Well conscious again. As much as we could be anyhow. An early breakfast and then off to get the quads for the day. Peit, Sam, Ena and myself decide to rent quads together. While most the others rented mountain bikes or hired taxi's to get them around to see things. The four of us set off to ride up the mountain to hopefully catch a good view of the caldera from across the valley. The view didn't happen due to cloud cover. Oh well, we can still have fun riding. We met the bikers almost at the top of the mountain on their way down. They cheated a lot and were shuttled up the mountain in a truck so the were able to just ride down. Some of them actually rode back up part of the way. Just serious punishment if you ask me the dirt road was pretty steep with tons of switchbacks. The four of us rode our quads up over the top and back down the other side. As we were nearing the bottom we decide to turn back so Peit could make it back in time for his river rafting adventure. On the way back with a little extra time on our side we explored a side road up to an eco lodge. Low and behold I blow the tranny out in my quad about half way to the lodge. That was just a topper. Sam and Ena's Quad kept losing the drive chain about every 10 to 20 minutes so we had to stop plenty of times to fix that. Luckily that is a really easy fix. Thankfully, I had asked for some rope at the rental shop to tie down my raincoat and water bottle. That quickly became a tow strap. I tied the rope to Peit's rear bumper and made a loop around my front bumper so Peit could tow me up the hills and I freewheeled down the other side. Some where between the 4 wheel slides around hairpin turns with 200 foot drop offs next to me. And the sheer speed of the all out get the machine to go as fast as possible with no motor I managed to take a wrong turn. Funny thing was the others made the same mistake so I don't feel bad for getting us a little lost. So some how we made a wrong turn and ended up on a different road going down the mountain. We ended up way east of where we wanted to be. Our first clue was a fork in the road and the lack of houses we passed on the way up. I have to say again the 4 wheel slides at 20 or 30 mph around the switchbacks really got the adrenaline pumping so I didn't pay too much attention to anything else. Instead of heading all the way back to the summit some 3 or 5 miles back up a very steep road we decided to continue down. Our mistake. That decision cost us a minimum of 12 extra miles and many stops for directions. I so love how when you stop and ask a group of people what direction it is to Banos you get 3 different directions and a few of them also had no clue. We decided it was majority rules and the direction that the most people pointed was the way we went. So after some 20 miles of coasting and towing we made it back to the hi-way and cell phone reception. I was able to make a couple of calls and with Carlos's help we arranged the rafting company to pick Peit up on the hi-way and then Carlos finished towing the quad back to the shop. I was able to get the shop to upgrade me to a 2004 Honda dual sport motorcycle for the rest of the day and they gave one to Carlos to finish out Peit's rental for just 5 dollars more. After a short stop for fuel and new toys Sam, Ena, Carlos and I were off again to go to this swanky Swiss lodge for lunch. Really nice place and really out of the way up the mountain on the other side of the valley. One small detail over looked was the drive chain on Sam's quad. Fortunately the chain only came off a few times. After a really good 10 dollar lunch Carlos and I headed up to the top of the mountain. 100 kph up the mountain in a twisty one and a half lane pavement optional road gets the juices flowing. We explored and number of different routes up the mountain and I managed to find a little single track. Well let's just say that I should have walked up it first to see if it was good for riding. I only had to back the bike down the muddy leaf covered very steep very narrow trail about 800 feet. There was no way to turn around and the hill dropped off very sharply to the left. And I mean very sharply it dropped off. After getting as far as we could with the lack of public roads and accessible mountain we finally came back to town to meet up with the rest for dinner. Saturday night 8 O'clock in the evening group of 13 no reservations. Well, we had to hunt for a place to eat. We found one place totally empty and they said we could come back in 2 hours cause they were already reserved for a large group. I think not, next... With stomachs growling the hunt for food continued. Talk of going down the street and getting some more Guinea pig to eat arose. Even the vegetarians were almost willing to try it. With a little more searching we found a place almost empty and available to serve a large group. The second problem with really big groups going to a restaurant is the food takes forever to come out of the kitchen. With our bellies full some decided to crash others decided to party a little. I mean come on its Saturday night. Play all day and party all night isn't that the rule. Well, maybe not tonight my ass hurts from riding and we have to get up early. The girls decided to have a night out to party it up since the boys were out last night. It's the girls turn right? Why not. I will be good and sleep right? Well, Ok, so just till 1am what the heck...
