¨YOU´VE WASTED LIFE, WHY WOULDN´T YOU WAST THE AFTER LIFE¨
-Modest Mouse

Im learning every day on this journey, I cant´t help feeling stronger, happier, and more filled with a knowlege of this life.

We´ve plunged into our third month of this trip with some many great days of traveling. A pair of hobos we´ve become as we set out with our light weight packs and a few Dollars. Traveled by Semi, pickup, bus, boat and some good old walking. We´ve traveled through 4 or 5 countrys, whos counting at this point. We walk through boarders like amusement park lines. Avoiding the scamers, money changers and crooked boarder gaurds. We´ve been harded over the last three month not to put up with these skeemers or any one else out to take us for our pennies. I´m in love with traveling with the adventures with the people, and with the hardtimes and the good times. Anyone who knows me knows Im a romantic, a dreamer, always wanting more!!
being here in this place at this time may or may not be perfection, it may not be the model life, but its is what it is, and nothing makes me happier!!

Im back

never doubt the power of distraction while traveling
my boat, lets say no more...........wanna ride?

Ive decided to start blogging on here again. I feel that there are stories for the bringinghomethepanamobile.blogspot.com blog and for this blog, so im back enjoy!!!!

In pursuit of the Panamobile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friends, Family, and Bloggers here we are sitting on the eve of the end of "moto trekking Guatemala" and the start of "Bringing Home the panamobile." I never would of thought that the end of my Guatemala trip would be the beginning of a new and crazy adventure even further south. This is the last post for the blog but the fun has just began in our eyes. This last week we sold off the other two motorcycles, and really just burnt our self out on this country of Guatemala. Alicias catching a plane home in the morning and shawny and I are strapping on our Chacos and walking into the sunrise.
Were heading off to Costa Rica in search of our friends abandoned car. This isn't just any normal car though, this is the panamobile. A stripped down , rebuilt, rattle can painted, beauty of a car. The panamobile last year made an epic journey from Oregon to Panama carrying our good friends Ryan and Garrett (and camera man Cody) in their documentary "In Pursuit of panama ."
Tomorrow will be the start of our new blog www.bringinghomethepanamobile.blogspot.com this site will be our connection to you, our stage for our adventure, and your way of helping us out on our journey. We need your support, your comments, your dedication, and any donations you can provide. On our new blog we'll have picture, videos, trailers, and Garrett and Ryan will also be posting. We have a donation account set up on the page as well so every little penny will help, and a free dvd copy of "In pursuit of Panama" will be sent with any donation over 15$.
Thank you so much to everyone that has helped us out through this blog and we hope you willl continue to follow our progress with the panamobile.

snap snap click!!!!!!!!!!

This was paradise










shawny and i just discussing a new plan for the 432nd time in two weeks




below: notice the drums he's playing at the end

ONE DOWN TWO TO GO!!!!!!

After 11 hours of running around, twidling my thumbs, and waiting for the slowest lady to transfer my bike into a different persons name, I got my bike sold. If it hadn't of been such a ridiculously long process spaning two countrys and two week I would be missing my bike right now. I'm sure tommorrow it will all set in and the reality of having to ride chicken busses and bumming rides will leave me wanting my baby back. As for now I'm going out and finding the best meal I can before I start another month of trying to live as dirt cheap as I can. Shawny Rode off to Xela today in hopes of having more luck selling his bike there. Alicia and I don't particularly have a plan right now. She has a couple of leads on her bike and if we can get it sold fast enough were going to take a 5 day river trip from coban to Rio Dulce, or maybe go and get scuba certified on some islands. We are dying for some change of pace and some adventure. I really hope that we can make something like that happen for her last week in Guatemala.

$26.00+Q13600.00 I'm getting a massage with my rice tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cross your fingers for us!!!!!

We moved headquarter yesterday to Antigua , Guatemala. selling our bikes is becoming quite a drag we made some good contacts at the central park of Antigua. tons of bikers ride out here for the weekend and wheres theres bikers theres always a good time. hopefully tommorrow we have some people follow through with there intrest and buy our bikes. util then were dying of bordem

$22.00 I´m thinking of starting a blog where I travel as far as i can get on clicks from friends. I think it would be fun to see how far I could get off of pictures and storys. let me know what you think(comment me) and keep clicking if you think its a good idea.

back to Guatemala weve come and this is how i feel(except this pic was taken in mexico). The papers didnt work out in our favor so were back in Guate for the time selling our bikes for much less then Honduras, but are feeling alot more comfortable for were staying with our good friend Janet and shes taking extra good care of us. Weve exhausted our budget ridding to honduras and back and are laying low while we work on getting these bikes sold the ride back was a hard one to swallow. we feel beaten down by honduras and am grateful to be back in the great country of guatemala.

the count is now up to $15.67 good work crew, keep it up and ill try to keep you entertained while checking out the blog

papers papers papers......

Before 10:30 yesterday morning we had all three bikes sold for far more then we paid for them in the states, but in the midst of selling them all the buyers wanted us to produce induction papers for the bikes, which turned out to be impoosible because the customs office is closed on saturday. We have also learned that it may be impossible to obtain these papers because our bikes are older then ten years old. All day we sat in hammocks in a stupper on what to do(I've grown to love hammocks). We have just enough money to ride back to Guate and try and sell the bikes there, but are hesitant because we might run into the same problem with papers there. Alicias suppose to fly out of here in two days and will probably have to change her flight if things don't work out for us with the customs office.
our days here in honduras have been pretty frustrating, and boring to say the least. I can imagine that this place would be a great place to visit without the task of trying to sell motorcycles and scrimping on meals and adventures. As for now we read books, play cards and try to figure out how to strech our pennies. tommorrow morning will decide our fate in this country, and we might just take off back to Guatemala where we feel we may have more options in this mess of a situation.

Oh and thanks for the clicks and keep it up. The grand total for the last 4 days is $8.00(thats alot of rice thank you) I'll post the totals every post to let you all see the progress. THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

keep clicking:::::::::::

chillen in the clouds with some locals

My sister can jump higher then you!!!!!! shes really good at jumping!

Thats Jamies, she´s really strong!!!!!! We started a pirate club, wanna join?

This thing was vicious, it tried to eat her.

Hiking down from the climbing spot near Xela with shawny and Jamie.

The loveable grant on the perfect night in Coban Guate

who can,........the tucan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

semuc champehhhhh

last night in Xela at my roomates birthday party I was a little underdressed for this glittzy night on the town.

I shot the sheriff,but Shawny shot the deputy

Over the last two days Ive been pulled over twice and shawny once, the police here in La Ceiba are ridiculous. I bribed one, but the other one I could'nt fight back my pride enough to bribe him. We yelled at eachother in the center of town for a bit until he wrote me a ticket and stole my license. He was on the verge of taking me to jail and I was on the verge of hopping on my bike and splitting for the boarder, but we both calmed down enough to resolve the situation and go in our seperate ways. As you can imagine the cops here are corupt and just want money, so we've set up base at a hostel and are staying put until we get our bikes sold. Were living on rice for now since we dont know how long this process of selling the bikes will take. With Alicia flying out in 5 days, and not having that much luck selling the bikes shawny and I might be here in this dumpy town for awhile. Were in a dock town that ferrys boats out to some of the most beautiful islands in the carabian, but seeing how we have little time and money were stuck in la cieba, until the bikes sell. I figure when and if we sell these ball and chain motos we'll hit up some of these islands and sip pina coladas on the beach, but as for now their mearly an oasis from our crummy out post.
ill add some pictures tommorrow Ill have plenty of time.

HONDURAS HERE WE RRRRRRRRR!!!!

Heres the deal were in honduras, we´ve become pirates and our new moto is WWPD( what would a pirate do) we been forced by import laws to become pirates, were selling our bikes and fleeing the country which will be nice cause this place is a little unfriendly. hopefully we´ll be able to take over a boat like real pirates, but we´ll see, Ill keep you informed on that matter. As for getting here it just kept getting worse as we left our lovely home of Xela it took us four days to get to la Cieba Honduras, with boarder problems, bike problems, and endurance problems. All in all the ride was really pretty and nostalgic of the ride down to Guate. im going to miss my bike dearly, it will be like loosing a part of me when its sold. thats all for now.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN.......OR NOT!!!!

So our first morning back on the bike has been quiet hilarious shawny and i have been trying to get out of xela all morning but we just cant seem to do it. we started off with loosing each othere in the city. After a few hours of trying to find each other shawny wised up and found my phone number and gave me a call letting me know where he was, but as soon as I took off meet up with him my clutch cable broke(for the third time on the trip). Not being able to get back a hold of shawny to let him know that I wasnt on my way I grabed my taxi driver friend who I had been chatting with earlier while trying to find shawny ,and took off to find him. we finally found shawny, bought a new cable, and repaired the bike in the central park of town with a little help from the taxi drivers.(I retract the statement i made in an earlier post about not likeing taxi drivers, they totally redeemed themselves today). By the time we got the bike all fixed up it was noon, so we grabbed some food for lunch and hopped on our bikes. We hadnt gone more then ten feet when shawns clutch handle snapped in half. Nothing really changes on this trip with our bikes, I had forgotten that we would wake most mornings in mexico to some little ridiculous problem with one or all of our bikes. So here we are still in xela and will probably only make it a quarter of the way to the destination for the day, but such is life on our ragtag bikes, and I wouldnt trade it for the world!!!!!!

UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

wow Ive really slacked on blogging over the last couple of weeks, I apologize for that. Today is our last day in xela, the town were we've been studying Spanish for the last 6 weeks. This city has been great to us and I'm quite sad to be leaving, but really excited for whats to come(still in planning but its going to be good stay, tunned.) these last few weeks have been filled with traveling the country of Guatemala which impresses me more and more everyday that were here. this country's great, the people are really great(minus taxi drivers) the foods not that great but we've been able to find some hidden gems. As always we've met some great travelers along the way which always makes for good times and sad goodbyes. I would return to Guatemala, and probably will for some more Spanish tutoring in the future. Ill Hopefully be able to drag some friends along so that they can see what this great country is all about.
heres some highlight from the past couple of weeks in no particular order.

Copan Honduras, Mayan ruins Ill post a few pictures cause really how much can I explain about stones. We also snuck my friends car into Honduras (she just bought it and didn't have the proper paper work yet) and out with no problems, boarder crossing blow my mind you never know whats gonna happen.

Coban Guatemala, floating down a jungle river on inter tubes what more can i say, fantastic. We also got to witness a billion bats leaving a cave. I love that i don't have to watch national geographic any more, we just pick a weekend destination here and experience it our self.(not watching national geographic is like denying God for me, I take it all back)

Montirico Guatemala, Monti... Montirico, those words bring a smile to my face.... I believe the best quote was, "Montirico, the best idea we've ever had" Our salsa and reggae private van, our ridiculous driver Romeo, and a group of 15 idiots on a journey for the greatest two day trip. mission completed and put in the history books of Guatemala forever.(minus the ride home which just would never end).

This is getting a bit long and I'm sure your facebook is calling your name, so we will just have to continue this at a later date but really soon I promise. Oh and more pictures are on there way!!!!!!!!! cheers from Guate

Just a quick review of our week I picture form

lava, by far my favorite substance on this planet,

EL LAGO!!!!
shawnys front fender was destroyed somewhere around Acalpuco, Mexico, who would of known that it would of been nice on the muddy roads in Guatemala
shawny, David, janet , and Tracy kickn it old school in old school Antigua, Guatemala

perro(dog) troubles

This past week of our trip has been pretty great, we spent the weekend in Lago de Atitlan with Alicia and some friends from spanish school. The ride to the lake for shawny and i proved to be the coldest ride of the trip so far. It started raining soon after we left xela and didint stop. The road to the lake was so pretty it climbs the mountains to around 13000 feet above sea level which at that elevation in guatemala can be freazing cold im really quiet suprised it wasnt snowing on the top of these peaks. the road is quiet amazing it winds through the mountains but was quite dangerous for the road would go from a perfectly paved 4 lane highway to a two laned dirt road at a drop of a hat I found myself side ways quite a few times trying to slowdown for unmarked speed bumps and crazy slippery roads, im not sure if Ive just gotten rusty over the past week of not ridding or if the road was really that dangerous, but i feel that that 2 hour streach was the sketchyest section of our trip.
The lake is georgous and set under massive volcanes and mountains we spent our days swimming and kayaking the lake, and our nights attending some a corinatation for the towns pagents, it was all in traditional myan style.
Upon arriving back to Alicias house were our motorcycles had been stored for the weeked we found that the horrible dogs at here house had torn my seat to shreds. If it hadnt of been the funiest site Ihave ever seen I would of killed those dogs, but I still laugh when I think of how funny my bike looked with the seat in a billion pieces.
shawny was lucky his seat was so high off the ground that they left his alone, but was not so lucky upon returning to xela. shawn decided he was going to go runing everyday and as he set out on his first jog around xela he was chased down by four dogs, the pack went strait for him probably because his shoes smell like rotting fish or because they like the tast of gringo hes not sure. but shawny with his quick wits started throwing rocks and yelling and pretty much scared the hell out of the locals as well as the dogs. Hes now known around town as the white guy who fights packs of wild dogs. Im not sure how that translates in to spanish but am sure thats what people are saying when we walk by and they point

choose your own adventure!!!!

hey hit up some of these adds(right side) and choose your own adventure theres some good ones on here. who knows maybe it will change your life!!

XELA

Lago De Atitlan most beautiful site ive seen on this trip

shawny traversed above the window and drew some onlookers from inside this building

best cemetary ive ever been to, oh and largest!

so aperntly its a famous bridge in xela, why not climb it!!!
shawny on a wall outside our church
these ladys were loving the buildering that we were doing they thought we were crazy!!

Romeo my landlord is in love with my bike, he rides it all the time this time was with his grandaughter

this is where we are living now in xela, my teacher wanted to show me the view.

our drive to Quesaltenango, absolutley amazing

this guy really wanted to ride on the back of shawnys bike into Guatemala for some reason it took shawny an hour to convince him that it wasnt going to happen

lost in who knows what town shes not happy

we found some rad kids from Guadelajara camping on the beach in Puerto Escondido, by far my favorite beach town that we hit up in Mexico

Get the facts

We made it, we actually made it! nobody died, got robed, or got in any knife fights! all of our bikes made it with very little problems, and were ready for another 3700 miles, actually were not, its so nice to be off the bikes and in a place we can call home for a bit. the city that were in is called quezetanango, or something like that but its such a beautiful city high in the green mountains of Guatemala I´m excited to post some pictures in my next post so you can see how amazing this place is. i had goose bumps as we rode up the road to the city one because it was actually pretty cold, and two because it was so beautiful. the school that were attending is great and we get to stay with a family here in the city during the time were enrolled in school, we have discovered that theres some rock climbing here that were stoked about, and some volcanoes we can hike. this city's flat out ILL!!!!! i´m really happy to be here and can´t wait to start learning some good old Spanish!!

Heres some FACTS about the ride here:
1. we rode 3700 miles
2. in 20 days
3. about 40 gas station stops
5. 6 pairs of sunglasses lost
6. twice Alicias I pod fell out of here pocket while riding 40mph plus, the second time it hit me in the face and then got smashed by a truck
7. Shawny wrecked 5 times and dropped his bike 10 times
8. Alicia wrecked 2 times dropped her bike 37 times
9. I wrecked once "in the mud" and dropped my bike 2 times I win!!
10. 0 flat tires
11. 400$ in tolls
13. gas is cheep in Mexico like 2.75 a gallon
14. gas in Guatemala like 5.50 a gallon
15. pairs or shoes lost or thrown away 7
16. number of "mexicos next top model" contests attended on accident, 1
17. number of romances on this trip, 0 we smell bad, like gas and exhaust and B.O.
18. number of times honked at just to say hi 1 million and 67 times
19. number of ponytails right now 3!
20. number of times Alicia burnt here legs on the exhaust pipes 77
21. finally making it to Narnia/Guatemala...... priceless

Ok heres the low down, we have made it half a days ride from the boarder of Mexico and Guatemala. The last 3 days it has been raining like crazy which is no fun on motorcycles. we stayed in Puerto escondito for two nights which was amazing Its my favorite part of mexico so far. the days before we made it there were pretty rainy one night we pulled over ontop of this mountain pass and a lady named victoria let us stay in a shed that was desighned to be a taco stand but had never been used she made us dinner which was so good and let us buy stuff from here little store that she runs out of the front room of her house.
the day before as we were meeting up with shawny alicia and I were racing through the mountains trying to make it to acapulco before sundown and we came across a wreck on the road. there was a motorcycle on the road a smashed up and a white sheet covering the person that was riding the bike. We were sick to our stomachs and road so slow after that. it was kind of a wake up call to be more percacious.
so were going to cross the boarder today in to Guatemala I think were all really happy to be getting there finally after 3000 miles and 18 days of ridding. at the same time though were a little nervous, im sure it will be fine its just when crossing into another country theres always that feeling of the unknown. we hope to get t lake atitlan very soon for we here its paradise. and I cant wait to start taking spanish classes i hate not being able to talk fluently. im staying here until i know spanish. ok see you all latter.

Who likes photos? Raise your hand!!! Actually raise the roof!!

chaco nation beat this!!!!

so i like to pick up dead fish, get over it!!!!! it looked like a pirana crazy teeth, oh and smelled soooo bad!

he let me ride his horse how could i say no!!!!!!

um i dont know!!!
driving the coast is soooo slow but so amazing some of the greatest views its hard not to stop everywhere we pass. expessially when we were suppose to meet up with shawny in Acapulco and we still havent made it there. shawny if your reading this no worries were on our way ha ha ha!

we made frinds with the receptionist at our hotel in guadalajara and she wanted to know where we were going to park our bikes at night cause there was a lot of theft in the area. we told her we didt know and she told us to put them in the lobby of the hotel. ha ha ha only in mexico!!!!!!!

So seeing how Alicias bike breaks down in every city that we stay in we have tons of internet time to blog so Im putting up more pics cause there more interesting then reading. were replacing the starter on her bike which has been going out now for the last couple of days it got to the point that every time we would stop we would have to pull start it with my motorcycle, which can be a task, but very successful if we dont fall over doing it. today at a gas station some ladys saw us pull starting the bike and stoped us and told us they had a friend who was a mechanic and that he was on his way to help us fix the bike. so long story short I love Mexicans there always looking out for us. like last night i asked a guy where we could camp he gave us directions to this place right on the beach it was a returant and small apartment turns out it was were he lived and the people who owned it let us set up our tent in there out door resturant this was the secound night of sleeping in peoples resutrant, and all for free. the drive from guadalajara was the prettiest drive through the mountains and some sand flats like the salt flats of utah, except there were sighns everywhere saying be careful of the tornadoes which was a funny thing to be careful of, but sure enough they were everywhere, which sucked for me seeing how the day before the visor for my helmut was ripped off by the wind and i had no sunglasses. Bad combination unless you want your eyeballs sandblasted!!!!! ok well enjoty the pics and dont for get to check out our sponsors on the right of the page hit those guys we need your help!!!!!