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.
THE PASS FROM CHILE INTO ARGENTINA, NASTY ROAD BUT BEAUTIFULTHE VIEWS WERE WORTH THE TROUBLESAN MARTIN DEL LOS ANDES ARGENTINE
Chile is a lovely, modern well organized country. The road system here is better than Arizona’s, even the secondary roads are well kept, clean and with great signage making navigation quite easy.
The wine region, which is very large, looks exactly like California’s wine region and the weather is very similar.
After leaving Viña del Mar, I traveled the coastal road south for a couple hundred miles then turned eastward into the central valley, again looking just like California.
I must say, I became a bit bored with the monotony of good roads and more California, therefore I decided to escape back to rural Argentina. West of Talca is a mountain pass into Argentina, it is a gravel road and as of now the worst road I have traveled but the views were spectacular. At times more like a cattle track with lots of sharp rocks, the road crossed the Andes at their most rugged. and beautiful area.
Once I got to the gravel section I rode about 200 miles before seeing a gas station, restaurant or pavement.
I had to travel about 40 miles north on route 40 before finding fuel, food and bed.
This part of Argentina is typical southwestern US with open sage land and always mountains or mesas on the horizon. The roads are mostly gravel and fuel stops are always an issue to deal with, so far I have not run out of fuel. Being from the southwest, I just prefer this comfortable scenery. I like the challenge of the roads and the rural nature of the land. One does not often see wild animals in Argentina but in one day I saw 2 fox and 2 rheas, rheas are the ostrich like birds of Argentina, these 2 were crossing the hiway and had to climb a very steep bank to do so, one falling back into the road. Unfortunately not enough time for photo. I feel very lucky to have seen them.
I did meet up with a Canadian couple and enjoyed two nice dinners with them. Kevin and Erin Vanzant are also riding to Ushuaia. We parted company in Chos Malal.
It is always interesting to meet people on the road because invariably they know of a rider you have met before. This couple had met Bill in Bogota.
I stopped for 3 nights in San Martin del Los Andes, the Aspen of Argentina. This resort, host ski areas, lakes, national parks and is Argentina’s premium trout fishing destination.
San Martin is a carbon copy of Aspen at 1/4 the cost.
Today I rode 20 miles to Junin del Los Andes and will spend 3 days fishing.
Three days later.
Did not get to fish. The water was too low, weather too hot and the fish not interested.
I could not find a partner to go on the 2 man boat, I guess I am not the only one who did not want to, just go on a boat ride.
Today I rode across the Andes again and now am in Pucon. The pass was not nearly as spectacular as above. My friends coming down from the US could not get on any flights, as this is, back to school, week here. I am staying with their friend here in Pucon.
Pucon is a very pretty, trendy resort town, setting along a large lake reminding me of Jackson Wyoming.
Viña del Mar, located next door from Valparaiso is the Beverly Hills of Chile and the most popular beach resort. It is quite large and lively, this being the busy summer season. The city is host to many grand old homes and maple tree lined streets. Restaurants and shopping abound and the main avenue leads to the beach. The weather is quite pleasant at around 75 degrees. Road and foot traffic, is as you might expect, heavy. There is a lively and festive atmosphere everywhere.
One thing I have discovered here is that I enjoy being anonymous, as here I do not stand out as being a foreigner. There are many tall, grey haired Chilean’s who look very similar to me.
I don’t know if it the season or what, but I have never seen more pregnant women. Go figure.
I now have a new battery for my motorcycle and tomorrow will head south towards Pucon to meet me friends. I have time to burn so will spend some time in the Chilean wine region and a few national parks.
THIS YEAR RON AND I MET IN WASHINGTON FOR OUR RIDE NORTH. I TRAVELED ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST HIWAY FOLLOWING THE COAST THE ENTIRE LENGTH, VISITED MY BROTHERS, MOTOR HOMING IN OREGON, THEN VISITED MY SISTER IN PAULSBO WASHINGTON AND MEETING AGAIN WITH MY BROTHERS FOR A FAMILY GET TOGETHER. RON AND I CROSSED THE BORDER AT VANCOUVER B.C. THEN RODE THROUGH WHISTLER AND NORTH TO BURNS AND DEASE LAKES STOPPING AT STEWARD BC AND HYDER ALASKA THEN UP THE CASSIAR HIWAY TO WATSON LAKE THEN WHITEHORSE AND INUVIK THEN DEADHORSE AT WATSON LKE RON CONTINUED ON TO CALGORY AND I TO MONTANA THEN STURGIS, CRAWFORD NEBRASKA AND DENVER THEN UP TO GREEN RIVER WYOMING BEFORE GOING HOME, ANOTHER GREAT RIDE.
This was my first trip to Alaska and the beginning of my adventure touring. I had not yet started blogging and have just the pics. I left Arizona around June first, spent a week riding and camping through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado before going to Salix Iowa for a family reunion then riding back west to Codi Wyoming where i met ron for our ride north. We rode through Glacier park then into Canada’s Jasper park before picking up the alaska hiway to whitehorse then north to Dawson city yukon then across the top of the world hiway through chicken alaska to fairbanks then north on the hall road to deadhorse, back to fairbanks then passing through denali park to Anchorage then back west along the richardson hiway to toc. While in toc ron got news that a close friend had died and he headed south for a long hard ride to Albuquerque nm. I then rode to Skagway and took the ferry to Juneau then back to haines junction then back to watson lake where an earlier error of my adjusting my valves and breaking a retainer clip paid off with my klr throwing a timing chain which was disastrous, I sold the moto for $ 600 and took the bus to seattle then flew home, all in all a great trip.
