Phase II with Ups and Downs

The country of Spain continues to maintain its “State of Alarm” – a condition it’s been in for 73 days now. Our region of Murcia has low enough COVID-19 cases that it has reached Phase II which means a bit more freedom for its citizens. Most notably it means local tourism can start again – albeit with reduced capacity.

We’ve had a bit of a setback this week that came in the form of stripped threads on Chantil’s motorcycle. NORMALLY, stripped threads can be fixed simply with a tap and die set or by inserting new threads into the drilled section and adding a threaded insert (Heli-Coil). Notice I stressed normally – yeah, nothing normal seems to happen to our BMW motorcycles. These stripped threads go to a bolt that holds the crash bars (strong metal bars used for protecting the motorcycle body when it is dropped) onto the frame. They also bolt into a fitting that is used to support the engine laterally in the frame. In short, this fitting needs to be pulled and replaced. Unfortunately, pulling this fitting requires that the engine be shifted about two inches which requires extensive work. Work that we’re not able to do with the tools we have for basic repairs and maintenance.

So unfortunately, we had to drop Chantil’s mule off at he BMW dealer – something we don’t look forward to since BMW is considered a premium brand that comes with premium service fees. As of today, the dealer has the part on order, and the motorbike has been disassembled. Let’s hope cost isn’t too expensive.

That’s the downs for the week, how about some ups…

Spain has announced that it will automatically extend travel visas 90 days after the State of Alarm is lifted – currently scheduled for 9 June. This now means we will have until 7 September to explore a bit of Europe! Unfortunately, this announcement ONLY comes from Spain and doesn’t apply to Schengen countries. Will we be able to enter neighboring Portugal or France? This is something that we’ll have determine as things progress over the coming weeks.

Although this week wasn’t full of motorcycle adventure, we did get out and enjoy the neighboring area. It’s been wonderful to go for evening walks and experience the small farms and scenery of Southern Spain.

On one of our walks, Maria showed us an abandoned home that used to be a perfect villa surrounded by orchards and fields of fresh vegetables. The Spanish financial crisis of 2008-2014 hit most of the region especially hard, leaving many vacation homes and small businesses to slowly crumble away with time.

I’ve never lived in the country so experiencing this region is especially interesting to me.

Looking back at this last week of pictures has really made me appreciate how grateful I am to be experiencing this wonderful region of Southern Spain.

Until next week, where we hope to do more exploring of the Region of Murcia, Spain…