(4) Planning - The Route in Central America
After talking with Neil we are going to try not to create a specific route for the trip. Instead we will just create a list of places to see and things we want to do. As we get near those things we will then decide on the exact route we will take to reach them. The exception to this rule is the very beginning of the trip from Vancouver to Colorado.
We need to stop in at Newport, OR to see my 99 year old mother (and Neil’s grand mother) and my sister. That’s an easy first day ride. From there we have our one and only location deadline. We have to be at the RawHyde Adventures off-road riding school in Colorado on the evening of July, 21. We will take a pretty direct route between Newport and the school located near Hartsel Colorado. There will definitely be some freeway time on this leg but we will try to staff on secondary roads as much as we can. We will most likely go out through Bend and Burns in Oregon. Keeping south, we go through Winnimucca, Austin and Ely Nevada. From there it will be a combination of US50 and I70 between Ely through Grand Junction and on to Salida before turning north to Hartsel.
Once we are done with the class then we switch to just ideas for things to see and places to go. We may not do them all but here are some that are on the list so far.
Continental Divide Trail - This runs from Banff, Canada all the way down the Rocky Mountains into Mexico. We won’t do it all but may do bits and pieces.
Mountain West National Parks - Some of these will be part of the CDT but we definitely want to take some time to do some hiking and off road riding in Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands and others if possible.
Bullhead City, AZ - We will stay at my house in Bullhead for a bit and take stock of the bikes and make sure they are operating properly and that we have everything we need before we head into Mexico. There is a Kawasaki dealer in town and I’ll have my car there so we can drive into Las Vegas for anything we may need that’s not available in Bullhead. We will try to do some camping in the US but don’t plan on camping on the rest of the trip so we will most likely drop all the camping gear here.
Baja - I’m hoping to cross into Baja Mexico around Labor Day (early September). We will just spend some time exploring and eventually ending up in La Paz to catch the ferry back to the mainland at Topolobampo/Los Mochis.
Copper Canyon, Mexico - I would like to visit Creel, Batopilas and Urique while exploring the canyon area.
Ajijic, Mexico - John and I have friends that are living in Ajijic near Lake Chapala south of Guadalajara. We plan on stopping in here and saying hello and resting for a bit before continuing on.
Mayan Ruins - There are five major Mayan ruin sites in four countries that I would like to see if possible. They are Palenque and Chichen-Itza in Mexico, Caracol in Belize, Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras.
Lake Atitlan and Antigua, Guatemala - I think Antigua would be another nice place to stop for a bit and get off the bikes. I spent a week here 2009 riding around and really enjoyed the area.
San Blas Islands, Panama - We need to get our bikes around the Darian Gap between Panama and Columbia. There is no road so our options are to put the bikes on a boat and go around or to put them on a plane and over-fly the gap. I’m hoping we can get on one of the boats between Colon, Panama and Cartagena, Columbia. The boats on that route all stop in the San Blas islands which are supposed to be great.
