The party
 

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So my friends heard me yammering on about riding south and they through me a party. So kind. Good food ,motogp, and chillin'.

More party fotos
 

more potos and good wishes....

A couple more
 

These guys were expecting me to leave in a couple of days......

But I still had a few things to do
 

Like sell my friends Buick, sell the other klr and a little tinkering. the big spring is the factory correct piece. So I cutt it to fit and the motor makes very little chain rattling and clanking noises. Mostly I hear the stock muffler..

And some more stuff...
 

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It was good to spend quality time with all three sisters. One I have no picture off. And while I was at it I painted the trailer and made a couple of thips to Ga. (200 miles one way) I stashed my old bmw as well.

A little more tinkering.
 

It turns out, that when I am excited..... it seems that I can get ham fisted and can sometimes overtighten somethings or just plane not be able to think about the task at hand.....I twisted the little water pump bolt off and that required taking both sides off and waiting a week for some parts. Turns out, it's a common enough problem with this model.

BUT, before the party....
 

I had made a trip with friends from Birmingham to New Orlens. It was a hard trip on the little klr650 as these guys cruised quite quickly. It mostly kept up (bearly) and used only one qt of oil in a 1000 miles. Not so bad but I got nervous and resolved to put the fresher motor from the other klr in the bike I am to ride off in the sunset with. It was nice and I was blissfully riding around with new rings and valves and stuff and upshifts without the clutch and then down shifts without the clutch. All this was at midrange rpms. Then it would not shift! I had to do a little tinkering and remove the piece of third gear that had jumped off and wedged it self between 4th and 5th. It looked fine except for the broken part. I have never seen a gear brake like that. Plenty of wait time for clips and thrust washers etc. I got a new gear and now do not make cluthless down shifts. Way big adventure..... Runs fine now but uses as much oil as the original motor. Seems to have a little more power.

Hey Mike, I will be following behind around October 1 or 2. That tree near San Antonio might be a stop-over.
anyway maybe we will cross paths somewhere. How far are you going?

airdale74451
 

Dale, I not sure just how far I will be going. Costa Rica, TDF or RTW. To early to tell. I am in Veracruz,Mx right now , after a long days ride. The trip would have been easier had I known about a doz words in spanish. The biggest surprise is how genuinely nice these people are. I act like a torista and treat the cops like boy scouts and order tacos on the street with hand gestures and oinks for pork etc. I'm loving it for the most part and they treat me surprising well. In the north stick to main roads and daylight only. Traffic will be a mix of 45mph bikes and 100mph+ cars. The head trip scary part is just getting the trip started and crossing the border. I had no problems except I did not know how to by gas! More on that later. mike

The trip has started....
 

I rode mostly on two lane roads across Mississippi and Louisiana to find this place about 10 miles into Texas. This guy is 90% blind and his wife does the cooking. I felt like stopping but wasn't really hungry, so I ordered cheap... the bbq sausage on a hot dog bun. It was not worth note but before I left the cook , sweaty with her hair mostly pulled back, offered me a small sample of her prize product, bbq pork. I dutifully tasted it as she, with a gleam in her eye, explained, it's so tender that 'you can just leave your teeth a home'. Yes I believe that's true.....

Another view of the tree. It is at a campground south of San Antonio on I-37 ,two exits south of i-410, at a lake and cost $9 for the night. Be warned: some crazy bastards think that if it's friday somehow they need to fish all night! Complete with flood lamps and tents and generators, etc. Maybe a dozen guys in all. Not so bad, but I've never seen such a thing....

Crossing Texas so more....
 

Lots of this between San Antonio and Eagles Pass where I would cross the border. I went about 70 and savored every moment. I could hear Marty Robbins faintly in the back ground, singing about getting away and going back to El Paso for one last kiss before dying.... It was a great ride. Not a very technical ride.. . At the border, the line was short and I think they spotted me for who I am, a bit of a crazy old man tourist going for a big ride. So two very important questions, 'pistole? and 'deniro?' (sp) Guns and cash get smuggled into Mexico. I had not thought of it. Having one bullet will get you years in jail and a large bag of cash is also very bad.... . I thought I would just follow hwy 57 south but soon learned different. Turns out, it is something like a business route and a bypass route. You have to know which city your going to.... . 50 miles (or kilos) into Mexico is Immigration and I got a surprise. About a year ago they put a new policy in place. Every vehicle needs a $300 bond / deposit. Take the vehicle back out of the country within 6 mos and get your money back. Get it wrong and they keep the money. It is all very simple unless you've only got about four words in common with the highly suspect immigration woman. It comes to $372 instead of the something under $100 that I expected. Victor was careful to not intrude. He asked if I might want some help. After I agreed ,he explained it all and said he was getting his deposit back as we spoke. It was apparent that he only wanted to be helpful. I am in his dept.....

Greetings, Mike! It's not the same around the big house without you around. Raymond says hello.

It is way cool what you are doing and an inspiration to me and countless others.

Are you posting fotos on photobucket? If so, it's private and noone can see them with out a password. Your Facebook friends are clamouring.

Keep on rolling!

~Jerry

Jerry
 

Hey, I've got about 1500 fotos on an SD thing. Most are in the computer as well. I just now am learning how to operate these systems.(teaching my self mostly) More HU stuff tonite and later links to fotobucket as fits a story. I'll get caught up to date as soon as i can. Then I'll eat for about $40 a meal ($3.00us) and sleep on the beach for free. Now it's hotels with internet. Thanks for being around, mike PS: After crossing the border I had this behind me and this in front of me. It was about 95 degrees and I wanted to get past the 'said to be more dangerous area' and on to the cooler montains. Savoring every moment at a sedate 70mph.......

Veracruz Meeting
 

Hi Mike, good meeting you yesterday....ist Adv rider we have met since leaving the Horizon gathering In NC Sept 7th........hope 175 worked for you....we spent the night in another Love Motel and tonight we are in Cardenas Mx...moving slowly.
All the Best
Bob and John