Day 3- Crossing into Mexico

What a long day. Started in San Diego where I met up with a stranger named Keegan. We met online, it’s nothing serious.  Keegan, like me, quit his job to do a journey to South America.  Our plans are similar, but still different.  He will be taking 6 months for the trip, while I am taking closer to 3.  Because of this, we will only be riding Baja together, and separating sometime on Saturday.  A very strange fact, is that while we have never met, Keegan and I are 5 years apart in age, but from the same area!  We even played lacrosse for the same team/ coach, just 5 years apart! 

We made our way to Tijuana where we had about 40 mins of paper work to do before heading south towards La Paz.  Keegan's Spanish is surprisingly good for a guy that really doesn't know Spanish.  We filed our paperwork and headed out from customs.  I had to put a $400 usd deposit down saying I would be out of the country within 7 days though (the 11th), and if I am not, not only do they fine me, but they also keep my deposit!  I really will have to rip through mainland Mexico. 

The start of the ride was breathtaking until about Ensenada. The cliffs were amazing and the architecture was unique. We kept a good pace and moved along the coast. Once we got to Ensenada we jumped all over looking for atm’s and an oxxo for Keegan to buy insurance.  In the end we weren't able to find insurance either, so that will still have to happen.

After Ensenada, the road moves inland and you ride down a straight road as you pass nearly 50 identical towns. They were all flat and there was no way to tell them apart.

The ride was relaxing and we made it to hotel El cactus in good time. As an added bonus, we are staying next door to the famous mama Espinoza’s restaurant. It is a Baja 1000 famous eatery.

More updates and video to come. Thanks everyone for following along.

San Francisco to San Diego and Lots More Lane Splitting!

Today was another exciting day, and I still haven't left the US!

I woke up and enjoyed some fresh fruit and an energy drink for breakfast before loading the bike up.  Yohan was nice enough to ride with me out of town on his way to work, so I followed him through the San Francisco morning commute. 

Eventually Yohan turned off and headed to work, while I continued south towards LA.  The roads were really nice, it is all farmland, but you also ride through some nice hills as you circle San Luis Reservoir moving towards Los Banos.  As you ride through the farmland you smell all of the fresh fruit.  Life seems slower through this area, and you have a hard time believing you are in California. 

As I ventured further south, I saw more of the LA area sites I am used to, like Magic Mountain in Valencia.  Traffic was pretty smooth the full way down to LA as well. 

Once in LA I stopped by the Corey Helford Gallery to see their collection of D*Face paintings as well as their mural on the side of the building.  I have been a big D*Face fan for a while now, so it was really cool to see his works in person.  I would highly suggest stopping by there if any of you live near LA. 

As soon as I left the gallery, I was back on the road escaping LA.  Traffic had started to pile up, but I was able to use my newly acquired lane splitting skills to get to Oceanside where I ran my fuel range down to 0 before coasting into the Chevron station.

I have family in San Diego, so their home was the goal for tonight.  As an added bonus, our old dog Senna lives here, so I get to hang out with her tonight before I head off to Mexico in the morning. 

We enjoyed Rubios and Cold Stone tonight, but now it is time to check the chain, the tires, the fluids, and update my blog.

So far so good!

  

Today's Budget: 3 Gas fill ups: $54, Mcdonalds: $7, Rubios for Dinner: $13 
Miles Traveled: 550
Avg Speed 74mph
Fuel Efficiency: 39.1 mpg

"How Well Do Fully Loaded ADV Bikes Do Splitting Lanes?" Day 1- Portland to San Francisco

I am sure that I am like the rest of you in that the night before a journey, is like the night before Christmas, you just don't sleep.  I woke up at 6am bright eyed and bushy tailed, but I was still tired. 

I loaded up the bike, made final adjustments, and I was on the road a few minutes before 7am.  Traffic was light leaving town, and it felt like I was just heading to work.  The cities I passed through started looking less and less familiar though as I got further South.  I have driven all the way to San Diego before, but with much less frequency.  Although the cities and towns felt vaguely familiar, my adventure was really beginning to take shape as home felt further and further away. 

All geared up and ready to leave this morning. 

As I trekked down I5, the road had a few curves here and there.  It was more interesting than further North, but still I5.  At some points, especially near Eugene, my ice warning appeared on my dash.  It was actually quite surprising.

Eventually I stopped at Mt Shasta for gas and a quick photo up.  

The mountains started to shrink as I worked my way away from Mt Shasta and towards San Francisco.  The mountains were slowly replaced by fields full of crops and hundreds of workers in the fields bringing in the harvest.

Eventually I found myself crossing the Bay Bridge and entering San Francisco.  As I crossed the bridge and traffic begun locking up, I remembered that I was now in California, which meant I could split lanes.  So even though my bike is completely loaded to the teeth, I was going to take full advantage of this California treat.  There were a few close calls, but nothing to write home about.  The bike did very well at not knocking mirrors :)

Once I had battled through the lines, I would meet up with Paquo off of the ADV Rider forum who had a spare fuel filter for me.  Apparently even brand new KTM bikes suffer from fuel pump and filter issues.  They choose to patch the problem rather than repair it.  Paquo (Steve) lives on a very steep hill, so I had to look at the area a few times before deciding on proper placement for the bike. 

  

After a very pleasant conversation with Steve about his family, his dog, his GTI, and more importantly his 1090R, it was time to head south to the Home of Yohan and Brittany!  Not only did they allow me inside their home, but they offered me a bed, warm water, and an amazing dinner made by Yohan himself.  They were incredibly hospitable people with great conversation.  Yohan has been riding with his dad and friends for a while now.  He even rides two up with Brittany.  Currently he has a Tiger 1200 which is a pretty mean machine!  They are still deciding on a bike for her.

I am starting to see why everyone says this trip takes so long.  I want to stay a few days everywhere I go and just get to know the people!  I guess all of the people I meet will have to come stay with me in Oregon as they prepare to conquer the PNW. 

Budget Updates:

I need to put the gas all together, but i think it was around $50 in Gas today (ouch), along with $5.35 at Taco Bell, and $34 for a gas filter.  I am a bit over budget, but I also knocked 3 days of average miles off too.

Traveling Like a Fart in the Wind

I keep going back and forth on how much I really need to plan for this trip.  At the end of the day, you are at the whim of what you could cram into 80liters of space on the back of the bike anyway.

There are those who want to plan out every detail, those who want to go with the flow, and then there is me.  I like to plan things out, but I also like to enjoy the moment.  I also know that the more planned out a trip is, the more likely you are to be disappointed. 

In order to find a middle ground, I am putting a few check points into the plan of places that I want to go, or need to go in order to move forward.  The first major milestones that put me on a schedule, are my boat rides.  I need to catch an 8pm ferry ride from La Paz, Baja Mexico to Mazatlan on the 7th of October.  What that means is that I will be cooking through California and Baja.  The other major deadline that I have, is to make it to San Blas/ Panama City by Oct 29th so that I can board the Stahlratte on the 30th and make way towards Colombia.  The final deadline, will be my flight home before Christmas.  It is what it is, I have to be stateside by the 22nd or so of December.  I am thinking that I will probably book an earlier flight, but I need to see if I will really be to Buenos Aires, or if I am flying home from somewhere else. 

Now that I have these dates/ places established, I basically need to keep a brisk pace and monitor my progress between these three points.  Once I see what time I am making, I will know when and where I will have time to get off the road and enjoy the sites.  I know that I will be on the move most days, but I will certainly be taking time to take in the sites and enjoy myself.

I found a website (www.dangerousroads.org) that has some incredible roads and areas listed for each of these countries.  As I find time, I will see if I can use these roads as detours to my direct path I have laid out below.

In the end, the ride has to be fun, even if that means that I do not make it to Buenos Aires.  I am going to see what happens and embrace my adventurer's spirit.   This is also a big part of why I am traveling alone.  I don''t want to worry about meeting someone else's expectations.  I don't want someone else to be disappointed because we did not make it to a certain site, town, country, etc.  I will travel quickly and without expectations, like a fart in the wind.

What's With the Paint Job?!

 

I have been getting a LOT  of comments on the wrap I designed for the KTM 1090 Adventure R.  The responses range from "Give me my barf bag," to "This is the best looking KTM I have ever seen!"

The design is polarizing, and I GET IT, but why? What does it mean? Where did it come from?

As an artist, I have always loved to make things look the way that I want them to look.  My last bike was a 2016 BMW R1200GS and I designed a wrap for it as well.  It was just a design though.  Some colors, shapes, etc.  I wanted it to look cool, but didn't develop the design with any real meaning. 


 When I started to design the wrap for the KTM, I had this upcoming trip in mind.  I wanted it to be rooted in the journey ahead.  I wanted the design to project my expectations of the journey ahead.  A lot of people are frightened of what they do not know or fully understand.  This misunderstanding/ fear creates hatred and bias.  I tend to look on the bright side of things and stay optimistic.  When I think of Latin America, I think of the rich culture, amazing architecture, animals, and more than anything else, I think of the loving people of these great countries.  I wanted this design to project that.

In order to combine all of these things, I decided to go with a Mayan theme, but with a twist.  I used somewhat of a caricature of Quetzalcoatl to represent the ancient civilization, but then added shapes and colors to that were warm and energetic to represent the people and rich culture.

In the end, the design does exactly what I wanted it to do, it makes you think.  It represents the colorful warm Latin America that I have learned to love.

Portland, OR to Buenos Aires, Argentina

I used to race bikes, but that lasted for about one race.

Seriously, I bought a brand new CBR600RR, road it a lot, and got my race license. I was barely making money at the time, but I wanted nothing more than to become the next Valentino Rossi. The first race weekend I high sided during the Friday's practice session. I woke up in the gravel, completely dazed. I was able to get the bike back to the paddock where I looked her over and decided that I had probably taken on more damage than the bike, so I got her ready and got her through qualifying. The first race of the day on Saturday, I had a low side, but the bike tumbled through the gravel. I was really bummed, but with the help of my brother, we got the bike zip tied back together so that I could finish racing that weekend. I still remember Lance Lee (race direction) looking me in the eye after having wrecked twice in the weekend and asking me "Are you mentally stable."

Here is the bike prior to getting it ready to pass safety and finish out the day:


At the time I didn't really care what he meant by that, what I did know was that I was determined to finish the day. I had already destroyed my bike, so there was nothing else I could lose at that point. I at least needed to finish, and I did. I took 3rd place in my class and never raced again. I didnt stop racing because I was scared to, I stopped because I had realized that it was just too expensive for me to keep racing at the time.

I tell that story because it reminds me of the trip I am about to set out on. It has been about 11 years since I raced my CBR to 3rd place victory that day in August of 2006. I have owned 8 bikes since the CBR, and 5 of them were street bikes. A couple of years ago I discovered ADV riding while living in Utah and getting stuck down a trail on a 2008 Yamaha R1. I kept finding that I enjoyed not only riding on the road, but anything that looked interesting to me. Eventually I got rid of all of the street bikes and bought a BMW R1200GS. I had seen them as the ultimate ADV bike growing up, but didnt know a lot about them. I road it on the stock anakee 3 tires and although it wasnt great in the dirt, it was far better than anything I had ridden before. Later I found out about the Anakee Wilds and LIFE WAS GOOD.

Earlier this year I rode a loop that took me up the WABDR and through the woods to the IDBDR then back to Portland, OR with @Africapikipiki. We called it the "Piki Piki Trail" ride report HERE. After the ride I decided I was finally ready to do a ride that I have been wanting to do for ages. Ride to Buenos Aires from Portland.

This is at the abandoned silver mine just outside of Wallace, ID. My bike is the slightly more colorful one:



I have wanted to do this ride for a while but had no idea how to fund the ride. I have been hoarding cans, selling art, selling anything in my house with any value, and just saving and saving up. No matter how much money I saved, the harsh reality was that I am 33, I have a pretty great job, and no employer was going to give me the time off that I was going to need for a trip like this. I have been thinking about the trip every day for about 18 months now and it just has become a disease to me. I cannot stop thinking about it and I need it out of my system so that I can really focus on my career and life again.

A few weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that now is the time. I needed to quit my job, take a leap of faith, and just go. I decided to leave early October, and I have been given a pretty hard deadline, that I cannot miss Christmas. Many of you will think that just over two months to complete the roughly 16,000 mile journey from Portland to Buenos Aires is impossible, but it is not. I may be moving faster than a lot of people like to go on a trip like this, but like the 3rd place finish after a number of big accidents on track 11 years ago, I am determined to finish, and I will get to Buenos Aires. I will say that this is supposed to be fun though, so if I get to a point where I think it is not fun and I am going way too fast and pushing myself way too much, I will take it easy and just see where I can get. There are a lot of places I will be able to fly home from, so I am going to just see what happens. I am tentatively planning to leave on Oct 3rd and will end my first day near Davis California. I will add an updated schedule to this first post as I continue to finalize my plans.

One other thing related to the pace. As I said above, I just want to enjoy the experience while keeping pace towards Argentina. I am sure there will be plenty of great people and sights along the way. If I get caught up in this that will be fine. I would much rather enjoy the experience and eat my words about getting to Argentina than to be able to say I told you so and hate the entire trip.

I hope to meet some of you along the way. Please let me know any advice or questions that you may have as I work my way south.

Oh and one other thing. I sold the BMW and am going to be riding a KTM 1090R.

 Here is a running list of sponsors for this trip:
http://www.Astoriamoto.com/
http://www.envisiontint.com/
http://www.tanukiart.com/
http://www.pdxwraps.com/
http://www.hansensmc.com/
http://www.vanaschemotorsports.com/
http://www.agvhelmets.com

I also made a Facebook page to follow along:
https://www.facebook.com/PDXRIDER/

The current route will be through these countries:

USA
Mexico- No Visa Required
Guatemala- No Visa Required
Honduras- No Visa Required
Nicaragua- No Visa Required
Costa Rica- No Visa Required
Panama- No Visa Required
Colombia- No Visa Required
Ecuador- No Visa Required
Peru- No Visa Required
Bolivia- Visa Required (http://www.boliviawdc.org/consulate/visas/tv ) $160 Get crisp $20 bills.
Chile- No Visa Required
Argentina- No Visa Required
Paraguay- Visa Required
Brasil- Visa Required

So even though everyone says to just not plan and go with the flow, I am going to do a little more planning :)

Tentatively Leaving Oct 3 or 4

Oct 3, 2017- Portland to Davis, CA- 573 Miles (10 Hours or so)
Frank on the ADVRider FB has invited me down, to at least say hi. Maybe he has a couch to swing my way? If nothing else I will join him for some In-N-Out and find my way to a campsite.


Oct 4- Davis, CA to San Diego- 516 Miles (8 hours)
I have family in San Diego, so I will have food and shelter that night too.

Oct 5-7- San Diego to La Paz Ferry (Ferry Leaves at 8pm the 7th)- 930 Miles split over 2.5 days
I would like to split this up over three days and just make sure I can get on the Ferry on day 3. Not sure on the ferry schedule yet. If possible, I will sleep on the ferry to Mazatlan. NOTE- Looks like it departs La Paz at 8pm, PERFECT.
www.BajaFerries.com
Saturday Night?
$3420 Pesos
When u cross tijuana. Make sure to stop at the otay border, east of tijuana. Get you tvip and tourist visa there

I used to race bikes, but that lasted for about one race.

Seriously, I bought a brand new CBR600RR, road it a lot, and got my race license.  I was barely making money at the time, but I wanted nothing more than to become the next Valentino Rossi.  The first race weekend I high sided during the Friday's practice session. I woke up in the gravel, completely dazed.  I was able to get the bike back to the paddock where I looked her over and decided that I had probably taken on more damage than the bike, so I got her ready and got her through qualifying.  The first race of the day on Saturday, I had a low side, but the bike tumbled through the gravel.  I was really bummed, but with the help of my brother, we got the bike zip tied back together so that  I could finish racing that weekend.  I still remember Lance Lee (race direction) looking me in the eye after having wrecked twice in the weekend and asking me "Are you mentally stable."

Here is the bike prior to getting it ready to pass safety and finish out the day:

At the time I didn't really care what he meant by that, what I did know was that I was determined to finish the day.  I had already destroyed my bike, so there was nothing else I could lose at that point.  I at least needed to finish, and I did.  I took 3rd place in my class and never raced again. I didnt stop racing because I was scared to, I stopped because I had realized that it was just too expensive for me to keep racing at the time.

I tell that story because it reminds me of the trip I am about to set out on.  It has been about 11 years since I raced my CBR to 3rd place victory that day in August of 2006.  I have owned 8 bikes since the CBR, and 5 of them were street bikes.  A couple of years ago I discovered ADV riding while living in Utah and getting stuck down a trail on a 2008 Yamaha R1.  I kept finding that I enjoyed not only riding on the road, but anything that looked interesting to me.  Eventually I got rid of all of the street bikes and bought a BMW R1200GS.  I had seen them as the ultimate ADV bike growing up, but didnt know a lot about them.  I road it on the stock anakee 3 tires and although it wasnt great in the dirt, it was far better than anything I had ridden before.  Later I found out about the Anakee Wilds and LIFE WAS GOOD.

Earlier this year I rode a loop that took me up the WABDR and through the woods to the IDBDR then back to Portland, OR with [USER=299293]@Africapikipiki[/USER].  We called it the "Piki Piki Trail" ride report HERE.  After the ride I decided I was finally ready to do a ride that I have been wanting to do for ages.  Ride to Buenos Aires from Portland.

This is at the abandoned silver mine just outside of Wallace, ID.  My bike is the slightly more colorful one:

I have wanted to do this ride for a while but had no idea how to fund the ride.  I have been hoarding cans, selling art, selling anything in my house with any value, and just saving and saving up.  No matter how much money I saved, the harsh reality was that I am 33, I have a pretty great job, and no employer was going to give me the time off that I was going to need for a trip like this.  I have been thinking about the trip every day for about 18 months now and it just has become a disease to me.  I cannot stop thinking about it and I need it out of my system so that I can really focus on my career and life again.

A few weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that now is the time.  I needed to quit my job, take a leap of faith, and just go.  I decided to leave early October, and I have been given a pretty hard deadline, that I cannot miss Christmas.  Many of you will think that just over two months to complete the roughly 16,000 mile journey from Portland to Buenos Aires is impossible, but it is not.  I may be moving faster than a lot of people like to go on a trip like this, but like the 3rd place finish after a number of big accidents on track 11 years ago, I am determined to finish, and I will get to Buenos Aires.  I will say that this is supposed to be fun though, so if I get to a point where I think it is not fun and I am going way too fast and pushing myself way too much, I will take it easy and just see where I can get.  There are a lot of places I will be able to fly home from, so I am going to just see what happens.  I am tentatively planning to leave on Oct 3rd and will end my first day near Davis California.  I will add an updated schedule to this first post as I continue to finalize my plans.

One  other thing related to the pace.  As I said above, I just want to enjoy the experience while keeping pace towards Argentina.  I am sure there will be plenty of great people and sights along the way.  If I get caught up in this that will be fine.  I would much rather enjoy the experience and eat my words about getting to Argentina than to be able to say I told you so and hate the entire trip.

I hope to meet some of you along the way.  Please let me know any advice or questions that you may have as I work my way south.

Oh and one other thing.  I sold the BMW and am going to be riding a KTM 1090R.

Here is a running list of sponsors for this trip:

http://www.Astoriamoto.com/

http://www.envisiontint.com/

http://www.tanukiart.com/

http://www.pdxwraps.com/

http://www.hansensmc.com/

http://www.vanaschemotorsports.com/

http://www.agvhelmets.com

I also made a Facebook page to follow along:

https://www.facebook.com/PDXRIDER/

The current route will be through these countries:

USA

Mexico- No Visa Required

Guatemala- No Visa Required

Honduras- No Visa Required

Nicaragua- No Visa Required

Costa Rica- No Visa Required

Panama- No Visa Required

Colombia- No Visa Required

Ecuador- No Visa Required

Peru- No Visa Required

Bolivia- Visa Required (http://www.boliviawdc.org/consulate/visas/tv ) $160 Get crisp $20 bills.

Chile- No Visa Required

Argentina- No Visa Required

Paraguay- Visa Required

Brasil- Visa Required

So even though everyone says to just not plan and go with the flow, I am going to do a little more planning :)

Tentatively Leaving Oct 3 or 4

Oct 3, 2017- Portland to Davis, CA- 573 Miles (10 Hours or so)

Frank on the ADVRider FB has invited me down, to at least say hi. Maybe he has a couch to swing my way? If nothing else I will join him for some In-N-Out and find my way to a campsite.

Oct 4- Davis, CA to San Diego- 516 Miles (8 hours)

I have family in San Diego, so I will have food and shelter that night too.

Oct 5-7- San Diego to La Paz Ferry (Ferry Leaves at 8pm the 7th)- 930 Miles split over 2.5 days

I would like to split this up over three days and just make sure I can get on the Ferry on day 3. Not sure on the ferry schedule yet. If possible, I will sleep on the ferry to Mazatlan. NOTE- Looks like it departs La Paz at 8pm, PERFECT.

www.BajaFerries.com

Saturday Night?

$3420 Pesos

When u cross tijuana. Make sure to stop at the otay border, east of tijuana. Get you tvip and tourist visa there

Day 6-8- Mazatlan to Chiapas (I am thinking of going to cancun though then dropping down into Belice)

Kyle has invited me to stay at his place in Chiapas. He is a mechanic as well and has some space. He is pretty sure I can get from Mazatlan to Chiapas in 2 days, but I am going to budget 3 days just in case. It looks close to 20 hours of riding maybe slightly more.

IF I am to the border of Guatemala at the end of Day 9 or 10, I will definitely be cooking with fire, and you guys will definitely be telling me I am bastardizing this trip lol.

Day 9- Chiapas to Antigua

A little bit of a shorter day, but I want to spend some time in Antigua.

I used to race bikes, but that lasted for about one race.

Seriously, I bought a brand new CBR600RR, road it a lot, and got my race license.  I was barely making money at the time, but I wanted nothing more than to become the next Valentino Rossi.  The first race weekend I high sided during the Friday's practice session. I woke up in the gravel, completely dazed.  I was able to get the bike back to the paddock where I looked her over and decided that I had probably taken on more damage than the bike, so I got her ready and got her through qualifying.  The first race of the day on Saturday, I had a low side, but the bike tumbled through the gravel.  I was really bummed, but with the help of my brother, we got the bike zip tied back together so that  I could finish racing that weekend.  I still remember Lance Lee (race direction) looking me in the eye after having wrecked twice in the weekend and asking me "Are you mentally stable."

Here is the bike prior to getting it ready to pass safety and finish out the day:

At the time I didn't really care what he meant by that, what I did know was that I was determined to finish the day.  I had already destroyed my bike, so there was nothing else I could lose at that point.  I at least needed to finish, and I did.  I took 3rd place in my class and never raced again. I didnt stop racing because I was scared to, I stopped because I had realized that it was just too expensive for me to keep racing at the time.

I tell that story because it reminds me of the trip I am about to set out on.  It has been about 11 years since I raced my CBR to 3rd place victory that day in August of 2006.  I have owned 8 bikes since the CBR, and 5 of them were street bikes.  A couple of years ago I discovered ADV riding while living in Utah and getting stuck down a trail on a 2008 Yamaha R1.  I kept finding that I enjoyed not only riding on the road, but anything that looked interesting to me.  Eventually I got rid of all of the street bikes and bought a BMW R1200GS.  I had seen them as the ultimate ADV bike growing up, but didnt know a lot about them.  I road it on the stock anakee 3 tires and although it wasnt great in the dirt, it was far better than anything I had ridden before.  Later I found out about the Anakee Wilds and LIFE WAS GOOD.

Earlier this year I rode a loop that took me up the WABDR and through the woods to the IDBDR then back to Portland, OR with [USER=299293]@Africapikipiki[/USER].  We called it the "Piki Piki Trail" ride report HERE.  After the ride I decided I was finally ready to do a ride that I have been wanting to do for ages.  Ride to Buenos Aires from Portland.

This is at the abandoned silver mine just outside of Wallace, ID.  My bike is the slightly more colorful one:

I have wanted to do this ride for a while but had no idea how to fund the ride.  I have been hoarding cans, selling art, selling anything in my house with any value, and just saving and saving up.  No matter how much money I saved, the harsh reality was that I am 33, I have a pretty great job, and no employer was going to give me the time off that I was going to need for a trip like this.  I have been thinking about the trip every day for about 18 months now and it just has become a disease to me.  I cannot stop thinking about it and I need it out of my system so that I can really focus on my career and life again.

A few weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that now is the time.  I needed to quit my job, take a leap of faith, and just go.  I decided to leave early October, and I have been given a pretty hard deadline, that I cannot miss Christmas.  Many of you will think that just over two months to complete the roughly 16,000 mile journey from Portland to Buenos Aires is impossible, but it is not.  I may be moving faster than a lot of people like to go on a trip like this, but like the 3rd place finish after a number of big accidents on track 11 years ago, I am determined to finish, and I will get to Buenos Aires.  I will say that this is supposed to be fun though, so if I get to a point where I think it is not fun and I am going way too fast and pushing myself way too much, I will take it easy and just see where I can get.  There are a lot of places I will be able to fly home from, so I am going to just see what happens.  I am tentatively planning to leave on Oct 3rd and will end my first day near Davis California.  I will add an updated schedule to this first post as I continue to finalize my plans.

One  other thing related to the pace.  As I said above, I just want to enjoy the experience while keeping pace towards Argentina.  I am sure there will be plenty of great people and sights along the way.  If I get caught up in this that will be fine.  I would much rather enjoy the experience and eat my words about getting to Argentina than to be able to say I told you so and hate the entire trip.

I hope to meet some of you along the way.  Please let me know any advice or questions that you may have as I work my way south.

Oh and one other thing.  I sold the BMW and am going to be riding a KTM 1090R.

Here is a running list of sponsors for this trip:

http://www.Astoriamoto.com/

http://www.envisiontint.com/

http://www.tanukiart.com/

http://www.pdxwraps.com/

http://www.hansensmc.com/

http://www.vanaschemotorsports.com/

http://www.agvhelmets.com

I also made a Facebook page to follow along:

https://www.facebook.com/PDXRIDER/

The current route will be through these countries:

USA

Mexico- No Visa Required

Guatemala- No Visa Required

Honduras- No Visa Required

Nicaragua- No Visa Required

Costa Rica- No Visa Required

Panama- No Visa Required

Colombia- No Visa Required

Ecuador- No Visa Required

Peru- No Visa Required

Bolivia- Visa Required (http://www.boliviawdc.org/consulate/visas/tv ) $160 Get crisp $20 bills.

Chile- No Visa Required

Argentina- No Visa Required

Paraguay- Visa Required

Brasil- Visa Required

So even though everyone says to just not plan and go with the flow, I am going to do a little more planning :)

Tentatively Leaving Oct 3 or 4

Oct 3, 2017- Portland to Davis, CA- 573 Miles (10 Hours or so)

Frank on the ADVRider FB has invited me down, to at least say hi. Maybe he has a couch to swing my way? If nothing else I will join him for some In-N-Out and find my way to a campsite.

Oct 4- Davis, CA to San Diego- 516 Miles (8 hours)

I have family in San Diego, so I will have food and shelter that night too.

Oct 5-7- San Diego to La Paz Ferry (Ferry Leaves at 8pm the 7th)- 930 Miles split over 2.5 days

I would like to split this up over three days and just make sure I can get on the Ferry on day 3. Not sure on the ferry schedule yet. If possible, I will sleep on the ferry to Mazatlan. NOTE- Looks like it departs La Paz at 8pm, PERFECT.

www.BajaFerries.com

Saturday Night?

$3420 Pesos

When u cross tijuana. Make sure to stop at the otay border, east of tijuana. Get you tvip and tourist visa there

Day 6-8- Mazatlan to Chiapas (I am thinking of going to cancun though then dropping down into Belice)

Kyle has invited me to stay at his place in Chiapas. He is a mechanic as well and has some space. He is pretty sure I can get from Mazatlan to Chiapas in 2 days, but I am going to budget 3 days just in case. It looks close to 20 hours of riding maybe slightly more.

IF I am to the border of Guatemala at the end of Day 9 or 10, I will definitely be cooking with fire, and you guys will definitely be telling me I am bastardizing this trip lol.

Day 9- Chiapas to Antigua

A little bit of a shorter day, but I want to spend some time in Antigua.

I used to race bikes, but that lasted for about one race.

Seriously, I bought a brand new CBR600RR, road it a lot, and got my race license.  I was barely making money at the time, but I wanted nothing more than to become the next Valentino Rossi.  The first race weekend I high sided during the Friday's practice session. I woke up in the gravel, completely dazed.  I was able to get the bike back to the paddock where I looked her over and decided that I had probably taken on more damage than the bike, so I got her ready and got her through qualifying.  The first race of the day on Saturday, I had a low side, but the bike tumbled through the gravel.  I was really bummed, but with the help of my brother, we got the bike zip tied back together so that  I could finish racing that weekend.  I still remember Lance Lee (race direction) looking me in the eye after having wrecked twice in the weekend and asking me "Are you mentally stable."

Here is the bike prior to getting it ready to pass safety and finish out the day:

At the time I didn't really care what he meant by that, what I did know was that I was determined to finish the day.  I had already destroyed my bike, so there was nothing else I could lose at that point.  I at least needed to finish, and I did.  I took 3rd place in my class and never raced again. I didnt stop racing because I was scared to, I stopped because I had realized that it was just too expensive for me to keep racing at the time.

I tell that story because it reminds me of the trip I am about to set out on.  It has been about 11 years since I raced my CBR to 3rd place victory that day in August of 2006.  I have owned 8 bikes since the CBR, and 5 of them were street bikes.  A couple of years ago I discovered ADV riding while living in Utah and getting stuck down a trail on a 2008 Yamaha R1.  I kept finding that I enjoyed not only riding on the road, but anything that looked interesting to me.  Eventually I got rid of all of the street bikes and bought a BMW R1200GS.  I had seen them as the ultimate ADV bike growing up, but didnt know a lot about them.  I road it on the stock anakee 3 tires and although it wasnt great in the dirt, it was far better than anything I had ridden before.  Later I found out about the Anakee Wilds and LIFE WAS GOOD.

Earlier this year I rode a loop that took me up the WABDR and through the woods to the IDBDR then back to Portland, OR with [USER=299293]@Africapikipiki[/USER].  We called it the "Piki Piki Trail" ride report HERE.  After the ride I decided I was finally ready to do a ride that I have been wanting to do for ages.  Ride to Buenos Aires from Portland.

This is at the abandoned silver mine just outside of Wallace, ID.  My bike is the slightly more colorful one:

I have wanted to do this ride for a while but had no idea how to fund the ride.  I have been hoarding cans, selling art, selling anything in my house with any value, and just saving and saving up.  No matter how much money I saved, the harsh reality was that I am 33, I have a pretty great job, and no employer was going to give me the time off that I was going to need for a trip like this.  I have been thinking about the trip every day for about 18 months now and it just has become a disease to me.  I cannot stop thinking about it and I need it out of my system so that I can really focus on my career and life again.

A few weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that now is the time.  I needed to quit my job, take a leap of faith, and just go.  I decided to leave early October, and I have been given a pretty hard deadline, that I cannot miss Christmas.  Many of you will think that just over two months to complete the roughly 16,000 mile journey from Portland to Buenos Aires is impossible, but it is not.  I may be moving faster than a lot of people like to go on a trip like this, but like the 3rd place finish after a number of big accidents on track 11 years ago, I am determined to finish, and I will get to Buenos Aires.  I will say that this is supposed to be fun though, so if I get to a point where I think it is not fun and I am going way too fast and pushing myself way too much, I will take it easy and just see where I can get.  There are a lot of places I will be able to fly home from, so I am going to just see what happens.  I am tentatively planning to leave on Oct 3rd and will end my first day near Davis California.  I will add an updated schedule to this first post as I continue to finalize my plans.

One  other thing related to the pace.  As I said above, I just want to enjoy the experience while keeping pace towards Argentina.  I am sure there will be plenty of great people and sights along the way.  If I get caught up in this that will be fine.  I would much rather enjoy the experience and eat my words about getting to Argentina than to be able to say I told you so and hate the entire trip.

I hope to meet some of you along the way.  Please let me know any advice or questions that you may have as I work my way south.

Oh and one other thing.  I sold the BMW and am going to be riding a KTM 1090R.

Here is a running list of sponsors for this trip:

http://www.Astoriamoto.com/

http://www.envisiontint.com/

http://www.tanukiart.com/

http://www.pdxwraps.com/

http://www.hansensmc.com/

http://www.vanaschemotorsports.com/

http://www.agvhelmets.com

I also made a Facebook page to follow along:

https://www.facebook.com/PDXRIDER/

The current route will be through these countries:

USA

Mexico- No Visa Required

Guatemala- No Visa Required

Honduras- No Visa Required

Nicaragua- No Visa Required

Costa Rica- No Visa Required

Panama- No Visa Required

Colombia- No Visa Required

Ecuador- No Visa Required

Peru- No Visa Required

Bolivia- Visa Required (http://www.boliviawdc.org/consulate/visas/tv ) $160 Get crisp $20 bills.

Chile- No Visa Required

Argentina- No Visa Required

Paraguay- Visa Required

Brasil- Visa Required

So even though everyone says to just not plan and go with the flow, I am going to do a little more planning :)

Tentatively Leaving Oct 3 or 4

Oct 3, 2017- Portland to Davis, CA- 573 Miles (10 Hours or so)

Frank on the ADVRider FB has invited me down, to at least say hi. Maybe he has a couch to swing my way? If nothing else I will join him for some In-N-Out and find my way to a campsite.

Oct 4- Davis, CA to San Diego- 516 Miles (8 hours)

I have family in San Diego, so I will have food and shelter that night too.

Oct 5-7- San Diego to La Paz Ferry (Ferry Leaves at 8pm the 7th)- 930 Miles split over 2.5 days

I would like to split this up over three days and just make sure I can get on the Ferry on day 3. Not sure on the ferry schedule yet. If possible, I will sleep on the ferry to Mazatlan. NOTE- Looks like it departs La Paz at 8pm, PERFECT.

www.BajaFerries.com

Saturday Night?

$3420 Pesos

When u cross tijuana. Make sure to stop at the otay border, east of tijuana. Get you tvip and tourist visa there

Day 6-8- Mazatlan to Chiapas (I am thinking of going to cancun though then dropping down into Belice)

Kyle has invited me to stay at his place in Chiapas. He is a mechanic as well and has some space. He is pretty sure I can get from Mazatlan to Chiapas in 2 days, but I am going to budget 3 days just in case. It looks close to 20 hours of riding maybe slightly more.

IF I am to the border of Guatemala at the end of Day 9 or 10, I will definitely be cooking with fire, and you guys will definitely be telling me I am bastardizing this trip lol.

Day 9- Chiapas to Antigua

A little bit of a shorter day, but I want to spend some time in Antigua.

OCT 30- Stahlratte to Cartagena (be there or be square)

Day Something-

Notes on getting from Panama to Colombia: http://backpackista.com/darien-gap-4/

Border Crossing info:

http://www.smboilerworks.com/category/border-crossing/page/2/

Trip Costs-

Mexico Trip Insurance-$91.53 through bajabound.com (HDI Seguros)

Baja Ferry- $192.02 (Includes bike, Me, and a cabin)

Stahlratte- $1150 (3 day voyage)

Yellow Fever Shot- $273

Salmon for Matthew Miller (Matisyahu)

Matisyahu has been the background music to MANY of my art sessions, road trips, and lets face it, everything I do.  If I were to make a CD with the most influential music in my life, Matisyahu would be about 25% of that music.  This is a man who overcame trial and tribulation to really alter who he would become and what he would accomplish.  He has never been scared of who he was, where he was, or where he would go.  As a very religious person myself, I look up to him for his courage in representing himself and his beliefs to everyone around him.  He inspires me to be proud of who I am and what I believe.
I had the very unique experience of creating one of my totems for Matt and delivering it to him prior to his show at the Crystal Ballroom Thursday night.  For this piece I wanted to create something that represented the flow of his life and a musician in general.  I chose the Salmon because it starts in a remote simple freshwater river and works its way to the sea.  The salmon will grow and learn as it evolves to the world around it.  It learns to adapt, but does not physically change.  In the end, the salmon will return to the very river or stream from which it came.  The fish will work up stream and eventually procreate.  Once it has accomplished this mission, it will die.  The fish will travel the journey knowing that it must give back before passing on.
The life of a salmon parallels that of musicians in general, but in this case, the highlight really is to stay who you are.  When you talk to Matisyahu it is easy to see that all though he has altered some of his beliefs, he has stayed true to himself.  He is full of love, and compassion.
When I told him that if he ever gets tired of the painting, I would be happy to purchase it back, his face lit up and he responded, “No way, I love this.  I am keeping it in my home forever.”