Saturday, October 11, 2008

Adrenaline

Riding thru Honduras was intense. It was the most challenging day so far. The road went from great to ok to total off-road and back again several times. It is a place where you never know what might possibly be around the next bend or up-top/bottom of a mountain. Maybe oxen pulling a cart or cowboys riding full speed on their horses in the middle of the road or huge chunks of the road completely dropped out and gone or huge mudslides blocking the road or rockslides blocking the road or cow that jumps out at you when he hears the roar of your engine just as you are taking a picture of him or kids selling all kinds of fruit and goods on the road like mini-bannana stands or a group of 11 giant, battin for the yankees, riders from Finland on an organized tour or hundreds of potholes filled with water (tough to navigate) that make Minnesota potholes look like tiny cracks in the road and could easily swallow a dog. Not to mention the rain showers that would be on one mountain and gone the next. Whatever it was it provided more adrenaline, riding challenge and reward than any of the other day on this journey. Too bad it ended in a super sketchy border town that still has me nervous as I am writing this in my hotel room. (turns out it was super sketchy as i was woken up 4 different times from gunfire)




Three things remained constant throughout the day 1. spectacular scenery thru small, medium and big mountains and arid canyon like regions 2. Super friendly kids but most people came across as the less than excited to see foreigners. Much different attitudes than Mex, belize or Guatemala and for that reason I am glad to have rode thru a country in a day. 3. The thought that no money in the world would convince me to drive a semi or car on these roads even though they were everywhere…half of which broken down in the middle of the road fixings tires/rims.
Seems I keep feeling this way but this riding day is right up there with the best of my life, albeit a trip on a roadway madhouse.









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