February 29, 2016
Ruta 3 can pretty much be summed up in one photo:
Long, relatively boring, and windy. From here, 2536 kilometers to Buenos Aires.
It’s the most direct way up to Buenos Aires. There are other ways, such as the way I came south, but it adds a lot of distance. And I now have a confirmed date to ship out of Buenos Aires, so it’s time to cover some ground.
And once again, I stand corrected: I said in my last post that I had ridden my last dirt/gravel road on this continent. Wrong again: as Alfred noticed by looking at my GPS track, I took a “small” detour (about 20 miles) down a dirt road yesterday to camp at an estancia. Not all camping excursions pan out as planned, and in this case I’ll admit that last night wasn’t great. It was still better than a lot of other places I could have been, but I don’t think I’d spend all that time riding down a dirt and gravel road on a bad chain to stay there again. The place had a decent gas stove to cook dinner on (no utensils, pots, pans, etc, but good gas) and hot showers. Okay, that’s it for the good. The bad: the place runs on a generator, from 9pm to midnight. The generator is in the building with the stove and bathrooms. It’s loud. The owner wouldn’t turn it off early, and it turns out that’s because he had company and they were practicing. Yep, the band is louder than the generator. But I was tired and managed to fall asleep anyway. So when I woke up this morning and started breaking down camp is when I realized that the owner’s four dogs had peed on three corners of my tent, and my gas can. Ugh.
So I used his dishrag to clean my rainfly. 🙂
Heading back to Ruta 3 this morning from the estancia. Twenty miles each way. Now I think I’m done with the dirt and gravel roads in South America. I think.
I saw this “Patagonian Eagle 150” at a gas station. Does that make it a Turkey Buzzard? I saw lots of those in Patagonia.
I’ve been praising my little 428 O-ring chain the entire trip, but it’s just a chain, and it is a small size, so in the last week it finally gave up. I’ve been adjusting it each day but even then it really needed it twice a day. I will have a new O-ring chain and sprockets in Buenos Aires, but I need to get there first. So today I bought a cheap non-O-ring chain and put it on my old sprockets (yeah, I know, it won’t be new for long like that). It just has to go another 1,200 miles. Hopefully.
Jonathon at the Yamaha dealer in Rivadavia installed my new chain for me. The original chain is an endless (no master link), so I let him cut it off and put the new cheapo chain on. He and Enrique were great to deal with. Really nice people. Total parts and labor: $34. I’ll put a new OE chain and sprockets on in another couple of weeks in Buenos Aires.
Sounds like you stayed at Mikes Sky Ranch….
But, better adventures ahead. Ride on.
Yep. Actually, last time I was at Mike’s it was a bit nicer. But that’s a good example of most of the places I stayed in Mexico and Central America. Mike’s is pretty much the normal level of accommodation I seek.
Every time there’s a new road sign come up, it’s just hilarious. That’s a detail that I never thought would be so interesting but now whenever I’m traveling, I will be looking out for them too. Ride On brother.
Hey by chance, u know a joe papuski from 706 deer run wimberly ?
Nope. I know where Deer Run is, but don’t know him.
Pat – sit tight. You may want to prolong trip. Moron Trump gaining ground. No hurry back.
Oh Boy. One of my goals when I left on this trip was to find alternate retirement locations. Southern Ecuador was one possibility. Chile looks really good but I hear a little more difficult for ex-pats. I’m still looking.
Yep, I’m one step closer to a deposit on a nice sailboat to float on with the family…….
How much does it cost to ship a motorcycle from Buenos Aires to Africa?
Depends on the motorcycle, and how fast you want it to get there…but basically, to strap a bike on a pallet, wrap it in plastic, do all the customs paperwork on both ends, and put it on a plane from Buenos Aires to Cape Town is around $2300. A bit less for my bike because it’s smaller (they go by volumetric weight rather than actual weight). You can put it on a boat for around $500, but it takes up to a month. Hopefully my bike arrives not long after I do; Ian’s bike actually arrived in London Tuesday, and he didn’t get there til yesterday.