Andrew Loden

aloden

Andrew Loden

I'm taking an eight month leave of absence from work to (hopefully) ride a motorcycle from Edmonton down to Argentina. I really don't know anything about bikes so this should be interesting...



South America » Venezuela » Llanos » Apure February 25th 2013

After making it to Panama with the Red Baron and confirming that the Darien Gap is, in fact, a real thing, the best option for getting to South America was to hop on a sailboat to Colombia. Me and Max had booked our spots on the Wildcard two months ago in Mexico and, excited for something a bit different, made the short drive from Pacific to Caribbean coasts, where we met up with our ship, crew, and fellow tourists for a five day sailing adventure through the San Blas islands to Cartagena, Colombia. The San Blas islands are a group of 350 or so small, white sand and palm tree covered islands, inhabited by the Kuna people, making up an autonomous province within Panama on the Carribean coast. I guess some years back they rose up ... read more
Lunch... Red Snapper sandwiches
The good kind of swimsuit...
... and the bad kind. He wore this all day, everyday.

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panamá » Panama City January 30th 2013

So it's been quite a while, figure it's time for an update. Sorry about the long time between blogs but... I really hate writing them up. It has been a fun seven weeks though so I'll try and hit the main highlights here. After leaving Mexico City (no traffic issues this time), Max and I headed in a general south direction, through some volcano country and sugar cane fields. In Huajuapan, we spent an evening in a pool hall, watching the Manny Pacquiao - Juan Marquez fight Dec. 10. Marquez, a Mexican, knocked out Pacquiao out cold in the last seconds of the sixth round and the bar, town, and probably entire country, went nuts. Crossing over the mountains to the Carribean side again, one of my headlights blew out so I started driving with the ... read more
Last pollo asado in Mexico... it was a good one.
Tikal, highest temple in Central America.
View from Temple IV at Tikal.

North America » Mexico » Oaxaca » Oaxaca December 5th 2012

After my little detour up to Tijuana, I managed to just make the ferry over to the mainland, meeting up with about eight other bikers who were slightly better organized than myself and had been waiting patiently to board the ferry for a couple hours. After straping the bike down, we headed up to the kitchen for some beers and dinner. One guy from Britain, Andy, had run into the same Tourist Visa as me, but had managed to bribe an official in Cabo with $50 rather than flying all the way back to Tijuana. He let me share his room though (I didn´t even have a seat cause I was so late for the ferry) for free, so we´re making the $500 back bit by bit. 18 hours later we arrived in Mazatlan, did a ... read more
Driving into our hotel for the night.
Spotted this little guy crossing the road... and then I started seeing his friends all over the place.
Checking out the way we´ve just come, crossing the Sierra Madres heading inland.

North America » Mexico » Nayarit » Sayulita November 20th 2012

So, here's an update of what's happened since I entered Mexico... I left Ensenada on the 14th to try and get ahead of the Baja 1000 race and see the action out in the desert. First day out, the sun started to go down and I had no idea where the next town was so I just drove off the highway and set up my tent in a cactus field. Deserts get cold at night and I slept in my long underwear. The next day, I met a couple of chase trucks (support crews for the Baja racers) where I stopped for breakfast and got a race map and some recommendations on where to watch the race action. The desert scenery changed into a Dr. Zoose landscape with weird looking cacti and boulders strewn all over ... read more
Cactus fields. Shortly after this photo, I drove by the chase car wreck.
Red Bull trophy truck missing some of the front panels. Obviously they're not that important.
Giving out some autographs to the fans.

North America » Mexico » Baja California » Ensenada November 12th 2012

So I left Jack and San Francisco behind a week ago Tuesday. The riding south of San Fran was pretty sweet; lots of turns, just above the ocean. I spent two days making it down to LA, where I timed it perfectly arriving for rush hour traffic. 8 lane freeways and I was crawling along in 1st gear. Luckily LA is a small place and I only had to spend about an hour and a half doing this. I met up with my friends Tony and Josephine for dinner and we checked out Downtown Disney and grabbed dinner. Thursday, I continued on to San Diego where I would be hanging out with my buddy JP and his girlfriend Heather for the weekend. JP had ordered me the soft cases for my side panniers that could not ... read more
Me and Jack
California coast south of San Fran
Heather giving me a shear

North America » United States » California » San Francisco November 5th 2012

I spent eight full days in Vancouver, staying at Grandma's place, visiting friends and family. I bought some gear for the trip from MEC (clothes and camp stove), waited for my renewed driver's licence to arrive from Edmonton then picked up an International Driving Permit, hiked the Grouse Grind a few times and went swimming with Grandma a bunch of times. Thanks to the Beckinghams and Thiessens for having me over to their places for dinner. More thanks to Colin, Mark, and Tom for their motorcycling tips, suggestions, and mechanic skills. And a big thanks to Grandma for having me at her place while I was in Vancouver. Last Sunday, I was getting the bike all packed up to leave for Seattle. I had left the bike out in the rain for over a week and ... read more
Grandma wanted to take the bike for a spin. Luckily my helmet didn't fit her.
Colin and Mark saving my Vancouver departure from complete and utter failure.
Reflection of Seattle Space Needle

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver October 19th 2012

Okay, so I finally made it out to Vancouver. It took me five days and a not-so-straight-forward 1936 kilometers to do it, but I made it. I have to give a big thankyou to the Nickel family for putting me up at their place (again), letting me store my stuff at their place (again), and reminding me of everything I would otherwise forget to do or bring with me (again). So thankyou Nickels! I have decided to name my bike The Red Baron, after a non-existent bar in Lac La Biche. I left Edmonton at around 2:00 on Sunday, thinking I might make it down to Lethbridge that night. Six and half hours later, I rolled into Calgary. Sunday was the first time I had ever loaded up the bike with all my gear so I ... read more
Realizing my pants are way too short. Probably should have tried them on before heading out for Vancouver.
My adopted family, the Nickels (Harry, Christine, Ryan, Maggie, and Marilyn)
View from the prairies.




Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 13; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0705s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb