Wheres Punky & Lew now?
^*-*^*-*^*-*^*-*^
^^^^^^^^^^
Date: Wednesday Jan 16, 2001 2:30 pm
Subject: Punky & Lew leaving Quito
My faithful Yorkie, Punky, and I started Punky & Lew's Americas Motopaseo May 3, 2001, riding a 2000 KLR 650 from Greenacres, Florida, via the back dirt road Trans America Trail across the southern central USA, to Moab, Utah. There, Punky was hit by a car, died, and was brought back to life with prompt CPR. After a month of recovery for Punky's brain injury, we headed north to Canada and Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. In Fairbanks, AK, Punky was nearly killed by an attack by a 135 lb. Alaskan Malamute. Punky recovered from 2 major surgeries and was ready to ride in a month again. We headed south through Canada, the USA, Mexico (get-off in the Sierra Madres), Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua (survived a 60-70 mph flat front tire and get-off), Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (broken ankle in get-off) and am now in Quito, Ecuador, recovering from surgery. I finished rehabilitation therapy yesterday and my ankle is much improved. No more crutches. It is not 100%, but good enough to ride. My new friend and benefactor, Ricardo Rocco Paz, helped me prep Critter last Saturday. I removed the camping gear and ditched the spare tire to lighten the bike. Will leave it with Ricardo. I haven't camped since British Colombia, Canada. The Argentine Peso is now devalued, which will reduce the cost of previously expensive rooms, meals, etc. I intend to depart Quito Friday morning heading for Peru. Ricardo will ride with me for 4 days to the border stopping at the most interesting places along the way. Ricardo has a friend in Lima, Peru, who is supposed to ride north to meet us at the border and ride with Punky and I to Lima. We should be in Lima within a week from Friday. We will visit Cuzco, Machu Pichu (famous Inca ruins), Lake Titicaca (highest lake in the world) in Peru as well as La Paz, Bolivia (highest capital city in the world). We'll cross the Andes going east to La Paz and cross them again going west to Northern Chile and The Atacama Desert. South to Santaigo de Chile, where Critter will get a complete maintence and new dirt tires for the very long desolate dirt road in Patagonia, and on to Puerto Montt, where we will again cross the Andes going east to Bariloche, Argentina. Then, head south on Highway #40 stopping at scenic National parks (huge mountains, lakes, glaciers, etc.) to Punta Arenas, Chile and Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. One of the main goals of Punky & Lew's Americas Motopaseo, Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia, will have been completed. Ricardo has helped plot the route time and distance and where to stop complete with dates and mileage. Total distance from Quito, Ecuador to Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina is 6,300 miles. We should make it by March 1. Later than that could get us into very cold weather. It will be cold enough anyway and I will be using my electric heated vest for the first time. Ricardo has also provided me with some contacts along the way in South America. We will ride today for the first time since Nov. 18. We're going to take pix of us at the Equator monument, with one foot or half the bike in the Northern Hemisphere and the other in the Southern Hemisphere. I will also provide a photo opportunity for some friends here, who want pix of Punky and Lew on the bike. We've already ridden about 25,000 miles, more than the distance around the earth, and met many wonderful people, including notable world tourers Greg Frazier, (American Indian and motorcycle journalist extraordinaire), Ricardo Rocco Paz of Ecuador, Mariola Cichon of USA, Peter and Kay Forwood of Australia, Ted Simon of England, Werner Zwick of Germany, Grant Johnson of Canada, and Glen Heggstad of USA (what a Colombian kidnapping story) and seen endless fantastic geography. But, the best experience of the tour is the adventure of riding at break-neck speeds outdoing the wildest of the infamous Latin American drivers. Sure, it's risky, but it sure is a blast. Critter, my KLR 650, has operated flawlessly thoughout our tour. Senor Frog, previously designated the navigator, leading the way on the front fender was demoted to passenger status. He got us lost too many times. We still get lost???? Toby Lampson, owner/publisher of DSN, has invited me to join DSN's contributing writer staff and provide ongoing reports of slices of our lives on the road. I hope DSN's readers find our stories interesting. Stay tuned for more reports of the adventures of Punky and Lew. Toby, critique this stuff and tell me if you think this is rehashing much that some of your readers may already know. I thought it would be helpful to go back to the begining for those who haven't read of us before. Maybe, even include a short intro of Punky and Lew and why I decided, at the age of 63 with arthritis and hypertension and not having ridden in 25 years, to get off the sofa and ride a bike to South America before it is too late and have the greatest adventure of my life. Punky digs it too. Later, amigo.
Punky & Lew
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Back to Where's Punky & Lew Now???
Back to Punky & Lews Homepage
Back to KLR-Mods page
Click here for My KiLleR Links Page.
Back To Homepage