That was Stupid!

Bill, Cathy, Ken and Pat were all from Canada (the Okanagan valley to be more precise) and they were a really friendly group of people (I´m very glad I ran into them) They listened to my sad story about the "shake down" of that afternoon. Bill agreed that the second wallet solution was the normal aproach and that I should not need to pay more than about $10-20 in the worst case (were I realy did do something totally illegal). Anyway, I was plied with beers ... ouch my rubber arm :)... and then they wanted to buy me dinner at one of the little roadside joints in the town that night too. I was grateful and the dinner was good but only cost about $7 per person so I didn´t end up feeling badly over obligated to them (although very grateful of course).

Next morning the four Canadians headed out to go fishing in Bills 16 foot boat and I said I´d head South for a day trip and see some more coastal villages.
But I immediately changed my mind and headed North to see some of the coast I had skipped while I brooded over the shakedown yesterday. I also left most of the luggage on my bike since it seemed more secure there than leaving it in the back yard at Bills place. I also didn´t take any water ... All these things would haunt me later that day.

I rode North until I came to a side road that my map indicated led to some out of the way villages. The map indicated dirt roads and I had about enough fuel to get in and out, so I confirmed my direction with the locals and headed for the coast.
There were about 35Km of dirt road that was in pretty good condition (This is good since it would probably filter out many of the tourists). Then there was another little village and I asked the kids in the street where to go for the village I wanted to get to. No worries. I headed off again and the road immediately started to deteriorate significantly. I could tell that it got very little use but as yet, it was fine to ride along. I rode on steadily and the road wound along through the hills and there were some streams to cross and some rain ruts in the road and a few boulder sections but nothing I couldn't handle. Then after about 10Km the road headed down steeply for the coast ...Again I could ride it OK.

From here though the condition of the trail got real bad and the switchbacks were steep and the rain ruts (along the road not across) got to be little rivers of about 50cm deep. It was getting a little "out of hand" but I couldn´t find a place to turn the bike around (too steep and narrow). I started to have little zero-speed fall overs because of the ruts and loose boulders kicking out from under the bike. I was also sweating buckets in the heat while straining to keep the big heavy bike (glad I had all my luggage!) upright.
After about an hour of struggle and many little tumbles, I gave up and had a little "sit" by the road and decided what to do! I could definitely not keep going down (the track was getting even worse) and I probably couldn´t manage to turn the bike and ride it back up without help, and I ABSOLUTELY NEEDED to get water very soon!
So, I decided to leave the bike where it was and walk down the last 1Km or so to the village I was headed for. I did this in a bit of a daze since I was so dehydrated and as soon as I got to the township I bought and swallowed a litre of water. Then another one, and then I tried to figure out how to get help with my bike or the luggage at least.

It turned out to be a tricky problem and I was not going to solve it that day (2pm) since the Mexicans don´t do things quickly. I also couldn´t contact Bill and the others to tell them I was OK...And they thought I went South not North... And it seemed I was not going to get help without shelling out about $100 since this was a "boat access only" resort very near PuertoVallarta and the locals were used to getting "big coin".... bummer!
I did find a friendly local and I got a room to stay the night for a reasonable rate but it was a very sweaty 20 minutes up the hillside. After a very cheap taco meal with the locals and lots more drinking of water, I went up the hill in the dark and spent quite a while "Thinking about what I had done!" in my open air room before falling asleep :))

Next day I was somewhat recuperated and got some extra fuel and some water before I headed back up to see if the bike situation was as bad as I remembered it the day before.
It certainly was not great..
It took me 20 min just to get the bike turned around by stripping off the luggage and laying the bike completely over and dragging at the ends of the bike to twist it around. It already had the two front indicators broken from yesterdays efforts and now it had some big scratches to match!  :)

Anyway, I eventually got it faced in the right direction and managed to get it about 100m up the track to a place where I could reload the gear. I did that and then started to try riding it up the hill.... The only way I could manage this was to paddle most of the way with my feet out to the sides. This was slow hard work with the heavy bike and I had to "ride the clutch "ike a son of a bitch!". This should be no problem since the hydraulic clutch is really hard burn out theoretically - Turns out though that there is something wrong with that theory since the clutch started to slip baddly!
I adjusted the cable as best I could but it didn´t help that much. Fortunately though, the track was getting better again and I could let the big V-twin engine chug slowly through the tricky bits. I was also able to ride with my feet on the pegs for most of the way now (weight balanced carefully and crouched forward to balance between the ruts and boulders).
So, after a while longer,I made it out - just. And then I made it back to the highway and off to Bill and Cathys place... But it had been a close call and it was my own fault due to a chain of bad choices...
Leason learned...

"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."
"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."
"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."
"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."
"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."
"I must not ride alone without fuel or water on a heavily loaded bike down dead end 4wd roads having no way to contact people and with them thinking I went in the other direction..."

etc...