Some final thoughts:

First, I thought I would share some squiggly amp data. First, the track as SPOT saw us.


Now, convert that data and look at this graph. I love the fact that there are such extreme elevation changes in Ecuador. Not quite as dramatic as last time we rode, but this time we went from sea level to 14000 ft in about 60 miles. So for every mile, we gained 200 feet in elevation!


The other thing I wanted to highlight, was the Dogs of Ecuador. I teased Blaster that next time I will take a photo of every.single.dog. I think that might take me a whole year to repeat this same track



His cows sleeps, he sleeps!




You know to look before you cross the road


Always walk in against traffic


Sometimes you taunt death


You somehow survive on desolate country roads


You walk down the sidewalks


You inspect all comers




When you wake up, you calmly sit on the sidewalk as the "parade" goes by


This might have been the skinniest one we saw


When possible, you hang outside the eateries


Life may be rough, but alas, at least you've never been expected to carry more than your own weight


The weather is nice year round though


You marvel at humans and their trinkets


Occasionally, you find yourself "living the good life", but yet bound by shackles


Raise a toast to all the Ecuador canine brethren. Share the last morsels of the doggie bag

Science has studied the brains of squirrels quite intensively. In fact, the part of the brain that remembers cache locations for acorn nuts is apparently over-developed for the size of the animal. A grey squirrel's memory for cache locations allows an average retrieval rate of 60%. Of course, that means that 40% is never recovered and likely to become a sapling next year.

When we returned the bikes, it was somewhat like a mad dash to pack out luggage and retreat to the hotel for a nice relaxing evening. We had segregated out "really stinky" kit from the "somewhat stinky" kit. This meant that boots, jackets and riding pants were all in a suitcase together. I have often noticed that TSA "helps" themselves to small things of interest from my suitcase while in their control, but overall, I guess that part of the redistribution plan of life.

A few weeks went by before I switched from my winter riding jacket to the jacket I took to Ecuador. As I put it on, I was thudded on the chest by this bohemia. Curious to know what box of rocks this might be, I opened one of my interior pockets to find this:


Look at this new found fortune--My heart flutters on if I even need to go to work today. Alas, it amounts to no more than $37 in one-dollar bills which had been wet, then dried (maybe more than once) into this nice 3" fatty of a brick. I guess not even TSA dared to enter the lair of the dirty riding boots to "redistribute" this wad of cash for me. Apparently, I am no better than a squirrel in remembering where I cache important items.

The old addage is true; once you have been to Ecuador, you will return to your life a changed person.