Countdown to March 29 Launch

I have embarked on what I hope will be a 4 month, 17,000 mile motorcycle ride through the US and parts of Mexico and Canada to visit family and friends and to benefit Children International.  Please consider supporting me – learn more here Will's Charity Ride for Children International - PledgeIt

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

March 29, 2024 Starting Odometer (24,163)

6:15AM Contrary to the weather forecast just last night, it is not yet raining, but it looks like a 50% probability locally and it seems to decrease as I head south to outrun the rain, the plan today is to ride 333 miles to Mojave, CA.  With a 50% probability do I put on the rain gear or not????  Some might ask, "Why not just put it on?"  Well because while it will keep me dry, it is a pain to put on, blah, blah, blah.../

  

As it turns out, today I planned to out pace the rain.  Maybe you've heard me talk about that life is not a sprint, but a marathon.  Well, yea, when you've reached 67, sprinting or not, you've gotten here and now the goal is how many decades more can you run to the "finish line."  .

And I have been thinking about that as it relates to this ride as well.  However, there is one situation in which I think that a sprint is appropriate, that is out running the rain.  So while I thought to ride to Mojave last night, I felt today that I should push further south in an attempt to outrun the rain.  We'll, it worked today.   So I ran south of Mojave by about 100 miles to Pasadena.

But I think that I will be like a fish tomorrow, swimming.  Looks like meaningful rain for the next 2 days.

March 29, 2024 Sunnyvale

Fully rain geared, but except for a few drizzles in Sunnyvale, dry ride.  But I didn't know that I'd be dry, and so as you ride 250 miles with dark clouds overhead, it continues to be a threat.

One of the aspects of long distance riding is that you have a lot of time to think, and think, and  think.  A thought came to me, “WTF am I doing?”  I've been planning this ride since last summer.  I like to plan, I get motivated through the process of planning.  But here I am on day 1 of a 4 month, 17,000 mile ride!  Yikes!  A clear amount of anxiety was added to this first day jitters by the fact that there is a storm system sitting over California, Arizona, Utah, and even parts of northern Baja.  So off I go.

 

March 30, 2024 Pasadena

Up at 6:30AM and I can hear the rain.

Raining badly!

  So while I wearing full rain gear, I still got wet.  And on top of the rain storm, I had a brain storm and I realized that I could dry my clothes at a laundromat.  So I found one and dried off everything.  Then got back on the bike to continue to ride into the rain.

(PUT VIDEO OF MOTORCYCLE OUTSIDE 1^ST LAUNDROMATE HERE)

I rode another hour or so and got wet again.  So stopped at another laundromat to dry off again.  Realizing that I couldn´t route myself to my destination in Baja (Francisco Zarco, Baja) via laundromats every 60 or 70 miles, I had another brain storm!  I bought a box of 25 45 gallon plastic bags and gave 20 of the bags to the nice gentleman that took this foto.  I put this under my rain gear.

More thinking WTF am I doing and I remind myself of what my friend Mike Y says, (paraphrased here), “You have really like to ride, not just like the IDEA of riding.”  That applies here as to get to the beautiful sunny days riding down the road, sometimes you have to ride through a deluge.

When you cross by land in a vehicles into Mexico there two forms you must get, one is immigration related (FMM) for which you need an ID, a passport works.  Then you need to secure a TIP which a document that is related to bringing a vehicle into Mexico for a limited period of time.   The TIP requires both a fee and a deposit which you get back once the vehicle leaves Mexico within the specified time.  Here is how it went.

When I arrived at the border of Mexico at Tecate, it was raining terribly.  The buildings have downspouts that don't downspout so the rain just comes off the edges of the building in rivlets right in the path where you must walk between the two buildings to secure these two documents.

First I entered one building to get the immigration document, the FMM.  There was a very nice gentleman there that took care of me quickly.  I paid the fee, and he gave me the FMM document to take to the building where I could get the TIP.  When I got there and presented all the required copies of registration, passport, license, etc plus the recently acquired FMM, the gentleman told me that in addition to the original FMM, that I needed a copy of the FMM.  Since I just came from the office where I got the FMM and was only given one copy of it, I asked this gentleman where I was supposed to get a copy?  He pointed across the border into Mexico to some place that made copies!!!!  Again, it was raining like Noah should have already sailed.  So I went back to the original nice gentleman and threw myself on his mercy and asked for him to make a copy of the FMM that he just gave me.  He was very nice and did that.  OK, back to the TIP guy through the rivlets of rain coming off the building.

For the TIP it is required to show both an original and a copy of your registration.  I knew this and was prepared!  Ha!  However apparently when I made a copy at home of my registration, apparently a corner of the registration was cut off.  So this gentleman said it was no good! 

So back to the original nice man and gain threw myself on his mercy and he again made a copy of the registration.  Then back through the rivlets to finally get the TIP.

I arrived an hour later to my BAB which was also Bellinghausen Cerveceria.  Met by the BAB host who is also the owner of the beer garden, sat around under the                                                                                     

 

 

March 31, 2024 Francisco Zarco, Baja

Left with a hangover, fully rain geared

Arrived at El Rosario de Arriba, blue skies, warm, and closest location south forecasted clear/no rain.

Arrived a little wet at Cataviña.

Gas for sale by the side of the road,

 

April 1, 2024 Cataviña

Cold and overcast, it rained last night and hopefully there is a break here as my first destination today Guerrero Negro, about 150 miles to the south, is forecasted to be clear and warmer.

This happened at 12:09PM (1st 1K Miles)

I arrived at Mulegé, got some tacos.