RTW 2005-?

Over dinner with a couple of friends a few weeks before our departure, we mentioned that we wanted a motto for our trip but we're having a difficult time coming up with one that we liked. They suggested something like "the friendship expedition". We liked it but thought it might be a little presumptuous. After the experiences we've had over the past several weeks, it may be an appropriate motto.Deb's last day at work was July 6, David's was June 30. We had to be out of our house by noon on July 8. After months of selling, packing and giving things away we finally saw the end in sight.

We opted to take a path that would follow the Missouri river more or less. It seemed fitting since this is the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that took place from 1804-1806.We stayed in London, Ontario for four busy days at David's mom's apartment. Both motorcycles had their 18,000 mile service performed at Wolf BMW and David's bike received a new rear tire. We unpacked all our bags and left quite alot of things in David's mom's storage locker. One of the things left behind was the MP3 player.

For a second we thought, maybe this is not the road that we will be traveling on but then we saw a map with a gravel section labled "The Hill". The last two times Deb dumped her bike were during the dirt bike training while practicing turning on a steep hill and then in eastern Montana on the gravel road. Now we would be combining the two for an extra challenge.After leaving Glacier National Park in Montana, we rode north on the east side of the park, crossing in to Alberta, Canada and Waterton Lakes National Park.

After leaving Vancouver Island, we rode the Trans-Canada highway to Cache Creek through the Frazer River and Thompson River canyons. This part of British Columbia is very dry, turning to desert as we rode east. The scenery was spectacular with various hues of tan and brown with a blue river bordered by train tracks on both sides.After leaving Vancouver Island, we rode the Trans-Canada highway to Cache Creek through the Frazer River and Thompson River canyons. This part of British Columbia is very dry, turning to desert as we rode east.

Well, I guess it is my turn to do some writing. I am sitting beside our tent on a beautiful sunny day in Bryce Canyon National Park listing to Jimmy Buffet while Deb has an afternoon nap. There is an occasional waft of smoke drifting through the campground. On our ride back to the campground we saw more than a little smoke from a fire a few miles to the south-west. I'm sure that the park rangers will let us know if we need to leave the area!

We crossed the border into Mexico at Douglas, Arizona. The border crossing was easy, we had to temporarily import our motorcycles into Mexico and buy insurance but aren't exactly sure what it covers. We met two guys on their way to the travelers meeting in Creel. We met up with them again later that evening in Nuevo Casas Grande, a town about 150 miles south of the border. There are many fair-skinned, light-haired, Mormon and Mennonite farmers in the area and we felt like we were in the USA midwest at times.

Cathedral in San Cristobal Del Las Casas

Dave, Deb, Elke, Lyel, Eric

We spent New Year's Eve in Panama City. We didn't do anything special, just stayed in our hotel and at midnight we watched the fireworks from our bathroom window. A couple of days later, we visited the Panama Canal and got to see a couple of ships go through the locks. We were surprised at how small the canal was in comparison to it's importance as a major shipping channel. It appeared to be the width of a two-lane highway. The ships were huge, weighing hundreds of tons and completely filled each lock.

Our security guard while we went shopping

Quito is a pleasant capitol city, busy but not too crazy. The area of the city called Old Town dates from the early 1500's, the time of Spanish rule. There are many beautiful colonial building and plazas. On Sunday's the city is very quiet and many of the streets in the Old Town are closed to traffic so we spent a day site-seeing on foot.

Peruvian desert

The trip down the coast of Peru from Chiclayo along the Pan-American highway was a quick and easy ride to the city of Trujillo, the third largest in Peru. We cruised into town and headed toward the Plaza de Armas, the central plaza of this city founded by the Spaniards in 1535.

Cathedral in Trujillo, Peru

Hummingbird - Nazca, Peru

The last two weeks have contained some of the best riding we've had on our entire trip. Each day was a delight.

The border crossing into Chile was breathtaking. The fact that it was over 16,000 feet may have had something to do with it!

Flamingos on the Chilean Altiplano

Small town on the Pampa

We spent a few days in Bariloche walking the streets enjoying the scenery and friendly people. Dave felt that he could easily settle there. It offered great features like sailing, hiking, skiing, beautiful views and good weather most of the year. It was Fall however and the weather was getting quite chilly. We decided that continuing south would have to be left for a future date.

Since we've been back in Canada for a few months, we thought it was time to give an update on what we've been up to. Our motorcycles are still in Argentina and we have had to cope without them. We are reading with envy the blogs of other motorcycle travelers still on the road.

We left Canada in mid-November and flew back to Mendoza, Argentina to pick up our motorcycles. Our friends Juan Pablo and Juan Luis were both out of town but Juan Luis made arrangements to have his girlfriend Ampora take us to pick up our motorcycles at the cement company where they were stored. Mendoza had a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in September so we expected that they might be sitting at the bottom of a pile of rumble. Instead, the only sign of disturbance was the arm of a manequin laying on the floor between the two motorcycles.