BootsnAll Travel Network



Introducing my Tranny….

March 1st, 2009

Here he is! My first male motorcycle.

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I felt it was only appropriate to name the bike Tranny, as he´s a Honda Transalp. And of course you can´t have a female tranny, so well, he´s a guy. My biggest worry during the planning of this adventure was “Am I going to fit on the bike??” This morning when I got to MotoCare, Mariano told me he had put on the low seat I requested and lowered the front forks a bit as well. Well done. I hopped on, and good news. All is well! We did all the paperwork and an hour later, I was packed and following him to Ruta 7. Of course, in true Claudia style, when he told me “go right, then right” I went right, then left. Mariano chased me down on the highway and set me back in the right direction. Thanks Mariano….

So, my feelings about Tranny. He´s heavier than I´m used to, but also much smoother of a ride. The front brakes are a double brake as opposed to the single on Beemie, so there is some serious brake action going on. Also, I have to be extremely careful about where I park him because if there is any sort of grade, I don´t have enough contact with the ground to muscle him around. I´ve already had to ask for help once on backing up. Ahh well, smile and bat the eyes.

Riding out of BA was simple. It was Sunday morning and there was minimal traffic. Learning the style of driving here was quick and isn´t really any different to home on a two lane road that you can pass on.

I´m about to be kicked out of the internet cafe, so here are a few pics from the day.

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Arriving in Buenos Aires

March 1st, 2009

I touched down in Buenos Aires and decided right away that this was my kind of town. The people were hip, generous and generally friendly.

My taxi driver caught me off guard by being genuinely helpful. I am always suspiscious of taxi drivers. Always. But this guy was unable to find the address right away so he asked if I had the number of where I was staying. We were right around the corner but somehow his GPS wasn´t reading correctly.

Javier from Dakar Motos came and found us and showed us the way. Once inside his moto shop, I met Pierre and Celine, a French Canadian couple that are riding a pair of matching BMW 1200GSs. They had ridden from Quebec to Ushuaia and were now on their way back north so Celine could be there for the birth of her sixth grandchild. I still can´t believe she has 5 already! The cold weather must be a good preservative because she certainly did not look old enough to have any. They both shared their experience and tales, and I picked their brains on roads up north.

About 30 minutes after arriving, Javier announced that the asado was ready. I have NEVER tasted meat like this before. It was simple backyard grilling, but OMG. Soooo tasty. I had a few different types of meats and I even tried some of the scary looking black sausage. I have a new respect for the culinary potential of just about any dead animal. Just give it to an Argentinian to prepare….

After being a glutton, I settled in for a nap, followed by some grocery shopping. I was still pretty exhausted from the flight, so I turned in around midnight, hoping for some rest. It wasn´t to be. Mosquitos. They LOVE me. The ones in my apartment in NYC must have sent some smoke signals down to the ones here in BA because they feased on me just as viciously as their northern brethren. I tossed, I turned. I heard the bbbbbBBBBBBBZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz all night long. Eventually, my body was too tired to notice it anymore and I finally passed out.

It was just the kind of day I needed before a big journey. I got rest and got extremely well fed. Woo hoo!!! On to tomorrow…

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Have Arrived in Buenos Aires

February 28th, 2009

I`ve arrived safe and sound. No issues other than I forgot the address and numbers of the people who are putting me up tonight and renting me the bike tomorrow. All is well though… Dana Wambser to the rescue. She googled the info I needed for me 20 minutes before boarding….

Also, I forgot some spare contacts only to find a spare pair in my glasses case. I figured I would need them someday and hopefully the two pairs I have will last me. Otherwise, I might have some probs!!!!

Otherwise, all is well. I will write more later after a nap.

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Words of Encouragement from Friends

February 26th, 2009

Just a quick one right now…

It’s been really encouraging to see how many people respond positively to my doing this trip. I’ve gotten so many phone calls and emails from people telling me how excited they are to follow my adventure. I’ll be doing my best to give you all something interesting to read about. Until I do, here is a link to a few past adventures:

Nova Scotia in 2008 and

my RTW trip 2003/2004.

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Gear

February 25th, 2009

A few people have asked me what I am bringing with me on this moto adventure so I thought I’d do up a quick post on it. I’m at ATGATT kind of moto rider (All The Gear All The Time) and I’m bringing all my own stuff, excluding the motorcycle, to Argentina. I’m used to all my travel gear fitting in one backpack, but now I don’t even USE a backpack. The pile of things I need to take with me makes me wince because just a few years ago I survived on less than 25 lbs worth of stuff for a YEAR. Now, my clothing along weighs that.

There are the essentials- helmet, gloves, armored pants and jacket, etc. This year I revamped my gear collection and I now look like The Red Baron(ess). Even my Ortileb dry bag is bright red. All I need is a cape….

gear-full.jpg helmet.jpg boots.jpg

To keep myself safe, I have an awesome Shoei helmet, well broken in Joe Rocket gloves, a brand new armored Alpinestars jacket that fits correctly (as opposed to my last one), BMW Airflow pants which have state of the art moldable armor, and 20 hole Doc Martens boots for my tootsies. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain either, but I’ll be prepared if it does.

But then there is all the camping gear and the random stuff that goes along with riding. I have a 2 person Sierra Nevada tent (1 person + gear in my case) and I think it was one of the most intelligent impulse buys I have ever made. It can be pitched in literally 60 seconds flat. It takes me far longer to stuff my sleeping bag back into its sack than it does to put up my tent. I have a silk sleep sheet I stole from an ex-boyfriend, my yoga mat which doubles as a sleep mat, a FAB EMS Claudia-sized sleeping bag, a high end knife that scares everyone who sees it, books, a compass, maps, my snazzy digital SLR with accompanying tri-pod. The tri-pod wasn’t on the original packing list, but after my friend who has ridden in Argentina mentioned it can be hard to find people to take a pic of you in the more remote areas (I’m thinking Saltas Grandes here), I put it in my bag.

Then there is the question of clothing. For me, this is the toughest part. I hate looking like a “traveler”. Synthetic travel pants? HATE THEM, no matter how practical they might be in theory. I wore them for a year in Asia and will never do it again. So instead I’ve been watching the weather trends and I’m going to roll the dice on bringing jeans. It will be hot, but at least I won’t look like a scrubby traveler. When I’m on the bike, I’m in gear, and when I’m not, I look cute. Done deal.

Then there are the practical items like duct tape, a multi-tool, a small bit of rope (this has come in handy more times than I can remember), bungie cords that tie stuff down to the bike, extra water proof bags, etc. I learned a lot from my trip to Nova Scotia about what will and won’t come in handy.

Tomorrow night I do my final pack. My little apartment might explode during the process but at least it will be over and done with until my lucky pack mule (read as boyfriend) gets to help me lug it to the airport.

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8 days to go…

February 20th, 2009

img_3683.JPGOver the last few weeks I’ve been thinking more about my upcoming adventure to Argentina. Last summer I did a 3135 mile trip up to Nova Scotia by myself on my trusty ’02 BMW 650GS, or “Beemie” as I affectionately call her.

I encountered some absolutely insane weather that made me think “what on EARTH am I doing here” such as hail and 20ft visibility fog…

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There were definitely a few roads that were a bit over my helmet. But that trip, along with some minor technical difficulties, showed me I had the chops to do something a little more adventurous. I gained some motorcycle mojo. This year I decided to follow in the footsteps of my moto mentor and head to Argentina.

So why Argentina? First off, it’s the easiest place in South America for me to acquire a bike for a few weeks without having to go through the effort of buying one, renting from someone shady, or importing my own. Secondly, I’ve got good advice from people who have been and said it’s fantastic. It seems everyone in Argentina who rides knows everyone else who rides, so it’s a small sort of community. At least if I get stuck somewhere, chances are there will be someone who knows someone in the area.

Being it’s winter here in New York, I’ve been in riding withdrawal. My apartment is small, so everywhere I look there are pieces of gear. A helmet beside my chair, two armored jackets and armored pants in the closet next to my other clothes, a trunk chock full of tank bags, gloves, rain gear, boots, spare lights, tire gauges, etc. Not to mention my camping gear, books, maps, and notes. It’s torture especially on days like today when the sky is clear, the air is crisp, and I want to be anywhere but trapped inside.

I’m in that “anticipation” stage. There is nothing really for me to do. The flight was booked ages ago, along with the motorcycle. I do have a bit of worry about the height of the bike because I’m a shorty and the bike is bigger than I’m used to. I had two options on what sort of bike to get. I could rent the same bike I own and KNOW it’s going to fit right and all that. Or I could try something different, which is what I did. I chose the Honda Transalp. It’s a twin cylinder bike instead of a single, so I expect a smoother ride. It’s also a bike I wouldn’t get to try out here at home because Honda doesn’t sell them here.

In order to get pumped up about adventure moto travel, I watched The Long Way Down with my fav moto boys, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Ok, maybe their second trip wasn’t nearly as hardcore as their first adventure but ahh well. I’m a little partial to the first trip because I missed them in the Gobi Desert by a freakin’ DAY. If only I could have expressed to my drunk Mongolian truck driver to “follow the big motorcycles as fast as you can!” I’d have been in heaven. Can you imagine? “Why hello Ewan and Charley! I’m just going to hide in your Touratech panniers here, don’t mind me!!!” Ok, maybe not.

So, with much anticipation, I wait and plot.

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