Around the world on a GS850G for a cause

[salty_monk]

Same cameraman as the Long way round and long way down series I believe.

[shirazdrum]

DEC 29TH. PARANAL AND THE CHILEAN WHOREHOUSE

Lima marked the last big civilization in Peru, and the worst traffic I’ve ever seen in my life. In the first hour entering Lima, the SRzero ran into a semi-truck in the mayhem and broke the rear fiberglass fender. The RGE guys fixed the car in no time, and soon we entered Chile, to attempt crossing of the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth. Ever since we left Ecuador, seeing a tree was like a Bigfoot sighting and the Atacama was living up to its name. Occasional desert flowers and green moss were signs of underground waters, but they were far and long in between. Even cactus were few and far in between in certain areas of the desert. Atacama is a giant desert, and it is a fascinating place. In the day time, the temperatures soared to the point that asphalt started to melt, and at night they dropped down to freezing........

see the rest at www.motorcyclememoir.com (the text is too long and it won't let me post it here. It also has 30 pictures.

[Skateguy50]

glad you are catching up on the blogs in the down time... I missed one shipping window as they didnt get my billing information in time because for the plane. It is now paid for and I will let you know when they get it on a plane... I should get a few days notice but no set delivery date.

[shirazdrum]

JAN 7TH. ARGENTINA, TIERRA DEL FUEGO

We intended to start out around 9 a.m. to finish our last leg in Chile and cross the border to Argentina. However, somehow the RGE team’s Nikon SLR camera went missing which caused a delay as everyone searched around for the camera. Unfortunately, the camera was nowhere to be found (most likely got stolen out of their hotel room). With only seven days left to the finish line, I offered the use of my Pentax SLR and we got out of dodge.

The scenery on this last leg was absolutely breathtaking. It’s almost impossible to describe how lush and verdant the terrain was. The mix of fields, mountains, trees, and profusion of flowers make it jaw-dropingly spectacular. For me, Claudio, and the guys in the SRzero, there was a bit more to contend with as not only did we have rain, (the first real rain since Colombia) but it was bloody cold. We had all kinds of layers on to help ward off the chill, but it wasn’t working

And at last, there it was, the white and blue flag of Argentina waving in the wind. Since I was eight years old, I had wanted to visit this country, and 21 years later, I rode my motorcycle to it. It was the hot summer of 1990 when the Argentine national football team lost the final World Cup match to Germany, and I cried for two days. I wanted to be a football player, but it turned out that life had a different path in mind for me.

Upon our arrival at the border, the bike was completely out gas. Trying to get gas from the van was a no-go as it had an anti-robbing screen in the way. A kindly policeman came to my rescue who went out to town and got some gas for us. Finally the stern Nazi-like Chilean police had given way to helpful and laidback Latino police we came to know.

Read the rest on www.motorcyclememoir.com . From now on, i'll post full blogs here but this is the last one with million pictures which i couldn't fit in the GSR.

30 more picture on the website as well.

[LADRI]

ast news

Hi everybody, I have the plesasure to met Chris and be with him for a little more of the last 24 hs, at this moment Chris is on a bus going back to the city of Mar del Plata and the engine is on a truck with similar destination. I think that may be tomorrow he will be able to pick up the engine in the deposit of the truck company.
I asume that when he arrive he will give you all the details of our struggles with the airport custom officers to get the engine out of there.
Bye!

Adrian

[cowboyup3371]

Great news.

[Dogma]

Hi everybody, I have the plesasure to met Chris and be with him for a little more of the last 24 hs, at this moment Chris is on a bus going back to the city of Mar del Plata and the engine is on a truck with similar destination. I think that may be tomorrow he will be able to pick up the engine in the deposit of the truck company.
I asume that when he arrive he will give you all the details of our struggles with the airport custom officers to get the engine out of there.
Bye!

Adrian

Good on ya for the assist!

[Richsuz]

Hola Adrian, Nos quieres decir entonces que el cambio de motor será en Mar del Plata y no en BA? Espero que tenga quien lo ayude por allá.

Saludos

[LADRI]

Asi es Rich el se llevo el motor para instalarlo en la granja del pueblo de Nicanor Otamendi a unos 500 kilometros de B.A., entiendo que alli quien lo esta alojando le va a dar una mano.
Saludos.

Thats correct Rich he take the engine to the small town of Nicanor Otamendi distant 800 miles from Buenos Aires where he was living right now. Im understand that the guy who owns the farm will help him to swap the engines and put the bike running again.
Goodbye!

Adrian

[Skateguy50]

Well glad it got sorted, I got the information he needed yesterday... today and sent it to him a few hours ago.

We all knew it would be a huge hassle and tried to minimize it but anything is better than $3k shipping via UPS or Fedex and them wanted the engine steamed with a certificate saying all the oil was removed.

Thanks to everyone who donated money for the shipping, worked out that the GSR folks covered all the costs within a few dollars. So all it cost me was time and use of my kitchen table for a while

Adrian, did you and Chris try lifting that crate? shipping receipt clocked it in at 333lbs.

[LADRI]

We have some help with the crate (You know, Im very skinny), this was so well made that you can drop it from a helicopter and the engine will be intatct inside , amazing job!
Here the process to take the crate out of the airport wasn`t cheap, Chris have to paid 90 something dolars to the cargo company, 200 dolars for the custom taxes (they said bring a complete engine its forbidden for any private person, this only can be than by an authorized importer, so after we explain the guy the whole situation, he said they gonna make an exception and consider it as used spare parts and put a 400 dolars F.O.B. estimated price to it and then charge a 50% tax) and finaly another 95 something for 2 days of stay in the airport (the truth is the crate was a little bit more than 24 hs there).
The thing is in Argentina cars, motorcycles or any vehicle are very expensive and spare parts are very expensive too (and for our bikes hard to find) mostly because of the taxes for brand new vehicles and this translate to the used ones...
Anyway we did the best we can under the circumstances, Im only hope see Chris on the road again very soon.
Bye!

Adrian

[mighty13d]

Thank you for the update! I can't wait to see his bike going down the road again!

[azr]

You know I'm pretty sure I smell a movie or at least a book coming out of all of this. Actually probably a series. Good job Ladri, good job.

[Skateguy50]

Well lets just say there is a reason I listed it only as "old motorcycle parts" and did not ask or explain further to the freight company...

Anyways aside from the engine it had like $700 in new parts (thanks again Z1 Enterprises) either in the engine already or in the box packed in the front under the exhaust ports, how far did customs dig into the crate?

Also everything in the crate and shipping to the airport was 100% covered by GSR members so if all Chris had to pay was the in country expenses listed its not to shabby.

I gave him an email with the details of whats left to do on the top end, pretty much just the timing, but he does have a bit to do still.

[shirazdrum]

JAN 10TH. PATAGONIA BREAKDOWN AFTERMATH

Tati and Facundo took to the bus station and made sure that the driver knew where to drop me off. I was supposed to get off the bus 40km before Mar del Plata at the Otamendi Junction, and the guys would pick me up to take me to Tati’s farm in Otamendi. He even wrote on a piece of paper for me: I need to get off in Otamendi, in Spanish just in case the driver forgot.

The bus ride was only 400km long and I figured it would take no more than 6 hours, but I guess the Argentine buses are like Greyhounds; it stopped a million times to pick up passengers along the way. I was dead tired and I slept pretty much the whole time. Tati was supposed to call me at 6pm to see where I was to pick me up so I kept the phone on for his call. Around 6 pm the phone rang, and it was Cynthia who hadn’t heard from me in a few days and had no idea yet about the motorcycle motor. I told her that the bike motor blew up, and that I was on a bus and asked her not to call me as I was waiting for a phone call (the phone battery was almost dead) and hung up. She took it as I was blowing her off, and called again. It took 6 more phone calls and precious battery life till to literally beg her not to call, and by that time the phone died for good.

At dusk, after 8 hours I got dropped off at Otamendi road, a long country road with nothing in sight with no phone or even knowing where I should go. The clouds started coming in and a light drizzle started as I waited over hour and half at the side of the road for a phone call that I couldn’t answer. I tried turning the phone back on and it started ringing immediately. It was Tati and all I said was that “I’m here,” and it cut off again. As I was preparing myself for a bivouac for the night, I saw a dim motorcycle light approaching me, and that was the Calvary.

Facundo took me to the farm where we had a reunion. Four other guys with their bikes were there and along with a German woman who the guys had seen riding her Suzuki DR400 heading for Buenos Aires and invited her too. The giant grill at Tati’s farm was in full operation with chickens and chorizos roasting away, and the endless flow of wine took my mind off the pickle of a situation I was in, at least for the night. We would go to Mar del Plata after the holiday to see about the bike.

The next day Tati took me to his mom’s house where I could stay. Fortunately they had the much needed internet and I started the search for the parts. Not knowing what was wrong with the bike yet, all I could do was to wait. Finally the holiday was over and we picked up the bike and rented a truck to take it back to the farm. Loading and unloading this beast on back of a pickup truck is not easy as we had no ramps and with the bike not running, even if we had ramps it would be a nightmare. When we got to Otamendi, there were only three of us so we opted for a solution. Tati ran into town and picked up couple of drunk guys from a local bar to help out for $2 each. With five us, we picked up the bike and lowered it to the ground.

I immediately started to dismantle the engine and the further I inspected the worse it looked. Three pistons out of four had dime size holes on top and with further inspection, it turned out that the rod bearings were shot from the debris of the blown up pistons. The engine was beyond repair. It was repairable if I had the parts, a clean place to work, tools and access to a machine shop, but I had none of that. I reported my findings and dismay on the GSR (the Suzuki forum) and went to bed.

When I woke up in the morning, the guys at GSR were already on top of it and were making things happen. Matt Hanscom, a member and a friend, donated a complete engine out of his own bike, Z1 Enterprise, our parts sponsor pitched in with all new parts to make the new engine road worthy, another member donated a complete final drive, and Jared Williams, our public relation director (also a GSR member) lead the whole orchestra.

Despite Christmas closing in and family responsibilities, Jared went out of his way and picked up the engine in Maine, then disassembled the whole thing in his kitchen to fix it up. More GSR guys pitched in and they had a wrenching party at Jared’s house to finish the work. In the meanwhile, many members donated money for the shipping cost, and all I had to do was to stay put. And put I stayed. I stayed at the farm. Alone.

I read the two books I had with me twice, watched every movie I had on my computer, wrote blogs, edited videos and even tried to compose music on my computer, but there was nothing that could cure my boredom. I spent the Christmas alone and the New Year. My only transportation was a lousy ancient bicycle that went flat every day, and heading to the town of Otamendi became my only getaway. I would go to an internet cafe to catch up on the shipping process despite the ungodly slow connection, and busied myself shopping for food. Cynthia served as my only contact many days with the outside world, as even my parents couldn’t get a hold of me.

My only pastime became killing flies at the farm as with a pig farm next door, there was never a shortage of flies in my room. Sometimes there were a few hundred files hanging upside down from the ceiling, and one movement from me sent them buzzing all over the place. The first few days I bought bug sprays to kill them, but it got expensive quickly. Then I learned to spray a few shots, and close the door for a few minutes. It wouldn’t kill them but made them a much easier target for my rolled up newspaper.

With flies came spiders too. All my life I liked spiders or at least I left them alone until this farm. One night as I was watching a movie, I felt something walking up on my foot, and as I looked down, I threw the computer to the side, and jumped up a few feet in the air. I could hear my heartbeat in my head, and I was frozen. The giant tarantula-looking hairy spider was more afraid of me as I was afraid of him, but that didn’t matter. As I hit him on the head with a flip flop and thought that it was over, an even bigger one came out from under the bed, and headed right at me. This time I ran out of the room and headed straight for the town. I came back armed with bug sprays and sprayed the whole room until I was about to pass out myself. I never found the body of the second one, but I’m officially staying out of like with spiders.

Days went by and the shipping situation became a problem. Courier services like UPS and FedEx were way out of our price range, and our only hope was airfreight. After a long search (not me, I only take credit for staying put) the rescue team finally figured out a way to send the motor down here. Jared meticulously packed up all the stuff and built a crate for it and was on his way out to send it off when the worst winter storm of the decade hit the northeastern United States. With snow piled up everywhere, over 7000 flights were canceled, and I had to stay put even longer. A few days later, finally the engine went out of Boston, MA and it’s en route to Buenos Aires as we speak.

I’m deeply indebted to all of you who gave moral backing, hands on assistance and financial support to rescue my ass from Argentina. I don’t even know how to repay you, but I want you to know that I’m blessed and grateful to have friends and supporters like you. Thank you, thank you and a million times more: thank you.