Finally getting our burros in gear

REMEMBER CCjon, from Texas? He visited us here last summer and was surprised to find—Hey, what’s this on your lawn? A motorcycle sidecar that pops up into a camper? Great idea!

Well, actually, good ol’ CCjon rode the thing up here from Houston, stopped to see us on his way north to the wilds of Labrador.

We’d met in Alaska, in 2013, when CCjon was scooting around the Arctic on a 750 Ural with a sidecar, and I was up there on the well-traveled iron piggy.

This iron piggy… seen here undergoing a little roadside maintenance in Homer, Alaska. Lean her over on a crash bar, change oil, push her back up on her wheels…  hang on and see where she takes you after that.

CCjon with his tent-in-a-can rig. He comes to mind this morning because he’s off on another adventure as we speak.

He’s in the air at this hour, winging his way across the Atlantic to tour South Africa by motorcycle. And he didn’t even have to ship one of his own motorcycles over on a boat. Lucky guy won a free bike rental, free hotels, free meals, free gas… He’d thrown his name in a hat for a drawing on a $9,000 tour, and won it. Lucky lucky lucky… like that time he totaled a motorcycle in Patagonia, a day or two away from medical attention, lived through it, Mr. Lucky.

Besides the luck, he’s also fluent in Spanish. So when he asks me, in 2015, to ride with him from his bride’s native Colombia down through Patagonia to the bottom of the world, it was hell yeah, amigo, what are we waiting for?

I think this is all Amparo’s doing, by the way, because CCjon and I are both solo riders by nature. I think Captain Lucky broke down and asked me to go in the interest of domestic bliss in Houston. Patagonia had it in for him once before, if he’s going there again I’m guessing his wife would like someone around to witness any follow-up demolition of a perfectly good motorcycle, administer first aid, ride for help… I’m delighted to do so.

So I bought the 650 piglet to make the South America run.  Here she is flopped over in the weeds in Newfoundland on my way back from the Labrador test ride, 2015. But for the next three winters, we fail to get through the red-tape nightmare that is international shipping by sea.

Here’s how these Wednesday-morning mumblings of mine tie together: On my way home from Labrador, I camp near Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and happen to meet Peggy and Matthew from Ellsworth, Maine, and, yakkety yak, yeah yeah, blah blah, which is all I really like to do out there on the road, chat people up, see what they know.

I learn that Peggy and Matthew own a house in Colombia, and they’re planning to tour Brazil one of these years soon. They’ll need to get Troopy there, by sea; Troopy, the Toyota Land Cruiser we’re sitting next to as they’re telling me this.

They plan to ship into the same city we’re aiming for, Cartegena.

Troopy in Newfoundland two summers ago. Peggy and Matthew enjoy the roof tent, no sleeping in the dirt like I do.

I was invited over to their camp for coffee… made friends with Scout the dog.

So yeah, they’re going to Colombia at some point, they’re sure they’d have room for a couple of motorcycles in their shipping container. Stay in touch! That’s where we left it. If you don’t get to Colombia before we do, you’re welcome to come with us.

We do stay in touch. In fact, when CCjon rode off the lawn here last summer, bound for Labrador, he stopped in Maine to meet Peggy and Matthew, camped at their place for a night.

Two weeks ago, Matthew hails us from Cartegena. He’s down there meeting with a reliable shipper he knows, they’ve done business before. The shipper wants CCjon and me to provide him with a list of all the gear we plan to tie down on our motorcycles. This is to guard against surprises when we try to exit the Port of Cartegena and get headed south. Best to find out now whether any of our gear is prohibited, taxable upon import, all that.

We heard from Matthew again yesterday while CCjon was packing for South Africa. Within a week Matthew expects to know which U.S. port our vehicles will be leaving from.

So as of today, we’re a go for South America as autumn 2018 turns to winter. Winter up here, summer down there.

In the meantime, one of us is riding South Africa, that lucky son of a…

Unlucky in one respect: It’s a short tour, just long enough to get your tires properly warmed up. He’ll be back in a month.

Tony DePaul, April 4, 2018, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA