Hi,
So here is some fun facts about our ride so far. We are a bit delayed on the blog, but should have it updated soon for Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We are in Panama City, Panama right now and should board our boat to Colombia Wednesday sailing through the San Blas Islands.
Taking care of the paperwork today and tomorrow.
A direct shot from Denver, Colorado to Panama City, Panama would have been about 3,800 MI (6,000 KM), yet we’ve managed to do almost 12,000 MI (19,200 KM) over 230 days!
Overall the bike has been good. Here is what it took to keep it maintained on the road. The XT 225 has nearly 23,000 MI (36,800 KM) on it now.
• Replace headlight socket wiring (Guerro Negro and Mexico City)
• Replace rear taillight bulb (SW Colorado)
• Replace gas cap
o 1 cracked (Baja)
o 1 stolen (Guanajuato)
o 1 cracked (Nicaragua) 
• Oil changes
o 1 in La Paz around 14,300
o 1 in Mexico City around 15,960
o 1 in Xela, Guatemala around 18,800
o 1 in Masaya, Nicaragua around 20,850
• Carburetor clean
o 1 in Mexico City around 15,960 (clogged)
• Carburetor Intake Boot replaced at 20,220 due to cracking
• Sparkplug
o 1 in Mexico City at 15,960
• Starter O-Ring
o 1 in Campeche, Mexico at 17,200
o 1 in Tela, Honduras at 20,000 (replacement in Mexico was poor quality)
• Front Brake Pads
o 1 in Bacalar, Mexico at 18,025
• Valve adjustment
o 1 in Lago Atitlan, Guatemala (with O-Rings) at 18,976
• Oil seals for shift lever and behind front sprocket at 20,062 in Sambo Creek, Honduras
• Full top end rebuild at 20,800 including: cylinder, piston kit, base and head gasket, timing gasket, and valves
• Lost 1 rear spoke at 21,420
Most of this is general maintenance and I typically do things as preventative with the exception of the top-end rebuild and oil seals. I just couldn’t get rid of my oil leak and went a bit overboard trying to find where it was coming from. This led me to do a top end rebuild and while I was in there discovered a bad piston and score marks on the cylinder.
Cheers,
Justin