Push it Along...

Day 14 -- eeeeffFFFF!

Awoke to a gorgeous purple and orange sunrise, packed up and were on the road as planned by 8a, however that road only lasted the 1/4 mile to the small grocery where we returned our beer bottles, bought bunches of water for the long, hot day ahead, and found Colin's rear flat, Efff!. All in all it took around 2ish hours for a proper repair, and by that time everybody was pretty antsy to get some miles behind us, however 5 min after taking off I dropped my glove, stopped for about 5 sec to grab it, and in that time the guys turned, i missed it and drove 25 miles in the wrong directions! Double eff. Turned around found the guys, now we were all together heading in the right direction everything sorted out.

The road South of El Puertocito turns to dirt about 7 miles down and is supposed to be absolutely breathtaking. The 7 miles before the dirt are brand new buttery smooth asphault overlooking the Sea of Cortez, we effortless cruised at 60-65ish. The views were truly enthralling, which is probably why I failed to notice the grapefruit sized rock that had fallen into the middle of the otherwise featureless, glassy tarmac. Well, I hit that rock. Efffffff x3! I bobbled a little but quickly straightened out. I was in control just long enough to consider that the impact seemed hard enough that it may have blown my front tire, at which time my front tire blew. For those of you reading this that don't have experience riding a motorcycle, when you lose your front you pretty much lose control (and for those of you with moto-sperience, if any of you have any advice I'd love to hear it). Anyways, I ended up falling and subsequently skidding for 150ft or so, my aluminum panniers leaving a quite legible/measureable skidmark. After coming to a stop a quick apraisal of myself showed all ten fingers and toes and everything in the right place facing the right direction, after which I jumped up, ran over to my bike and stood it up. As for my bike, I had a pretty bent up pannier sub-frame, one broken weld, a scratched/ground down box, lost my hood ornament, gound down my left handgaurd, and some wonky handlebars. Once we got my bike to the side of the road I sat down caught my breath. My left hand had some pretty good road rash, and now I noticed that my right wrist was getting sore. Frenchie irrigated and cleaned my left and wrapped both, while Colin made me a nice shady spot to re-coop while the other boys fixed my tire for me. Seriously good guys.

Mounted back up, limped to the closest food spot where the only thing on the menu was hot dogs... never tasted so good. New plan: Frenchie, Spence, and Colin would rally and go on ahead with the dirt road, while Steve volunteered (awesome friend) to return north to San Felipe to accompany me and get some X-rays, or en espanol Rayos-X.

Back in San Felipe found the local "motocross orthopeadist" (read:highly specialized, or so I thought). Anyways took dos rayos-x o's and according to him, there was no break just a sprain, so take it easy for a couple weeks and I should be fine. Trouble is, I was looking at the same X-ray and (caveat emptor: with certainty, I'm no docotor....BUT) I saw a fracture, not a small unnoticeable fracture, a legit in your face fracture. Having broken my scaphoid in my left wrist and looked at a shit ton of X-rays during my treatment, it seemed plain as day to me. Of course my first instinct was "well shit, he says I'm fine so lets go!". However, stupid rationality told me to get a second opinion. Fortunately my dear Uncle Rob (Dobber) whom we stayed with on the way down is an orthopedic hand surgeon in San Diego, so I took a picture with my camera of my x-ray while holding it up to the sun (see photos), emailed it to him and despite the several analog and digital recreations and transmissions, he wrote me back within 20 minutes informing me that I haid a waist scaphoid fracture. Sorta changes everything..... I'll save you the thought process, but after MUCHO MUCHO consideration and phone calls and consultation I've decided to get a spica splint, calcium supplements and Arnica rub, take it easy, give my wrist the best possible chance at healing while on the road, and push ahead... this trip means AALLLOOOOOTTT to me, experience, perspective shifting, GROWTH. A month or two down the road I'll get another rayos-x, and make my decision at that point. If my wrist shows signs of healing, I'm going all the way, if not (suck) I'll have to call it come home and get fixed. In the meantime, like I said, give my wrist the best possible chance of healing and enjoy the shit out of this incredible journey.

That night, we found camping on the beach just North of town, again, gorgeous. Ate diner at the bar in camp, met Diane, Sam (retired, living in San Felipe, from Seattle), their two daughters, and friends. They insisted we join them, bought us a couple beers, and ended up inviting us to their early Thanksgiving diner manana. How could we refuse, its not like we would get Thanksgiving otherwise. Great people.

Day 15 -- Faith in the human race restored

Woke up to yet another incredible sunrise, grabbed breakfast, went into town to use the net. While using the net, my front went flat again, and while repairing said flat on the main strip of San Felipe, yet another incredible offer. Mac starting asking us about our journey and our plans, ended up offering us his SPARE beach front condo to stay in for the night, fully laid with wall sized plasma, tons of DVDs, shower, beds, and all tequila (nice tequila, way nicer than our budgets at home much less on the road could afford). Anyways, soooOOoOoo glad we stayed another night. We made it over to Sam and Diane's for Thanksgiving not knowing what to expect. Unreal.... Bunch of their rad ex-pat friends, many of them having been traveling for most of their lives, as well as playing guitar and song.... dylan, morrison, eagles, wow. Then diner.... legit Thanksgiving -- turkey, stuffing, homemade gravey, candied sweet potatoes. After saying our goodbyes, promising to return, we headed for a luxurious night at Sams ridiculous Condo. Had a bit o' fancy tequila, stella o tois, and massive plama Monty Python. Sleeeeep.

Day 16-19 -- Playing catch-up again

Given the condition of my wrist the dirt road to the south was out, so me and Steve were to head all the way back North to Ensenada, catch 1, and tear south after the boys, hoping to meet up in Bahia de Los Angeles. Nothing much happened the next few days save for lots of miles, a recurring and increadibly frustrating as well as nerve-wracking for both Steve and I front flat. Well actually, also some amaaaazing coastal views, and crazy Dr. Seussian landscape/flora/fauna. Missed the boys in Bahia De Los Angles, pushed hard the last day, got another flat, and ended up doing a night time burn into La Paz where we finaly caught up to the boys.... BIIIIIG relief to get to La Paz. Few days off our bikes, get some repairs done, relax and a ferry boat! That was waaay abbreviated, if I think of any good stories I'll be sure to add them in, oh and more pictures soon, probably tomorrow, though its been a little more difficult to take as many pictures given my injuries and the playing catch up, still rad though. Love LoveLove, miss you all... Gelb ---> Out