Oregon to Ushuaia on an XR650L

[Plasterman]

Bryce

Gotta love fiesty little kids. Reminds me of throwing snow balls at cars when we were young. I got chased down once and the shit scared out of me so bad, that I never did it again.



Out of curiosity. What were the ladies saying about you?










Tom

[Romanousky]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

No, it's not hardwired. As far as I know, SPOT doesn't even have a power cord for it. If you use lithium batteries, it will last for a couple of weeks, even on progress track mode. Unfortunately, lithium batteries are a little harder to find down here. They may be easier to find in Chile and Argentina, but I can't comment on that.....yet. I would recommend bringing along a large stash of lithiums. They're really light and they don't take up much space. If you use alkaline, you'll only get a couple of days out of it.

Another thing: make sure you set up a spotwalla page. The SPOT website will only save your progress track for a few days before it starts to recycle the old data. Spotwalla.com will save your tracks from the entire trip! It's a little complicated to set up, but definetly worth it. I didn't find out about it till colombia and wish I had known about it earlier.

One final note: make sure your SPOT is attached to your person and not your bike. When my buddy Justin got hit by a truck in El Salvador, he landed at least fifty feet away from his bike (and his SPOT which was on his handlebars). He had a serious compound fracture and if he had been alone and out in some remote location, he would have had a hell of a time getting back to his SPOT to hit the SOS. Use the little wrist band that comes with your SPOT of have someone make you a mount that you can attach to your riding gear.

Hope that helps! If you need some more information, don't hesistate to ask!

Thank you sir! I'll look into the spotwalla stuff. Are you planning on riding home or are you going to sell or ship the bike from down yonder? Best of luck

[purpledrake]

Originally Posted by ONandOFF

I'm telling you, you're blasting through Ecuador too fast!

That's my advice,

Stay safe

Sounds like very good advice!

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by Plasterman

...Gotta love fiesty little kids. Reminds me of throwing snow balls at cars when we were young. ...

When we'd come through those mountain roads around Christmastime, the kids would hold up a rope across the road when they saw us coming. When they saw no signs of us stopping for them, they'd drop the rope and we'd run right over it. Some parents could sometimes be seen hiding in the bushes or over the ledge. I heard they made that practice illegal so my guess is that the parents don't go with the kids to look for donations, and kids left to their own devices have upped the ante.

I'm surprised Bryce didn't chase the kids down himself, or at least the one who hit him!

Originally Posted by Plasterman

...What were the ladies saying about you?

I too was hoping he'd get around to telling us about that!

Me imagino algo asi, "Que guapo y grandote ese gringo... me da miedo pero al mismo tiempo me fascina..."

[Ulyses]

Day 84 (January 7, 2013)
Cuenca, Ecuador to Tambo Grande, Peru
Day's Ride: 312 Miles





Lots of riding today and not many stops for pictures. Left Cuenca at 8:00 AM and made tracks for the border at Macara. The entire ride out of Ecuador today was curves, curves, curves! Unfortunately, the weather continued to be uncooperative.....





Still, there were opportune breaks in the clouds which allowed for beautiful vistas.





The entire route to Macara consisted of descending into deep mountain valleys, then climbing up to dizzying passes. To give you a picture of the elevation changes that we experienced today, at one point I was over 11,000 feet; however, by the end of the day, we had descended to 300 feet above sea level.


Around noon the weather began to clear up and we were rewarded with beautiful blue skies and warm weather.





The roads in Ecuador have been consistently the best of the entire trip. I was a little surprised; however, I haven't found a single significant pothole or obstruction on any main road. The views continued to be amazing.






....and the roads continued to be pristine.....





....until we hit road construction!





In all fairness, a little bit of gravel was a welcome change after riding pristine pavement all day.

We arrived at the border with Peru around 4:00 PM. Once again, things were "muy tranquilo", and we were done with whole process in about 30 minutes. It's amazing how easy things are down here compared to Central America.

Here's "migracion" on the Ecuador side:





And here's the "aduana":




I forgot to get pictures of the Peru side, but it was all very similar. Once into Peru, the road leveled out and the temperatures heated up.





Before long, we had descended to 300 feet. The roads continued to be nice; however, the locals were burning a lot of trash, and the smell, combined with the terrain and the heat started bringing back memories of Afghanistan.

Eventually we arrived in Tambo Grande. Their welcome sign was entertaining:





Literal translation: "Smile, you're in Tambo Grande".


There weren't a lot of hotel options, and no one seemed to have wifi; however, we found an upscale place that let us camp in their yard for 20 Soles.





This is only the third time that I've camped on this trip since I left the States. Still, I'm glad I brought my gear. Hopefully I can start using it more to save money. That's all for tonight; it's been a long day.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by huzar

I hope to run into you in Peru and buy you a beer or three...

Been following this ride report for a couple of months now, and it has not disappointed. I'll be flying in to Arequipa on Thursday, and riding north to meet Hewby, and then riding with her.

Nice! Hit me up when you get in; I'm sure we'll probably cross paths. Were is hewby these days? Bubbletron told me that she was in Medellin trying to get her bike fixed.

[huzar]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

Nice! Hit me up when you get in; I'm sure we'll probably cross paths. Were is hewby these days? Bubbletron told me that she was in Medellin trying to get her bike fixed.

She's got her bike sorted out, and just crossed into Ecuador today. I'm she and I will meet somewhere around Lima on the 14th, and then we'll take our time meandering back to Arequipa. I'll post up more details closer to the date.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by ONandOFF

I'm telling you, you're blasting through Ecuador too fast!
Stay safe

Man, I would love to spend a ton of time in Ecuador, but time and money are the two factors that I'm fighting against right now. I have to start going south a little faster, or I'll run out of both.

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by Plasterman

Bryce

Out of curiosity. What were the ladies saying about you?


Tom

You know, the usual: "Man, that guy is ugly. He really needs to shave that beard. And he smells so bad! He should take a shower!"

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by pdxmotorhead

Just read the whole thing.. in one sitting..

All I can say is your living the dream, never pass these adventures up..

Ride safe and keep up the reports PLEASE>>>


Dave.

One sitting?! Man, that's some dedication! I'm honored!

[Ulyses]

Originally Posted by ONandOFF

I'm surprised Bryce didn't chase the kids down himself, or at least the one who hit him!

I was about too, but right as I turned around, the cops showed up and the kids split..

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

...The roads in Ecuador have been consistently the best of the entire trip. I was a little surprised; however, I haven't found a single significant pothole or obstruction on any main road. The views continued to be amazing....

Well, they have rebuilt all those main roads en la sierra over the last three to four years. I guess they are still on it but last time we were there we went through several construction areas on the very roads you were on, as well as others. They were laying concrete. In general I prefer asphalt between the two but I'll take good concrete over damaged asphalt any day.

I can remember driving on roads there where I was continually weaving around potholes. That section in Manabi between Santo Domingo and Portoviejo in particular was a real doozy! Had to keep it slow, like 25mph, to weave through that minefield... I'll never forget how disappointed I was with their lack of maintenance and apparent concern. That time was like five years ago; I bet it's rebuilt to pristine now.

Just for you!

[PDX Alamo]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

You know, the usual: "Man, that guy is ugly. He really needs to shave that beard. And he smells so bad! He should take a shower!"

Are you sure, how good is your spanish?

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by Ulyses

I took the opportunity to sleep in this morning....which means I was up at 7AM doing my best to be loud and obnoxious and wake up all of the hungover Wasteoids who woke me up last night at 2AM.

I also found this sick DR650 police bike:



Unfortunatley, they wouldn't let me sit on it. As we were leaving in the taxi, I took a picture of this cop:
Unfortunately. he saw the flash go off and came over to the cab in a rage, demanding me to give him my camera. I used a little slight-of-hand to remove the memory card ...

Nothing more annoying than idiots turning in late and making noise as if no one else is sleeping, and nothing more satisfying than the revenge of waking them at normal morning hours.


Here I am riding (yes, RIDING) a KLR650 Police motorcycle in the city of Guayaquil:


That's a BWDR shirt, for anyone who knows what that is


I hope you've learned how to turn the flash off! Besides stealthier, the battery lasts longer.
Of course, if I hadn't set my flash off on this camera, my daughter would have gotten a much crisper picture of me here at night...

[Ulyses]

Day 85 (January 8, 2012)
Tambo Grande, Peru to Huanchaco, Peru
Day's Ride: 310 Miles



Nothing. But. Desert.

It was actually refreshing to get back into the barren waste. I've spent so much time in the last five years in deserts that it felt like coming home. In fact, the moonscape quality of the terrain, combined with the constant smell of burning trash, and the scouring wind blown sand had me thinking that I was back in.......Twentynine Palms, CA! You thought I was going to say Afghanistan, didn't you?



Today was all straight, flat, and fast. I was wishing for my Harley or some other 1000+ cc, dual cylinder machine that could cruise at 100 MPH down the straight, wind blown stretches of pavement. Unfortunately, I was stuck with XR, which really hits its groove when you are cruising at 65 MPH.

Leaving Tambo Grande, I filled up with the Peruvian version of Supreme: Gasohol 95.



That's right, they don't church it up down here; they call it what it is: Gasohol. Back in the states, they just stamp a tiny, incomprehensible little sticker on the pump that says: 10% Ethanol, and hope that you don't notice. But here, they're proud of their ethanol! All of the gas is loaded down with Ethanol. Consequently, even with 95 octane, I was only getting 35 miles to the gallon. I even saw a few stations that were selling 97 octane! That stuff must be straight moonshine mixed with a little bit of gas for the flavor. Sheesh!

The other ironic thing about their top grade fuel is the color.



It's blue! I know that you probably can't tell from this picture, but they add a blue die to it! I've been riding around all day with a blue gas tank! How embarrassing.

As I said before, nothing but flat, fast desert today.....



Mixed in with the occasional hundred acres of roadside trash.....



It's a real shame. This country could be so beautiful if they would just make the effort to bury there garbage. Or maybe just dump it a little farther out into the desert.

I also managed to try "Inca Kola" for the first time today.



Unless you really love bubblegum flavored soda, I would steer clear of this stuff.

Around noon we made a little pit stop at an abandoned building along side the road.



As I was stretching my legs on the backside of the building, I found a little road....



I figured that it might be worth following for a little ways, just to break up the monotony and add a little adv to the adv ride. Little did I know that it would lead us to the Sahara!



The road was eventually washed over by some massive dunes! I considered stopping and turning around, but then said: "To hell with it!", and buried the throttle, and turned off the road. I was just able to keep the pig afloat in the sand. Skirting the dunes, I made tracks along their periphery until I was hopelessly stranded about a kilometer from the road. I figured that this would be a good place for some pictures.





The XRL would probably be perfect for this type of terrain.....if it wasn't loaded down with 100 lbs of extra gear and clad with Perrelli Scorpions. What I would have done for a set of knobbies and zero baggage!

After picture time, I managed to float the pig out of the loose stuff and onto some slightly more crusty sand. Still, everywhere I pointed the nose seemed to be at least six inches deep. Getting much beyond second gear was impossible with all of the extra weight and inappropriate tires; still I managed to have a good time horsing around through the desert. Coming back towards the road, bubbletron managed to grab a few photos of me having fun.







Even with all of the extra weight, the XRL was still handling like a champ. I had to really muscle it to get it to bite in the turns, but it eventually came around after I threw my weight into it...



....and stuck my foot out for a little extra counter balance.

After spending about a half an hour burning out my engine, we got back on the road.



Eventually we made it to the outskirts of Trujilo and took the cut off towards the ocean and the town of Huanchaco.



Found the Nay Lamp Hostal thanks to lonely planet. For 10 Soles they will let you camp in their back yard.



And it's only a block from the beach.



I think that tomorrow may require a little beach riding on the way out of town....