Mohican has 6 residents!

Its true, our little 1200sq ft house is now home to 6 people! Introducing our two newest tenents, Max and Vince! Max is 6lbs, Vince is 5. They are gorgeous boys and perfectly healthy. The parents are doing great as well.

Updated Timeline

October 1 - November 21: San Jose, CA -> Panama City, Panama
November 21 - February 20: Quito, Ecuador -> Santiago, Chile
February 20 - March 14: Auckland -> Christchurch, New Zealand (by bicycle??)
March 14 - April 21: Australia
April 22 - July22: Istanbul -> Lisbon

It was difficult nailing down dates, but the cost savings made it worth it and the reschedule fees aren't too bad. Plus, since we are trying to limit the trip to 10 months (we don't want to get into too much debt!) it was pretty easy to realistically divide out the time between continents.

27 more work days!

Air Fare Booked!

COPA AIR              21NOV PANAMA CITY    QUITO          1153    1343
CM 829              TUESDAY TOCUMEN INTL   MARISCAL SUCR
I ECONOMY
          NON SMOKING      LUNCH                         NON STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:50 DURATION
                 AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-700

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS 20FEB SANTIAGO       BUENOS AIRE BA 2025    2220
AR 1289             TUESDAY A MERINO BENIT PISTARINI
L ECONOMY                   TERMINAL INTL
          NON SMOKING      SNACK                         NON STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:55 DURATION
                 AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-500

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS 20FEB BUENOS AIRE BA AUCKLAND       2359    0540
AR 1182             TUESDAY PISTARINI      AUCKLAND               22FEB
H ECONOMY                                  TERMINAL INTL
          NON SMOKING      DINNER/BREAKFAST              NON STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         13:41
DURATION
                 AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A340

AIR NEW ZEALAND       14MAR CHRISTCHURCH   SYDNEY AU      0700    0830
NZ 781            WEDNESDAY                KINGSFORDSMITH
K ECONOMY                   TERMINAL M     TERMINAL 1
                           BREAKFAST                     NON STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         3:30 DURATION
                           FLIGHT OPERATED BY ZEAL320 LTD/ FULL AIRN
                 AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200

GULF AIR              21APR SYDNEY AU      BAHRAIN        2145    0825
GF 149             SATURDAY KINGSFORDSMITH BAHRAIN INTL           22APR
L ECONOMY
          NON SMOKING      DINNER/BREAKFAST              1 STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         17:40
DURATION
         SYDNEY NS - SINGAPORE
         SINGAPORE - BAHRAIN
                 AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A340-200

GULF AIR              22APR BAHRAIN        ISTANBUL       0955    1345
GF 43                SUNDAY BAHRAIN INTL   ATATURK
L ECONOMY
          NON SMOKING      BREAKFAST                     NON STOP
                           RESERVATION CONFIRMED         3:50 DURATION
                 AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200

Top 10 Foreign Films

Since we cut our cable bill, we've been living on netflix. Hollywood isn't cutting it anymore, so we've been watching a lot of foreign films. Some stink, some are too artsy for me, and some are absolutely fantastic. Don't be afraid of subtitles. Here are 1o that both of us really like:

10. Respiro (Breath, Italy)
9. Im Juli (In July, Germany)
8. Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior, Germany)
7. Whale Rider (New Zealand)
6. Johnny Stecchino (Italy)
5. La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful, Italy)
4. Gigen die Wand (Head On, Germany)
3. Cidade de Deus (City of God, Brazil)
2. Das Experiment (The Experiment, Germany)
1. Ondskan (Evil, Sweden)

Our Bon Voyage party will be Saturday 9/29

Regime Change: KLR to DL

I'm not super detail oriented. Don't see value in "the finer things" most of the time. And I'm comfortable with being uncomfortable. So riding a KLR to and through South America and beyond sounded perfectly reasonable to me. The simplicity and "no frills" aspect of the KLR was a plus in my mind. Its single cylinder carbureted engine is about as low tech as you can buy new these days (the KLR has been in production without change for virtually 20 years). With what I was carrying and a bit of inginueity I was sure I could keep the bike running pretty much no matter what went wrong. And thats in the outside chance the bike would fail, you see the KLR is also legendary for its reliability. So with all that going for it, who really cares if the seat isn't the most comfortable, and the single cylinder thumper really does thump? Maria does.

All it took was one 350mile day and her mind was made up. The KLR will not work. It started with a sore butt at about 250 miles. Then it moved to numbness in the legs. Then, stopping every 30 minutes for a break, once near tears, she was feeling only what she could describe as "severe pain." The KLR was not going to work for us. So I guess on a trip centered around a motorcycle, comfort is important. Even more important however, I've learned is having the wife happy.

So the search for a new bike began. Reading on-line sites like advrider.com and various articles found by google the Suzuki DL650, or V-Strom, got my attention. Relatively new to the scene of "adventure bikes" the V-Strom was introduced in 2004. Seems there are skeptics and there are believers. The amount of believers is going through the roof. The V-Strom looks like all road bike. But don't underestimate it. No, its not going to keep up with the KTMS and XLs on single track trails, but you can take it on the single track. For us, thats all we need. See, the KLR is an excellent compromise between street and dirt capability. Not great at either, but can handle both reasonably well. Say 50/50% for arguments sake. The V-Strom is more like 80/20% street/dirt. And thats what we expect our trip to be. After our Q&A meeting with adam and valerie we found a "dirt bike" really isn't a requirement. The overwhelming majority of their trip from Santiago to Santa Cruz was paved.

So PROs: Check out the pick of the Corbin seat with backrest (thats all maria need to see).
V-Twin power is smooth as butter, and proven. Its the same engine as the SV650's with a few small modifications for lower end torque. It handles amazingly. It stops on a dime (large rotor dual discs up front). Its headlights melt the car in front of you. The 650cc engine has enough grunt to handle us and luggage. And there's more. Lots more. And boy is it comfy!

Cons: Its fancy. I can't fix fancy with tape and bubble gum. Its fuel injected, transistorized ignition, tubeless tires (modern, hard-to-find sizes), all could be problematic. Its flashy. The bike we found looks brand new and expensive. It was expensive. But still less than half a BMW GS! The adventure rider website has more info if you'd like...

So I get on craigslist and there are no V-Stroms for sale. Actually, there were just 2 want-ads, and a post that said an ad expired (sold the day after it was posted). Searching a further range, I found one in "Santa Rosa." Santa Rosa turned out to be Fort Bragg. To far to see a bike I thought. I called the guy anyway. Jim was the ideal guy to buy a used bike from. Meticulous. Not only was this bike in like new condition, Jim had bought himself all the goodies. The seat you see above (a $675 item), a fancy aftermarket german exhaust, knobbie tires and top of the line street tires, MoTech crash bars and skid plate, etc. All the things we would need to buy. "Maria, how do you feel about driving to Fort Bragg at 6:30am tomorrow?" "Not good."

We went to the Suzuki dealership and sat on a new one before we went. $7000 out the door is what a DL650 goes for. $5600 for a 2004 with all the extras (about $2000 worth) was worth a drive to Ft. Bragg we decided. El Guapo needed a lift to Ukaih anyway, so it began to feel like maybe it was meant to be. I like to think it was.