A Travel Story by Grant Guerin and Julie Rose
This is the beginning of our Journey.... well the beginning bit after the more than 12 months planning anyway!
Freight to Date
Freight cost for DL 1000 Suzuki V Strom ex Cairns Australia to Vancouver AUS$885.00 plus discharge and handling fees at arrival to be advised.
We would like to take this opportunity to say a big Thank You too everyone who has supported us and helped us with the mammoth task of preparing for this trip.
WE MADE IT...Well we both arrived in Vancouver safe and sound after a long trip from Cairns, stopping with Joanne and Rae in Sydney and then stopping again in Taipei.
The run across to Jasper was uneventful, both of us full of colds, that will teach us for going to Alaska! *Laugh*Jasper is a very trendy ski village, although still remains quaint and plesant. We stayed in a Home Stay - which is like a Bed and Breakfast without the breakfast. The proprietors moved their car out of the shed so the bike could have a warm bed too!
After passing the Emerald Lake we stopped for a breakfast/brunch/lunch at Carcross where we met Jo and Graham on a BMW from New Zealand who were traveling with Mark and Lisa, also on a BMW from New Mexico. They had just gotten off the ferry from Skagway and we spent some time chatting with them and getting the low down on the ferry trip we were to make in the next few days.
The ride down to Skagway is one of the most stunning and awesome roads we have been on so far.
Welcome to the first National Park in the world YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK established in 1871.
About 640,000 years ago a massive volcanic eruption, at what is now know as Yellowstown National Park, spewed an immense volume of ash that covered all of the western United States, much of the Midwest, northern Mexico and some areas of the eastern Pacific and left a caldera 30 miles wide by 45 miles long.
Yellowstone to Rapid City and lots in between.
Leaving Yellowstone through Roosevelt and the North East Gate we head up through the Bear Tooth Pass and down through Buffalo Bill Cody country, across the Big Horn Pass and into Sundance (yes, yes it is where The Kid got his name).
After two hot days (40 degrees C) riding we came to Devils Tower, made famous in the 1977 Steven Speilberg movie Close Encounters of the Thid Kind.
So leaving Rapid City we had a look at Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, they were amazing.
We headed through Newcastle - not in New South Wales! - and stopped for lunch in Donnas Kitchen.... where... yet again... Julie announces her birthday was only a few days away and was spoilt with the most delicous 4 Berry Shortcake on the house.
Thanks Gals!
Arriving back in Farmington to the house of Mark & Lisa, much to the delight of Suni!All the parts, ordered two weeks prior, for the bike arrived and Grant managed to change the front sprocket - which was surprisingly worn - with the greatest of ease, well it seemed like it to Julie! Grant was also able to put the front tyre on using only the tools we carry and with Marks assistance the tyre was ballanced.
Goodbye to Farmington New Mexico for now anyway and off to Canyon de Chelly.
Canyon de Chelly is in the Navajo Indian Reservation and is a beautiful and intimate Canyon. You can camp (for free - no showers, however you can get them at the Chapter House) at the shady Cottonwood Campground.
There are guided tours of the Canyon or self guided rim drives. There is only one walk you can undertake on your own and that is down to the white house.
So we leave Deming and head across to Yuma where we were to make our boarder crossing into Mexico. The bike was having difficulty with some low down tuning and Grant deduced, after many discussions with various people, that maybe the KnN filter was leaning the mixture off at low speed and allowing the bike to run very poorly. Now to find a stock air filter!
We cross the Gulf of California on the Ferry from Pichelingue (La Paz - Baja California) to the mainland Topolobombo (Los Mochis) on the fast 5 hour ferry. Jules did well organising the tickets in her bad broken Spanish and even asked what time the ferry would arrive!Whilst travelling on the ferry we saw quite a few pods of dolphins swimming along side the boat, were given lunch as part of our ferry ticket and watched some crappy movies.
We met Claas and Patrick, from Germany, riding to Tierra del Fuego on Honda Africa Twins.
Time to leave Zacetecas... again, and say goodbye to Frank and Brenda... again.
We headed off towards Durango and decided to call it a day in a small town 7kms off the main road called San Juan del Rio.
We followed the signs into town advertising a hotel, and hoped it would not be too expensive.
We left Creel and headed towards Zacetecas. We had heard that it was a lovely city to visit and that we should not miss it. Our first stop was the city of Hildago Parral. We spent a lot of time riding around to find a cheap place to stay, but the cheapest we could find was Hotel Turista on the round-about for $US35/night. It was very clean, had secure parking and cable TV, but the decor was very very 70´s!
(Late Entry Photo: Road from Parras to Los Muchachos)Zacetecas is a beautiful city. It has alot of baroque architecture, little 'walking only' alley-ways, paved streets and over at least 10 museums. There are great markets and losts of street stalls, you can buy almost anything you need.
We arrived back in Zacetecas after riding in the rain for the afternoon and were fortunate enough to see some beautiful rainbows.
We said goodbye to our good friend Federico at the turn off to Aguas Calliente, with promises to see eachother again sometime, somewhere.
Miss Piggy ready to roll
Our first stop was on the other side of Aguas Calliente where we were initiated into buy 'lunch by the kilo'... well meat by the kilo..... we found this quite strange, however in Michoacan it is quite the norm to eat at the Carnitas.
On Eduardo's suggestion we headed up Nevado de Toluca. This is a dormant volcano that stands 4,500 meters above sea level. The dirt road from the highway winds 27kms through lovely forrested areas to the exposed alpine crater cone. Then decends into the crater to two lakes at 4,300 meters.
Cholula a small town some 126km south of Mexico City boasts over 70 churches and the largest pyramid of the ancient world though this is mostly in ruins and has a cathedral built on the top! It still is a remarkable site with over 8km of excavated tunnel.
Los Remedios, sits on top of the pyramid
Around the base of the pyramid are many excavations of the temples that surrounded it, with exceptional stucco and architecture.
