March 27, Friday After carefully rolling the bike back through the hotel office and out on to the street, we took off to the first “touristy” thing we’ve done, La Iglesias de Madero. This is a chapel perched high atop a rock overlooking the entire valley of Paras de la Fuente. As we pulled into the parking lot, we were accosted by 3 boys trying to sell us small models of the church on the rock. Somebody in our party is a soft touch - we bought one for 10 pesos - with no bargaining - and then I gave the ringleader 5 more pesos “por la securidad del motocicleta” and waved another 5 pesos coin for “quando nosotros returnomos” which I hoped meant “when we return”. It must have been close enough, as the bike ... read more

March 23, Monday Packed up and picked up the new bike key at the dealer. Local riders all say this particular dealer overprices everything, many will not even step foot in the doors, they ride up to Austin instead. Sad for the dealer and the club. We stopped in at the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio, but they did not issue the appropriate paperwork there, so we continued on towards the border. Spent the night in Uvalde, TX... at the Quality Inn, which used to be a Holiday Inn according to Sheila, my GPS. Speaking of Sheila, I spent several hours downloading new maps for her. Hopefully the info in Mexico will be helpful. March 24, Tuesday Continued on to Eagle Pass TX, and crossed the border on bridge number 2, at the advice of an ... read more

March 16, Monday We began our packing, but I wanted to get the registration out from under the rider's seat. The rear seat came off fine with my secret cable system, but the front seat would not budge. Argh. I eventually had to unload the side boxes, remove them from the bike, and then continue to remove the luggage rack/frame and the rear underseat shelf until I could get into the area where the seat mechanism sits. I popped the appropriate levers, and finally discovered that a cable from the intercom to the FRS or CB radio - which I don't even have with me on this trip - had lodged under the release lever. After re-routing that cable, removing the secret cable release system, and replacing everything, we packed up again and got on the ... read more

March 11, Wednesday We spent much of the day wandering around the French Quarter, looking into the many shops, and having coffee while listening to live jazz on the sidewalk. We went back to the Hotel St. Pierre for the afternoon, relaxing in the courtyard, reading and catching up on email. Weather was gorgeous again today. Supper at a little corner restaurant, combo of Shrimp Creole, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice and Jambalaya. Yummy stuff - very tasty, and not simply overheated spices. March 12, Thursday Packed up all the goods on Bear, each time it seems we are a little better at space utilization. We just can't let that get us thinking we have more room for more stuff. We were on the road by 9:30, pretty early for us lately. Running the coast roads, ... read more

March 9, Monday A late sleep-in and up, packed, and on the road by 12:30. Deb mailed another package home to B.C. and we took gorgeous beach roads until Pensacola, then back to the beach roads again. We rode the ferry from Fort Morgan AL over to Dauphin Island, then a long bridge to the mainland. We crossed into Mississippi and stopped to check the price for a night at Super 8. $69 ! I said nuts to that.. I ain't paying that much for a cheap hotel in Pascagoula MS... so we road on another 6 miles to Shepard State Park. $16 for a night. Tent up just as the sun went down, almost full moon shining through the trees, and it's our first night for dealing with some mosquitoes. A bit of repellant cream, ... read more