At a steady clip, we headed east to Tak and then turned north for the long run to Lampang via Thoen on Highway 1…
While Willi stopped to contemplate a change in transportation that might allow for even more luggage...
...I headed west towards Tak...
Prime Teak logs on their way to be turned into furniture...
There was no let up from the heat and humidity, even though, from time to time, light cloud covered the route, before being mysteriously whipped away…
There was hardly a breath of wind down on the ground, but higher up in the atmosphere, a brisk wind must have been blowing…
Just before Lampang, we took the road to Hang Chat and Mae Tha that would take us into Lamphun, about 50 kms south of Chiang Mai…
Traffic was light and we made good time, although I made life difficult for myself, by once again coming extremely close to running out of fuel…!! I saw a large sign that said “Khuntan Rest Stop”, and made the incorrect assumption that there would be fuel for sale there…
Airborne troops gathered around us when we stopped for a cold drink in Tak...
By the time I had ridden up and over the mountains to the rest stop, my instruments showed “zero” range… I knew there was a litre or so left in the tank so was not too concerned, until I reached the rest stop and found no fuel available…!!
I broke the news as gently as I could to the Big Fella, requesting that he hold on just a little bit longer…
“How long is a “little bit longer”…?” he enquired gruffly…
“Er…about 15 kms it would seem…!!”. He was not amused…
And then became downright annoyed when he discovered that my extra fuel bottles were also empty…!! I had to empty them before flying into Bangkok, and had not refilled them for those “little emergencies” I tend to have from time to time…
To make matters worse, it turned out there was another small range of mountains to climb before we reached the next service station, and with a sinking heart, I set out to see how far we could get…
We coasted down the valleys in neutral, and then as gently as I could, eased the bike back into 5th and 6th gear to have a run at the hills…
I could have done with a cold Ko Kha Cola at this point...
Just as I began to detect a change in the engine note, we came around a wide bend, and there on the opposite side of the road, stood salvation…
We had covered 425 km on the present tank of fuel and it took a mere 22,47 litres to placate the Big Fella…!! The joke I usually made about doing research for BMW to see just how much fuel he could take, was wearing a bit thin, so I just patted his tank and said a quick “Thank you…”…!!
I parked in the shade near the pumps and called to see how Willi was getting on… He was already more than an hour behind me by my reckoning, and surprise, surprise, was sitting at a restaurant when I called…
Just outside Chiang Mai, I looked up the list of hotels on Gi-Gi, found the Prince Hotel, where an old friend of Willi’s was staying and followed the purple line right to the parking lot of the hotel…
Late afternoon and we reach the outskirts of Chiang Mai...
As I tugged my helmet off, a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman walked over and said,
“Hi, I’m Larry…!! How was your ride…?? Where’s Willi…??”
“My ride was fine, thanks, and we won’t be seeing Willi for a few hours yet…!!”
Fulfilling my prophecy, Willi duly chugged in three hours after I did…
©GBWT 2011
Read an article in today’s newspaper of two young ladies backpacking around Thailand (one American and one Australian). Both found dead from food poisoning after eating at their hostel in Chiang Mai.
watch what you put in your mouth and possibly warn Willi that he is in grave danger (pardon the pun).