L to R Charlie ILucas's brother) and Lucas |
Christian a
representative of Johnny Walker in Patagonia from Bariloche (where we had the
great steak), working in Ushuaia for a week. And we met a great couple from Boseman
Montana. Dave (a research professor in
Boseman), Sandra (a nurse in Boseman) and Aldo their son.
Aldo and Sandra |
L to R: Dave, Sandra, Lucas and Christian bidding us farewell as we left |
The ride back through
the mountain pass from Ushuaia, was quite beautiful, but chilly. It had snowed, while we were in Ushuaia, and
the snow in the mountains actually extended at some points all the way to the
road we were riding. It was also quite
chilly, I saw 35 deg F.
Sometimes, I envy Chuck
knowing he was wearing his electric vest, all warm and toasty. All it would take would be for me to stop and
put mine on, but I guess I am just too lazy.
Snow Down to the Road |
We rode to Rio Grande
about a 130 miles and stopped to fill up with gas. While I was sitting at the pump a british
fellow came up and began talking to me.
He had had a flat tire on the dirt road between San Sebastian and Cerro
Sombrero and was stranded there for two days.
This is the stretch of road we were are getting ready to ride
ourselves. Finally, someone stopped and
took the tube out of a tire on a motorcycle that they had on a trailer they
were towing. I don’t believe the roads
are that untraveled, I am sure there is more to this story, but I didn’t have
time. We gassed up and we were on our
way again.
No issues crossing the
border again. We are getting pretty good
at this, just a few minutes at each side and we are on our way, riding on dirt
and gravel.
We made good time into
Cerro Sombrero and actually arrived before 5pm.
That was good, because at my last stop the electrical for my heated
grips, cruise control and GPS had gone out.
To figure out what was going on, involved removing the glove box again,
there in the parking lot. Turns out,
with all the shaking, the solenoid that I installed to regulate the power had
become disconnected. Problem solved, and
another half hour to reassemble.
Road to Cerro Sombrero |
In the meantime, I took
a look at my chain. I had just brought
it to the right tension the day before and today it was very loose again. Something is not right. As I tried to tighten the chain, I could no
longer bring the wheel back, it had reached the maximum extension.
Oh, this is not
good!!!! The chain was gone. I was not going to get much more out of
this. And Chucks was not much better. We had to find chain. We felt we could make it to Puerto Natales, a
fairly large town, but how much further?
The next morning we left Cerro Sombrero for the ride to the ferry.
So, some things don’t
always make sense here. The paved road
from Cerro Sombrero extends 8 or 10 kilometers west to the main artery running
north and south. The other paved road
from Cerro Sombrero extends north and then turns west again for 6 or 7 kilometers to connect with the same main
artery running north and south. So we
had come in on the north road so we decide to take the west road to connect to
the main artery for the ferry.
When we get to the main
artery, the part of the road extending south is a beautiful paved road, but the
part heading north is gravel and deep too in places. Why would you not pave the whole road. We rode the 7 or 8 kilometers of gravel and
when we reached the other alternative route out of Cerro Sombrero, the road
again turn to pavement.
No issues, just
questions why things are done the way they are done here.
We rode
pavement the rest of the way to the ferry.
The ride across the ferry was very uneventful, in fact the bikes weren’t
even strapped down. Chuck watched the
bikes while I went and paid the fee and took a few pictures of the crossing.
Once off the ferry, it
was only a couple hundred miles to Puerto Natales. During our ride to Puerto Natales we crossed
several rain showers, nothing large but enough to get us wet. When we arrived at the Hostel and I removed
my boots, they showed signs of leaking.
Great, just what I need leaky boots.
I had spent good money at REI for these things. They have a gore-tex liner and are guaranteed
to not leak. I will have to deal with
this when I get back to the states, but it is no fun having leaky boots.
Chuck Guarding the Bikes |
At the Hostel the first
question we asked was; where is there a motorcycle mechanic. Right up the street and they took us
there. We worked with him a little and
he confirmed, the chain is shot, may be another 1,000 kilometers. Unfortunately, there are no chains the size
we need in Puerto Natales. He helped
quite a bit, but in the end we have found two chain sets in Osorno about 100
kilometers north of where we get off the ferry.
Chuck checking out his bike at the Hostel |
Everywhere we go the
bikes draw a crowd. We had to check in
for the ferry at the hotel near the dock.
While Chuck waited in line (FOR TWO HOURS!!!!), I watched the
bikes. Inevitably, people stop, take
pictures of the bikes, talk about our journey and once in a while one of them
wants a picture on the bike.
Her, her boyfriend and her father were curious about our journey |
This is the first time I had to turn sideways and put it on the center stand |
The scenery through the
Magellan Straight is beautiful. Just a
few pictures from the ferry.
A couple shady characters |
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