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Month: March 2008

Alls Well That Ends Well

Alls Well That Ends Well

JORGE, VICENTE, JULIO AND RAUL, TRES LAGOS PATAGONIA

All good things, eventually come to an end, and at times we do not get to choose when that might be. My trip came to an abrupt end on March 17.

I was about 15 miles north of Tres Lagos Patagonia with 15 miles more of gravel remaining. I have no recall of the event but suspect strongly that my habit of riding too fast on gravel roads may have had something to do with the eventual end over end fall and crash. I was found on the road taking a little untimely nap, by two men in a pick-up truck. They loaded moto into their truck and took me to the small village of Tres Lagos. At the gas station there, I then met two other men who took me under their wings and got me to a local hostal where I continued my nap. These men, pictured above, were down visiting a recently purchased sheep ranch, above. They were very kind and agreed to take me back to Buenos Aires the next day. This journey took three and a half days as we were about 1800 miles south of the capital. I had decided to not attempt repair of the moto as it would have cost about $ 1500 just to get it to Buenos Aires and then another $ 2000 to get it home, plus the $ 2000 or so for repairs. I gifted the moto to the good shepherds

 and it will spend it’s days tending sheep.  I ended up with bruised ribs, sore hip and a sore sternum.  I may have been knocked out for no more than 10 minutes, as there is some traffic on this road. When I returned home I went to my doctor for an exam and had a cat scan just for safety sake. All seems well, I did get rattled pretty good and recovery is slow.

I had been warned about this section of road by other riders but decided to ride it anyway, I have no regrets and up to the fall enjoyed the riding.

I shall not return to continue my travels in South America but cannot overstate how much I enjoyed it. It was truly a trip of a life time. I can walk and talk. Yes!

Besides losing the motorcycle I also broke my Apple Mac Book, beyond repair. I lost many of your addresses and all of my photographs. Bummer. At this point, I have lost most of my web-page entries, so if someone has copied them to their hard-drive I would appreciate it, if you could forward them to me. I arrived home Easter Sunday and have been spending my time recovering, and thinking about my next motorcycle.

I met so many wonderful people on the road and will miss the fellowship.

This will be my last blog until my next trip to ?

CARRETERA AUSTRAL OF CHILE

CARRETERA AUSTRAL OF CHILE

PATAGONIA
TO MANY LAKES AND GLACIERS TO NAME
GLACIAL GREEN RIVERS FLOWING FROM GLACIERS
LA JUNTA
PUERTO CISNES

Yes, I am finally back on the road after an almost 2 week break waiting for my voltage regulator to arrive.

My new friend Martin was kind enough to house, feed and befriend me for all that time. He is a real old-time gentleman and character. We had a most enjoyable time.

Ron was kind enough to get and ship the regulator to me. Thank you Ron.

The regulator arrived at 1130 am and at 130 pm I was on the road heading for Argentina. I rode straight through to Bariloche, a very pretty large town setting on a very large lake.

I spent the night in a youth hostel on the lake and left the next morning riding through beautiful lake and river country. I had planned on riding only to Esquel Argentina but continued on to Futaleufu Chile, Futaleufu is in Patagonia and also is a center for whitewater rafting and kayaking. I stayed in a kayaking hostel then left at 10 am for the 2 hour ride on a gravel road to join the Carretera Austral.

I found the road to me well maintained and very pretty to ride. The road is a times single lane track and at other times wide and smooth. Fuel and services are sparse so proper planning is necessary.

I will continue down this road until the end then cross back into Argentina via a lake ferry.

Puerto Cisnes is a sea water fishing port.

There are no natural salmon here in Chile but they farm a great many.

I shall sample some this evening.

More to come.

PUCON CHILE

PUCON CHILE

As you can see Pucon is very pretty. The lake is large and blue reminding me of lake Tahoe.

Martin’s house is large and beautiful with magnificent views of the lake and volcano. The lake is 16 miles long and 600 feet deep. Volcano Villarica vents smoke constantly.

The property of Jim and Isabel has an even closer and better view of the volcano. Martin is the developer and builder here in Altos Los Riscos.

I shall spend a week here waiting for Ron to send me down the voltage regulator, things could be worse.

The weather has turned cooler and fall is in the air.

Fall was in the air yesterday but today very warm at 85 degrees.