Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

I'll check this out. I never heard of sleepyhead.
I may try to get a non-Swift approved DOT physical on the way down. I wasn't planning on anything like this.

Absolutely. As soon as I activate it I'll either post the info. here or just message you guys with it. I think it works by a link and password for those following. I may just start a thread as well on advrider to post up pictures and narrative as I go along. I'll post that link here as well. I haven't started a thread yet.

lol...I probably won't be passing through AZ as I'm coming from VA so no worries on Steve disappearing.

 

View attachment 72252

(pic of loaded bike ready to roll)


Bike loaded and leaving within the hour. Not going very far today, maybe VA Beach.

Tires were not guaranteed to be at the shop in TX on Wednesday to be switched out so I'm carting them along on the back of my bike to the TX shop.

Tried to keep what I'm brining to a minimum. Not an easy task and I'm sure I'm still bringing too much but it is what it is. Excited to finally be on vacation. This has been a long time coming.

If you would like to follow along, this is the link to my SPOT tracker. I manually ping my location and it will update on the map. Currently I'm in Williamsburg, VA and haven't left so the map reflects that. Adios...


LINK TO FOLLOW MY TRIP PROGRESS...

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0066vtpy3ZSSsXpJQTlJoVImTVPWNM48E

 

New SPOT link.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=017KmNE0hVfrlYq7YjQ25bhvih7qYE44B


Sitting at the border now waiting until morning to cross.

 

Good luck Rattlebunny!

I'm in San Crisobal de las Casas about 3 hours from Guatemala. I may cross tomorrow. It has been some adventure so far. I love it down here. I've been looking at the trucks down here and I don't think they have 10% of the regulations we have. But I don't know.

I'll update again soon...

 

This has been quite the adventure.

I've met a lot of people, as it is easy to do riding solo, and I've met people every single day.

I had one Mexican police shakedown, "la mordida" - the "bite", and I won that one. Didn't pay a dime.

Met a Canadian riding solo on his bike down to Panama way up in San Blas. Yesterday we crossed the Guatemalan border together since we met up later in our travels.

As far as weird stuff goes, I saw a huge drug transaction in front of me, just near the Mexico/Guatemalan border only a couple of days ago as I sat in a motel with the Canadian getting drunk. Met a solo, female surfer that is traveling by bus with her surfboard down to all the surf spots until she runs out of land down in S. America. I've been approached every day and every night by friendly locals that are curious about my travels and as a result my Spanish has improved greatly. I have a date this Friday with a Guatemalan housekeeper at the hotel I stayed at last night and will be staying at this Friday and Saturday.

I feel safer here in Guat and in Mexico than I ever did in any large or not so large American city. The claims of Mexico being dangerous are way overstated and just not true. I have not gotten sick from the water yet although I don't use tap water except to brush my teeth and take my vitamins. The food is unbelievable diverse and delicious. The people are incredibly warm, welcoming, curious and friendly everywhere I have been. I have had no issues with anyone. The sense of freedom down here is greater than what I have known in the U.S. due to less regulation and less enforcement. However, taxes are higher here so people pay more for less. Family and friendships are paramount here. That is the focus. It is hard to put this all in words as this experience has changed me forever going forward.

I have to say, I understand why Mexicans sometimes speak Spanish in the U.S. I am down here and my Spanish isn't too bad. It has improved. But, when I meet another English speaking person we speak English. It's just easier and it is easier to get your point across. It is your native language. The same goes with native Spanish speakers in the U.S. I've heard over the years, so many times, "you are in the U.S., speak English". But I understand it better now. Spanish speakers in the U.S. aren't speaking English because they are lazy or they fail to conform, it is because when you come across someone that speaks the language you are most familiar with it is easier to do so. It is actually kind of fatiguing sometimes to try and speak Spanish down here. Everyday, all the time, it wears on you a little. Hypothetically, if I moved to Mexico I would speak Spanish with those native to Mexico but if I came across another English speaking person I would switch up in a minute, regardless of how long I lived in Mexico.

Something else I realize, when I need any kind of assistance whatsoever, people bend over backwards to provide it here. They never fail to assist. I can be in the worst neighborhood and ask for some help, where something is, for a hotel and people come through every time without fail and without complaint. The people in Mexico and here in Guatemala are unbelievably warm. They want the same things we do - family, safety, friends and a good job to pay the bills. They are not much different and they focus on family, the company of friends and just enjoying life for what it provides.

I crossed the border into Guatemala yesterday with the Canadian. We got a nice room in Huehuetenango and I met a housekeeper there. We hit it off, thanks to my helmet cam breaking the ice, and I have a "date" with her on Friday when she gets off of work. I have the same room in the same place reserved for Friday and Saturday since I'm going to the Todos Santos Cuchamatan festival on Saturday. That festival will probably be the biggest highlight of my trip.

I'm currently in a town called San Marcos on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Plan is to go to the largest open air market in Chichicastango on Thursday and then return to "Huehue" on Friday.

This trip has been amazing and I don't think anything will ever be the same. I miss trucking. I miss my family and I miss the U.S. at times. There are times I get lonely when I check into a hotel alone at night. But I'm here now and this has been the greatest experience. I'm just about at the half way point of my trip. I'll start heading back north via the Yukitan Peninsula towards the U.S. soon and start thinking about my next move in trucking.

Until then...