Test drives

I believe I have the brake/accelerator on the new scooter completely straight now so no more little accidents. I had it parked on the sidewalk in Tangolunda surrounded by 6 inch curbs. It was easy rolling it down the curb. I just gave it a touch of gas and it was up and over but I wasn't sitting on it and it dragged me ahead, my hand tightening on the gas. It could have been a lot worse. I smashed into a wire mesh fence. Not an expensive car or a small child. It pulled free and I was out of there before anyone caught on that I had no business on any motorized vehicle. There wasn't even a scratch on the bike and my sore knuckles felt fine after a day.

I'm missing the camera every day.

I finally made it La Bocana/Rio Copalita on the bike. Fantastic. There is surf. It starts with a small cove. You might not have to climb some hazardous rocks at low tide but I had to to reach the beach beyond and the river. There were a few steps I didn't want to make but a pack of surfers had just passed carrying their boards so I figured I was just being a big chicken. I made it.

There's no way to cross the river as it pours into the Pacific without swimming. I'll save that for another day. A young lady warned me to swim diagonally. If I ended up in the ocean, there was a whirlpool waiting at the end. Some people struggled to land on the other side. Their friends extended helping hands. The surfers didn't seem to have any problems. They cut right through the current on their boards.

On the other side, people swam in a calmer spread-out basin of the river. There must be 2 miles of beach on the other side and no way to reach it without swimming the river so without an air-tight floating bag everything has to be abandoned. I thought there had to be a road there but there isn't. I took the scooter back to the highway and drove far enough to realize I had left the beach area far far behind.

There was a long stretch of straight road and I had the needle up to 80 for the first time. That was almost too exciting It felt a lot faster and I might have been doing 100 because the needle is much slower than the bike. I eased off. A speed bump or pothole would have finished me. Did I mention I don't have a helmet yet? I'm going to get one. Soon. Sure, riding without one is cool, like smoking, but I'm more afraid of surviving with a massive head injury than dying.