The bikes are running well, luggage has taken a beating in the past week of
rough roads!! God damn the XR 600R is the only bike for me for a south american
adventure! We rode thru some real muddy dirt roads, I mean muddy, we were out
in the boonies!! One day we decided to get off the pavement and cut off about
80 kilometers of raod, however, the roads we wound up on took over 4 1/2 hours
to ride about 60 miles!! the chickens, the pigs, the cattle, the agricultural
land where many people were out and about working the fields, others hiding from the heat under shade, the rain was on and off, one series of pot holes and mud puddles were larger and deeper than I
had expected, I rode into it at about 35 miles an hour, started to take flight,
then agian, the luggage moving slightly but A.O.K, then snap, one of my metal
straps broke! I stopped to fix it with some bungees, and strapping, before I
knew it I had a few kids standing around me watching, Ed and Jim, in the
meantime, were well ahead of me, the kids multiplied, people started coming out
of their houses from the woods and from down the road, before I knew it I
looked up from my repairs and well over 25 people were standing all around me,
gaulking, kids smiling, The thumbs up works real well in this
country(definately an universal sign of `Totaly Good`!) The girls laughing and
intrigued by the gringo, by the moto, by the luggage, by all of it! I was
repaired for the time being and split, waved and the dozens stood there untill
I was out of site! Continuing down the road, the puddles got bigger & deeper, the ruts more numerous, the animals more prevelant, the palm trees, the fields of sugar cane, the rustic homes, women pulling water from a bucket drawan well, the kids playing soccer, the embanked curves, more throttle thru the deep sandy sections in the road, weaving the potholes and the ruts, the music pumping thru my head, the adrenaline pumping thru my veins, weighting my footpegs for more traction and better steering, the balding skidding rear wheel was at times barely holding on, however the XR
was meant for this road, we were back to our roots.......
oh yeah....XRS only BABY!!