I know I’ve been away for an eternity but I’ll try to catch-up with the back stories as best as I can. My laptop took its last breath and finally gave up and left me hanging. I ordered the best mobile workstation I could find which took over a month to build and 40 days to ship down to South America. Now that I have no excuses, here is the rest of the story.
After the ignition switch repair, it was time to pack up and leave the beautiful Florianópolis but I was told to visit the south of the island or I was going to regret it. With that in mind, we rode south to see what all the fuss was about.
South of Florianópolis is the oldest part of the island with colonial houses and cobbled roads, and in more ways than other, it reminded me of fishing towns of the northeast except that it was tropical. The whole town revolved around one commodity and we soon found out why. The shallow waters of the bay produced some of the biggest oysters I’ve ever seen and the sheer size aside; they were the best I’ve ever tasted to this day. Again with the suggestion of the locals, we found our way to the best oyster joint in town and walked in. The restaurant was way too fancy for my traveling budget but the smell of seafood won the battle. They had nothing but seafood on the menu and the cheapest item was $15 which luckily was the oyster plate. I could write pages on how delicious these oysters were but pictures should do the justice.
Belly full and beautiful blue skies in sight, we headed north to my friend’s house in Curitiba. The 400km ride was beautiful with the blue ocean on the side and lots of twisties and the weather was the warmest in days. I started enjoying the ride until we took the first rest stop. The oil seal on the back of the transmission was leaking and it wasn’t a small leak either. My entire rear wheel was covered with slippery gear oil and the rear brake was useless. I could go without rear brake, but the condition of the slippery tire was unnerving and we were still 200km away from Curitiba.
At every opportunity I got on the sandy shoulders to clean the tire and topped off the oil. We limped away with me clinching my teeth and waiting for the deadly slide which never came. As a result the 200 remaining kilometers took almost five hours to cover and we got to Renato’s apartment well after dark. Renato is a mechanical engineer and university professor who I met while I was hired to develop a website for him. Renato and Patricia welcomed us into their home and a new friendship was born. They are awesome.
I started my search for the oil seal and as it was already the weekend, we put the work aside and went out to the countryside for a perfect Saturday picnic at Renato’s friend’s farm. Lush, beautiful, and rustic, this little farm was a place I could stay at forever. The festivity was not short of the 4th of July and we ate seemingly nonstop until the sun went down. Brazilians sure know how to BBQ and good company always make it doubly better.
When I finally came out of the food coma, with Renato’s help, we located the oil seal and got to work. To get to the rear transmission oil seal, I literally had to disassemble half of the bloody motorcycle to get to it, but it had to be done. In the process, I also found two broken bearings from the swing-arm pivot points. One bearing was completely destroyed and the other was broken in multiple places. At this point, I was glad the transmission started to leak as I would have never known about these problems.
We had to put everything on hold again until we found the right size bearings locally or have them shipped from the US. Stay tuned.
P.S. It was brought to my attention that the website contact-form is not working. If any of you have tried to contact me through the website for the past few months, I never received your message so my apologies. I’ll look into it ASAP.
Glad you’re still on the road and enjoying yourself. Continued Safe Travels, Friend.
Thank you Chelsea. Glad you are sticking around 🙂
Hello Chris. It is great to read another update. It is fun for your readers to experience your adventure in a small way through your words and pictures. I hope you enjoy this Holiday season and remain in good health and spirits. Be well and peace to you… an appreciative reader, Bill
Thank you Bill, I hope you have a great holiday season as well 🙂
Looks like this part of your trip made up for the not-so-happy parts. How absolutely beautiful! Sorry about the bike problems, but still…how beautiful! (As a vegan, I think I would starve in South America.) Happy travels!
Hi Jane, I don’t think as a Vegan you’d get very far down here food wise 😛 but you’d love it nevertheless.
Hi, Chris. Nice to see myself in this part of your journey. As always your photos are amazing. The name for that nut is pinhão. Actually pinhão is the seed of the Araucária tree.
Hi Renato, thanks for the name of the nuts. They were amazing. Save some for my next trip 🙂 I’m working on the next blog so stay tuned.
Hi Chris
I am living in French Guiana, on the boarder with Surinam……Do you want to pass in my country…..
please make more videos of the places u go and post clips here, it does not have to be anything special edit job, just a 360 look around and just u telling us whats new where u r and how r u feeling, i am telling u man this is so much more important for ur memories then these words u write
ur friend homer in tw
Hi Chris: I agree with all of the above, except I’m not strict vegan, there are so many varieties of vegetarian that I fit within that scope. ..
I am also enjoying this ” live advernture” almost real time, close enough through the writings. and photos.
Thanks
Elaine
Hi Chris, I have been enjoying reading about your adventurees ! I have ridden the 850G. It has the best shaft drive around. I own a 1981 Gold Wing Interstate and a 1982 Naked Wing. My Interstate has over 80K. I have ridden it from Florida – Maine – Washington State – California – Florida. It has been absolutely bullet proof !! It seems to me, the 1100cc Wing ( 1980 – 83 ) would have been a better choice. What steered you away from these older , lighter, Gold Wings ?
Hi Rich,
I would have loved to pick a Goldwing but when I found this GS850, it was in a showroom condition and I bought it for robbery price of 900 bucks. I’ve always had a love affair with older Wings and maybe I’ll do it one day. There was a Argentinian guy who rode around the world on a Wing and wrote a book a book about it. Check it out if you haven’t read it already: The longest ride.
Cheers,
Chris
Hi,
I am looking at photo 11/31 ‘On the way North’ and I am wondering how you open the side pannier lids: the top box seems to be in the way.
Thanks,
Richard
Gloucester, UK
Hi Richard,
There is about 1.5 inches of space between the top box and the aluminum panniers. They clear fine if i lift them and slide them out.
Cheers,
Chris
come on buddy please upload more often, put some videos up and also on youtube ok, please man, also write more about brazil we want to know
Hey, Chris live in Page Az united states your travels have got me hooked on your site, when I can’t travel myself except to rallies in az, I can live thru your experiences, your camping tips were so great and funny the way you expressed them I instantly became a fan.
Thanks
Wow, is it good to hear from you. I am glad your safe and moving forward. You look good!!