8/4/2010 - Hermosillo, MX: Into The Mexican Desert

Adventure is upon me and I'm definitely not used to it. The past six days have been a whirlwind of mixed feelings. Starting up my new life as well as leaving my 'normal' one. 

So, as many of you know I packed up or sold all my worldly possessions, and set out for the southern most city on the planet: Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. All on my motorcycle, a Kawasaki KLR 650 dual sport. 

July 30th, 2010. The day has come, and I'm as ready a I'll ever be to leave. I'm 25 and I'm leaving a great job, girlfriend, apartment, friends and otherwise awesome life.  Melancholy is setting in as I kiss Nicole for the last time and set out for a familiar destination: Las Vegas. Living out your own crazy dreams aren't supposed to be this hard, but fuck it,  I'm leaving and I'm going to have some fun and hopefully I'll find whatever it is I'm looking for. 

Six days later I've definitely had some fun and adventure. Here are some quick American highlights:

Day 1: Vegas. Enough said. 

Day 2: Zion, Utah had some of the most amazing camping and eternal scenery I've ever seen. I also took the bike out on some pretty gnarly dirt roads. See pictures for hilarity. 

Day 3: Grand Canyon, Arizona. Amazing. Nothing like I've ever seen, spectacular views from the north rim. 

Day 4: Flagstaff, Arizona. It was BJs birthday so we did some bar hopping and saw some really great live music. 

Day 5: Tucson, Arizona. Ran out of gas on the highway just outside of Phoenix. Was able to finally revive the bike on the reserve tank and found a gas station. Not necessarily the most fun one can have. 

Day 6: Into the Mexican desert. This is it. I'm anxiously awaiting Mexico. Supposedly the most dangerous and wild country on the list. Not knowing what to expect you can imagine I was kind of nervous.

I crossed the border with no issue, and already realize I need to brush up on my Spanish. It's a long drive to our Couchsurfing host Ivan in Hermosillo. Immediately across the border it's a place I know I don't want to be, so I set the bike south and twist the throttle and get the fuck out of there. Four hot sweaty hours later it's sunset and I'm just getting in touch with my Couchsurfing host Ivan Castro. We park the bikes in his garage and find his place is amazing. We have our own pool house with beds and personal bathroom. Ivan shows us a drink on the town then we exchange travel stories back at his place then are treated to a wonderful Mexican dinner prepared by his mom. Stuffed and glad to be safe and welcome in Mexico I sit down to think about the past few days and try to organize my thoughts to write them down. 

Reality definitely hasn't hit yet. I'm still in the honeymoon stage, but so far things are going great and I'm feeling pretty grand. 

Buenos noches.