Up, Down, In, Out, Across

Everything had finally been sorted at home, after the settlement of the house sale, getting a tenant into my place and associated things. I jumped back on the ferry, rode the 2000km to Brisbane, and organised the bike shipment with Qantas and got the DG forms done. Interestingly, both bikes cost exactly the same amount.

Two hours before departure, sitting in the Qantas Club lounge in Brisbane, my phone rang.

"G'day, it's Craig in Cargo.  Thought I should let you know your bike won't be going on the plane today." [lots of techno stuff about weights and lift, etc effecting the plane's flight capability]

Oh, no, I was devastated!  Spluttering into the phone: "Mutter, mutter- grumble grumble- what-can-I-do?-will it be guaranteed for tomorrow?-I have it booked in for service on Friday-I don't have any spare time- etc etc etc."  Dejected, I accepted it reluctantly, as there was nothing I could do about it.  So I jumped onto the internet and advised the effected people of my late arrival.

Then, 40 minutes before departure, another phone call.

"It's Craig. I've managed to get your bike on the plane!"  WooooHooooo!  But I still wouldn't believe it until I saw the bike in LAX.

US Customs had selected it for a "random" check, and it couldn't be released until it had been.  It's Sunday.  Staff is short.  I won't go into all the to-ing and fro-ing, but I ended up dropping the Qantas Freight manager's name, and things started happening - QUICKLY - with the result that I had the bike reconnected, refuelled and ready to leave LA 4.5 hours after landing. Pretty good, all things considered.

Heading north, I made 500km before stopping for the night, then an early rise saw me complete the 1700km journey to Moxee WA by 7pm.  Spent the next day shopping for a new camera and other stuff, then reloaded the 650 ready for the return south the next day.  My friend Roy will be caring for the 1200GS while I am in South America.

Almost to Los Angeles, the chain, previously looking good, started really clicking and clacking, to the extent that I was worried it was going to come off as I flew along the Interstate. So I managed to find a small bike shop, and they put a new chain on for me.  Phew!  It felt much better, and I KNOW I wouldn't have made it through LA and San Diego traffic with the old one. I went to the "new" address for San Diego BMW, but they hadn't moved there yet!!!  So motelled it for the night, and went to the "old" address the next morning for the bike's 30,000km service.

The Sales manager, Mike Lynch, (whom I'd met briefly in Oz nearly 2 years before) very kindly offered accommodation.  Much appreciated, Mike and Kit!  We partied that night for Halloween, then attended the usual brekky with the SD BMW club on Sunday morning. Mike and Kit invited me to ride down into Mexico  (Baja California) with them and their friends, Ariel & Frida and Linda, for the day, to inspect Ariel & Frida's holiday home near La Bufadora.  It was a good introduction to Mexico and showed a little of what I could expect in the coming days.  We had a quick ride back in the cool of the evening.  What fun!

It was time to strike out alone again. I headed east, as I was going to cross into Mexico at Nogales, Arizona.  On Interstate 8, I passed through some amazing areas, two of the most interesting being a large hilly area of ROCKS!  Rocks, rocks and more rocks!  Beautiful!  Unfortunately, I didn't think fast enough about stopping to take photos, but I'm sure I'll be through there again next summer, so will definitely stop  then. The other interesting place was a vast area of sand dunes, with the sand sometimes coming close to the edge of the road. Similar to the Sahara, I'd imagine.  Praps I'll find out, one day in the future.

A problem surfaced on this ride east through eastern California and Arizona - the AGONY in my back returned!!  I'd ridden 4000km in the previous few days, with NO PAIN whatsoever.  And now it was back.  I finally worked out what was causing it - THE HEAT!  It had to be the heat, as the ride to Moxee and back to San Diego/Baja had been relatively cool (even cold in some parts), and now I was riding in high temperatures again - and the pain was back, full strength!  Once this realisation hit, I wasn't really looking forward to the next few months, riding through Central and South America!! But I'd come this far, so I'd keep going, and see what happened.

Nogales was the end of the road in the US, so I resorted my gear and packed up what I really DIDN'T need, and sent it back to Moxee.  I went to Sanborn's and got my bike insurance, but belatedly realised I'd taken the registration papers for the 1200, NOT the 650!!  Uh oh!  I'd better get that changed, just in case.  I got a good night's sleep, then went back to Sanborn's, got the insurance papers changed over and picked up some Pesos. 

I was headed for Mexico.