The Americas 2013

Day exploring San Francisco by foot and by Bus. This city is quaint, modern and beautiful with a feeling not very different to Cape Town and then went to the Opera in the evening to watch the Tales of Hoffman. All in all a great day soaking up a great city!

Union Square..The heart of the city.

China Gate which is the entrance to China Town in SF..

The tallest building in SF, also where Tower inferno was filmed back in the 80’s.

Alcatraz from the mainland… 

Tommy’s joint which has been around for the last 200 years.. 

We had a lazy start to the day because we had a short 200km run to San Francisco and wanted to enjoy the surroundings of Pebble beach before heading off. We started the morning with a walk along the golf course and beach followed by an awesome breakfast and mid morning snooze and eventually got out of the hotel at 12pm.

Our days ride…

The ride to San Francisco was fast, cool and beautiful until we hit the traffic in the city which is manic and was backed up for about 10km on route to the golden gate bridge and took us over an hour to get to the viewpoint for that iconic San Francisco photo!! We eventually checked into our hotel where we will be spending the next 2 nights to soak in and enjoy the city a little.

Although we arrived back in Los Angeles on Monday the 1st, we have used the time between then and now to acclimatise, rest, …and see Fleetwood Mac Live..which was AWESOME!!

Leaving LA!!

Our route today was to go from LA and then do the famous Pacific coast highway between Morro Bay (just north west of LA) and Pebble Beach which is a stretch of single lane road that runs along the ocean for mile after beautiful mile. We were also blessed with brilliant cool weather which made the vistas and ride incredible!! Lunch was at a typical little road side place much like you see in many movies and because it was the 4th of July there was live music to accompany our essential burgers, fries and malts!!

Today being the 4th of July (which is a major holiday in the US), we were unsure of what we were going to encounter traffic wise because what at first looked like light traffic turned into heavily congested highways for much of the route north although the plus side is that the roads are wide and in great condition compared to what we have encountered further south.

We got to our hotel after 500km at about 5pm and we are spending the night at the Lodge at Pebble beach which is on the famous golf course and facing onto the ocean! We immediately opened up a bottle of red wine and sat on our patio watching the sunset and chatting about the day. The interesting thing about the climate here is that although it is the middle of summer the temperature has seldom gone above 23C the whole day because of the coolness coming off the pacific. Great for me, not so much for Jax!!

Days ride…

You know you are in the US when you open the curtains of your hotel room in the morning and the vista to greet you is one of a gigantic aircraft carrier docked in the bay and war ready! You know you are in the US when you go down for breakfast and what is usually ham, cheese, toast and coffee through most of Latin America is a waffle and pancake “all you can eat” fest! You know you are in the US when the 2 lane highway you usually consider fantastic when in Latin America turns out to be a 16 lane mega highway and you definitely know you are in the US when its not considered a sanitary sin to throw the loo paper in the actual Loo!!

Not meadows and mountains but unique and interesting nonetheless!!!

After a very long sleep recovering from my Iron Butt challenge it was a slow and lazy start to the day. We had a very short run of just under 200km from San Diego to Los Angeles, (our final destination for Leg 3 of the Americas trip) where the riding was super easy and fast if not a little boring which meant that the ride was completed in a little under 2 relaxing hours.

Our days ride…

We got into LA just after lunch time and as a treat we have booked into the 4 seasons in Beverly Hills for the next 3 nights. From here we will get everything washed up, packed and ready for the next leg to Alaska and get the bike serviced. We are returning back to SA for 3 weeks and will be back in LA to continue our Northward journey on the 1st of July and will not be updating the blog again until then.

On arrival at the 4 seasons Beverly Hills…

The trip through South and central America has been wonderful in so many respects. The people met along the way that have become lifelong friends, the towns and villages that range from the magnificent to the downright bizarre and the myriad of experiences that only a trip of this nature could produce has made me realise just how fortunate and blessed I am to have had an opportunity to devote a short and selfish period of my life to this most wonderful endeavour! For this I am truly grateful to family, friends and colleagues that have picked up the slack in my absence to date.

We have thus far completed 29,000km of which this leg 3 was 11,000km. The total trip to Alaska and then across Canada to NY is estimated to be about 48,000km which means there is still roughly 19,000km to go but we are well past the halfway mark and still hungry for more discovery!!

Leg 3, 11000km.

Leg 1–9400km (Red), Leg 2–8400km (Blue), Leg 3-11000km (Green)

It is common to hear fearful stories and rumours about the dangers that abound through Latin America ranging from kidnappings, muggings, murders and even the threats from the military and law enforcement themselves. Comments like “don’t go there; you’ll die!!” are a common slogan of the armchair traveller and whilst I am sure that this happens here, and all over the world for that matter, our most dangerous experience has been the kind that comes from eating funky chillies, tortillas and empanadas!! Every single encounter with military or law enforcement has been polite, courteous and respectful. Every encounter with a stranger when help has been needed has only ever been generous and willingly supplied with a smile and it goes to show that when you travel, if you extend courtesy and respect, the likelihood of receiving the same warmth in return is likely to outweigh the risks by 1000 to 1, not to mention the pleasures that an armchair vista could never supply so Thank you Latin America for the most incredible experience…we will be back!!

Rui and Jax, Los Angeles, USA, 5 June 2013.

When the alarm went off at 03h00 this morning it felt like I had been hit by a sledgehammer. I was on the road by 03h30 and rode the first 2 hours in the dark however, first light is always a special time and watching it happen over the Baja desert was truly a privilege as the peninsula is incredibly beautiful, albeit very very cold at this time of day!!

The ride proved to be unbelievably difficult and required me to draw on deep deep resources of strength and energy to keep going. By 07h30 when I stopped in El Rosario, 300km from Guerrero Negro to fuel up and collect a receipt I was feeling hypo glaecemic and frozen to the bone because the temps had dropped to about 5 degrees just before sunrise. A healthy breakfast of a litre of coke and a couple of snickers bar however set me up for the remainder of the ride. The road conditions haven’t improved and the ride continues to be slow and although I was pushing hard on the straight stretches I did not manage an average speed of greater than 100km/h at best, however, I managed the 1600km half an hour ahead of schedule and into Tijuana, 1668km from Cabo just after 11h20 (including the 1 hour time zone change) so Iron Butt challenge completed but it required 18 out of 24 hours of pretty hard riding!

After this I needed to get across the Mexican/US border at Tijuana which is the busiest road border in the world and required me to snake through about 3km of car queues to get to the front. I finally got into San Diego at about 13h00 exhausted but feeling great that I got this accolade behind me.

745km from Guerrero Negro to Tijuana…

I left Cabo San Lucas at 12h15 to commence the Iron butt 24h challenge with a view to completing the first leg of 923km to Guerrero Negro before sunset. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mistake…Ass-umption!

The process for the challenge to be recognised requires that you get a start witness, collect receipts from the gas stations with date and time stamps on them, get an end witness and then submit all the docs to the IBA.

Because the Mexican roads to date have all been brilliant without exception, and the road from La Paz to Cabo is a 4 lane highway, I assumed that the same quality of roads would exist all the way up to Tijuana on the US Border…NOT!! The road after La Paz all the way to Ensanada, 1300km away is a very narrow, 2 way, single lane road without shoulders which makes the going slow particularly when dealing with trucks and the likes. The second assumption is that the roads would be mostly through desert like conditions which would enable fairly high average speeds, again, NOT! There are certainly long straight stretches however there is an equal amount of road that winds its way through mountainous conditions as the road weaves back and forth between the Sea of Cortez on the Eastern side of the Peninsula and the Pacific ocean on the Western side. The result of the mistake is that although I completed the 923km today, I didn’t get into Guerrero Negro until after 22h00, some 2 hours after sunset which made the last stretch exhausting.

923 km from Cabo to Guerrero Negro!!

In addition, the realisation that the conditions are what they are means that I will need to leave Guerrero Negro by no later than 04h30 in order to get to Tijuana, 750km away before 12h15 tomorrow, so its off to sleep for me.

Unfortunately because I am racing the clock there has been no opportunity for photos although the Baja Peninsula has turned out to be one of the most beautiful drives thus far,

Lazy Sunday by the pool in Cabo San Lucas. Nothing to report.

Today has been one of the first days that we have stayed in a place for more than one night and haven’t gone out exploring the town/ruin or other interesting nearby site! We walked on the beach and lay by the pool like vegetables which was fantastic as I had not realised how the tiredness had crept up until our bodies had, had the opportunity to rest. We are enjoying this place and the rest so much that we are going to extend our stay by an additional night and leave on Monday.

A thought that has been nagging at me since Shaun first mentioned it a few months back is the completion of the Iron Butt Association “Saddle sore 1000” which is essentially a challenge to do a 1000 mile (1600km) ride inside 24 hours. Considering that there is ample opportunity for me to collect this motorcycling accolade (although seldom desirable because there is so much to do and see on this journey of ours), it seems that the biking Gods have collaborated to provide the perfect circumstance for this to take place. Jacqui is exhausted and we are at the southern most tip of the Baja California Peninsula that is a strip of land 1640km from the US border, littered mostly with desert, a bit of mountain range and fantastic roads so after a brief discussion we have agreed that Jax will fly from Cabo to San Diego on Monday and I will commit to the challenge.

The 2 legs of the Iron Butt challenge in 24 hours…

Some research says that the the best way to do this would be to leave Cabo at about 11h30 on Monday the 3rd and look to complete 923km by 20h30 (because sunset is at this time) allowing for an average moving speed of only 110km/h including petrol and rest stops of up to 15 minutes every 250km. 923km will put me in a town called Guerrero Negro where I can sleep from 21h30 and depart again by 05h00 for the remaining 677km before 11h30 on Tuesday the 4th. Sounds very doable! No? So stay tuned, I will update more on this topic on Monday night but right now I am heading back for some more heavy iron butt training on the pool lounger!!

NOTHING to write about today because although we are in the MOST beautiful place I have spent the day passed out due to a super crappy (no pun intended) stomach bug!! The major activity of the day is that we got to go for dinner because I am feeling about 90% better.

Sick boy (who lost about 10kg today) in Granny blanket and gorgeous woman!!

We awoke surprisingly refreshed at around 07h00. Although the ferry ride is quite basic (and you have stand in a queue for your food), we had a private cabin for the two of us which was comfortable and afforded us a good nights rest. The ferry was also well priced as the total cost including us, cabin, bike and food was only approx US$300 in total, which I think represents good value.

The waters around La Paz on route to Cabo..

We got into La Paz at around 10h30 and couldn’t believe the security to get out of the port. First is a police checkpoint, then a hectic Military checkpoint where they go through every bag and piece of clothing looking for drugs or explosives so we only got out of the port after 12h00 for a 185km ride to Cabo San Lucas which we were expecting to be quite hot because its essentially a “western movie” desert like scene but because of the pacific winds, it proved to be a very comfortable 22-25C ride.

Our days ride to Cabo..

Baja Peninsula Sur…

We got to Cabo and we are staying at the most awesome hotel on the beach called Capella Pedregal. You know its awesome when the guard at the gate takes your order for your welcome drink that will be waiting for you by the time you hit reception in a few minutes so seeing as we are in Mexico, Margheritas were the order of the moment!!

View from our room with private pool…

By the time we were checked in however, the “good value” food of the ferry started to churn a little and I have unfortunately come down with a stomach bug of which I wont go into too much detail herein so the rest of the day is unfortunately “bed bound”!!