Kickstands and Handstands -- 555: Colombia

George Bush International Airport. Insert your own comment.

After months of work, the time to return has arrived.

After an overnight flight, we arrived from rainy Tennessee to a sunny Medellin, Colombia.

We reunited with our shabby girlfriends. They were covered in cobwebs, leaking oil, and broken bones, but they were still there along with all the repairs we left far behind when returning to Tennessee.

Not the first time the inside of Tank´s engine has seen daylight.

There´s nothing like being elbows deep in grease when a tray of coffee and cookies show up. There´s not much like the hospitality of the Correa family.

The work continues. Time to fix the broken bones.

How do I fix thee... let me count the welds.

A professional touch saves the day, for now...

With the Correa family, it never stops. We get wisked away on tours of museums, dinners, dances, truck rides through the night, and to farms in the countryside. With 15 uncles and god only knows how many cousins to choose from, we never fail to have a great time. Every single person is extremely talented in one thing or another. For example, this is Juan Carlos´s hand-built house that he designed on the mountaintop. He carried every single brick up the steep driveway.

Juan Carlos

Sebastian and Mike finding the bottom of the bottle of smuggled Tennessee moonshine.

Fernando, Esmeralda (a.k.a. "mom"), and Manuela Correa. Our Colombian family, minus our good brother Sebastian.

Mom´s in the green.

Our bikes made some friends at the hostal in Medellin as we wait for our papers to be "fixed". This is not the last time that they will get to hang out.

Nish, one of the riders we ran into. Somehow my photos of the other guys in this group, Todd and Nate, slipped through the technical cracks. These guys are professionals. They carry serious camera equipment and dedication to the cause. Check out they´re website for some amazing photos. (www.mototrip.org)

Tim and Adrian from Australia and Tasmania, excellent characters that will also come in later in the play.

Don´t get me started on my kickstarter dramas. There´s something special about hacksawing pieces off your motorcycle. The new one I magically got through the airport didn´t fit around the rear brake, ending in me riding without one for a little bit around Medellin.

There´s only a slight difference between the bikes we ride and the ones almost everyone else rides.

Pilar. Not enough could be said of this one. She is a wonderful light in Medellin.

Pilar brought us along to her sister´s house, 4 hours out into the country. It was a rough time.

There was great danger involved in this particular mission. There is a high probablility of getting hit in the head by falling mangos. Mangos are messy things, its best to eat them in the pool.

Mugre. He became a good good friend. I´m pretty sure this is a life size picture. Sorry everyone, but this might be the coolest dog ever. Pilar took him home to Medellin from the farm. He loves Mike more than anyone though. We were very close to taking him with us.