1960 Two Wheels Across Costa Rica - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Touring Article for Sale

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1960 Two Wheels Across Costa Rica - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Touring Article For Sale

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1960 Two Wheels Across Costa Rica - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Touring Article:
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1960 Two Wheels Across Costa Rica - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Touring Article
Original, vintage magazine articlePage Size: Approx. 8\" x 11\" (21 cm x 28 cm) each pageCondition: Good
TWO WHEELSACROSSCOSTA RICAWe had to circle the airstrip twice beforewe found a trail that seemed to be the mosttraveled and the widest. Many paths, indifferent stages of use, led only to an iso-lated house, and there ended. We followeda trail that was used only by horses andpeople walking, and it became wet and slip-pery as it descended into the moist junglevalley. Obstacles, such as fallen trees acrossour path, had to be cut through and moved.Most of these trees were rotten, so it wasnot a hard job to chop them through. Otherobstacles, such as large rocks or deep gullies,caused constant detours. Our daily mileagegot worse and worse as we ran into moreof these obstacles.Then there was rain. It was not a rainlike we knew back in the States, but moreas if you were standing under Niagara Falls.As we got lower into the dense tropicalcountry, the more it seemed to rain. Everyday we had rain at one time or another.The sky would be perfectly clear blue, thesun blazing down, when suddenly the airwould start to haze over, black clouds wouldfill the entire sky, and buckets of waterwould pour on us. In a few minutes theclouds would disappear as fast as they hadcome. During the periods of sun in betweenrain we would try to dry out some of theequipment.One of the biggest problems that facedus every day was the crossing of streamsand small rivers. During the part of the tripin the southern section of Costa Rica, wecrossed twenty some of these streams. Eachone presented just a little different problem.After several tries at these crossings we got itdown to somewhat of a system. When wewould arrive at a new stream to be crossed,we would first wade across to look for anyholes or big rocks under the water. If therewere too many obstacles at that point wewould go up or down river a little to tryand find a better place. After deciding onour route we cleared the bottom of thestream of any movable rocks and filled inthe holes with smaller stones. First the BMWwould go across as it hardly ever got stuck.As long as the water did not come overour knees we could make it without muchtrouble. The water could come over thehorizontal cylinders, rear drive and every-thing else except the air intake as long asthe motor kept going forward. Once we werestopped in mid-stream, we were in for somereal work. The Lambrettas, however, werenot so easy. If the water was of any depthat all, it would drown out the motor andthe whole thing would stop. It worked outbetter to walk alongside the bike withoutusing the motor while one person pushedfrom behind and the other pulled on a ropefrom up ahead. Even if the wheels got stuckin a hole or wedged in between rocks, wecould pick the whole machine up and outof its trouble. Usually after each crossing wewould have to spend at least half an hourto an hour and a half drying out the waterfrom the brakes, spark plugs and otherplaces.At most of the crossing places there wouldbe a little house and a family living besidethe river. This is not uninhabited country.These people would always come out to seeour strange machines and talk with us. Theyof course thought we were completely crazyin our funny clothes. Also they were notmuch help to us as we could not get themall to pull in the same direction crossingthe stream. At first we would ask thesepeople about the road or trail ahead andthe condition of the rivers and streams.It seemed they gave us the same answerall the time. The road was worse andthe rivers bigger. They would always say,‘‘Yes, Senor, this river here is very easy tocross but the next one is impossible. It isthe biggest river in the world. I never gothere as it is too large for me to cross.”When we would arrive at the next streamit would sometimes he larger and sometimesnot. We came to the conclusion that noneof these people ever traveled farther thanthe land in between the river to the northof them and the river to the south of them.At last we did come to a river too wideand deep for us to cross, walking. This wasthe granddaddy of all that we had seen sofar. We tried wading across but only got aquarter of the way before we were up to curarmpits and the current was sweeping usdown stream. It was all of sixty yards acrossand ten feet deep. Our spirits dropped toa new low for it looked as if we would haveto turn around and make the long trip...
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