Countdown to Departure

The departure date for our Central America Adventure is fast approaching. Home renovations have ground to a halt and all attention has shifted to the trip.

We are in the final organization and packing phase. I think that we will easily be able to take all we have listed. However, packing in a fashion that allows access to essential items, without the need to unpack everything, is an interesting challenge.

We plan the leave Fernie Jan. 5^th by car, with trailer and motorcycle in tow. Our destination on the 5^th is Jen & Dave’s house, with a short stop in Nelson to pick up the additional medical insurance and an International Driver’s licence (both at the BCAA office). After loading the trailer with the second motorcycle and a good night’s sleep we will start the drive south. Our destination by car is Yuma, AZ. where we have arranged for 3 months storage of the car and trailer. We will break up the trip south with a day in Vegas. Perhaps we will be lucky and win enough to finance the trip?

If all goes according to plan we should start out on the bikes Jan. 10^th. For the first day on the bikes we will stay in the US and head west toward San Diego. A day in the states allow us to assess out packing and selection of items that we have with us. We will be able to pickup what we forgot or mail back excess items.

Jan. 11^th we will cross into Mexico at Tijuana and start down the Baja. Roughly our route south takes us to the southern tip of the Baja, then a ferry from La Paz to Topolobampo (near Los Mochis). From here, essentially we plan to follow the Pacific coast south until we are south of Acapulco, with a few trips inland if we discover places of interest. From this point, the plan is even more vague… but we plan to reach Panama City by Feb 20^th. We have flights booked from Panama City to Cartegena, Colombia on Feb 22^nd , returning to Panama City Mar 1^st . We plan to leave the bikes in Panama City while in Cartegena and pick them up on Mar 1^st (this part of the plan has some interesting challenges to work out). On Mar 2^nd we ride north following a different route to Yuma via Honduras, Belize, eastern Guateamala, the Yucatan Peninsula and Central Mexico.

Back to packing . . .