United States Of America , Mexico , Belize , Guatemala ,  El Salvador , Honduras , Nicaragua , Costa Rica ,  Panama , Colombia , Venezuela , Guyana , Suriname , French Guiana , Brazil , Paraguay , Argentina , Uruguay.

2/1/02 Only a week before we fly out of Australia on our way back to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. This trip home hasn't really been a rest as we had rented our house and sold the car before we left on the last trip and have been moving between our three children's places, sisters and parents places trying to vacate before we overstay our welcome. It has been great catching up as usual with relatives and friends who seem not to have forgotten us despite our 15 months absence.

Planning has been easy compared with other trips. We only needed to obtain one Tourist card from the Mexican Embassy as we will be arriving by land, not flying in. In other Central American countries we either don't need visas or tourist cards or can easily obtain them along the way. South American countries are too distant, time wise, so we can't obtain visas for there before we leave, as they will expire before we arrive.

Parts for the H-D again are more easily obtained at home from our local distributor, Morgan and Wackers of Brisbane, who supply them at cost, a big savings for the usually expensive parts. We didn't need many parts this time either, as the roads in North America are much kinder on the H-D than those of other parts of the world we have travelled. The sheer mileage of the motorcycle at 270,000 km ensures some mechanical parts need replacement and others are carried as spares or just normal maintenance.

The plan, not always followed, is January in the USA, February in Mexico, Central America in March then a flight to Venezuela over the Darian Gap and down the East coast of South America to Guyana and Suriname, a boat trip on the Amazon in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and into Buenos Aires in Argentina, flying home to Australia about the end of July 2002. This route is a fairly well worn one other than the section through Guyana and Suriname. There is still no road all the way from Suriname to French Guyana and onto Brazil at last reports although one was supposed to be under construction. If it is not finished we will have to return from Suriname back through Guyana to Brazil and down the Amazon. This means retracing our route over some bad dirt roads hopefully before the onset of the wet season. This route also requires a couple of river crossings without vehicle ferries. As always the weather plays the major part in the planning of any trip.

Despite varying information regarding the need or not for a carnet de passage for Central and South America we decided to obtain one. The decision was based on cost which has been greatly reduced as the bikes value is now minimal and the convenience that it gives greater flexibility of plans if we need to fly into a country that requires one. This carnet will see us through till we arrive in the USA for the Aug 2003 rally.

As usual we will be travelling using Lonely Planets guide books, which although poor on information for independent travellers with their own vehicle, their background info on countries and cultures combined with good accommodation recommendations make them indispensable. We have also purchased maps to cover the region.

Dunlop have again agreed to supply us with two free tyres before our departure from the USA and hopefully we will only need one rear tyre from them along the way.
 
 
 

You can now move onto the first country of the eighth trip if you wish.  Start Travelling

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