All Inclusive Rad-icle Ed-venture - Around Hispaniola (Haiti & DR) on 2 wheels

Ed , I looked into buying one of those Suzuki 100' s, in Mexico, a couple years back, they were $900, brand new at the time

Ed, love you're writing style! and you're fearless nature. happened upon the impecunious ride report a several months back, liked it so much i had to go look for your other reports, finally caught up now! amazing report, and thanks for doing it.

Thanks for posting ,Ed and Rad! I've posted stuff of my own, but never thanked you for all the sharing you have done.You have a place to stay in Madison WI, any time you like. And we have a LOT of good, robust beers.

I have been reading your stuff for along time, thanks for all the work documenting it all. I just found this thread yesterday and am now completely caught up. Now I got to go find Rads thread.

Jon

Ed, I read all your reports, and I enjoyed them all. I totally envy you and your life, yet I have to acknowledge that it all boils down to choices that we make - and your choices have so far been way more adventurous than mine, and in this way you have been an inspiration for me. An inspiration to find my own way in life, if that makes sense. An inspiration to face the consequences of my choices, and definitely an inspiration to keep an open mind and a positive outlook on life and people. Well, here I am rambling; but what I really want to say is „thanks a lot!“.

It actually felt good getting back in to DR from Haiti. Haiti is a tough country to travel in. I didn't have a solid poop the whole time I was there. The people were nice enough but I was always watching my back where ever I went.......desperate people sometimes do desperate things.
Rad and I wanted to head up this road in to the mountains and do this road that actually formed the border between the two countries. Most of the roads we had ridden on in DR were paved but we quickly found out that many of the roads in the remote areas, especially in the mountain areas, are dirt.
We headed in to the mountains on these dirt roads to explore an area that I don't think too many Americans have witnessed.





We made it about 40 miles up this dirt road and I was beginning to second guess our decision to head this way. On an enduro bike, it would have been a blast. But on our clapped out bikes with absolutely no suspension damping left in the oil-less shocks, it was a challenge.
The entire way, we passed only one village. The rest of the road is pretty much unpopulated. It was at this time, Rad got his 4th flat tire. Fortunately, as luck would have it, there was a small village up the road about one half mile ahead. I am guessing the population was about 50 there. We pulled up to one of the houses and they helped us fix the flat tire. It would seem everyone in DR is an expert at repairing a flat tire on a small motorcycle.
Long story short, turned out that Rad had 2 flats - front and rear. This took over an hour to fix. By this time, it was getting dark and Rad and I figured we would ask the people at the house if they would mind if we slept there on their property.
So these videos tell the story how this family received a couple of motorcycle travelers as their guest for the night.
It was an amazing experience for all - one that can not be bought for any price.
And it just goes to show you, when something unplanned occurs, it often times turns in to a new opportunity for a Radicle Edventure.



Breakfast is served



Kids riding their motorcycles

I am really curious how long it takes one to read all 7 of my other Ride Reports ???????


https://advrider.com/f/threads/around-the-world-in-800-days.801516/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/around-the-world-ed-venn-ture-the-next-800-days.1000417/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/around-se-asia-in-80-days-my-next-edventure.1278295/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/arou...howing-the-world-is-a-friendly-place.1317807/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-...ntures-on-the-new-honda-african-twin.1350874/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/magi...na-be-no-vacation-going-deep-in-asia.1367399/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/impe...-this-a-rich-summer-on-a-tiny-budget.1385630/

i read em all.didn't keep track of the time.here and there.
thanks for the escape.

keep the shiny side up

leon

I have read them all, but did not track the time. Wait… maybe my employer knows how much time I spent browsing your RR... I'll ask the IT guy

I read them all in "catch up" mode. It took a while!

June 20 2012 til now?

What do I win other than many hours enjoying your musings!
Enjoy Thailand, while you can!

Or head back to the twins...

Yep, Ed is the only author I've ever spent eight years reading.

Good RR

Keep the rubber side down - Lalo

I have read 3 or 4 of your RR Ed, but not at one time.

I comment from time to time to give you some feed back. Hit the like button often.

I have to say generally I read your reports and think I would love to do that.

This one not so much, but it was still cooling reading it!!

After a night in the mountain with our new family, we decided to head back the way we came as it was too much for our bikes to handle if we continued on that dirt road. Frankly, the tires were not up to the task. And we couldn't afford to get any more flats along the way in this remote corner of DR.



There was definitely something in Rad's rear tire that was causing all the flats. Instead of risking more problems, we went in to the nearest town and bought a new rear tire for his bike



Heading up in to the mountains again, and after another long day on the bikes, we start looking for a place to sleep just before dark. This abandoned house provided a shelter for the night.

It takes hundreds of hours and multiply that several times over. Ed and Rad are the ultimate!

Here are my two favorite videos from our trip
It documents our border crossing from DR in to Haiti.
We got our passports stamped out with only minor bribery. That was never going to be our issue.
Our issue was going to be with the motorcycles.
The two bikes were not only not registered in our names but we didn't have any ownership documents, we didn't have license plates on our bike and we didn't have insurance.
We got to the border gate and it looked like we were going to get out of DR with the bikes but at the last second, we were stopped and asked to produce our bike papers.
At this point, Rad and I went in to our different modes to try and get thru.
They kept telling us to go back to Customs but we both refused to budge.
Rad argues with the border guy why he is allowing everyone else to go through without checking their papers. And then he starts speaking Czech just to confuse the guy. Meanwhile, I am slowly inching my way closer to the gate for two reasons :
One, to try and create a bottleneck to make sure no one can get through until we get out of the way.
And two, if the opportunity arises, I will pop the clutch and get thru the gate in to Haiti. Because, once I am thru the gate, there is nothing they can do.
Basically, we just wore them out, created too much confusion and it was just easier to just let us pass.
But then, we immediately were stopped by 3 Haitian customs guys on the other side who were watching the chaos that we were creating at the DR border gate.
Listen to our dialog with the Haitian and see how we diffused what could have been an impossible situation.



The next short video is on the Haitian side.
I went in to the immigration office to get my passport stamped in. Rad stayed with the bikes to watch our stuff. The first guy he meets asks him for money. He ignores him. Then he puts his thumb to his throat and gives him the international gesture for getting your throat slashed.
That was the first guy we met.
These guys are more typical of what you might expect in Haiti.



Enjoy the videos.
I hope you will have enough time to watch the first one. It is pretty long but it is a classic example of what to do to get thru tricky international borders when you don't have papers of plates on bikes

I liked your Air B+B accommodation in the mountains. I guess the wasps kept any potential intruder away.
I am also very curious as to which prototype MC, either the BMW or the KTM performed best on the dirt roads in the mountains. Had lots of fun watching those rides.

Those DR guys were just too frustrated with you. First I thought oh..oh when the two military guys appeared but it seemed they had more authority.
The Haitian fellow was really proud of his country and he showed it with his smile. Great videos both.

You guys are the masters at playing the game at the border crossings. Smiles and a sense of humor goes a long ways.

Disguise Logo, 300 HP at the rear wheel, ceramic Brakes