Nunca haremos un giro a la izquierda! (Mexico to the Translab ....)

Well I was trying to learn Spanish for this trip and have been struggling with my words for left (in particular!) and right ... hence the title thread the Spanish teacher said it was a good idea and another ride report was born over a bottle of Negra Mondelo!

This is the fourth instalment of a series of trips celebrating the fact i can still do this!

2015 - Burning Man and Beyond - http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/burning-man-and-beyond-three-months-in-the-us.1081126/

2016 - Iceberg Dead ahead! - http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/iceberg-dead-ahead.1144880/

2017 - OK I read the rules, so I am going to NZ (on and off) for a year! - http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...im-going-to-nz-on-and-off-for-a-year.1198148/

Sadly the last trip ended very badly for the bike and a little badly for me. However like a phoenix rising from ashes of despair a new trip was planned! Had I not trashed the bike on New Zealand's lovely South Island, we would be heading for Morocco now but as I did, I needed a new bike and a good one came up in LA and Mrs Peter640 expressed interest in the Americas again! Who was I to say no ... Europe and Morocco will keep!

Mrs Peter 640 in Alaska ..



So in 10 days time this tragic wreck ....


Is replaced with this shiny new (well new to me!) ride ... at last one that isn't red!!



In heavy pre trip planning for the next few days and hitting LA in on 21 April!

The loose plan is to settle in and fettle the bike before Mrs Peter640 arrives and we head to Mexico (down the Baja and crossing over to the "mainland" to slaughter the language for a few weeks), then head north via the national parks for a wedding in Fernie BC, I will then head east for the Translab and a beer with DaMurph and the Ottowa Yobbos (if your watching!).

Excited and time poor as usual to get ready! The perfect time to start the RR!

Looking forwards to catching up with old friends and new!

What is that around Mrs. P's neck???

Ah we met a trapper / tour guide on the road up to Deadhorse who had a bunch of skins and furs he was showing to his tour group. I think he preferred us to them and he took a shine to Julie so I think that is a wolf pelt (? or coyote!) he draped on her! Any bad jokes about dogs will only get me into trouble!

We did see the living cousin on the road up there ... look closely at his mouth and he has had a successful hunt!



Gotta love the wildlife up north in the US and Canada.

Peter

So the plan for this years expedition is 4.5 months stating in LA, running down Baja, crossing at La pAz for Mazatlan, then working our way south, may be as far down as to Oaxaca before we run N again via Copper Canyon and recross into the US.

The Julie wants to see the National Parks of the West Coast so Joshua Tree, Death Valley, up into the Sierras, Yosemite, The grand Tetons and Yellowstone before we migrate back towards Washington State and Vancouver Isle. A short dash to Glacier and into Fernie for a wedding at the end of July! All doable weather and fire permitting at that time of year!

I then get a month solo to bolt east for the Translab before descending down NL, into NS across to PEI and after that back to park the bike in Ottowa via Gaspe!

For me the big unknowns are Mexico, so I have bought the lonely planet and will be talking to anyone who has travelled there and the Translab where weather will determine so much!

Right now I am alternating between finishing work for such a long time, packing, getting the house ready for the person who will move in for a few months whilst we travel and making sure the kids are all ok! Oh I didn't mention that we are officially EMPTY NESTERS! As youngest girl child fled the nest, but not the $ nipple! and went to Canberra Uni to study this year! So this trip is a chance to go and see the world whilst we are still young and fit enough!

I am also pushing to finish a bike build project which has run overdue (as these things are want to do!) should hit the dyno next Tuesday just in time to be stored for 4 and 1/2 months! More on that later! Not quite and Adv bike!

And whilst getting ready we had some wonder Ottowonians come see us! So J and i took them up the coast for a ride ...

For those that know Oz we ran up Thunderbolts Way and down the Oxley before having a few days in and out of South West Rocks. We did a loop out through Dorrigo and dropped back down to Kempsey on the old Armidale Road which was very green and pretty when we passed through! I put one shot of the GPs in as it looked like we were riding through a small intestine!

Ryan and I hit out for a 600k day through Wombeyen Caves and up to Jenolan Caves ... only to be interrupted with a ripped back tyre on the 1200 and riding through some back burning!

Great country and a good chance to get match fit before the big ride! Pies and beer training!

The old Bulga Convict Tunnel!


You could feel the heat here!

Sharp stones and worn tyres are a bad combo ... I had to limp 70k back not Oberon to get the tyre sorted as the rip was too nasty for plugs to do much ....

Love this shot of Ryan on the Blue Pig in the smoke haze!
back

Woo hoo airport here I come! Slightly daunted by volume of bags!

However riding gear for me and camping gear for two in here!!

Ye ha! Four and a half months of Mexico, Canada and the US!

Sitting at Union Station waiting ona train! Lost my US sim so no data so no Uber!! Still a first world problem!

Farewell Oz!


Great Barrier Reef from 30000ft


Scary Korean multifunction loos!


Here!

Welcome committee hung the flag up just for me!



Love it when those bags also made an appearance and hadn’t burst open!

Ah beer! The constant cure for jet lag!

Excellent day yesterday watching Moto GP at a movie theatre in downtown LA. A couple of beers at Mt Baldy and an early night for Bike fetteling and a shake down ride ....

Brilliant morning again and time to meet the new ride!

Quick wash then fitting up the tank bag and roo stickers!

Welcome!

Thanks!

Nice day sorting Bike out and getting acquainted up in the hills behind Claremont.

First some decoration!



Then the starting miles ...



Then the hills!

Great hills!

Ended up here for a cuppa

Amazing days riding on HW2 topped by a birthday party being gate crashed by a bear!!

Bloody hell!

Well some catching up to do!

I left LA yesterday morning nice and early to blitz out of the City and traffic! Only so much fun on I15 and I was in Las Vegas by 11 only to have. Mini navigational adventure in road works!!

Thanks to a random meet at a gas station with a nice couple I pulled off the main roads and rode thru the Valley of Fire SP. really amazing country and getting warm!

Crazy wide open spaces:


Ah bends at last!


The big girl posing for Bike porn!


Amazing rock structures!

The time for culture, cool petrographs petroglyphs on some of the rock faces ....



Back into the desert

Stopped at the Lost City museum

I said to the lady at museum “it’s a bit warm” to be told yep “ hottest day so far this year” ... it got hotter! Last 125 miles were all over 100 degrees!