Tibagi To Cascavel

When shit happens you wonder to yourself …”Well How The Fuck Is This Going To Unfold And Come Right”

At this point you can pack a sad and withdraw from society and be a miserable bugger or you can step up and say well shit this stuff needs straightening cos we have a trip to carry on with.

Add to this mix Brasil Riders and soon enough the offers of help are coming through quicker than a flash flood, this is the great side of Facebook and useful.

Brasil Riders rock, period, Brasil drivers suck … well one does, still better than Peru.

Sandro contacted us and said he has a friend who lives in Telemarco Borba about 45 km north of where we were and was happy to help as he could.

We duly accepted given we had straightened things out to near useable, my biggest concern was losing the case and seeing it catapult down the road and hit someone as the bottom mount had been shattered, even with Al Jesses excellent engineering it could not withstand the impact that it did….no surprise whatsoever.

P1200219 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We strapped the case tightly onto the rack at took it pretty quietly avoiding bumps where we could.

P1200238 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

I had time to sit back and observe the bike and established the hit was kingpin enough to bend the bark buster strong back frame in 10 - 12 mm …. that is a LOT of energy.… you ever tried to bend one in a vice??? its hard work.

I was feeling second hand from the hit, nothing broken but lots stretched and squashed bits so 45 km proved to be a big day...not so good

Arriving at Telemarco Borba Neto (Sandros friend) met us and took us back to his home, our knight on a shining F800GS. Netos wife spoke good English which made communication easier as well, it just gets better.

P1200256 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We had a clothing change to human gear then an invitation for lunch at Netos friends place. The bar b q was on and all bad vibes pushed to one side to enjoy Brasil and the people.

At the conclusion of lunch and tummies full it was workshop time and how to rescue our luggage system from certain death if the mountings were left without a temporary fix at minimum.

With a small workshop, some tools, a piece of alloy angle and some Kiwi and Honourary Kiwi ingenuity we cut, ground and fabbed our way to new brackets to temporarily hold the case until our new parts arrive via Norbert and Greti Airways Canada Division.

P1200241 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

With some swift hits of a hammer and some checking of straightening, some new brackets made from the alloy angle we were soon back in business and things actually started to fit.

P1200245 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1200249 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1200358 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Not being happy I decided to do one more go, this was an aggressive attempt that could end in tears or make the day, thankfully the moto gods were still on my side and the last hit was the winner, at that point it was a good time to quit it and leave it with everything fitting +/- ok.

P1200367 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1200363 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The front of the case looking a heap better than it used too, the paint marks a reminder of how lucky we were Ellens leg was not hit

P1200360 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

See where her legs fits

P1200236 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Having lent garage space to Kevin and Karin from Guzzioverland www.guzzioverland.com and many others when in New Zealand and receiving extreme “thank yous” etc I found myself in the same boat being extremely grateful for a small thing but to fix a major problem, for Neto (I think) he enjoyed it and offered up good ideas and suggestion leading to the successful repair.

Done and dusted, sorted and straightened we were mobile enough and knew the case was not going to bail off which was comforting.

Saying goodbye we farewelled our new friends again and set off towards Foz do Iguacu turnimg this into a two day trip given we had turned right to Telemarco Borba for the repair.

Making it to Campo Mourão via nice secondary roads through farmland we settled in for the night, at nearly 300 km I was feeling considerably secondhand realizing the full impact of our off.

I was now sporting bruises on the inside of my left arm and had a saw elbow so I must smacked it on exit of the bike, funny shit happens in accidents.

Next day was a nice easy cruse to Cascaval, we had organized to meet Sandro at 1.00pm but we arrived at 12.30 ….it was lunchtime and we were kindly invited in for lunch at their family restaurant.