Oregon to Ushuaia on an XR650L

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by beechum1

meh. There was no way I could do it on my budget. I didn't even have the $ to redo the motor, which is NOW being sent off. I got a better paying job now, so the wheels are back in motion as they say.

That's too bad. How many miles do you have on your current motor?

You're moving to Reno? I like Reno. Really close to Lake Tahoe.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by marior97

Hey Bryce, those 5 days on and off Independance you will never forget !! but a few months later all will be
Now enjoy Colombia and rest of SA !!!
Saludos amigo !

Thanks man! I hope "papa noel" gets you something good for Christmas.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by GSF1200S

As long as I dont hear "Sweepers, sweepers man your brooms" ill be alright

Not sure- might be right after I do alaska, which is next year in april. Well see how it goes

Until then, I stay sane riding and reading reports like this one

Haha! I'm not a neat and tidy person, but seeing the clutter and gernerally nastiness of that ship made me want to punch somebody. I seriously wanted to round up a bunch of Lance Corporals and have a field day. That thing could be so nice if they would just clean it once in a while.

That would be epic if you could go straight from Prudhoe bay down to Ushuaia. What bike would you do it on? I saw on your profile that you have a DR 650, would you use that?

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by NotAllWhoWanderRLost

Please keep up the great reporting and photos!

It sounds like your having a great time and experiencing some amazing adventures. Thanks for including us in your fun.

Thanks! Getting compliments and hearing that people are actually reading this thing is a big part of what keeps me going!

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by crashmaster

Its a pretty fast 400 miles.

I think it would be if I had slept more than five hours last night. I'm spent. I just stopped for the day. I only did about 110 miles. Meh.

Should have just took an extra day in Cartagena and then just did it all in one big push.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by GISdood

Great stuff... I was following JDowns' RR as well as this one and to see the two merge and cross paths to help a downed rider really illustrates the true sense of community here on ADV. Keep up the great work, and here's to a speedy recovery for Ed!

I feel your pain, brother... that's happened to me a couple times as well. Now, the last thing I do before I hit the 'Submit' button (especially when on sketchy internet connections) is copy the whole damn post to the clipboard. If it craps out, just refresh, paste it all in and try it again.

This community kicks ass! I've seen a couple of people get some amazing help from ADV riders now, and it's really incredible. I'm proud to be a part of it.

I was just hitting ctrl-c when the thing gave me the white screen of death! So close! I forgot to do it until just after I had hit the "submit" button. Hopefully I've learned my lesson.

[beechum1]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

That's too bad. How many miles do you have on your current motor?

You're moving to Reno? I like Reno. Really close to Lake Tahoe.

depends on what part of the motor. Most of the top end has about 6k. Most of the bottom end has.... well, i'm not sure. bought it from a guy. but it served itself well. The 2nd gear went out so I sent CW the motor, xr600r countershaft and tranny with NX 2nd gear, and he's going to do the camshaft and hardened rockers and it already has a JE 102 piston in it. I'm hoping he can undercut the gears for a good price also.

[Ulyses]

I'm going to try and start something new and begin each post with some stats and a little progress map of the day's ride. We'll see how long this lasts.

Day 65
Cartagena, Colombia to Sincelejo, Colombia
Day's Millage: 115



I woke up at 5:30 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I ended up rewriting the post that I had accidentally deleted last night.

At around 8:00 AM I met up with Byron and Isabel for breakfast.



Can't say enough good things about these guys; they're great! If you get a chance, check out their blog: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/A...he-flying-aga/

After saying our goodbyes, I went back to the room and did some packing. I wasn't in a hurry, I just planned on not making it all the way to Medellin today. I was also pretty damn tired. Didn't end up leaving until around 10:00 AM and had to make a quick stop at auto shop to get some carb cleaner to clean out all of the WD-40 on my brakes. I've learned my lesson with WD-40 and disk brakes: mask, mask, mask before you apply! Having oily pads and disks magnifies your stopping time/distance by two!

Riding out of Cartagena was a little bit of a madhouse; apparently the roads weren't as good on the outskirts of the city as they were in the interior. Check out the elevation difference between these two lanes:



It's hard to tell, but it's almost a foot and a half high! Right off the bat one of the things I've noticed about Colombia is all of the motorcycles; there's tons of them! Still mostly 200cc and smaller; but still, they're everywhere!

After about 20 minutes of everyman-for-himself riding to get out of the city, things quieted down.......until I saw this:



Ohh no! I thought I had escaped the speed bumps/topes/tumolos/vibradores when I left Central America. Apparently they are following me so that I don't get to comfortable and actually start enjoying the riding....

I rode for about an hour then stopped for a little street-meat at a roadside stand.



I asked for a typical Colombian meal and this is what I got:



Some pork that looked like it had been cooked two days ago, some really bland and dry plantains, and a very tasty "arepa". Arepas are similar to Papusas; a big thick tortilla type bread stuffed with meat or cheese or both. I had one bite of the pork and was about to take another when I realized that they hadn't quite totally skinned the pig when they butchered it. There were still quite a few curly black hairs sticking out of the meat. I ate the arepa and got the hell out of there.

Back on the road again I began seeing another central American nemesis that seems to be haunting me:



The semi-domesticated ass! I think I saw about 20 today grazing beside the road, most of them were untethered, just waiting to jump out into the road in front of an unsuspecting gringo motociclista!

Colombia is definitely bike friendly. I had heard from numerous people that the toll booths where free for motos and had a little motorcycle lane on the far right side.



Brilliant! This needs to be instituted everywhere!

After only a few hours of riding, I was feeling done. I'm still tired from that damn boat ride and I haven't been sleeping well lately. I decided to call it a day at the next major town.

I pulled into Sincelejo and immediately saw a few likely looking hotels. The first one I stopped at was closed due to construction, but the second one said they had rooms for $50,000 pesos. Doing the rough math in my head, I figured that would be about $25 american, so I said yes.

However, after they ran my debit card and I got my receipt back, I realized that it was $150,000 pesos (about $83 american)! Snap! I totally misunderstood the lady behind the desk! Just like the space gravy incident.

Unfortunately, I was too tired to raise a fuss at this point and I dully shuffled off to my room. The Hotel is called "Hotel Boston".



To it's credit, it's almost as good as a low to mid level hotel room back in the states.....except that the hot water doesn't work. They do have a nice private garage though.



Which is only occupied by my poor little abused XRL....



I'm going to make the most out this outrageously overpriced hotel room and get some much needed sleep now. In the morning I may thrash it like a rock star and then blast out of here before the staff catch on to the fact that I threw the flat-screen TV out the window....

[laughatmyvanagon111]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

I'm going to make the most out this outrageously overpriced hotel room and get some much needed sleep now. In the morning I may thrash it like a rock star and then blast out of here before the staff catch on to the fact that I threw the flat-screen TV out the window....

Nice! Party like a rock star.

Been following along from the beginning and enjoying every adventure. Cheers!

[wbedient]

I've been accused of living vicariously through your road report.




Guilty as charged.

Keep up the great work!

[purpledrake]

Originally Posted by wbedient

I've been accused of living vicariously through your road report.




Guilty as charged.

Keep up the great work!

Hey, I thought that ACY was talking about me! PD

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

Tio Juanito,

This Marine landed with a rather green complexion and some serious dehydration issues and is now a little tuckered out....

When are you going to quit messing around in Central America and cross the Darien?

Ulyses

I was just waiting for the rain to clear out in Costa Rica and Panama and for the calm seas after Christmas. I'm only a few countries behind you. I'm sure I'll run into you again in one of the Americas.

You deserve a break. Kick back and take it easy. That was an intense bit of riding down to catch your scow, plus some unusually rough seas.

See you down the road,
Tio Juanito

[alvincullumyork]

Originally Posted by wbedient

I've been accused of living vicariously through your road report.




Guilty as charged.

Keep up the great work!

Originally Posted by purpledrake

Hey, I thought that ACY was talking about me! PD

And here I thought I was talking about me

And who started this ACY business. I'm not sure that I like it. I read it as Aceeeeee which sounds girly. I need to grow my beard out even more now.

[Tex76]

Great adventure man!! I've got a DR in the garage just begging to stretch its legs...one day..

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by Tex76

Great adventure man!! I've got a DR in the garage just begging to stretch its legs...one day..

I think a DR 650 would be perfect for this trip! I've actually seen quite a few down here being ridden by locals and cops.