Route 66

In one of the towns I stopped in out here in the desert, I noticed that the old interstate Route 66 passed through the town.



So, I decided that Id like to ride along that road instead of the modern Route 10 that all the heavy traffic is on. I asked a few questions as to where to get onto it and pretty quickly I found myself riding along in the desert on a very nice little paved highway with the road all to myself :))



And within a few minutes of starting along the road, sure enough, a "Roadrunner" dashed across the road in front of me... I didnt hear the traditional "Beep beep" but I did have my helmet on, so I may just not have heard it :)
After that, I kept my eyes peeled... I was half expecting a Coyote to go shooting past me on the highway mounted on rocket propelled "Acme" roller skates!
But, alas, Coyote didnt put in a showing for me... No doubt he was "temporarily indisposed" by another of those frustrating and "uncomfortable" mishaps that always seem to befall the poor fellow! :)))



But I rode along the old 66 for a few hundred Km. It was a bit sad seeing all the little roadside stops that were abandoned and disintegrating along the way... I guess thats how it goes though... Change comes and old things pass away (good bad or otherwise) and new things come along to replace them.



Eventually, it was dark and the air temperature dropped down below 110degF and I decided Id camp... So, I just pulled off the highway on a flat bit of desert (no fences on this old highway), set up the tent inner on a ground sheet and got some sleep :))

Mojave Heat

Im back in the USA again.

And both the bike and I are grateful for that for the simple fact that there are no "Topes" (speed bumps) here. The darn things are every where in Mexico to keep traffic speeds down (which they do very effectively I might add). Actually, they started to fade out there in northern Mexico (Chihuahua and the other North most states) as the highways got better but they were always there.

A rolled-over truck on a highway just South of the boarder in Mexico... Actually, I saw about four of these in the space of about five hours the evening before I crossed back into the USA... Not sure why there were so many but they were "dropping like flies" !

But here in the states, the roads are wide and clean and Suuuuppeerrr Smmoooooottthhh :)

Down in Mexico Im usually about the fastest thing on the road, but up here Im definitely the slowest thing... Everyone flies along here at 120+kph. I go at about 90kph cos Ive still got that 14 tooth front sprocket on and it means the bikes top end speed is reduced by a bit...

No problem though, Im happy to take it easy :)

But Ive come up into Arizona through the Sonora desert and its hot out here!...

Saguaro Cactus




Another cactus..."Prickly Pear" This variety has a nice purple tint :)



And Im heading North and now Im in the Mojave desert and its even hotter!
The thermometer on my bike went up above the old 100degF point at about 10am in the morning... And by about 1pm it was above 115degF and it stayed around 118degF until about 7pm!

Its scorchingly hot!... I spent more than my whole regular daily food budget of $12 just on drinks trying to stay hydrated! The air is so hot that I physically can not ride with my helmet visor up... The hot air whithers my eyes instantly...
And I cant even ride around with my gloves off (which I did for a few blocks while I was in a town)... The air is so hot that with the wind pressure of riding at above about 50Kmh, it physically burns the skin on the back of my hands to the point where I cant take it!...
... Its like standing near the door of an open metal furnace!

Im thinkin Im gonna sit the heat out if its like this tomorrow and ride in the early morning and night!

We shall see I guess :))

The Pain Economy

... A follow on from the previous post... And its a long one! :))

After I stated my little truth about "Not Screwing others over", I suggested that we probably pretty much all think along these lines:
"Of course, everyone knows that!... We all learn it as kids and we mostly live by it... Some of us are better at it than others its true, but most people are pretty decent folks really"...

... But like I said, I guess I beg to differ... Well, sort of !...

First core idea is that "Life is tough for everyone"...
... And thats one thing that my travels have definitely confirmed for me: People are the same everywhere... All struggling away and doing what they can, sometimes to just manage to survive, but mostly actually "in the pursuit of happiness" whatever that means for them with their available means.

But its still a "struggle" and most people have quite a little collection of assorted stresses that they are engaged in constant "battle" with...

True enough, life is tougher for some than for others, (and Im certainly one of the luckier ones) but more or less, we are all permanently engaged in trying to keep "house and hearth together"!

But, when I think about "whats wrong with the/my world"; And believe me, this is exactly what Ive been thinking about when Ive been puzzling over all sorts of things on this trip!
I look at all these different stresses and problems we all face, and of course I find that by far, the bulk of them are human created...

Now sure, there are earthquakes and floods and droughts, but these seem to be minor compared to the overwealming supply of difficulties that are created "By people, for people"!
Just look at the news headlines every day... War here, starvation there, suicide bombers over there, geurilla warfare in that place, economic crisis over there, drug wars here, political corruption, pollution, etc. etc. And those are the really big obvious public-event type problems...
They only actually account for a tiny fraction of the day-to-day struggles we all face.

And when I "dig in" and look at any of these issues (large or small), it always turns into a long chain of "Someone does something because they want something... And someone doesnt like it, so they do something back... And someone else retaliates"... And on and on it goes!
And its all inter-linked and we are all basically spending most of our efforts actually sort of "anonymously fighting each other"! ...

... Well, Id actually guess that about half our problems were directly created by ourselves, and the other half were created by other people for us... But we also created the same number of problems for other people ourselves if you know what I mean!

And Im no different...

When I look at my own behaviours and I see that when someone does something I dont like, even a little thing, I get frustrated... And I then go do something as a result of that (though Im usually only peripherally aware of the connection)...
It happens on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and even "spiritual" if you want to take it too that level... Pretty much all my "negative" experiences result in me doing something negative in response...

And thats the biggest problem...
We are all feeding our negative energy back into the world where it goes round and round in its own little "pain economy" and causes an endless trail of suffering...

And of course it seems that with all this "pain and suffering" in the world, we have really "dug our selves a very deep hole" so to speak and we are clearly having a very hard time of getting out of it! :))

And so, despite "most people being fairly decent folks", we are all constantly contributing to "unpleasantness" for each other and it seems we are powerless to free ourselves from the "pain cycle". We are all constantly "doing unto others as was done unto us".
Its part of what I mean when I say we are not as "good" as we each like to think we are.

We all desperately need a big change! But it seems impossible to make the change...
... But thats what we need to do!

Now there is no big surprise in any of this, and its tempting to say, "Well, thats just human nature... Its always been that way and it always will be"!
... But again, I guess I "beg to differ" there!

I think I can do better than I have been doing!

So, again, I believe that the only person I can truly change is myself.
And again, Since I truly believe that, then how can I change myself to effect this so called "pain economy" ? ...
Well, specifically, I can "absorb" some of that pain that comes along in my own life and not put it back into the world where it effects others; But to do that it means that I have to learn to "Forgive"!
I need to try not to "retaliate" when "bad" things happen!
I need to accept that its happened and understand that when I react or retaliate in a negative fashion, that its just feeding the system and its gonna come back in the long run!...

Its obvious of course!...
... But Im just one little person in a world of over six billion other people, who are all caught up in the same cycle...
And so, of course it also seems kind of pointless objective with so many many other people who will simply swamp any good efforts I try to generate.
Yes, I know, it sounds like the classic Quixotic "impossible dream"!
But I choose "hope" and I actually do believe that its worth doing and that every bit makes a difference! ... and of course the biggest difference I can create will be in the circles that I move in, so the advantages, small though they may be compared to the effort, are close to home :))
... And so, Im gonna try and be a better me...

But I know too that Im just like everyone else and that I too have my fair share of "human frailties" and that I make mistakes and cant live up to "impossible standards".
And I know that life is long and that I cant possibly absorb all the "pain" that will come my way on a single day let alone the rest of my life without letting lots of it back out into the world!

... But I still do believe that I can try to put out less than I take in...
In the long run, over a whole life time (though I dont know how long that will be) I honestly think I can manage that! :)

And as for changing others... Well, I cant force others to change... I believe that any use of "force" to try to change others in the long run is flawed and so evangelising and preaching about this stuff are just not effective in my opinion.
As I said, I think the best I can do is to live by example... And, if I get asked "Why" did you do this", or "Why didnt I do that" in response to some negative experience/situation then I guess I can try to share my point of view in an honest and open way that encourages the other person to think about it... just a bit :))


... And, flawed as it may seem to others, that is some more of the "The wisdom that was gotten" for me.


It seems sort of appropriate to me that as I myself am coming full circle back to where I started my trip three years ago, that all my mental wanderings have also more or less come full circle too :)
Back to the simple premise of "Be Considerate" that we all knew all along :)))
It sounds so simple and is so obvious...

Again, I really dont know if my ramblings here have done it any justice at all ?
All I can really say is that its a simple enough idea thats virtually impossible to live by in this world!

And again, I dont expect anyone else to "get it" nor any thanks for it.
But Ive written it down and shared it with those few of you who read my blog.
So now, Im just gonna continue to "go about my business" and try to live my life as best I can :)

So, to borrow lines from John Lennon... (Though I think he was commenting on "Religion")

You may say Im a dreamer,..
But Im not the only one.
I hope some day that you'll join us...
And the world can live as one :))

My Inconvenient Truth

Like I said in a recent post there; The scenery of Mexico just isnt managing to captivate me as I ride through one more time. Both literally and metaphorically, having been here before; I more or less know "Whats around the next corner" before I get there :)
And rather than enjoying the changing scenery (which is still nice) as I ride along, I find instead that Im spending most of my time "in my head" so to speak, which in truth is what Ive been doing for large portions of this trip anyway.

But this is a little different...
In these closing days of both this long ride, and effectively my little Odyssey of the last three years, I find that Im again "looking for something"... Something that "ties it all together"... And maybe makes it all make some sort of sense for me ?

Its been a long long voyage thats absorbed me for three whole years and one way and another has cost me about one hundred thousand dollars (Yep, Real spent money!... and not including lost income) Ive visited about fifteen different countries and driven my motorbike for nearly one hundred and fifty thousand kilometres.
Ive ridden on good pavement and bad, and Ive ridden plenty of places where there was no pavement at all; Through sand, mud, stone and loose gravel, on eight lane each way highways and tiny little foot trails.
Ive ridden through torrential downpours where I could barely breath for the water in the air, and Ive ridden in howling winds that I could barely keep the bike upright or on the road. Ive ridden through frozen mud and snow and through bakingly dry deserts where again, I could barely breath from the heat. Ive ridden below sea-level and at altitudes of over 5000m.

And for all that riding, Ive seen many many things too...
From grizzly bears, lynx and wolverines to sea turtles, dolphins, monkeys, penguins, and bright green lizards.
Ive seen wild Arctic tundra and beautiful white Caribbean beaches festooned with coconut palms. Ive seen tropical jungle rivers and endless desert wastes with not a single living thing as far as the eye could see. Ive stood at ground zero of a nuclear test site, seen flowing molten lava, and walked in the footsteps of Charles Darwin.
Ive seen and met many many people from grubby little kids on the roadside playing in the mud in the middle of nowhere to gun toting drug dealers in the back alleys of big cities...

Yes, Ive been a long way, Ive seen a lot of things, and met a lot of people.
But what have I got from it?
... What is the wisdom that was gotten ???


And thats what Ive been thinking about for the last few days...
As I ride steadily back toward Vancouver I can feel the trip already starting to "dissipate", as I head back to the world of daily work and taxes and income and mortgages etc...
... And I find Im looking inside again...
Seeking some singular treasure that I can "hold on to"...
Something that Ive "won" for my self with all my literal "blood sweat and tears", that Ill value in the future...

... And Yes, I believe I have something, that works for me :)
... But actually, I dont think any of you are going to like it much!...



... And so I sit me down to write...

I can see this could easily balloon into an enormous post...
Its such a "pervasive" topic and there are so many sideline explanations that Ill want to elaborate on...
But its just too big, so I'll simply state my truth and maybe do a couple of subsequent posts on topics that Ive been thinking about recently...
So, Ill try to "contain" it and hope that it makes some sort of sense :) ...


... But; Really!... I dont think your going to like it much!
You see, its such a simple and obvious and cliche thing...

... But, in the end, I dont actually care if you like it or not... Its true for me and thats enough :)))

Note here: You see what happens when we invest that much time money and effort into something... We get really attached to the results... Even if (or perhaps, especially if!) the results are just "ideas"!


OK, So here goes...


So, if I take the sum total of all my knowledge and perceptions and experiences of my life before I started this trip...
And I add to that all the new experiences and multitude of new perceptions and associated thinking and insights etc. from this trip...
And I distil it all down and I find within it all, some "core ideas" that really matter to me and capture my "Knowledge" and my "Truth"!
And I write down those ideas in a simple little list, on a single piece of paper...
And then I metaphorically take that piece of paper and I fold it into a little paper cup...
... What "Truth" would that little paper cup hold ?

Well, you can see a lot of it in my "Navigation Guidelines" post of a month or so back... And, its no mean feat to "distil" it down even further, but in the simplest of terms, it all boils down to this...

Dont "screw others over" for your own benefit !


... "Yep, hes right" I hear you thinking... "I really dont think much of it!"
But thats because it means something different to me than it means to you!... Maybe Ive distilled it too far?

I expect you reaction goes something like this:
"Of course, everyone knows that!... We all learn it as kids and we mostly live by it...
Some of us are better at it than others its true, but most people are pretty decent folks really"...

Yes, I agree, but, well, I guess it seems to me that were just not as "good" as we like to think!

It seems that whatever "troubling" topic I turn my mind to, After Ive thought about it long enough, I eventually end up back at the same conclusion... And that is that we people are not really doing a very good job of living together! And its not for inability to do it, its due to simple lack of effort... Although the "whys" of that lack of effort are many and various.

And try as I might, I always come back to that same conclusion...

The end result is that I believe that the only person that I can really change, is myself; And that that is true for everyone else too. And, the only way I can truly, effectively, bring change to others is if they "want" to change themselves as a result of interacting with me... And that mostly comes back to one of my core beliefs that "I should lead by example!"

So then, If I truly believe that, (and I do) Then how can I change myself to have a positive effect on whatever "problem" Im currently thinking about? Answer is simple, I have to truly espouse the changes that I think are good for others and then respect that others may or may not want to change too...

Believe me, Id rather not... It will be very "Inconvenient" !

I dont think that people are gonna thank me... I dont think others will believe the things I believe... Itd certainly be far easier to go about my life as a more or less "fine upstanding pillar of the community" that I otherwise am, and lead my normal life as an average person doing what we all do in more or less the same way everyone else does...

Yes, Itd be nice to keep behaving just like pretty much everyone else.. Very "Convenient" indeed!... But, I just cant do it any more... Cos Ive thought about it and I SEE the consequences...

So, now I have to try to be "nice" just like mum and dad tried to tell me to be, but now its for real!...Bummer, cos I had my sights set on becoming a "Grumpy old man"!... And I just about had it down too! :))
And everyone else is gonna keep just "pretending" to be nice (which is how it seems things really are) and so they are all gonna keep trying to "screw me over" (Well everyone really;...Rarely specifically ME) one way and another, and I have to resist that but not do it in return...
Not gonna be easy I dare say!

I know... Im sounding like some sort of righteous religious freak or something! But its not like Im saying it because Im religious or something like that... God doesnt come into it at all!... Its just plain rational thinking... An unavoidable conclusion!

But, in the end, it is a selfish choice (Just like everyone else in the long run :) ) The simple fact is that I will feel better if I try to live as a better person... Its time to grow up!

So, Here it is again for anyone who is interested...

Dont "screw others over" for your own benefit !


...... And that, is the wisdom that was gotten!

Now I just have to do my best to live by it... And Im sure Ill fail regularly cos Im just a person like everyone else and we make mistakes... But Im really gonna be trying to do better anyway...
Wish me luck ! :)))

A few Pics

Not much goin on, but I figure I should at least post a few pictures to entertain while I spend my time ¨pulling in the miles¨ as I ride along.
Im spending lots of time in my head at the moment as usual :))





Last view of Lake Atitlan as I ride out :)

Bike fully loaded with a guitar and a spare helmet too... Nowhere for a second rider to sit though... Let alone play the guitar as I ride along :))

A recycling program at least partially implemented... Theyve collected the bottles... Now they just need to do something with them all!

Resort city (Acapulco I think)

Pacific coastal fog

Fighting Cock breeding farm

Big sculpture of ¨Dancing Dogs¨

Duck on a Stick :)

Trucks full of mangos

Dodging thunder storms in Northern Mexico

Now thats a set of horns!

My Own Back Yard

Ive been riding North through Mexico for the last four or five days now.
I decided to take the pacific coastal rout since it´ll be easier than going through all of the mountains of the central route. Ive done both routes before, so it makes little difference on that front :)

And so, I started off in Guatemala and wound my way to the boarder and then headed down toward the coast on a bit of road Id not seen in my previous travels... But that was "not to be"! it seems because within an hour I started to notice a strong earthy smell in the area as I rode along, and fifteen minutes after that, I knew why... There was a large land/mud slide that had cut the road... Actually, it was still very actively flowing with mud and rocks being washed down of the jungle hilside in a continual stream of slurry... All of course being fed by the torrential downpour that I was currently riding through!
There was simply no way through, and not likely to be any for at leat a day or two...

So, it was back the way I came and through the mountains for a while longer before I could get down to the coast on roads I had already traveled :)

And, once I was there, I rode quietly along my way.
For the first half day or so, it seemed I was in "The land of a thousand Topes" (speed bumps) and progress was slow and tiring with a constant supply of roadside dwellings and thus speed bumps every couple of hundred meters... For three or four hundred Km!!

Then it slowly changed and the Topes faded out and I was now in "The land of a thousand curves"... I remembered this section of road from my previous trip andf it was REALLY nice riding :))
And it was this time too, but I have to say it was a little less enjoyable because I was all tired out from the speed bump riding... It was at the end of a very long day (12 hr in the saddle), and to top it off I was on the edge of running out of gas!... But it was never the less great fun, and there were no "chicken strips" left on my tires at all as I carved my way through the curves with barely a glance at the surounding coastal views...
Id have to say this is the second most enjoyable section of road riding in the whole trip... Several hours of very "sporting" curves :)))

And the day finally came to an end and I managed to find a road-side gas stop to get me through to the next town where there was a gas station... And then I found a dingy little hotel to flop my spent body down in and spend a sweaty and uncomfortable night getting only mediocre rest for the night :) ... But it was a good day none the less :)).

And this morning I was up and on my way again.
And now the curves were finished and Ive moved into another region Id call "The land of a thousand Plantations"... Plantations everywhere, with all the "usual suspects" of coconut, banana, mango, papaya, and lemon etc.. Its actually mostly pretty dull riding today, but its made more so by the heavy haze of sticky salt fog that is all along the coast here. It makes everything clamy but not actually wet, and the clammyness is exagerated by the hot tropical feel of things anyway... Visibility is down to about four or five Km, and I have to stop and clean off my helmet shield every two hours because it just becomes a blurry mess with the salt.

And so, I am making good progress along Mexico's Pacific coast... Actually, I think they should probably call it Mexicos "Resort" coast since there is a constant stream of large resort towns/cities every few hundred Km for its entire length. Huaitulco, Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zehuatenejo, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas...

But, Im not particularly interested in the resorts or the beaches at the moment...
But then again, Im finding that Im not that interested in much of any of it!... It seems that Ive been sort of "inoculated" to just about all of it for the time being... Ive been through here more than once...
I remember when I was first heading South from Canada, and then I crossed the US/Mex boarder for the first time into this "exotic land of the unknown"... It was all very exciting and challenging back then.
But, now, on the other end of three years of riding my motorbike through the Americas and visiting fifteen different countries, each with its own "colours and flavours", I have to say that "good old Mexico" seems pretty ordinary to me... Almost like its "my own back yard" :)

Yep, I think its time this trip comes to an end... Im ready for a change :)

An Interesting Morning

Well, Ive been having an interesting morning with my bike...

Its basically running well enough, though it definitely prefers me to use the higher octane fuel that the lower octane stuff here in Mexico...
When I use the low octane stuff, the motor sounds very clunky and Im sure its bad for it in the long run.

But, more importantly, the bike has started leaking oil again, quite badly!
Its coming from the same place it always does which is an oil seal behind the front drive sprocket for the chain.
Now, in the past I have found that the oil leaks from here when it gets very old (the oil), and so a change of oil does the trick... But not this time! You see, its the original seal and its now done about 150,000Km and the seal really has had enough... Now, I did ask the mechanic shop to change this seal befor I started this trip, but they forgot, and so I just got given the seal and figured Id do it when I changed the front sprocket on the trip...
But, when I did that in Bolivia, I had such a challenge building the sprocket and replacing it that I too forgot about the seal.

and so, its finaly caught up with me :)))

Now, the problem with this seal is that I dont have a socket big enough to get the front sprocket nut off... So, I have to go to a mechanic to do it...
Which is what I did this morning, after the bike used almost a litre of oil yesterday!
OK, so we got the front sprocket off easily enough, but getting the old seal out after that took about an hour with all sorts of pliers and wires and hooky bits etc... It was way harder than it should have been!

Old seal out!

But, once it was out (and totaly destroyed!), it was all good and I started trying to seat in the new one... after 15 minutes of trying to tap the new one in, Id bent it and it was also destroyed!... Not Good!

... But fortunately, I had a second spare...
So, after about an hour more of "gently" trying to get this one in without damaging it... and another 20 minutes of the mechanic trying (with me making sure they didnt use force and damage the new seal...
We were all out of ideas...

And, it was then that I noticed in amongst all the caked on greasy mud that there was an extra little bolt!... No, two of them...

... You IDIOT!!!...

And once the mud was scraped away, the solution became obvious :)
There was a thin metal bracket bolted over the top, holding the seal in place and we had not yet removed it!! Sounds obviouse I know, but all I can say is that it definitely wasnt!

Front sprocket drive shaft with seal removed...

But with seal retaining bracket still in place... Can you spot the hidden bolt head under the muck??

Anyway, after removing this bracket, the new seal went in easily and the bracket was put back on, and then the clutch mechanisme was replaced (along with a search for missing ball-bearings with a magnet... Succesfull thank heavens)... and it was all back together.

So, I spent about three hours today working on the bike.
Hopefully it doesnt leak oil any more, but I wont know till this evening...

So, its back on the road to find out! ;)))