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BY NORMAN McELROY
I started out alone on 8 Nov. 1990 form Lincoln park, Michigan--temperature 28F.--riding a second 1976 Honda XL-250, not the same one I had rode to Alaska in 86. That one became to hard to start and I could not seem to correct it.
This second 1976 Honda ZL-250 was also used like the first one and had 4433 miles on it when I departed.
The first day i covered a distance of 375 miles to Louisville, Kentucky. It was cold riding as I had no windscreen and was forced to stop every 40-50 miles to warm up. The next day was o.k. Not so cold, as I rode further south. I ride with a 2-piece snowmobile suit on and if it is very cold, I put the rain coat over that for an additional wind break. Even in hot weather I continued to wear the snowmobile coat every day.
In Texas I found an oil leak on the left side of the engine case and corrected that. In 7 days I was at the Mexican border in Laredo, Texas.
No problems were encountered crossing the border and I proceeded through Mexico-avoiding Mexico City--in another 7 days. I was only run off the road twice, which was pretty good. Once by a truck driver and again by a bus driver. Same direction traffic likes to pass you with about 24 inches of clearance, giving you the impression you don't have any rights and maybe that you are not even wanted on the highway. It took awhile to get used to it.
It took several hours to cross the border at Guatemala frontier, plus money for different fees. But hotel were cheap-$1.95 for my first night in Guatemala and $1.25 at my next hotel. I picked up a visa for Honduras and in Guatemala City. I by-passed El Salvador as it would take 2 weeks to get a visa.
In Honduras I got my first flat, a small nail in my front tire. This was the only flat tire I got on the whole 20,000 mile trip.
I expected maybe a little trouble in Nicaragua but it did not happen. The roads were good and I had no problems at either border.
In Costa Rica I rode in the rain for the first time. The roads were very good except for occasional big rocks on the payment in the mountain areas. Also, above 6000 ft. altitude my engine began to lose power and at 10,000 ft. my 250cc engine seemed like it had about 100cc left in it.
On Dec 11, 1990, I arrived in Panama City and stayed 5 days--odometer read 9723 miles. On the 4th day, Copa Air Freight shipped my un-crated bike to Bavianquilla, Columbia for about $170.00 and I followed the next day. I had been on the road for 5 weeks now, very few problems, good highways and good health.
THEN MY PROBLEMS STARTED! Colombian officials would not release by bike from customs. I hired an agent, I hired a taxi, I stayed a week in Barrangquilla all to no avail. They finally told me I could not ride in Columbia and to ship the bike by truck to Spiales, Columbia on the Ecuador border. So that's what I did. It all boiled down to the fact that they don't like Americans.
I left Columbia on 7 Jan 91 (forever I hope) and entered Ecuador with no problems. Ecuador is high country with lots and lots of rocks on the road, often times there being only one lane open. I made steady progress south, through Peru, the land of deserts, and into Chile, of which the northern half is also desert.
In Santiago, Chile, I talked to the auto club of Chile and they assured me I could continue south to Osorno and cross over to Argentina with no problems. This turned out to be true.
Crossing the border went smoothly and the roads in Patagonia, near the mountains, was o.k. when there was pavement and when there was gravel. Road construction on Highway 40 required I take a detour road for about 60-70 miles that was rather bad, at times only a rocky trail. The evening I arrived in the city of Commodora Rivadavia the wind was blowing 39-40 mph and had been most of the day. Luckily, it was at my back mostly. It turned out to be the best days run of the South American trip--340 miles.
South of Rio Galleros I came upon gravel road again and it would be gravel road all the way through Tierra Del Fuego to Ushusia, my goal, the most southern city in the world.
Coming through the mountains just north of Ushuaia it was raining and the road muddy. At times I was down to 5 mph to keep from sliding but I made it without taking a spill. Odometer--15769. I had traveled 11,336 miles from Lincoln Park Michigan to Ushuaia and I had been traveling for 3 months.
On the return trip, north through Argentina, I made good time once I got back on pavement again. Except for a broken chain--when I got up to a decent traveling speed on the pavement my chain soon broke. I replaced it with a new chain I had with me.
I by-passed Buenos Aires and continued further north and entered Brazil at Foz de Iquacu, where there is a great water falls to see. Southern Brazil has a temperate climate and with the low rolling hills and big farms, it wasn't much different from southern Michigan farms.
Since they only gave me a 2 week visa, I decided to go through central Brazil rather than the longer coastal route. As I got closer to the Amazon River, it began to rain more but I arrived in Belem in 12 days with no problems. In Belem I was able to re-new my visa for two more weeks and arranged for a 6 day boat trip up the Amazon river to Manous.
After two days in Manous, I started out traveling north for the border with Venezuela and this means 600 miles of dirt road. I was held up 2 days by rain but made steady progress at about 25 mph.
At Km 500 I took a bad spill when I could not avoid a wash-out across the road. Again, as on the Alaska trip, I went down hard on the left side and again I felt that deep seated pain that accompanies a broken bone. It turned out that my lower left leg was fractured but I was able to walk on it and ride the bike a short distance to Km 500, a small settlement, only a bus stop actually.
Two days later, after a 160 mile bus ride to Boa Vista, the hospital x-rayed it and put a cast on it and said come back in 3 weeks.
After 4 or 5 days in a small hotel, I rode the bus back to Km 500 to be with my bike and equipment. After a week there, I arranged to put my bike and equipment on top of a lumber truck and me and my homemade crutches all rode the truck back to Boa Vista to the same small hotel.
After 28 days with the cast on, they finally removed it and 2 days later I rode the last 150 miles of dirt road to the Venezuelan border where payment began again.
When I crossed the border, my visa was about 30 days expired but the one person on duty there did not seem to know what to do about it so he just let me through. There are good roads in Venezuela and in 6 days I was in Caracas. Arrangement was made to air ship my bike to Miami, uncrated again, and I followed the next day.
In Miami, I had to wait out the week-end and Monday customs cleared the bike and I left for Lincoln Park.
I arrived home a 2:00 am in the morning after 4 days travel from Miami with one day with a bit of rain.
Odometer--24,370 minus 4433 equals 19,937 miles total travel in six months. It was the greatest trip on a motorcycle I had ever taken.
(EDITORS NOTE: SINCE THEN NORM HAS TRAVELLED ACROSS RUSSIA AND IS NOW IN AFRICA. WE ARE WAITING FOR STORIES)
By Norm McElroy for International Motorcycle Adventurers.
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