March 2 2012 133 miles
Aguas Caliente Chile- San Carlos de Bariloche Argentina
Today we crossed back into Argentina. This pass that we rode over today was like none of the rest that we have crosses so far. At the bottom it was a lush rainforest with fern leaves bigger than our motorcycles. Halfway up the pass we entered what looked like a forest full of giant oak trees. The forest floor was void of vegetation. As far as you could see it was just gravel. Towards the beginning I thought”wow they really use a lot of gravel on this road during the winter”, then I started to look around more and the gravel was everywhere throughout the forest as well. Very very crazy looking place. I’ve never seen anything like it before. At the top of the the pass giant peaks are poking out of the above tree line gravel. Today was the first day in quite a while that we didn't get rained on. It was a very beautiful day of riding. Oh yeah today I also bought a new pair of hiking boots. My old one’s were getting my feet to wet and stinking really really bad. Camille bought a pair of fishing waders to keep her dry, as her rain gear couldn’t handle the load anymore. Thanks for that idea Julie. The waders are working so good I think I’m going to get me a pair also.
March 3. 23 miles
Bariloche Argentina
We have an amazing 2 story room overlooking the lake here. Full kitchen and everything! The whole side of the room is windows from top to bottom. Today we woke up to blue sky's and sunshine. This has been a rare thing in our lives lately. We decided to take advantage of it and go for a hike in some of the beautiful basalt spires around the area. So we rode up to the ski area outside of town. WOW what a great looking place to ski. SO so many lifts with good looking terrain. Above tree line as well as tree skiing. Kind of with it was winter here now. We hiked up the area a bit for a better view. Skiing around spires sure would be fun. They did have some downhill mountain biking here but since it is towards the end of their summer season all the rental shops were already closed. After we left the ski area we took a little dirt road around towards yet another lake where we hiked to a small waterfall.
March 4th 190 miles
Bariloche-Esquel Argentina
Started on the famous route 40 today. Route 40 runs the whole length of Argentina, from top to bottom. A lot of the highway is unpaved and sometimes we ride next to the fresh new pavement they are still working on.
We got to test out the fishing waders today and they worked great. I look silly but I am DRY. Paul still needs to work on his system. Just after the rain stopped the wind started. Gusts, blowing us all over the road. It is hard to ride in this because you are constantly fighting the wind in every direction. Have to love being out in all the elements on the motorcycle.
5 March Esquel Argentina- camping on road side.
180 Miles
Windy again today. Not as bad as yesterday but still windy. Had to find a camp spot on the side of the road out of the wind. This is very hard to do out here, as there are no trees. The town we wanted to stop in was very weird and I do not think they liked motorcyclist or maybe just us. Nobody would rent us a room. They said they were full but there was nobody around the whole town. Just a really creepy place that reminded us of the Twilight Zone. So we got the heck out of there and camped out on the side of the highway.
6 March
214 Miles
road side-Puerto Moreno, Argentina
We must fuel up whenever can because the towns are few and far between and sometimes, or most of the time, the stations do not have fuel. So get it where you can. We ran into a couple other Motorcyclists at the one gas station. Jay from Canada on a 1200 BMW. 2 guys from Santiago, Chile. We rode with them most of the day. They are on the fast train and after 240 miles they wanted to keep riding until dark. Paul and I said that was good for us and stayed in town. The Chileans only had 6 more days of their vacation and had ground to cover. We are on the slow train.
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