Leaving Jolanda and Leons on Saturday we made tracks for Manzanillo to finally meet Spencer and Mary, at only 1 hour down the road it was an easy day, we set off with Ken and Carol Duval in a private BMW v KTM Dakar race ... we recklessly reached speeds of up to 85 km/hr :rofl

Again an uneventful trip ... I am getting used to these !!! we arrived at Spencers and Marys to to warm welcomes.

The boys had planned a local ride without luggage for the Sunday, in the morning Spencer and I set off for a ride which turned in to 200 km jaunt with probably 100 plus km of this offroad through small Mexican villages and some really strange looks, I am guessing to say it would have been the first ever 950 SE through there.







Our route



Really enjoyable ride taking in scenery and dust, we found our way out despite local advice of just turn around and go down that track!!!!!

Again we returned a little later than planned due to navigational discussions but Mrs.Garmin actually got us back to the tarmac.

Sunday night was one of Sushi galore a n d Kens 60th birthday so wines, Sushi and good times were had followed by a night of Dakar on the TV.



Monday Spencer had to go to work, we had some jobs planned for Maya, windscreen brackets and pannier braces as well as a home made bike cover, for the reference 4 metres of fabric does not go around a 950 SE so Tuesday we have to go back and grab some more.

We did go into town and go to the vege market .... felt like a total gringo ..... ouwh Ellen just said we are

Few pics from in town, not in any order,

Big arse bottle



The latest WW 2 frigates in the harbour



The large entrance mural for atmosphere



Very nice beaches



Yummo :evil



The colours



Large iguana on Spencers back fence .... Mr.Boots the dog eyeing it up licking his lips :eek1





Unfortunately there was a lack of intricate engineering shops so my brackets etc went to the back burner, will try again in Mex City.

We did however make a new bike cover, this did get finished despite Ellen buying the wrong coloured material after she short ordered it ... at least we know which way is front now.



To conclude this is our we were here photo with the mob



Spencer said to make mention that RTW travellers are welcome with plenty of tent space in his yard, his only request is and a ride to go and play :clap

Thanks to Spencer and Mary for having us stay.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Said goodbye to Spencer Mary Ken and Carol and headed for the hills.



Our route took us along the coastline then inland to Colima up to Tepalcatepec and down to Apatzingan .... apparently a very dangerous road we found out afterwards but everyone we saw waived.



Some dangerous locals on a truck



It was a reasonably long day (for us anyway), we got up to 2300 metres and it was actually quite cool again.

Apart from a quick chain adjustment and a coupla photo stops it was 20 degrees still and sunny ... but no lattes!!



We did however watch a hill steam away with a small eruption which was a treat.



Arriving at Apatzingan it was BLOODY hot, 40 degrees and we managed to time it perfectly for rush hour and were stuck in traffic ..did I mention it was hot.

Poor Maya worked up a bit of a sweat reaching 6 bars out of 7 on the temperature gauge, she had a piddle of petrol too, sounds like an O ring maybe on its way out.

We found a Hotel, parking way off the street and quiet (well... for Mexico), we turned on the ceiling fan and nearly had to nail everything down with stuff being blow everywhere. ... it worked well!!

Dude who worked there was really keen to learn of our trip, nice guy too.



Tea time was on so wondering off into the town centre we found a Chinese Restaurant, we said (we Ellen did) gidday and Ellen started talking in Chinese to Chun Sheng the fello at the counter who turned out to be the owner.



After about 10 minutes of chatting we decided to stop there and have Chinese for a change from Tacos etc.

We placed our order, Chun Sheng gave a us a BIG serving and then said gratis!!! .... he was so happy to talk with Ellen in Chinese so it was a treat for him and we certainly appreciated the food which was second to none, a very nice surprise indeed.

If you find your self in Apatzingan and wanting Chinese he is located about 4 blocks south of the city square on Constitucion, the food is excellent.

A treat was in order while in town so we got icecreams, it was very nice to sit in the town square and watch the world go by.

Couple of pics of town centre





A fountain



The church by night



On the way back we found these, we have no idea what they are but the colours were outstanding.



Next stop Uruapan and Volcano hunting!!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

.... I know a shortcut.

As defined by Murphy “a shortcut is the longest distance between two points” :eek1

Bastid was right but we had fun so that is all that matters, leaving Apatzingan we exited up and up a zig zag steadily climbing to a small village, main street was one lane but the Mexicans managed to crowd three across.

Our turn off towards Nuevo San Juan was not posted and Mrs.Garmin was having a siesta it would seem so we shot past and carried on along the main street....which turned into rougher cobbles...turned into dirt .... this aint right.:huh

Doing a U turn on a road not a lot wider than the length of Maya we headed back and stopped asking directions ... there was pointing up a funny skinny little road which was obviously the turn off ... :rofl

Gracias for the directions and we were off again, a beautiful narrow winding road through the village up and out then shingle, freshly dumped shingle, gravel, stones etc for rebuilding the road.





This made for interesting wrestling .. I mean riding as it was soft as well and boney, I used this as a good training, relaxed and let the long wheelbase of Maya look after us which she did.





The semi gnarly bit of the road was only 6km long before we hit beautiful tarmac again winding up through the trees and nice riding temperatures to.

Nuevo San Juan appeared which was our turn right down into Uruapan which was our destination, inspired by Gene and Nedas Volcano report we wanted to get to the church hidden amongst the lava.

We had arranged a couchsurf at Uruapan at a fellos place call Jorga, arriving at his work we waited for his return then he took us out to the section.

Also while waiting on the street a hot young lusty was really interested in the bike and us and even bought her boyfriend back for a look and chat, we were invited to a motocross event but it on after we were leaving.



While waiting there a fello on a 100GS races past and returns a minute later, quick chat and a few giggles and he races off again.





Jorga has two large dobermans, the boy was called Son and the girl was called Bitch.

Unloading the bike and getting organised we used our newly made bike cover for Maya to hide under, unfortunately Son took a liking to the cover and tore a big hole in it .... I didn’t see the funny side of that given it was the first time we used it....never mind, Ellen and a needle and thread fixed it, now there is no dispute as to which is the front.

The place was really neat



Extreme security :evil



Banana tree



Porcelain plant



The dogs also barked all night at anything and everything, growling and telling them off made no difference, being really tired we really wanted a sleep and after the dogs shredded things we got a hotel just up from Jorga’s work and stayed a further two nights, turns out the owner of the hotel was the dude on the 100GS.

The not so new bike cover



Visiting the National Park which was just up from where we were staying was cool, nice plantings, beautiful creek and a river source that was very clear and cold.





The rest of the day was filled out with cruising in town and getting some tucker.





Angahuan and Paricutin was the plan to go to the Lava flow and see the church, we were served up a beautiful day so we made the most of it.















We didn’t get up to the top of the Volcano having walked into the church, this part of the history is amazing with the lava flow spreading for miles, see Gene and Nedas thread looking down from the top.

Church and volcano in the back ground



The place has an incredible stark beauty in the middle of the sea of lava, this bought back fantastic memories of our 2010 Iceland trip.



Lunch spot at Cafe del Lava



Huge expanse of lava flow with the volcano in the back ground



That evening we set out for tea and found a small place with pork and chicken soup, Ellen got the chicken and I got the pork not realising that mine was hot as .... all good ..red faced and sweating I enjoyed it.



The menu



Next stop Zitacuaro :clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Leaving Uruapan we headed to Moreila then towards Toluca, we managed to get completely lost trying to get out of Moreila .... as did a Canadian who was equally and directionally challenged as we were.



We figured it out after cooling down with a cold coffee and some lunch, the road to Zitacuaro were we stayed was outstanding and a sport bikers dream climbing to 2900 metres



Some locals





Comfort stop



Beautiful day



Arrriving at Zitacuaro we decided to call it a day there as I was getting tired again (I must be gettin old).

Finding a Hotel was a mission, some were very pricey and others were ... very cheap, wanting something a little more than dodgy and not quite 5 star we ended up and Hotel Mexico on the main drag, very nice place and reasonable rates too, right in the hub of town with a huge food selection.

We stayed in Hotel Mexico, probably one of the nicest places we have stayed and very reasonably priced to, come highly recommended to a tired RTWer.



Once settled in a dealt to Maya's bleeding fork leg after some great advice from over on the OC.

We tried to get a film to do the job however the photo shops were shut so we cut up a plastic drink bottle which worked a real treat.





While performing the delicate operation in the parking lot of the Hotel we gained a small crowd who had taken interest ... so a photo was in order



To keep Maya company they bought along a child to chat with :evil



A short walk around town after the repairs were done we saw all sorts of things, I seemed to be of interest being pretty much the only blonde head in town :rofl

Ballons and goodies for sale, seems to be the norm for a lot of these town



More food



VW vans are everywhere, they are used as Taxis.



A good sleep and wee were off to Mexico city to meet Gary and Ivonne :clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Sorry for the delay chaps and chapesses ..... been very busy in the big city......so,

The trip was very uneventful, we only had small milage to do to meet up with Garry and Ivonne from ADV, otherwise known as garryhostel.com

On the way we had time for an Oxxo Coffee



We met at Toluca BMW outside the KTM shed .... yes just a shed while the poofy BMWs sat behind glass(only jealous).





Garry and Ivonne arrived, greetings and smiles were had and we followed them back to garryhostel.com

That is were we are going....



Garry and Ivonne taking the lead





We had the room with the orange wall so I felt at home straight away.

Warm welcomes and next thing the bar b q is out and game on for feed second to none, grilled chicken tacos with cheese mmmmmm.

Step aside Gordon Who? .. the master at work.



A table load of tucker under ominous clouds



The full team from left to right, Ivonne, Garry, Ellen, Ivonnes mum ... and me.



Garry was kind enough to take us into town, as it doesn’t rain in Mexico City ... except for that night ..... we travelled around looking at downtown in the wet ... no worries we had a windscreen, heater and wipers ... saweet.:clap

Coupled with this non rain we were treated to spectacular lightning display which lit up the car time and again like someone was taking our photo time and again.:eek1

Garry pointed out some cool places to go, this was great as we knew then what we were looking for.

We returned home weary and hot the sack given it was a school night for Garry

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Not being big city people we probably would have ridden around Mexico City, with the invitation from Garry & Ivonne to come and enjoy their city we took the opportunity to overcome our fears. :eek1

So how to talk about a monster you are scared of only to be befriended by it and even wowed by it.:clap

For anyone in our shoes our advice is make the effort and get into it, whole heartedly.

The only issue we had was when Garry stopped to tank up, I thought what the hell we may as well too, the forecourt was on quite an angle being it was on the hill, if we parked the direction of the arrow the bike would fall straight over so I went in, turned around back to the pump, the attendant got quite upset, then a lady in a Jeep wanted our spot and she got upset.:huh

Gezz I was only gonna top up , given we were in the space first and parked I waved her on to another pump, she got upset at that too .... then the attendant wouldn't turn the pump on, at that point I said come on just let me fill up FFS and we will be gone .... but no that was not on the cards.

The boss man was called over and Garry got involved and the boss man said to the attendant let us fill up despite the bike was pointing the wrong way, I always fill the bike as they seem to spray petrol everywhere when nearing the top ... well he got upset about that too :rofl

Anyway, alls well ended well ..... the most and only drama we ever had filling up!! ... not sure if we will be allowed back in Mexico City :rofl

......Anyway, Day 1, we took the 43 bus and subway into town leaving Maya to have a rest, I would not want to ride into town and this way we didn’t need to worry about our gear either and of course we are humans not bikers.

First stop was the architecture and arts centre called Palacio De Bellas Artes, this building is nothing short of stunning, a QS’s nightmare as it would be expensive to build.





The Cathedral



The inside of the Cathedral ... unreal!!:clap



This building is sinking at one end, see when you line up the columns it is visually seeable





Monster pipe organ



Chinese food was smelling incredibly good amongst plenty of eateries so that won us over for lunch, what a feed!!





In and around town you can use the hire bikes, ride them them park them up.



Check out the spokes on this wheel, you would need a uni degree just to lace it up! groovy machine.



Walking into the earthquake zone of 85 you can see where the old building still standing today have suffered what can only be described as very large bends, curves and misalignments, in New Zealand they would have been condemned and knocked down, in Mexico they put another metal flashing over it, see this photo showing how bent the building actually is, left hand side of the photo is lined up with the flashing!!:evil.



See the bend in the building



Discovering the old ruins and pyramids beneath the city has been an archaeological win for the city, the building were simply built over the original ones, now they have fenced off the area and are sifting their way through the ruins.



After taking all this in was mind bogglingly deep for me thus bringing on the need of a good coffee fix ... I was rewarded !!!





With the coffee down and smoko over we headed for the Museo Nacional De La Revolucion, we didn’t go to the top as it was outside our budget.



Note the KTM coloured chairs :rofl





From there is was the subway --> Bus 43 --> Wrong 43 Bus --> Ooops, change over to Right 43 Bus --> garryhotel.com ..... home James.

In only a few words it was a very fully day.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Glad you guy's are at last having a good run,enjoying the photo's as always.

Getting into town we stopped at the correct place to go to the Zoo to start with, walking through the gardens and lake along the way, the water probably not drinkable :evil but making beautiful colours.





The Zoo, first to to say is it is FREE ... yes FREE, could not believe it.

First thing you say is well it must be crap if it is free, NOT ON YOU LIFE!! this place is incredible, well kept and great facility, I saw animals there I have not seen before and to be fair I went mad with the camera, I will bore you will only a few shots ... the rest you will have to go see for yourself.

Grizzly bear



A Busy turtle :eek1



A Lyncs, beautiful cat



Monkeys



Camel



A lion



Rhino



Giraffe



....last one, Panda bear



No more or I will bore you to tears ... but I just loved the place :clap :clap

After leaving the Zoo I was half spent ... certainly not expecting the amount of stuff to see and do, next stop the Museum ... yawn ... not much of a Museum fella really and given I am an insomniac I use the opportunity to go to sleep.

The Museo Nacional De Antropologia



Ok in we go, 57 Pesos each (about $5.00) so not too bad, first thing is have a coffee to refuel, secondly I didn’t need my lunch as I had a huge feed of eating my own words.



This place blew my socks off, starting at the Maya section we wondered through, the displays and setup is astounding, we continued our way around the Museo for the rest of the afternoon before meeting a friend for tea at 6.30pm.







Central waterfall feature in a single span monster roof, very impressive to say the least.





Mayan stuff



Beautiful rock carvings



Pre internet books , check out the detail















We also have visual confirmation that Gangnan Style is also a remake from hundreds of years ago ... just a copy cat :rofl

The original



The remake



The latest BMW 1200GSA :huh



I would have to say am very impressed and this is an understatement, it is incredibly well done and seriously worth while going to, from a non Museo dude you can take that as given!!

On finishing our epic Museo visit and still fizzing from the Zoo we met up with Sean who met in Hermasillo.

Sean took us for a small tour then we went to Villa Maria restaurant for tea.





The food was beautiful and the atmosphere outstanding and fun with mariachi band singing away at full noise.



On our way home we continued our tour getting a great insight into Mexico City, a huge thanks to Sean for taking us out for tea and showing us around .... Sean, spot you back in NZ mate!!!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Heya Noel, yes it is definitely a place you have to get into to appreciate it but it really is so worthwhile!

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Was another semi R&R day building the extra chain guard for Maya to help keep the chain a little cleaner, also cleaned the air filter and made some brackets for the windscreen.

I had to stay close to the banos due a tummy upset.

That evening was special, Chinese New Year.

Getting into February, lots of our Chinese friends start to remind us that Chinese New Year is coming soon. Ellen has to do something to show she is still Chinese so making dumplings is on her to do list.

Dumpling making is very time and effort consuming. It’s been a while since she had made any of them. Ivonne helped Ellen to get some pork mince from their butcher shop, we also got all the ingredients we needed for the dumplings.

In the making, Ellen couldn’t find a suitable rolling pin. She was looking for a solid round stick, not too big but not too small. After trying a handle off an egg beater, she decided to find something more “Chinese” to do the task.

Ellen thought about Andi’s alloy wheel bearing dolly in his tool box. It’s an aluminum stick, worth a try. Ellen got the stick out, washed it three times with detergent, here we go, got the right tool .... Andi is right “The World Is A Workshop”





Ellen always complains about me using kitchen utensils to fix my motorbike, now the table has turned, it is Ellens turn to use my tools as a kitchen utensil so yeap “The World Is A Workshop” use what ever means you have to make it work.



We had our dumplings made and cooked professionally, we had a proper Chinese meal for the Chinese New Year. Garry, Ivonne and Ivonne’s mum seemed to like Ellens dumplings, at least we found a good excuse to get us wearing the party hats and drink wine.

Ivonnes mum



Garry



Ivonne



Ellen



Me



Garry with his supercool ktm tie :rofl ... looking a tad worried about what we are going to say about him :evil



The mob




On a side note Garry had never tried them before so was completely outside of his comfort zone and was bullied into trying them and he even enjoyed them, onya mate well done.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Mexico City Day 5

For me it was one to get our racks modified slightly to take out the wobble, the top case wobbled a bit on corrugations and toppes so instead of waiting for things to crack I added to braces in to transfer the load.



I met Sinoe from Moto Desierto, very nice guy and very helpful and a rider beyond belief in the mad Mexican traffic.



First I had to buy a full 6m bar of tube and .5 kg of welding rods, next we had to get two 3m bars back to the workshop after cutting the main length in half.

No worries, bungied to the front and I held it up so Sinoe could ride us back to his workshop.

Sinoe had some other jobs to run so I carried on and fabricated how I wanted the job to turn out.

Maya created quite a bit of interest with many photos and people stopping to look.

Mexico City Day 6

The Pyramids And Birthday Party .... the perfect combo

Sunday, great day to visit the mighty pyramids north of the city, the main pyramid, pyramid of the sun in Mexico City is the 3rd tallest in the world so definitely worth going too.

We had a stunning day dished up for us and to be fair the crowds (according to Gary and Ivonne) was pretty good so the lineup only about 80 metres long and we were in pretty quickly.



Four of us lined up and ready to go





The stomp up the pyramid was in three tiers, good for a rest part way up and photo stop op.



There was a steady flow of people up and down, at the top of the big pyramid there is a small metal “thingie” that you can place your finger on and feel the power ... after doing that we all walked around the top of the pyramid like superman and wonderwoman taking in the spectacular views.



From the top







Finishing with the biggie we continued to the smaller pyramid called the pyramid of the moon the other smaller pyramid are all just and breath taking with the amount of work that went into them.

From the other end



Show the size of the place



Ellen on one of the side works



Mini panorama



That evening we were invited to a 30th birthday party for first response motorcycle doctor and a very nice guy indeed, there was family and friend there and two dodgy kiwis, they had mariachis singing at 110db and dancing, it was quite the bash.

The main man





Mariachis



Garry and Ivonne dancing the night away



Tamalis were supplied for the evening supper along with some non alcoholic drinks, we had taken some wine so that went down very well.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Glad you enjoyed your stay in DF. We missed each other by some days I guess. What is next? I can recommend Puebla, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido. From O to P.E.is a great ride across the sierra. Plan many more hours than usual...Cheers

Good to see you still enjoying Mexico - I had expected to meet you at home now. Jill and I are staying for the second night in Wanaka. We are near the end of a 12000km tour of NZ, and then it is back to Aus.

I brought my Sportster across from Aus, and Jill had intended to as well. But we Got Routed, when the shipper changed the shipping arrangements and refused to refund the deposit that we had paid.

We ended up buying a 400 Honda for Jill, and it has been reliable enough, but whoever said that you do not need big bikes in NZ was kidding themselves! NZ is awash now with lumbering campervans, driven by people who fail to realise that they are driving a truck instead of their Audi.

With enough power (say 1200cc), I dont give a stuff: but poor Jill, creeping along behind.....

And she swears! Never knew that before we had intercoms!

Ride safe!
Rob Hall

Heya Rob

Bugga about the shipper that is not god, at least you guys enjoyed NZ, pity we were not there to host you and show you around our place ... maybe down that track?

Have fun guys.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Only 137 km to do, easy as, relaxing start saying goodbye to Ivonne, we had our directions nailed so we were good to go.

We had not even left town and a bus nudged our left pannier nearly sending us to the deck, it was all my mite to hold Maya up but we got away with it, the dickhead didn't even do a thing :huh

Luckily this is all we have to show for it .... I won't show you my undies :evil



On exiting the city and just getting onto the cuota road we came across a bad truck crash on the other side of the road, it slowed things slightly but we managed to carry on easy enough, there was a line of traffic probably 5 km long banked up tho on the other side.



Worthy of TV coverage



Thinking how lucky we were not to be jammed up in that our road suddenly came to a stand still, as far as we could see there were cars and truck banked up ... argh no.

It was stinking hot, uphill and we were crawling at best, so Maya didn’t overheat we kept turning her off and starting to move up, it took us two hours to move two km, we had had enough of that, Maya had the fuel issue of squirting fuel out of the sensor when the tank got pressurized by heat and today she was like a boy dog having a big wizz.



A truck and a pickup has collided and it was fooking mess, both vehicle out of our lanes but the lanes had been narrowed hence the monster bottle neck





Not and ideal situation, finally we broke free from the traffic and managed to cut so clean cuota road stopping at a small town to tank up tummies and Maya.

Somehow we managed to screw something up direction wise and we bypassed Cholula and got to Puebla which we didn’t want to do and on the way we also managed to go to a road where Toppes were EVERYWHERE stop ... start ... stop ... start ..... it was fun!!! so Plan B was quickly activated.

Along the way tho we managed to get stuck is a small street parade so a bit of a bonus, we had front row seats :rofl





A band



We found a hotel not too badly priced and called it quits for the day.

Walking into town to the very local scene we had ended up in was interesting, not another whiteyfoo to be seen but the locals were all smiles and very friendly and we had a beautiful feed of something not having any idea what we order other than pointing at others plates and saying Dos Por Favor (two of those please)

All in all not a big milage day but one for of accidents, 3 done, things come in 3's we are sorted now :clap ... being trashed from heat, crashes and toppes we bunked down for a good night sleep.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere