In ruins...

No, not me; the Mayan ruins. Here in 

View Larger Map">Palenque, Mexico

No words necessary, the pictures speak for themselves...

be well. Peace.

In case your interested....

If your viewing this blog, know that you can also click on the pictures to enlarge them.  There are also, on occasion, links that will be highlighted in the text that you can click on, which will take you to a map, video, song, or something or another....

Am currently in Palenque, Mexico, (about 200 miles from the Guatemala border), at an Internet cafe.  No time to ramble on or post any links although am going to stick around this area for about a week so will be posting again soon.

Being from Wisconsin, I gotta share this shot.  If you have never been to WI., you wont understand...  : )

TROPICAL COWS

Peace.

Policia, bribes, potholes,and more!

actually less...  Left Tampico this morning at 7:30am, determined to make it to Veracruz, about a 300 mile ride.  But therein lies the essence of Mexico.  One can bang their head for hours with determination, which is what I spent the better part of my day doing, or you can find mucho tranquilo in simply being with the space your moving through, and allow for whatever comes your way.  So I did. But it took me a long time to get there, (tranquil, that is).  Here is a self-portrait in the midst of "determination" and head banging...

I arrived in Tuxpan, Mexico, just 125 miles from Tampico, at 3:30pm.  Major road construction, potholes as big as a house, a police officer who kindly shared that he would not write me a ticket for not wearing a helmet, if I paid him cash, (I broke out the throw away wallet with just a couple of bucks in it and pled the ignorant gringo routine, which I am, so wasn't too difficult). Cost me $10. US dollars, he shook my hand and off I went.  In retrospect, I wished I had given him more; the Policia clearly don't have the budget Police have in the States. His Suziki sounded like a cylinder was going to pop right through the head, his holster looked like something you would purchase for your child for Cowboy day at kindergarten, and it swallowed up his entire gun. I could see it bouncing around as he moved about my bike checking out all the "chroma".  

But got-dam! 125 miles?!  At this rate I wont get to Guatemala 'till 2010! After one of the most exhausting days on the road, I found the sweet spot after scouring around in the city for a hotel.

Unfortunately, this site isnt letting me load any more pic's right now...  bummer.  I had quite a few to share from this day.  I will try again soon.

Peace out!!

So close yet so far out...

Austin, Texas sits in the heart of the South; a few hours SE of Sweetwater and not to far from Lubbock, Texas.  While close to all that comes to mind when thinking of the deep South, Austin is truly far out, as it's namesake Motel proclaims...

Lawn ornament, Austin style: 

If your soul is fed through rhythm and sound, fill yourself up here, at the Continental Club; 

Anticipation...

and the Celebration of the Soul           

I will be crossing over to the other side Monday morning, and in Tampico, Mexico by dusk...

Talk to you all later.  peace!                             

Maybe I should have taken the truck...

Moved up the departure date from Sunday the 30th to, (gulp), tomorrow. Snow is forecasted to be coming in Wednesday night and through the weekend and really did not want to trailer the scooter out of here.  So off to Houston to visit my sister before crossing over to the other side sometime early next week.

Map of the Americas

I have learned over the years that the Map is never the territory, but they do a good job of providing a general lay of the land.

The plan is to ride the eastern coast of mainland Mexico, through Central America, to Panama. Avoiding the jungles and undeveloped land of the Darien Gap, will set sail from San Blas, Panama to Cartegena, Columbia. Once in Columbia the HOG will hug the Pacific coast, more or less, all the way to Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, the most southern tip of South America.  

"So, your going to do what..."?!

"I am going to ride my HOG to the Southern tip of South America, turn around, and ride to the northern most tip of Alaska".