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Ecuador box...checked!

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It was tempting to turn around and do the whole thing over but we continued on through Pujili until we reached the city of Latacunga. At Latacunga we turned south on the E35, the same road we left Quito on. We were able to skirt the edge of Latacunga easily enough on our way to Ambato.

The road to Ambato was unremarkable and contained it's share of traffic. Ambato is a sprawling city of 180,000 people. We didn’t come for the cities though. Our route kept us moving and on the edge of town. As urban as it was, I was pleasantly surprised that just as soon as we located our turn off to Mt. Chimborazo we were back cruising in the country. We followed a canyon with tall cliffs on both sides. A small river ran through the canyon with only enough space at times for the road.

It was a lovely road that went on for quite a while. The road crossed over the river 18 times using single lane bridges. We would eventually end up near Mt. Chimborazo. Mt. Chimborazo is currently an inactive stratovolcano that rises to 20,564 feet. I’m told it’s the farthest point away from the center of the earth on earth. Anyway I have 4 shorter videos that show a slight changing in the canyon as you go. It really starts to open up in the 4th video. The road would eventually become very desolate and barren near the mountain.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj4aSa8VDHo"]To Chimborazo part 1[/ame]

Just try not to tap your toe to this one.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgWuNFhp-NY"]To Chimborazo part 2[/ame]

For anyone under 50, that was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySM6Ei4JaLo"]To Chimborazo part 3[/ame]

Guess what? Looks like I’m taking musical requests now. Mr2mch expressed interest in songs from the Yellow Brick Road album so who am I to argue. Don’t worry, I’m not reading letters and turning this into some Casey Kasem long distance request thing.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VI9Dht6o6s"]To Chimborazo part 4[/ame]

Looking back from where we came.

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Where we’re heading.

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Clowning around putting the layer of clothing back on that I took off 20 minutes earlier.

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Chimborazo was only able to show us part of her majesty that day.

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As we went around the mountain we entered a cloud bank on the backside and found ourselves in heavy fog for a while. We passed through the National Wilderness Park located there as we topped out at 14,750 feet. This is the only place where I got a chill even though I wasn’t wearing very heavy gear. We passed by some Llamas grazing nearby.

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Destination for the night is Banos and we still have a ways to go.
 
Hey Tallgears, you and the S10 would have loved it there. You'll have to take the wife sometime now that you two are long distance travelers.
 
What a canyon. That place looks like a manicured South American theme park!
 
Doesn't it though. I recommend it for everyone!

I can't work on the report until at least Friday, but might there be some "Adventure" (Adventure = when something goes wrong) lurking just ahead?
 
"Taste of Honey" by Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. I have his greatest hits on a playlist. Good stuff that I still like. Some of the songs were used on The Dating Game, remember? I like Elton's stuff too.
 
I do remember that LYNYRD. I believe it was "Spanish Flea" they played as they paraded out Bachelorette's one, two and three.
 
We had a nice ride from Mt. Chimborazo down most of the way to the city of Riobamba. Our route for the day took us through Riobamba. Riobamba sits at 9,000 feet elevation. It’s a fairly large city and seemed decent enough but we didn’t come to Ecuador to do battle with traffic. Besides it was a little warm there. We passed right by a big church downtown but that was about it for the sights we saw.

We had a nice ride out into the countryside on some paved two lane. Our next stop was Banos, (the city not the bathroom) where we were scheduled to spend the night. My research showed the Banos was a pretty popular place with the action crowd. You can go rafting, hiking, up the mountain on gondola, zip-lining across gorges, mountain biking, bathing in thermal baths, etc...

And things were going well today. Our roads had been much less adventuresome and I almost…almost found it a little bit of a let down from the previous day. Can you see it coming? Be careful what you wish for, right? We passed through a small town on the main drag and even passed under a large sign that proclaimed we were on the right path for Banos. This whole GPS thing is working pretty good I dare say.

A little while later we came to another lesser used paved road that the GPS directed us onto. I like riding back roads so it’s all good. We were running alongside a small river and stopped for a few minutes to stretch our legs. We’re surprised to find bluebonnets growing here but the stranger part is that they grow as a four foot high shrub.

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This should be a nice little scenic ride.

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Well, a short while later the road turned into dark dirt. I guess it was volcanic ash/dirt? But it was packed down pretty well and seemed okay. I was looking for a little more of a challenge in the riding by this time anyhow.

Our adventure though began about 10 minutes down this road. I had been following the little purple line on the GPS just fine. At some point there was no more purple line in front of me, only behind me. Great, so now we’re blazing our own trail. We turned around and started back the way we came. At some point the GPS showed me back on route but insisted that we turn around and head the other way, which we did. There weren’t a lot of cross streets out here and it seemed like one direction or the other had to be right. I’m not a GPS guy and only semi GPS literate but I can follow a route. I was getting frustrated and it seemed like we should be pretty close to Banos and only lacked a little bit. We’d been hoping to get to Banos in plenty of time to walk around the city but now that seemed to be in jeopardy.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VshRfKmNDKY"]Trying to get to Banos[/ame]

At the end of that video was when we first turned around. The road didn’t look to good right there and it seemed like a good place to do so. We ended up going back and forth a couple of times before we decided to forge on with the original course and hope for the best.

We were now committed (or we should be committed:giveup:) to this course. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m sure help must be close.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6eWEPEQ5EA"]Trying to get to Banos part 2[/ame]

I was feeling a little vulnerable out there with just the two of us and I sure didn’t want to stick the mighty Wee there. It looked a little worse in person than on the video but you get the idea.

All righty then! :eek2:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpf0xguj4Cc"]Still looking for Banos[/ame]
 
I think you're right on that and they used Whipped Cream when they introduced the winner.
Cool show. I love to watch the old Newlywed Game bloopers.
 
What's My Line....

Tonight's mystery guest is an intrepid adventurer...whose treks have led to some pretty sticky situations......

Mystery Guest...Would you sign in please?? (MacDaddy)


(OK OK...I kno there are those out there who have no idea what I'm talkin bout.... Just go & look up Derwood Kirby)
 
I'm sorry to say I don't have to. I was pretty young when that was on I do remember.

I'm not sure if I started a ride report or a look down memory lane. Rest assured there will be no future references to Doris Day!
 
Well we made it through that! :rider: Once stopped on top of the hill we could see the road cutting through the hillside head. It was overgrown on the sides and looked like the conditions might be getting worse instead of better.

We decided I would go on up ahead and scout it out. The road was fine and I even encountered a short paved section that led another washout. At least there was a way around this washout so I went back to pick up Kathleen. I’ll admit it was fun going back for Kathleen. I was able to pick up the pace a little and stand up on the pegs. I wasn’t going to wad it up or anything but it was nice playing and letting off some frustration.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA9mlTVwO7o"]One up[/ame]

So things are starting to look up now. We’re on a real bridge and there’s even pavement ahead. We reasoned we might be getting close to Banos after all. We’d only traveled a short ways when we came to a fork in the road. The fork was narrow and the GPS couldn’t show which one we needed.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0WqI-GgyOg"]Road to Banos, maybe[/ame]

Logic told me to stay on the pavement and try that. We didn’t get too far before it was clear the GPS wanted us back on the dirt. So we turned around and took the other fork. We didn’t get too far on that one either before we were stopped in front of the biggest washout yet. Unless I was Evil Knievel with the rocket bike we weren’t making it through there that day. So, back to fork number one again. I figured out soon that the pavement side had us crossing over the river and the dirt didn’t.
We crossed the river and started to climb. The GPS said it was rerouting us and showed the road ahead as our new course. I had some hope again. The road itself was really something. It was single lane, mostly cobblestone laid down by the ancient Incas. If you wanted to ride on a smooth line and keep your filings in your head you just road on the dirt strip near the edge of the roadway. Remember we’re gaining altitude and that edge looks steep and close at times. Speed always helps bike stability but we’d just have to do without that this time.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISkX59CuiU"]Cobblestone road[/ame]

After about 15 minutes we finally came to the top of the hill and saw some pavement ahead. For a little while now the GPS has been telling us to make a U-turn and head back the way we’d just come. No way are we doing that now, it’s been to slow going for the last hour or so. Just up ahead we entered a small town (I believe Chambo). I tried recalculating again but it just showed we needed to go back the way we came. And oddly enough, the GPS starting turning itself off. We stopped and asked for directions. Reminder, we don’t speak Espanola. The best we could make out is that we had to leave town on a different road, turn right at a gas station and that would get us close to Banos.

We got to the edge of town when the main road turned right but there’s no gas station there. The main road led us through another little town then started us climbing again. Oh oh, still no gas station in sight. I was becoming more concerned and starting to lose my ever present sunny disposition. These are mountain roads and obviously not some type of flat land grid. You just can’t go up a mile or two and turn right. I’m hoping our road is leading us somewhat in the general direction of Banos and not in the opposite direction, but I honestly have no idea which.

We’re blindly climbing the mountain when we see traffic backed up and stopped. Great, it’ll be getting dark in a little over an hour and that certainly won’t help any. It turns outs a crew was up ahead with heavy machinery clearing the road from a rock slide.

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Kathleen’s a little concerned too.

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It looked like they’d been working there a couple of days. Not believing yet we were going the right way we asked the man in the Toyota truck in front of us. He said (as best we could tell) the gas station was still up ahead about 10 kilometers. Good, some confirmation. But I couldn’t get the GPS to fire up for more than 30 seconds if at all. It looked like we must have lost power from the motorcycle earlier and the battery was dead too. We didn’t know how big Banos was but if it was similar in size to Ambato we were screwed. If the city wasn’t too big then we had a chance of locating the hotel without the GPS. I’d say the last part of our day was turning into quite an adventure.

We found the gas station after about 15 kilometers and turned right. A real road, that led us to an even better real road, which brought us out onto the highway about 15 miles west of Banos. If I'd known we’d find our hotel I would have enjoyed that beautiful (racetrack like) road into Banos a lot more.
We got lucky and found Banos wasn’t too large a city. We rode past the city square and saw a big map of the city posted. We located our cross streets for the La Floresta Hotel just a short 4 blocks away. What relief, we’d made it!!!

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The rooms were large, the shower strong and the beer was cold and mui grande.

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We got cleaned up and walked to the square. A lot of shops were still open so we picked up some souvenirs. A number of the restaurants were still open and we were able to procure some red wine and Pizza while we listened to a couple of South American beatniks perform. We and the restaurant both retired at about 10 pm. Day 2 was now complete.
 
When we arrived at Banos the night before we inadvertently stopped directly in front of a small motorcycle shop as we tried to get our bearings. The owner was helpful and we soon found a blown 2amp fuse on the GPS. He didn’t have any 2 amps fuses but he had a 10 amp we put in there. As luck would have it that didn’t get the GPS working. We had a short riding day the next day so I put off tinkering with it till the next morning.

We were reinvigorated after a good night’s sleep! The La Floresta Hotel had a nice breakfast buffet included that really hit the spot.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...Floresta_Hotel-Banos_Tungurahua_Province.html
We left the hotel to see if we could find any 2 amp fuses and needle nose pliers to help remove the tight fuse. We also wanted to see some of the city in the daylight.

A couple of the square.

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A few blocks from the hotel.

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Looking back into town from the waterfall.

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We eventually found a hardware store that sold us a small pliers after I drew a picture of it. They showed us all sorts of tools they thought looked like my picture until we stumbled on the right one. Six blocks away, the automotive store (don’t even think Pep Boys) eventually sold us the correct fuse too. The lady was trying to sell me another red 10 amp fuse just like the one I was showing her. When I told her Dos (2) referring to the amps she just brought me 2-10 amp fuses. We played that game for a while before we were successful. I guess I need to learn the name for clear (color of 2 amp) in Spanish.

Not able to get the GPS working yet I called Cort at Freedom from our hotel and explained the situation. I had good connections at the battery, good fuse and plug into the cradle and the cradle itself looked okay. We didn’t reach an agreement on the problem but we did have an easy route on this day and would survive without it. Go east on the main drag out of Banos and turn north for Tena when we reach Puyo. Watch the signs before Tena and we’d be able to find our next destination, the Cotococha Lodge on the Napa River.

Cort also told me that I could charge the GPS directly by using a USB cord I had on the bike. The Cotococha Lodge would be the only place possibly tricky to find without a GPS. I gave the GPS an hour’s charge while we loaded up the bike. Enter problem number two this morning. Great, we’ve got an hour’s charge on the GPS when I unplugged it. Once unplugged the GPS just showed Freedom’s logo illuminated with an icon saying it was still connected to the computer. No series of button pushing I knew made it change back. Oh well, what’s the worst that could happen? Really, not that much this time.

We didn’t get to far out of Banos when we saw a platform overlooking a gorge. My first thought was that it was a place to take pictures but I soon realized you could take a gondola across or a zip line (see the cable on the far right side). The lady said it was $6 for the gondola ride and $15 for the zip line. She didn’t care if you Supermaned it or when across upside down, your choice she said. No I didn't. :giveup:

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It was a very pleasant ride to Puyo as we began our descent into the Amazon Basin. This was taken somewhere between Banos and Puyo near Mera as we followed the Pastaza River

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5TeYx0J28"]Going to Puyo from Banos[/ame]

After turning north out of Puyo we ran into a stretch of rain that lasted about 45 minutes. The roads were in very nice shape, we were dry and that darn knobby held way better that it should have.

A little while after the rain.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmAon6E-POc"]Between Tena and Puyo[/ame]

We found the Cotoocha Lodge without too much fuss and settled in. It was no shock that it was quite warm and sticky when we arrived. The Lodge has something like 27 cabanas spread out. Even though they had the next night booked to capacity we were the only guests on this day. Wow, our own private lodge!!! We were put in the cabana closest to the fast moving Napa River. Nice size room, 1 queen & 2 twin beds, large bathroom, no glass on the windows only screen and it was made out of bamboo with a thatched roof. We’re sure not in Midlothian anymore!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...otococha_Amazon_Lodge-Tena_Napo_Province.html

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A short video summary.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8uSjNW6lOk"]Daily summary[/ame]

Extra credit should you care. Some video starting out in the observation area above the bar/lounge near the dining area and then a walk down to the cabin.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxByrOh7ZAQ"]Cotococha lodge[/ame]

A nice candle light dinner for two, pleasant temps for sleeping as we listened to the river flow by. It was a good day, a very good day!
 
Dang!....Almost anuther full page of GREAT Pics Vids & Writing!!!

Steve you're pretty good a trip re-capping. Really cool readin & watchin all this stuff.....even if I can't go there myself.
 
Steve you're pretty good a trip re-capping
Click to expand...

Boy I hope so. It's been taking up most of my free time since I started it. It just doesn't
seem to end. I'm so glad at this point that it was only a 4 day trip. :rofl: The uploading to youTube takes the most time but the editing takes some time too. Tomorrow will show a water scene. I had it perfect with 4 different clips. Problem is my editor only wants 3 clips and the 4th is a green screen. Oh well. It's not all bad, it's rather nice reliving the trip again.

I thought you of all people would be shocked to learn that I occasionally like to drink a cold beer after a long days ride. ;-)
 
Re: Ecuador box...checked! ... Hangin in a Hammock

After watchin you ride that FJR on the gravel thru the forest in Arkansas.... You poppin the top after a nice day's ridin doesn't faze me. Heck! I like some refreshment now & then too. Kinda puts the lid back on....so to speak. Tones it down & dials it back.
 
good playlist MacDaddy, for those keeping track...


Ecuador Riding. The rural roads, part 1.
Pat Green "Carry On"

Somewhere on the road to Sigchos, Ecuador part 2
Jerry Jeff Walker "Long Long Time"

Somewhere on the road to Sigchos, Ecuador part 3
Blind Faith "Cant Find My Way Home"
 
Thanks Jbay! I'm thinking some Arlo Guthrie for the last day (and others). And I promise it will really fit the situation. :lol2: I hope it moves onto you favorites list.
 
Just mahvelous! I've been sharing with my wife and kids! :sun:
 
Day 4, the last day of our motorcycle adventure was upon us so let’s get started.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzrgUQ5O5aM"]Morining briefing[/ame]

Let’s go visit a waterfall in the Amazon!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH2JwU1Z89A"]Canoe ride[/ame]

We embark on a 1.5 km hike. Our guide with the machete on our private tour was Captain Alfredo / Tarzan.

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These things with the exposed roots are HUGE!

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If you look up inside one and turn the flash from your camera on you may just find some of these. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

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Hearing that the hiking got a little harder Kathleen decided to let us go on ahead.

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA9fE5vd-Oc"]Hiking to the waterfall[/ame]

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We even swam under the waterfall (Don’t worry I won't show off my girth). Was that ever spectacular!!! Now we just needed to get back to the lodge.

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She don’t need no stinking tube!

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What a great morning it had been! We packed up our things and closed out the bar tab (somebody must have used our room number). When I’d unplugged the GPS the night before, I still wasn’t able to get the screen to turn off (and icon saying connected to the computer) and later found the battery all but dead in the morning. I plugged it in again before we went up river and was quite pleased to find it fully charged and working properly upon our return. We wouldn’t need it much today until we reached Quito where we would be lost without it. We only used it a couple of times to confirm we were still on route saving the battery for Quito. We got our gear on and rolled out of the lodge about 12:30 pm.

We continued a little further down the river and crossed over a bridge leading into the town of Misahualli on our way back around to the main highway. Misahualli is known for their mischievous monkeys running a muck. We almost stopped to check it out but since we were running a few minutes behind (again) we kept on rolling.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwXpqIs5D-c"]Musahualli[/ame]

Today’s ride had us slowly climbing out of the Amazon Basin until we reached 13,600 feet at which point we’d descend back into Quito. The scenery was fantastic as usual but the road surface was lacking for a time. We were on concrete which had very frequent and uneven joints much like a severely cupped tire has. I couldn’t find a good speed for that surface. I tried going slow and that was better but at some point you just gotta say the heck with it, we’ll take the beating but we’re going to enjoy the curves.

Because of the uneven surface (with possibly a small dip or two) this was the only place where we bottomed out on the skid plate through the curves. Turn 3 in this video would be a good example.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGLdeUPu4Ts"]Turn 3 scrape[/ame]

The scenery was just so beautiful here and we actually came across better pavement at the end.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5CbHWueH7w"]Climbout out of the Amazon Basin[/ame]

Really, you think I’m that guy!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmNSQ6OYWyA"]Who me? - YouTube[/ame]

I had no idea what the elevation was at the moment and was concerned what temperatures we might encounter going forward. I asked the custom’s guy if it’s “Frio” or “Caliente” ahead. He said frio.

This was the last day’s ride in this beautiful country for us and it couldn’t be better! We’d experienced some sunlight and now the pavement was perfect with hardly any traffic going our direction and at some point not even any traffic coming the other way. Mark my words; this is the perfect riding day!

Well…uh…so… we come down this hill see…and uh, traffic’s stopped and backing up. I turn off the camera and slowly proceed around the traffic jam because we’re on a motorcycle in Ecuador and I think that’s what we’re supposed to do. Good, nobody says anything as we go by. We’re still moving to the head of the line when I see water rushing down both curbs. That’s weird! As we near the front of the line we see the obvious problem. There is an active mudslide (thanks for your patience Mr2mch, it’s finally here) taking place. We were hoping to get the motorcycle turned back in at Freedom before they closed at 6 pm. This is a mountain and there were no other roads around it. It looks like the adventure is back on. We parked the motorcycle and I walked up the hill to take a closer look.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgkRfPJWzZU"]Checking out the mudslide[/ame]

I didn’t walk all the way to the top (mistake) but it didn’t look too bad. It was mostly 1” to 6” of very wet mud with lots of debris scattered about. We’re probably running late now so we gotta’ give it a shot. The only considerations were that if it didn’t work we didn’t really bury the bike and create additional problems.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK7Ytbw3Erk"]Taking a shot at it.[/ame]

What I didn’t know was at the point where the mudslide entered the road it was about 2 feet deep. As I got closer to the top (not looking very far in front through this stuff) I saw a rider facing me on an enduro bike stuck in mud over his front axle. I stopped the bike before it got to deep but I still stuck it more than I wanted too. Bad place to try and illicit help when you can only, “Speaka de English.”

We eventually got the bike unstuck and moved over to the side of the road. Trying to be neighborly to the stuck enduro rider I ventured out to help him. Most of the time, I was up to my knees in mud. I few times I lost by balance and ended up about mid-thigh in the muck. I sure love my Sidi’s On Road boots and they’d always keep my feet dry no matter what until today. As it turns out, I’d never let water (and mud) come in from the top before. That wonderful Gore-Tex that keeps the water out so well does an equally nice job of keeping the water in. Man I hate soaked and muddy feet!

I may have been in the minority but I wasn’t the only one trying to make something happen. Just when I’d considered another try, this time in the wheel tracks from a truck, we spotted a front end loader coming up the hill. We quickly decided we could wait a few more minutes after all.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qURvBewpZCU"]Opening it up[/ame]

Finally we’re going to make it and be one of the first ones across.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm5qA_0RIis"]Crossing over[/ame]

Kathleen was muddy and I was soaked from the waist down. We continued to climb and it was getting chilly with nothing more than a wet base liner (hi-tech long johns) under my mesh pants. I got chilled on our way to 13,000 +ft. The scenery turned more and more barren and the road was in worse repair due to construction as we raced against the clock to get back before Freedom closed for the day. I was looking at the scenery in the next video and looked back just in time to keep from hitting the seriously large pothole at the 1:41 mark.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgMxxtR-9rw"]In a hurry[/ame]

Okay, so you gotta to do what you gotta to do. Besides the traffic laws there are more like suggestions anyway. See it’s just not me, those bus drivers are crazy.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSvJZE23vXQ"]Buses[/ame]

We approached Quito through road construction in a beautiful valley. This will be our last view of the countryside.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOgg-AIyjBM"]The final stretch into Quito[/ame]

We arrived at Freedom and were greeted by Court just seven minutes before he closed for the day. We were wet, tired, dirty and chilled. Remember our day one photo?

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And now the finished product.

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We were quite happy to arrive back to the J. W. Marriott with all our gear and possessions’ stuffed in plastic garbage bags, a couple still dripping. I’m sure they were impressed with the high rollers that just got out of the cab.

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We got one day of rest before we flew back. That was a Sunday and the city was pretty quiet and easy to walk around. There was plenty to see and a nice way to relax. I saw that Court had the bike cleaned up and the next folks loading it up. They said they were headed to the ocean.

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Court told me our GPS problem was with something in the cradle but he was able to fix it. By the way the Mighty Wee didn’t miss a beat and was the right tool for the job as far as I’m concerned.

We’d had a great time!!! This is our fourth tour and first self-guided tour (first tour that wasn't Europe). We haven’t been on a bad tour yet and they’ve all been terrific. Our goal had been to see a different place with each tour. We’re now seriously considering breaking that tradition and trying to return next summer or the summer after. There’s just something about this place, it’s awesome! So if you’ve ever considered a motorcycle tour to someplace different or just want to scope out a place to retire I whole heartedly say, just do it!

Now you know how we spent our summer vacation, we hope you’ve enjoyed.

P.S. (a little late but) I don't know what YouTube has for an auto setting when you watch the videos but I've been getting them set at 360p. They are much clearer on 480p. Still not as clear as the raw footage but much better.
 
Amazing trip. What a great ending! Please do yourself a favor and watch the videos.
One of the best ride reports I have seen . Thank you very, very much.
Your wife is a trooper:clap:
 
Vinny, I see why you go back as often as you can. Wish I had some family there.

Thank you for the kind words. Yes, I have watched the videos several times. There is a lot of work putting one of these reports together but seems to extend the trip time living it all over again (and staying clean).

She sure is a trooper isn't she!
 
[She sure is a trooper isn't she!]

You both are (you literally)

That mudslide would'a stopped me in my tracks.....or someone else's
(Hey...Wasn't that Mudclod you stopped to talk to??)

Just totally crazy watchin the road traffic ya'll dealt with.

BIG BIG THANX ! for all the extra work you took puttin this trippin story together..... I tip my hat to ya (if I wore one)
 
No comprende engles senor! That mudslide was an awesome event. Wow, and you had an adventure in the middle of it. Great video!!!
 
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