We hit the road early and the weather was nice. Cool and sunny to start but it got very hot later. We hit like 5 Policia check points and had to produce our documents in 4 of them. Stop the bikes take off the helmets and let the dude look at your passport, Bike docs and the like. Most were super nice, But it just takes time and you feel like your not getting anywhere. On top of that you are stopping in the hot sun and your mesh gear is not feeling very “meshy” when you’re sitting there stewing in your seat.
Over the entire trip we’ve had a lot of fun with our Scala intercom setups – almost every time one of us is talking to an official or a toll taker person or asking for directions – the other one of us is saying something in the intercom… While Dan is asking for directions John is saying in his ear something like: “Ask him if he knows where to find some ice cold beers” or worse… it’s very distracting but we both continue to do it. So, at one of these document stops we get stopped and John gets his docs checked and then the cop goes to Dan for his. He wants Dan to take his helmet off and once everything is ok – he cuts us loose. Dan gets his helmet back on and John says “$10 if you pull a wheelie out of here” – well, Dan pulls a big wheelie as he is rolling out of the police stop ahead of John – and John is surprised but disappointed that the cops apparently were looking elsewhere. I guess if Dan can’t beat John in cribbage he has to try some other way to earn his money back….
As we rolled down the CA1 PANAM hwy the cross winds were just wicked. The little V-strom is not a heavy bike so it would blow around pretty good. Thats ok really, But it takes a big time toll on your head and neck. your helmet gets buffeted badly. You feel like somebody is on the back wacking your helmet on each side and you just plain get worn out faster. We got about 80 clicks from Panama City and decided we would get a place on the beach and chill out. Find some internet and plan an attack on Panama City. Only one problem…We went up and down every friggin road around the beach and we could not find a place to stay. Also it is Carnival time here in Panama and you would not believe the traffic… I would say it was backed up for 30 plus miles (in the other direction) Also every cop in the country must have been on duty. We counted at least 40 cops in about 50 miles! Everyone had a radar gun. Most just waved at the Motobrothers though. We spent more time riding around than it would have taken to get to Panama City.
Finally we both got frustrated and in the end we said “screw it, lets just grind out the rest and get to P.City. Of course then we roll into a huge city with no plan, no place too stay and no idea of where to go. After riding around awhile looking for a cheap place or an internet cafe, we stumbled on a hostel. They had a room but no place to put the bikes except on the curb out front…. It was also a very dodgey area and we decided to pass. Plus the gal who was running it was kinda a grouch. So we got a couple of warm beers from them and stole some wifi. With the internet we locked into a place about a mile or two away. It turned out to be a little more than we wanted to pay but we were both shattered after a long day in the hot sun. We went for a dip in the rooftop pool, had a couple of drinks and crashed out.
Tomorrow we start the fun of trying to figure out how to get the bros and bikes to S.America
Cheers.
Leave a comment