2001

2001

MEXICO, GUATEMALA, AND BELIZE

ON A KAWASAKI KLR650

MEXICO part 1

Just after we crossed into Mexico, I smelled gas. I think Dale noticed my concern, because he looked at my engine and saw that something was dripping from it. We were at a busy intersection at the time, so I pulled through and found a place to pull over. Following a brief examination, it became apparent that the quick disconnect fitting that I'd installed on my fuel line was leaking. I'd brought along a sper nipple for the disconnect so that I could use it to drain gasoline from the gas tank into my cook stove. Using the o-ring from the spare nipple, I made repairs and off we went.

For a moment, all was well. A few dozen miles down the road, however, we had to stop at a construction zone and Shrek's engine sputtered to a stop.

We removed the saddlebags, the seat, the gas tank, and all my luggage right there on the side of the road where it quit running. When an inspection of the fuses, wiring, and sparkplug turned up no anomalies, we reassembled the motorbike and gave it a crank. It fired right off, so we hauled oats down the road. On the long road to Sabrina Hildalgo, I couldn't help thinking about why my engine had died. I formulated a theory that a piece of the failed o-ring may have gotten in the carburetor, preventing the needle valve from seating. Sure enough, the next time we had to stop, the big thumper again sputtered, died, and failed to motivate. I found that if I held the throttle wide open and cranked it, it would fire, and as long as I kept the RPM's over 3000, it would continue to run. Our intended destination for the night was Saltillo, about 80 miles away on curvy mountain road. I jammed Shrek in gear and off we went. Here is my last log entry of the day, referring to the ride to Saltillo "It was a hoot. There was moderate traffic and we were going fast to keep my bike running. Like I said, it was a hoot. Got into Saltillo and checked into the Motel El Paso. 255 pesos for three.

The next day's log entry read "12/24/01 - Christmas Eve. Took my carb apart, sure enough there was a piece of o-ring in the needle valve. It would have been a 15 minute job, but I kept dropping screws. Luckily Dale had a magnetic tack hammer."

Here are a couple of pictures of the road:

This is me in front of the marker for the Tropic of Capricorn. It's heavily vandalized, but a photo seemed appropriate since I am indeed a Capricorn.

That's Frank in front of me, and there's Dale over my shoulder.

I believe this was Zacatecas. We stopped there to use the ATM machine.

Log entry 12/25/01 "Christmas Day. Celebrated by wearing clean shirt an underwear. We stayed last night at the Chikala Hotel. It appears to a very fancy hotel that went broke before it was finished. It has a nice courtyard that we parked the bikes in, and a fancy pool that has never been used. Nice woodwork, etc. in the rooms. It was 100 pesos each. The place is run by a guy and his son (I think). They cooked us a stew, beans, flan, and tortillas for 50 pesos each. Una cerveza includio."

The Chikala is located somewhere near Aguascaliente. Here are some photographs:

The route so far has been Highway 85 from Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey, where we caught highway 40 to Saltillo. We left Saltillo on 54 which carried us to Zacatecas and highway 45.

Continuing south on 45, we stopped briefly in Queretaro to have Christmas dinner at a Pemex Station. Somewhere between there and Mexico City, Dale got tagged by a little red car going about 100 miles an hour. Stayed tuned for the exiting details and graphic pictures of Dales altercation with a speeding automobile in MEXICO part 2