From the northern section of Honduras I rode hard to make it as close as possible to the Nicaraguan border. For the most part it was a messy day - mountains with low clouds, fog, and rain. Sections of the road had washed away and there was mud across the roads causing them to be very slippery. Additionally, it was not uncommon to have traffic coming from the opposite direction in my lane of travel. The road also had many blind curves to add to the stress. I managed well under these conditions but I was stressed by the end of the day.
I discovered that Honduras seemed to be suffering from a fuel shortage. I had to stop at four different gas stations before finding one that had fuel for sale. 150 miles later I found myself looking for fuel again. And this time I stopped at six different gas stations before locating fuel. No one gave me an answer as to why the fuel shortage.
During one of my stops I noticed a guy carrying a rather large rifle with two banana clips taped together. Yes, both clips had very real bullets!! It is not uncommon to see police or military personnel carrying such large fire power, but the fellow at the gas station was something odd because he was not military or police.
In the evening I checked into a hotel, which was a rather nice place for a small town. I again noticed that the hotel staff working behind the counter also had sidearms. At dinner I noticed that the waiter and the customers all were wearing sidearms. I thought to myself, this is something new and different – they must be expecting an invasion!!