Shakedown Street - The Beast - 1979 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[cuencanolenny]

With new "matricula" (registration) in hand it was time to check out all the systems. I left Cuenca, Ecuador and headed over the mountains to Limon (leemoan) via the Gualaceo-Limon Indanza highway. I had been told this wasn't the best route over to the Orient (Amazon) two and a half years ago. However, this time I was heading South once I got over instead of North, and I've been over the other route twice.

This route takes me over a pass at 4,088 meters. I found that while there are places of bad road, there was also a lot of construction activity with new pavement and guardrails. Probably a couple of years out on completion but all in all it would be above average for most of the trip. So my route was Gualaceo-Limon-Gualaquiza-Zamora-Loja-Cuenca.

While I was fortunate to not run into rain, most of my trip was in misty/drizzly conditions. Of course up high that made for fog. Intense fog. The 50ft visibility kind of fog.

 

[cuencanolenny]

As I came down the mountain I noted a "stone pedal" feel to the brakes. Once down and came to a stop at the highway I could detect the unmistakable smell of clutch/brake heat. Knowing I hadn't used the clutch all that much, I was sure my four wheel drums had gotten warm. It was 10km North to Limon, which I wanted to see and about 5km up the road I found a closed bar-b-cue joint so I could take a break, eat a sandwich and let the brakes cool down a little bit.

 

[cuencanolenny]

I had shed my old Boeing leather bomber jacket when I stopped, comfortable temperatures. The really good thing about the '79 vs my old '70 Land Cruiser is having "califaction" (heater), for the defroster. Typical of many of the towns in Ecuador, clean and inviting. You can tell you have come down in elevation as you see banana plants.

 

[cuencanolenny]

We don't need no stinking $500 saddle! In the "open" areas the pavement was good. When running along the cliffs there were frequent mudslide areas that cut the road down to either one lane, or maybe 50M of very rough going. Then smooth until the next one. Of course we always have to pay attention when driving, crucial when the road conditions could put you in a ditch or other hazard.

When I got to Gualaquiza I was pleased with the cleanliness of the city, but there was no hotel (not uncommon) and so I didn't spend much time although I had intended to spend the night there.

 

[cuencanolenny]

I didn't find a hotel until I got to Loja where I intended to spend the second night. From Zamora to Loja I took no pictures. Not because there wasn't beautiful scenery, but because although I did very little shifting or braking I was busy sawing on that steering wheel for an hour. Then another hour climbing and then falling down into Loja. On the climbing there are corners so tight that required 2nd gear to keep rolling along. On Saturday morning I was about 45 minutes North of Loja, had negotiated many "surprise" mudslides and came to a point where another road was merging and I could stop to take a couple of pictures. Check the house perched on the edge. Don't want to have too many beers and walk out the back door!

 

[cuencanolenny]

Negotiating the canyons from one ridge to the next there is quite a change in foliage. Dry shrub to towering pines and eucalyptus. The last couple of pictures are within 15-30km of Cuenca, coming into Cumbe. Beautiful country. Aside from the overheated brakes, which was brief and caused no further issues, I had no problems. It took me five hours to clean it yesterday, but no driving or mechanical issues.

 

[S4Cruiser]

Great pics! Beautiful country for sure!!