We tried to pick a place that would give us a few days to get to and allow for several more days to travel together.
One word: Sand! There are few roads out of Lage in the direction we needed to head that don't include dirt, rocks or sand. We had been told that a certain path heading south was pretty good. It was except for a few kilometers of deep sand. But, after that rough start, we made a beeline for Rio Azuis.
Our first night stop was in Xique-Xique, a small city on the edge of the São Francisco River. We had ridden into the night to make time after all that had been lost that morning playing in the sand. We decided to find a hotel to avoid hunting for a wild camp spot and to give us more of a head start the next morning.
We were hungry, sweaty and tired. The first place we stopped had no rooms. As we headed on to the next possibility, my pilot husband, Byron realized the tires seemed smushy, and sure enough we had picked up a nail somewhere. The night was just beginning when we were well ready for a bath and bed. Byron dropped me near the next hotel and sent me to get a room. He went to find a tire repair shop that was still open. It was around 8pm.
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| Carranca Grande Hotel |
Before 10pm he finally showed up at the hotel, and yes, I had already gotten a room. We dug some easy grub out of our bags, got just what we needed for the night and hit the sack. Thankfully there was a secure place to park the bike for the night.
The room was clean, and the breakfast was good. Off we went full of hope to make good time and try to get as close as possible to Rio Azuis.
We didn't make it far. We were just getting ready to cross the big toll bridge over the São Francisco River, when we noticed some highway police. Sure enough, they waved us over. Byron suggested that it wouldn't be good to turn off the motor as the motorcycle was having some problems with the battery. They insisted. And sure enough after the license check and some chit chat about our destination, the engine would not start. The police were nice. There were two of them. They helped us get the motorcycle pushed off.
So, now we figured it might be good to go ahead and get a new battery. We stopped in the next town after the bridge, Barra, to find a new one. This may have been a big mistake. It took forever. The shop keepers also had a garage. They suggested it would be good to check the whole electrical system. And they did.
We actually got invited to the shop keepers house for lunch. I think he was hungry, and felt somewhat sorry for our long wait.
After lunch, Byron realized the neutral light was stuck on. Back we went to spend another few hours. But at least it was done, right? We rode as far as we could before dark with eyes on a spot to wild camp from IOverlander near Barreiras. We were not as far as we hoped, but we were happy and alive. Our wild camping experience was good. Just watch out for the army ants if you choose to stop! Here's the link: Field Next to Churrascaria
We had made good time in spite of our sand, police, and battery problems. We left our little camp spot without breakfast. Our plan was to find a nice bakery in the big city of Barreiras and call a friend who lives there. Our friend was busy, but our bread was good and fresh.
We were only about four hours away from Rio Azuis at this point and had made contact with Will and Kerri. We took our time at the bakery before hitting the highway.
We were surprised a little by a crazy section of ondulated, ridged pavement going down the mountain out of Barreiras. Apparently, someone thought it would help with slickness in the rain. It was scary for me. It seemed that Byron was having a hard time handling the motorcycle, added to the huge trucks zipping by. Byron said several times that he was fine and not to worry. I closed my eyes and focused on happy thoughts.
Our next stop was a city called Luis Eduardo Magalhães. We had visited here by car last Christmas. It is a bustling city in the middle of big farms and big money. As we came through the middle of town, a friendly sign caught our attention.
It was only 10:30am, but well, good food is a good thing while you're traveling by motorcycle! We stopped to see what time they would open - 11am. We decided to wait! The restaurant was brand new. We enjoyed the free refills and our charbroiled burgers. Ah, and the clean bathrooms. We touched base with Will and Kerri again and headed out one more time for our meeting place.
We missed our turn leaving town!
Ah, but the short cut to get back to our route was lovely. We couldn't hear each other well with in Luis Eduardo and had started going south towards Brasilia. This little road between fields of soy and corn was quiet and just fine, until we got another flat tire. Thankfully a nice truck driver stopped to filled it up enough for us to make it to the next town, Aurora.
Add tires to the list of problems! We stopped to get it fixed and still got to the campground around 4pm. I was burning up. It had gotten quite warm that afternoon. I am so glad we invested in protective gear, but those pants we got were just too hot.
When we found the entrance to Rio Azuis, there was a guarded gate. Not something that had been mentioned on IOverlander's website which lists several good places in the area. It was a little complicated to get in to the gated community. The guard insisted that only Byron could go in to secure our reservation and I had to wait with the motorcycle. My "ticked" level was rising, but we were there.
Around dark we got a message from William's satellite locater, and we knew they were getting close. We went down the big bad gate to help them get in. It was open! After dark the guard goes home, and the gate gets left open. What a hoot!
Stay tuned for the rest of the story in a few weeks.
Find out more about our son and daughter-in-law's trip from the USA to Brazil @ Stravig ADV
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