The next segment of my journey was from Acapulco to Puerto Escondido, but I ran into a little trouble. I made i t about 290 kms of the 400 kms when I came to the town of Santiago Jamiltepec. It seems that the towns folk were a little pissed at the government and they decide to block the highway with dump trucks and a grater. So , I did wait about an hour until it became clear that the road was closed for the day.
Some locals told me that there was a way around if we go back a couple of miles and detour through the country side. A lot of people were heading that way so I followed along. After about 30 minutes of paved road we turned onto a farmers road that ran between his fields! Well, you can imagine what that was like, this “road” was only used by a farmer and his tractor, is it was a mix of slick red clay, sand, river rock, gravel and mud holes. It was all going ok, crossed a small creek, no big deal until we got to a river. Remember, I’m towing a little trailer, the water was just below my knees, so, with no other options I rode in. You know having Gore-tex boots doesn’t really stop water from coming in over the top of the boots! I made it across and the trailer was no worse for wear, still dry inside.
But, later I did get stuck in one monster mud hole\puddle, it had big rocks in it and I got hung up on a few. I fought for a while but soon realized that I was burning my clutch so I gave up on that. 4 guys walked out of the bush and helped me push the bike out, thank goodness, or I would still be there.
11 hours from the time that I left Acapulco, I made it to Puerto Escondido and my clutch was FUBAR, no doubt about it.
Next day I figure that I’ll head for Oaxaca where the nearest BMW Motorad dealer is located. Well, again that didn’t work out as planned either. I made it about 120 kms before the clutch just out right gave out, totally smoked! Lucky for me I came upon a road crew, and there was a man there that had a F150 and he offered to take me and the bike and trailer in to Oaxaca to the dealer 180 kms. His name is Edgar Cruz Valenzuela, he saved my ass! I cannot thank this great guy enough for helping me out. It took us 4 hours to get into Oaxaca.
Once at the dealer I had to wait for the independence day holiday to pass before we could order the needed parts. It took 8 days to get the bike back up to speed and running like new. Many thanks to BMW Vecsa Oaxaca and all the great staff that helped me out.
So, 8 days in Oaxaca, it’s a busy city with some interesting markets and restaurants.
