Thank you for your kind words, we are on the road again tomorrow. Hope the bikes will last till the end.

Glad to see you guys in better spirits
 

You know we had a tractor like that at work ,a complete pile of shit (JD 8300)the boss put it into writting that if the tractor was not replaced he would be contacting the media etc ,after some toing and froing the result was we got a replacement tractor ,which 10+ years latter we still have ,hard to imagine how two tractors coming out of the same factory could be so different.I guess by now you just want to put the whole thing behind you.great to see you have made so many great friends.Noel:thumbup1:

LOL!! Reminds me of a story my dad told of one of our cousins. Our cousin, who owned a construction company, drove nothing but cadillacs. Number of years ago, he got one car that was such a lemon that it was useless, undriveable. The dealership apparently couldnt, or wouldnt, fix the problem....so my cousin took matters into his own hands. He rigged it by the bumper and hung it 100' off the ground by one of his cranes. Told the newspapers, tv stations, etc. that on such and such day he was gonna drop that car from the crane. Apparently the story worked its way around the nation, getting a whole lot of media interest. WHen the day came to drop it, Cadillac sent some bigwigs out, who proceeded to hand him a blank check and told him to write a number on it and set the car down. He refused (my family can be a little stubborn like that).

He refused to take the money, but he ended up not dropping the car. Much to the disappointment of everyone who had come to watch, he had the operator just set the car down. For many years after that though, he never had a problem with another Cadillac, the dealer made sure of it.

Congratulations!
 

Being care of driving because of dangerous everywhere!
" i will keep going with your trip". Thank you for sharing so many charming photos and storys.:D:clap:

谢谢， you can also follow on our chinese website: 两个摩托kiwi_新浪博客

and
从北极到南极 － 环球摩旅的Chinese woman - 色魔驴行 - 摩托车论坛 - 中国第一摩托车论坛 - 摩旅进行到底!

Cheers
Andi and Ellen

[QUOTE=KG6BWS;398765]LOL!! Reminds me of a story my dad told of one of our cousins.

Wish we had a crane, but we still have to carry one.

Thanks for your support, we are just at Ajo, off the Mexico tomorrow.

Cheers
Andi and Ellen

Fresno To Mexico ... The Rush
 

This trip report is a bit shallow on groovy pictures as it involved big distances in a small time (for us anyway) so you will just have to wade through the words.

We left Fresno Thursday 1st November in the morning, the weather was turning and rain was predicted, as luck would have it we snuck out underneath it with only a few spots on the screen.:clap

Our decision was to stay off the interstate per normal so we took the backs roads through and to be honest we don’t really lose any time because we are not going hell fast anyway.

This route took us down a great winding back road which was beautiful with the trees laden with leaves changing to the colours of autumn.

Lake Isabella soon appeared, this was an area we had missed out on when going to Fresno so it was great to see it.

We carried on down the main drag south to Victorville which was our next destination, we arrived late after packing a big day mileage wise trying to get to the border.

The camp had toilet and showers so a bit of a treat.

Next day we went set off south east towards Joshua Tree, on arrival we sussed out the Yamaha Shop in Yucca Valley. As mentioned earlier we met Jim there at the counter who recognized us and went out of his way to help.

Again Jim thank you for your generosity and time, your blood is worth bottling.

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We managed to get front disc pads but they were out of rears, this wasn’t to be a problem as we managed to get some the following day.

Joshua tree was a slight deviation as we were right there and we still had enough time, while in there we met up with Phil Jean, bro and sister heading south too on two KLR 650’s, great to meet them and have chats, we will no doubt cross paths heading south and we look forward to swapping travel stories.

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Parker was our destination that night at a BLM site right beside the Colorado river, again we ran late and set up nearly in darkness as we took some time with the parts but getting sorted prior Mexico was the No 1 priority.

At the camp we met Mary, Bob and Chuck who were traveling in vans with their bikes in tow on a trailer, they are traveling from place to place and riding around all over the place, great meeting you guys and cheers for the chats at camp, best for your travels too.

Nice place.

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In the morning we set off into town to do some shopping for food, there was another Yammy shop there which we managed to pick up rear disc pads from, again the dude behind the counter went out of his way to help, onya mate :clap.

Ajo was to be our stop point prior leaving the US, it is 30 miles north of the border, so last calls home while we still had use of T Mobile, catch up on some Mexico research etc, we spotted ourselves the one and only motel we have had on our trip so far, play it safe, get washed, wifi’d and a place to fix my headlight which blew the bulb coming out of Fresno, luckily it is a std off the shelf part from Napa.

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The motel had all the home comforts including a spa and pool so we made good use of these, truly a spoil night for sure.

Setting off for Mexico we hit the road waiving the US goodbye with mixed emotions, this will be talked about in the US sum up and The Hearts Speaks episode three.

Pipe Organ National Park was last on our list with huge cactuses everywhere, quite impressive to say the least and some quite felic in stance ... still small by Kiwi standards tho.

Next in line was the border, a few questions,

Guard, Where are you going?

Me, Mexico

Guard, Where have you come from?

Me, ...arh... USA! ... is that a trick question?

Guard, no

Me, OK (thinking hear we bloody go again 8-D)

Anyway, all friendly, they were keen to hear about our trip so a good chat was had, our B2 cards taken out of our passports and handed over so uncle sam knows we have gone and away we went to the Mexican side.

We hit teh border with 18560 miles on the clock since leaving Anchorage in Alaska.

So we left the country and went 30 metres (back in metric land now) and parked up, walked over to immigracion and got our 180 day tourist VISA, very simple, very quick and very nice lady to deal with, the only thing that surprised us is the TVIP station is now 140 km south of the border which stuffed plan A, plan B was quickly put into place and we tootled of down road 2 the main drag where semis passed on double yellow lines on the brow of hills, at least we now know the road rules.... there aren’t any!!

We finally arrived at the station, there is no mistaking the place as there is no way through, we thought we had missed it but you simply cannot go through without going there.

The custom officers were very nice, vey helpful and very quick (Note this USA guards) and all the time squeezing in time for a chat about our trip which they were interested in.
Upon finishing with them and them making us $448.00 US each lighter for out TVIP (Temporary Vehicle Import Permit, $400 returnable when we clock out of Mexico), we left back towards Carborca were we got totally lost so decided to quit for the day and stay here the night as it was already 4.30pm.

Trip report time was due, Ellen was spent so I took the quiet time advantage to write this up.

8.14pm now and my eyelids are pushing my knees to the floor, Ellen is already dead to the world dreaming of Mexican hunks and twisty roads.

Good night all.

Mexico, Border to Hermosillo
 

We decided to head to Peurto Lobos, round 1 after getting our TVIP, not sure of the road, later in the day, got pulled up by a military blockade with ALL the dudes sporting machine guns, they were not offering coke and lollies!!! :eek1, luckily we are of no interest to them, they pushed and poked our luggage then waved us on, gracias fellas. :clap

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After getting lost from not being able to buy maps/books we decided to bunk down, we bought a cold can of coke to sugar up and cool down at a local dairy, a local fellow helped us out, he seemed to notice that we were slightly empty headed looking and was great help.

He bought out his map and showed us, it was slightly more detailed than ours and he offered it to us, we talked some more and he was heading to the US next week so we did a swap with him, we had two maps, one detailed and one broader map so he was over the moon as well.

We stayed at a small motel with a courtyard away from sight and it was close to town, some may call it crappy but it was luxury compared with camping.

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A walk into town and we bought some nachos for tea then back to do the ride report above, as I said Ellen cashed it out early as she was stuffed and to be honest I was not far behind.

Following morning we tried to head to Peurto Lobos, the road started ok, went narrower, then rougher, then shingle, then sandpit.

Ellen does not do sandpits very well as you know and today was no exception, she took a binning at about 15 kmph and turned her bike back around 180 degrees where we had come from, with three pieces of plastic case lying dead on the ground I took this as a sign.

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Knowing the road wasn’t going to get any better and most probably worse we decided in the interests of Ellen not getting hurt or the bike suffering big damage to turn back, sorry hardened ADVers but we do have to be reasonable about what we tackle within Ellens riding ability as the trip is about us not just me.

Heading back to Carborca we stopped for lunch, we asked the price but somehow between getting the price, eating then paying the price doubled, he had my money and only gave me back what he thought it was worth, we were ripped, learnt from that. :deal

We headed off toward Santa Ana, arriving there we bought another cold coke as it was very hot, we decided to can it for the day and found a small motel, $250 for 4 hours ..... hmmmm.:evil :wink:

Given it was the cheapest place we could find we managed to get it for the night, we were surprised to find a huge mirror as the bed head and the bed about a mile wide, classic. :evil :rofl:rofl

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The next BIG adventure was going into town for Wifi, we left the motel and headed into town, a driver came around on our side of the road ... WHAT THE :eek1 ... we carried on the road then a bus came round on our side ... WHAT THE :eek1... then I realised that someone who looked like me was riding the wrong way up the interstate .... FARK ... just as well we were in Mexico as no one even worried.

Ellen sat on the back and let me do it too ..... that is what happens when you are spent, hungry and thirsty, we were very lucky not to get hurt, lesson learned.

After being ripped off for lunch we decided to eat in so we knew what we where up for.

Heading off to Hermosillo was interesting as well, armed guards at the toll stations were not to be messed with, then another military blockade, we were waved on again, then a Police blockade, quick glance over us and we were waived on again.

A little daunting coming from New Zealand where you see nothing of this.

We basically spent the day in Mc Donalds, learning Spanish, drinks, Wifi etc and a Couchsurf that night to come, see if we can get local knowledge.

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great job
 

Really like the statement "the trip is about US not just me." That is great. I have really enjoyed the photos and the report. Keep it coming. Keep safe! Keep your head on a swivel! Enjoy the trip and one another!

Mac

USA Sum Up
 

Buenos tardes amigos, sorry for the last few days silence, we haven't r e a l l y been ignoring you (much) :D

Setting up and grounding our feet in Mexico has taken a little longer than hoped with one thing and another, but WE'RE BACK! with the new and improved Andi & Ellen :rofl

Andi's Take

OK, The USA Sum UP, mostly great but some grumbles, not everything is beer and skittles so don't be offended as this is just how we see it from the Kiwis perspective.

The USA has been a bumpy section of our travels for us with epic bike failures, time off the road, people belittling us trying to make themselves feel better or bigger or something... it must be a bugger to have a little tiddle :D

On the other end of the spectrum, on top of some of the coolest places we have been the people have made our trip, a few kicks in the nuts does not compare the many back rubs!!! :clap

Montana, we were greeted by huge fires which was kinda cool in a funny way, something different for us, a little less than ideal to ride through tho.

We met the coolest people in the campgrounds etc, we were surprised by really neat locations in the middle of nowhere and can kinda understand why a lot of Americans don’t travel out of the country as you have so much here ... that is no excuse to come see us though!!!!

I can’t begin to thank all the people along the way as (almost) everyone we met contributed to making our trip better and better with information, help and just great welcoming friendships.

For me being a total petrolhead Reno featured for me at Scott and Joannes, Scott and I doing the bloke ride hooligan day out was mint and something I really needed to do, the DR 43 hp is a workhorse but the 100 plus HP of the 990 and 950 was the devil inducing fun factor which I miss, doing 110 mph on the shingle just bought the kid out :evil.

How could a man not grin :D

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People highlights, next sum up I do I am going to write it as we go with notes so my old memory can remember but needless to say without the people involvement there would be a lot less to write about, so many people were just interested in what we were doing which was so cool.

Scenery, where to start, you guys here in North America (meaning Canada and USA) have SO much on your doorstep, at worst you can ride from one end of the globe to the other with only one flight or boat trip through the middle ...GET OUT THERE!!!!, we will have to come back to see what we have missed so make sure it is still good nic when we return please :evil

The one thing I will criticize is Americans, not across the board but quite a lot have not even traveled out of their town or state which is a little sad given what your country offers you for recreation, scenery, locations and even the ease of getting either very fast or via cool as back roads, this is not a whinge just a suggestion from an outsider.

Another suggestion is the Yogi Bears in the National Parks probably don’t really need a 6L V8 double cab dual axle truck to change toilet rolls as we witnessed ... he was a WELL fed Yogi Bear too so a little exercise would do him good ....national parks could then be made more accessible cost wise to many more ... again just an observation and suggestion from an outsider, who will listen ... ha no one.!!!! ... but now I am lighter very venting it :D

The only disappointing National Park was Yellowstone, the park itself is fantastic and the hot pools etc just mint, unfortunately the Yogi Bears running the place are just idiots (as agreed by many not just us), sorry guys but no better way to put it, again we understand you need to run it properly but with a $1.00 badge and a dumb hat they are just angry over protective over regulated over the top fun police.

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The nicest area for me was Crater Lake, we were given probably one of the best weather days while there which makes a huge difference but the location is simply stunning and an outstanding asset to the US, don’t take our word for it tho.

This photo for me is awesome .. just wow which ever way you look at it, you guys have some stunning landscapes :clap ... spoken from a kiwi heart from the heartland of kiwi where stunning scenery is in abundance.

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Also Moab and Bryce Canyon are stunning, we see nothing like this in New Zealand, we will be back for another look for sure and to see all the stuff we wanted to but missed our due to bike failures and lack of time.

The National parks for the most were very well kept, the only disappointment was the ridiculously high camping cost in California coupled with the worst facilities, as a tourist and RTW adventure rider I would steer people away from California if you are on a budget.

The rest of the Parks were very inviting, Diamond lake even had showers and was a very reasonable cost.

The Government Machine and Bureaucratic bullshit is unbelievably heavy and probably the worst we have seen in all our travels world wide, some things are more difficult in 3rd world countries due to lack of technology, language barriers etc, none of this should be an issue in the USA but it is and it is overboard when it comes to Homeland Security, I appreciate the need for security but there needs to be a level of common sense that is not that common in this sector, grump over :D.

Super duper highlight was HU meeting Cambria, meeting people, comparing notes etc .... most excellent :clap, meeting Ted Simon and Greg Frazier .... mastercard moment you cannot buy.

Greg Frazier with us, we didn't charge him :D

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Ted Simon with us, we let him off free too :D

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Ma and Pa Hubbers Grant and Sue Johnson, you guys ROCK!! .... seems we were giving away free photos all day .... the things we do. :lol3

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Ellen’s view

Because I’m in charge of the kitchen, I had a few observations for our American counterparts.

American’s don’t use a JUG

If you want a cup of tea, try to “put the jug” on in an American’s home, that’s kind of difficult because there is no such a thing called “jug” in their kitchen. Most people we know don’t drink tea, they drink “soda” instead. Finally I asked a friend what they do if they want to make a couple of tea, she said: “ we use microwave to heat water.” So now I know how to make a cup of tea in the US.

Toaster

The toaster in American’s kitchen is also different from our Kiwi’s. They actually use a small table top oven instead our four slice toaster. It was weird in the beginning, but to be fair, the toaster does a good job, you get evenly brown toast within minutes.

Coffee

I love my coffee, so do the Americans. But their coffee is very different from what we have in Kiwi land. Almost every household has a coffee machine, but not the fancy one which makes cappuccino, it is just a filter machine. Their coffee is half of the price we pay in NZ, also if you go to restaurant, you get refill as many times as you want. Haven’t seen any instant coffee in any home, they all have filter coffee.

Sugar, Salt and sauces

Americans use lots of sauces for their food. If you go to a restaurant, there would be at least four difference sauces on the table, tabasco, ketchup, ranches and mustard, plus salt and pepper. I found their food is covered with heavy sauces, not sure if the chief try to cover badly cooked food or people just used to the flavour of sauces.

Another thing I found is their dessert is far too sweet. We can’t taste other flavours of a cheesecake rather then sugar sweetness! Even the organic cereal has 26% of sugar. There is so much sugar, even a loaf of bread is sweet.

Food price is another interesting point. We paid $3.64 for two nectarines, they are not big. However, a big 7 inch cake only cost you $2.99. In general, fruit and vegetable are more expensive than processed food . $4.99 for a big No.12 chicken roasted, you can feed 4 people no problem, who would bother to go through all the trouble of cooking at home?

Fast food kingdom

McDonald, KFC, Subway, Denny’s, BK, that’s all I knew prior to this trip. My new list now is: In And Out, Chipotle, Dairy Queen, Panda Express. In and Out makes fresh burger, now becomes the biggest rival for McDonalds. My new favorite Chipotle serves Mexican food, new generation of fast food which has the healthy image, ironically it is owned by McDonalds

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That concludes our view of the USA, in summary we loved it and will be back to see what we have missed better prepared next time with local knowledge under our belts, I will talk with Barack and discuss some of the shortfalls :D

Some useless information too, we budgeted $60.00 / day for two of us (per Naomi and Alberto), including bike repairs and maintenance it came in at $64.05 / day which included tires and all, without bike costs it came in at $60.45 / day so we blew our budget completely :rofl, also Naomi and Alberto came in at $60.25 ... damn ... beaten...gutted!!:eek1

Of interest, when staying at inmates, normalish mates and some humans places this saved accommodation costs but our piss drinking and good food budget went through the roof and got a hiding, conclusion, still cheaper to camp and self cook but one must also have treats on the trip.

Great summation
 

We had our own run in with the bloody yogi's at yellow stone.long story to do with "abandonment laws with one of our guys."we had the whole siren treatment.any hoo just a tool.the rest of the parks we visited were good.Im glad overall its been a rewarding trip.Noel:D

Heya Noel

Great to here from you again and glad you are enjoying it too, trip has been most excellent bar the bike issues (and overpowering yelloyogis)

Looking forward to enjoying Mexico now :thumbup1:

I may have invited you to Mex City but if not you are invited. I can´t have any visitors until December 15th but after that you are welcome to come anytime.
Garry

Heya Garry

Yes you have invited when we were setting our trip up and yes we would love to take you up on your offer, we will get in contact with you closer to the time and organise things.

Much appreciated and we look forward to meeting you.

Many thanks.

Andi & Ellen

The Heart Speaks - No 3 - USA
 

Andis Take

Things I have learnt about me, firstly my fear of heights has come to haunt me, I have found with age vertigo has come to get me, assuming then it is bodily preservation with sensibility as a result of older age, I find myself telling Ellen to come back away from the edge....it hasn't worked!

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She even takes the bloody bike too!!! :eek3:

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Secondly, dehydration and hunger are the two quickest ways to entering into a mindless navigational pubscrap on the side of the road, we have both found when it is late in the afternoon you are tired, hot and or dehydrated that a quick stop, food and water goes a l o n g way to having a sensible navigational discussion.

Leaving California today (1 November 2012) had mixed reactions, to say farewell to long term great mate Shann was hard, man hugs and hidden tears from me.

Once we hit the road trying to make it to the border as least as late as we can was the mission and a mission, several points of interest going into the "next time" tin due to the lack of time, the one thing I have come to hate is deadlines as this always seems to bring on more stress.

I cried in my helmet trying to get my head around the shit we have been dealt with the bikes, call me a baby but I struggled to ride properly and I didn’t enjoy it despite being on a great bit of road, I feel let down badly by Suzuki and thus my choice of our bikes for our trip has held up our trip and created difficulty for us, not our fault but our problem. :thumbdown:

I have to admit the bike issues pushed me hard, so hard that on Wednesday I went for a walk to clear my head, this was after taking the bike back again for the mystery metal in the oil and having lost the G9 comms unit as Ellen did not put it on properly so it was smashed beyond repair and to get personal I had the shits (from being so wound up I think).

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I was ready to chuck it in and go home ..... kinda weak thinking but when you are battle worn you start to think preservation or exit mode, something you have to kick yourself out of and step above, this my friends takes strength when you are down.

So back to the story, I walked into a shop as #2’s was calling and time was short with the crook guts, I was hungry and probably slightly dehydrated, after doing my deed I think I exited out a different door and carried on contemplating life, suddenly I found myself questioning which way I was going .... was the sun behind me or in front ... or beside me? :confused1:

Long and short of it I got completely lost and ended up in an area less than ideal, no way of knowing which way to go, all square blocks etc.

I could not think straight so I decided to head one way until I reached shops or something were I could use a phone, as luck would have it this worked, I looked across the road and saw T Mobile so made a B line for that.

I walked in and asked if Shann worked there .... yes, she said so that was a complete fluke which turned out ok.:thumbup1:, he returned from lunch some 10 minutes later and took me to the Clawsons Honda as they had rung about the bike which was sorted.

People say don’t sweat the small stuff but enough small stuff adds up, if you get 10 x 1 little issue you suddenly have some shit to deal with and when you are relying heavily on your equipment this deepens the issue considerably as it is closer to your heart.

So to finish this section up we are sitting in the tent writing this up two days before hitting the border, today is November 1st, we are meant to be out November 2nd and today to finish it off my headlight blew???.

Not a biggy ... just some more shit to deal before hitting the boarder on an already overtight time table.

Bikes

The Suzukis, our DR650s cost us 6 weeks off the road in six months, if not for the help through the ADV and HU members it would have been 10 fold harder.

Although Suzuki have repaired our bikes they have cost us dearly both time wise and monetary wise, FYI a Suzuki bought in the USA does not have warrantee in Canada even though we are still in North America, that sucks the big one for an international RTW biker, so my advice to all is weigh up who gives and international warrantee not just a back yard warrantee as this is useless of your bike breaks out of the US as we found out the hard way in Canada.

At least a BMW or Ducati which you expect to have issue with still looks cool when broken down!!! :rofl:

The other thing I have found I miss is cats and dogs ... pets, luckily Shann had a crazy cat ... a spider cat that could climb cupboards in a single bound.

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Ellen’s point of view

Some friends say we are on vacation, I would say we just changed our life style, because at least I don’t have a job to go back for so technically we are unemployed and homeless :clap:.

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It’s also time to reflect who we are, why have we ended up here and to understand ourselves better.

We found the reflection ... but nothing changed!!!

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The broken down bike hit Andi hard, but I have looked it from a different angle. We all like to take control of some part of our life, for Andi, particularly, he likes to take control of his bikes and buying Japanese and new you would think we would not have been put in the position we were put in.

That is all good if he buys a bike with no factory warranty, if you have a problem, too bad, fix it yourself. However, paying new price and buying new bikes the liability is on the manufacturer. That means you don’t have that control when the ball is in their court.

That creates the conflicts by itself. If the manufacturer didn’t come to the party as Andi would liked, there is another problem. Therefore, being fussy about quality and not having the total control looks like a beginning of the disaster. If that does not work once, and if you can’t control that part, why not change the way we do things. Maybe spend less money, buy a second hand one, test drive before buy it, if anything goes wrong, take full responsibility.

Next time we might buy a beater ... this looks fairly solid

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At least you don’t have someone else to piss you off. Andi might not agree with me, it seems I’m on Suzuki side which I am not, just doing the devils advocate for future trip/shit management.

It’s my fault to lose our Scalar G9, it upset Andi even more when it happened while the bike was not fixed and causing stress, Jamie from Scala Rider kindly offered to replace the unit however we decided to run without helmet comms on this trip, sometimes it is hard to let it go but we had to make that decision, some people are destined not to have comms sets and we are on of them but I have to say we will use them again.

We had spent so much time repairing our bikes instead of traveling around USA, which was quite upsetting, we were off the road for 25% of our time. What we did was to accept what we have and make the most of it. We took the opportunity to visit places we didn’t go at the first place.

We had our most amazing sleeping experience in a Catamaran hull which was cool. Take the whole experience as part of traveling. We might have missed out some places, but we also experienced things which we would not if we hadn’t the misfortune with the bikes.

We learned always be positive for the situation which didn’t go the way you liked it. The moral of the story is: there is always a silver lining of the cloud although sometimes hard to find.

If you feel really bad just cry ... get it over with and feel better for it!!!

In conclusion

Traveling around the world on two motorcycles sounds glamourous and for 99% of the time it is great but you are more vulnerable to outside influences so you have to find a different sort of strength within to overcome the ripoffs, let downs, bad weather, breakages, crashs etc and realise that if you are still alive and well then the material things can be replaced.

Some people say that a bigger budget will stop a lot of problems, to some degree this is right however your inner strength and ability to cope and see normality and see through it will buy you far more ground than money.... however if we won lotto I would not complain :rolleyes2: :rofl:.