After 17 hours sailing from Buenaventura on the cargo ship Santa Lucia, we are up at 4:00 a.m. to arrive at the port of Panama. Customs officials board and give me a temporary eight-hour permit. I get ashore, and it takes three hours just to clear the bike from the dock.
I eventually get into Panama City and get my tourist extension. I then have a ride around the city, and stop to have my first ever milkshake at a café. I meet “Basher Bob” Barton and his family and friends from the United States Army base in the Panama Canal Zone. We chat a while, and then they all decide to sneak me in and put me up for a couple of days.
When off duty, these guys are motorcycle nuts, and we do a lot of dirt bike riding and racing around the banks of the Panama Canal, with some very big ships drifting very close by.
They also have all the workshop facilities, so it’s off with the cylinder head. In the meantime, I get to experience a bit of military living. They do get well fed and looked after.
After ten days in the Canal Zone, the bike is fully serviced and ready for the road.