Dog Blog

Told from Janell Clarke's perspective. I left Los Barrilles on the 04 December, with my girls on board, nervous and thrilled. The alternative had been driving or flying out with Stu but I really didn't want either of those options, I wanted to continue riding in Mexico for as long as possible, even if it was more or less back the same 2000km we'd arrived from Tijuana. Mexico is a beautiful country where I always felt safe and welcome. I had a really nice send off from everyone staying at Chris's place then I was off with my dogs. It was a beautiful sunny day and I settled in to riding quickly. I was determined to enjoy the ride, I didn't want to rub it in Stu's face but this was an opportunity for some girl time and to run everything at my pace including stopping for photos whenever I wanted. Chris, Paige & Stu's Farewell Janell & the Girls ready to ride The route was fairly straightforward, I stayed on the main road through Baja. I knew places to camp from our trip south ...

Throughout the USA we had been using a forum thread called TentSpace on ADVrider.com to find hosts that would let us set up a tent in their yard for a few nights at no cost. The reality was, however, that we never once used our tent, the hosts were very welcoming and always had a spare bedroom for us and the girls to use. In San Francisco we stayed with Paige, a very experienced rider and very interesting person. She didn't have a spare room, but she did have a 3-storey haunted house next door that was ours for a few days over Halloween. We spent a bit of time chatting with Paige and she convinced us to return to Mexico and ride the Baja peninsula. She even organised accommodation for us at the bottom if we made it, staying with her friend Chris in Los Barriles. Remaining always flexible and having such fond memories of Mexico we were easily persuaded. Head On Collision in Mexico route through the United States and Mexico The ride down the 1700km highway was pretty uneventful except...

We arrived in San Francisco the day before Halloween and intended to stay just two nights before heading south but instead hung around for six days. Who can resist San Francisco, right? A great city is one thing, but what makes a stay "frantastic" is the company. We'd contacted Paige through TentSpace a few days before arriving, Paige had a no bullshit attitude, you wanted to stay with her you picked up the phone and called. We knew from the outset we were going to like Paige. Calling a TentSpace host is actually unusual, most contact to hosts is made via messages, in fact we'd never spoken to a host before arrival in all our prior experience with TentSpace. Janell's bike outside San Francisco's Painted Ladies Paige was a chef and part time property developer. What a combination, not only did she cook amazing meals, she put us up in a house next door which she had recently purchased to renovate. The house wasn't anything to write home about, or was it? There was limited power and no...

Our route was to take us along the northern states to Seattle and then head south along the coast. We still had a lot of ground to cover and it would start with The Great Plains of the Dakota's. The speed limit was a whopping 85mph (over 135km/hr), normally we wouldn't entertain the idea of travelling so fast, not with a Pillion Pooch attached, but the road quality was superb and the winds nonexistent. This also gave us an opportunity to experiment with fuel consumption and what impact the Pillion Pooch had on drag with one bike fitted with a Pillion Pooch and the other not. We took our measurements over a range of two fuel stops covering around 800km. Our first conclusion was that from the riders point of view the presence of the Pillion Pooch was not noticeable, we'd easily creep up to 90mph and have to deliberately back off. The second conclusion was that the difference in fuel consumption between the two setups was barely measurable and with weight difference taken into account ...

We were feeling very positive about the future of The Pack Track. Weeti was recovering well from her seizures and was slowly getting back to her old self again. It was only a few months now until we were to depart the America's bound for Europe and we still had so much to see. Our voyage across the Atlantic would be in the Queen Mary 2, the only cruise ship in the world with kennels on board. We had so far booked a single kennel for both Weeti and Shadow, but having lost Cinnamon just after her birth and seeing how distraught Shadow became at this loss, we decided that she should keep her surviving baby. So we booked another small kennel, or more correctly we went on a waiting list but to our surprise we picked up a spot in only a matter of weeks. So our plan was now to have Weeti in a kennel by herself and Shadow and Maple sharing. But for now we were still in Wisconsin and heading towards northern Minnesota. We were slowly making our way over to Yellowstone while seeing as much o...

Our next stop was visiting Door County which we had been looking forward to since Patagonia eight months earlier. Back then we had a great time in Ushuaia, a two week wait for a replacement sleeping bag meant a forced break from the riding. What better place to wait than the end of the road, a place of daily celebrations as someone new arrived having endured the long road by car or by bike, motored and human powered, or arriving by sea. Not only was the city full of adventurers but there was usually a cruise ship or two docked or anchored in the harbour. During the day the high street was bustling with tourists while at night, with the cruise ships having set sail for their next destination the bars were loaded with bikers, cyclists and backpackers from everywhere. It was here that we met Erin, a solo traveller who had shared sections of road with various other adventure riders and now celebrating her arrival in Ushuaia. Like a lot of people, we saw her come and go in our time but o...

We hadn't seen Stu's brother since he flew down to Cancun right at the start of our trip. We'd also never met his new girlfriend Diana or seen him in his new life in Ottawa. So after spending a lovely time with Janell's family in New York, we felt spoilt to be riding to Greg and Diana for more family time. We had planned to spend a few nights with them and then ride up to see Montreal, Quebec City and some more to the east before making our way west, but Shadow had something else in mind. Since finding Shadow, 6 weeks previous, she had started to put on weight and was looking more like a guinea-pig than a dog. This is to be expected when you take a dog from the streets but she was so ravenous. Its uncharted territory when you adopt a street dog, nobody can tell you anything about it and Shadow was so much smaller than any dog we'd ever had so we had no idea how much food she should eat. She reduced the food she was eating but the tummy still got bigger. Can you guess what was goi...

We were back in the US in a new state for us, Florida. After the eventful departure from Botoga it was nice to enjoy a relaxing flight and collect our babies on the other side, safe and sound. We must admit, the LAN staff at the airport in Bogota were very helpful, we were really messed around with the dogs flights so they waived their pet freight fee ($50 per dog) so the girls got a free ride. Thanks LAN. The process for collecting the girls after the flight was very different at Miami Airport compared to Dallas where we flew in with Skyla from Australia. The girls were in their crates literally sitting next to the conveyor belts in the baggage claim. Anyone could have walked past and taken them. When Skyla flew in from the US she was taken to a separate secure location and we had to get a heap of stamps and approvals before they released her to us. It was one extreme to the other but it was also the difference between travelling as cargo and checked luggage. Our preference would ...

When will someone bite the bullet and build a road between Panama and Colombia! For now, adventure riders can either fly (by aeroplane) or ship (typically sail boat or ferry) themselves and their motorbikes between North and South America. Of course this depends on the politics of the time and how well Colombia and Panama are getting on. On our way to South America we chose the seven day sailing option from the San Blass Islands off Panama which proved to be an adventure and overall fun experience. This time, returning north with time against us, we decided to fly and from our online research and communication with other motorcycle travellers the easiest way to fly was with Lyn Cargo. Stu had spent a lot of time requesting quotes from various airlines to crate our motorbikes from Bogota to a range of destinations in North America including Miami, Mexico City and Montreal. Ideally we wanted to get as far north as possible to see Canada while it was still warm, and then travel anticl...

After a productive visit in Bogota sorting our shipping quotes and getting Weeti's paperwork in order for flying to the US, we decided to take a 3 week trip back into Venezuela to visit some friends and attend a Moto Event in the state of Falcon. This would be our last chance before leaving South America and who knows when our path would bring us back here. There is always plenty of excitement and drama when visiting Venezuela and this occasion didn't disappoint. We entered near San Cristobal and as is usually the case the border was busy. When we first entered Colombia we had conducted a temporary import of both our bikes which was valid for 3 months, it was now less then a month later and so we pleaded with the Aduana officials to allow us to keep the paperwork and skip the import when we returned. Initially this request fell on deaf ears, but after struggling to transfer our VIN to their form with carbon paper, they reconsidered thinking it was a great idea and that it would be ...

From the mountains of Cuenca we traveled a few hours to Salinas on the coast of Ecuador. The distance wasn't far, 350km, but the journey took most of the day. From Cuenca we climbed up further in to the mountains on a narrow, twisty road through thick cloud cover and very wet, cold conditions. Our visibility was dangerously low, sitting in second gear with hazard lights and high beams on trying to increase our visibility to other drivers as much as possible. The locals power around those mountains, perhaps they know them like the back of their hands, we certainly didn't and often didn't know if the road was curving to the left or the right until we saw a rock wall in front of our tyre. As you could imagine the descent was a welcome change along with a coffee break and the removal of all our layers as we moved in to warmer coastal climates. Passing around Guayaquil was also slow and traffic was particularly bad because it happened to be the week that the Pope was visiting. Never mind...

Cuenca is a small city with a lot of history and set between two fast flowing rivers. It has a cool, wet climate being elevated at 2,500m. We stayed in Cuenca for 10 nights, a long time for The Pack Track to stay in one place, and learnt a lot about this bustling city for example in 1999 its historic centre reached UNESCO World Heritage Site status. When we arrived in Cuenca we knew we either had a short stay or long stay. We had arranged, weeks earlier, for a replacement credit card to be sent from Australia to a friend (Michelle) of a friend (Daniela) in Cuenca. Postal endeavours in the past had not gone to plan for us, in fact we could describe them all as a tad disastrous, but we were hopeful this time it would go smoothly. We made contact with Daniela through Facebook but the parcel had not arrived. Okay then, we could be in Cuenca for two weeks. We needed cheap pet friendly accommodation that was flexible. Booking.com helped us by locating the Check-Inn Hotel, only 3 blocks...