier. So we hung around, playing in the sand and watching the ocean.<o></o>
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And yet more surf shots.<o></o>
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Headed back to town, and saw this guy running back and forth, letting everybody know this was HIS ledge.<o></o>
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His buddy wasn&#8217;t too keen on going out there, though.<o></o>
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I think my daughter was getting tired of her Dad&#8217;s frugal ways and eating at road side stands for every meal, so she mentioned that if I wanted to go to a REAL restaurant, that she would pick up the check. So away we went to the Hotel California restaurant. <o></o>
What a great kid J<o></o>
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It was nice. Eagles playing quietly in the background, and some good food.<o></o>
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This little guy was watching us eat the whole time.<o></o>
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Hi Brian, looks like you and your daughter are having a blast. When are you taking off on the next leg of the journey? Is your daughter going to Georgia next to see the "other" man in her life. I know my daughter is counting the days till she can go to Calgary to see her"other" man. I hope you have a great new year. Steve

Looking like a dream trip, and I can understand the need to GTFO of Canada for a bit. Hopefully I'll be going through the same areas around the same time next year. Looking forward to see how the Buell holds up.

About those Virago 250's, they were sold in Canada with the chain drive but you don't see them too often. A few riding schools around here use them instead of dirt bikes for the low seat & weight.

Hola Len
the weather here is beautiful. about 20C right now, at 7:30 at night. Williams LAke is an unseasonable +5C right now, but I still like this better.

Looks the the weather in Chile is pretty warm. Hope its not too warm......

We are having a pretty good time, all right. Playing tourist and having lots of siestas.

I am leaving Cabo for La Paz Friday to try and get a tire, then see about getting a ferry to the main land. The website is showing pretty booked up, so I might just have to stay on the Baja for a bit more until I can get one. That would suck

I am loving the Baja. If I have to wait more than a coupla days, I might even go back to Todos Santos for a few more days. It a great little town

The kid heads out friday as well, on the next leg of her travels

hasta luego, amigo

Thanks Dilligaf0220
I am having the trip of a life time. Its been great here in Cabo, but I am looking forward to making a mile.

you won't regret riding this way. I am already thinking ahead a couple years and bringing a dirt bike down to play. I love it here, and I can see why so many Canadians and Americans move down here permanently. And this is just the begining of my journey. There is so much more to see in my future. I get more stoked with every new place I see.