Saturday, January 5, 2008

Something from Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is the island , just South of the continent, so there all all kinds of categories as to southernmost this and on the continent that, that sometimes it gets confusing . So everyone gets an opportunity to call their town or area "the most". After I paid seven US to get into the park, I had to wait for all the tourists to clear out so I could take the picture. You can see it if you click on the link at the right for Lone Star Cycle BMW. I wouldn't wait too long, they're liable to replace it with another exciting picture of the parts counter pretty soon.


The beaver dam in the Lapatia National Park


On the way to catch the ferry in Porvenir we found this German damsel in distress, luckily we had 15 liters of gas to help her and her friend get down the road. Sean doesn't know what he's missing


An old shot from the trip into Bariloche


Lou learns valve adjustment in the campground in Ushuaia. The 40 degree mornings made it feel like winter here, and made it tough to get out of the sleeping bag.


it happens..... just unload it , stand it up , reload it and 20 minutes later you're on your way

A Ferry Tale

This one's not as interesting as the last one. The ferry to Punta Arenas runs once a day and we were fortunate that another rider told us the schedule so we didn't waste a day waiting on it. We arrived three hours early and the captain let us load early. Six other bikers showed up and they stuffed them all in first.



Loading the ferry


Full boat

Sky heading into Punta Arenas


Some dry docked fishing boats in Punta Arenas

Going to the Dogs

Every now and then you catch dogs being dogs A guard dog on duty in Salta



The captain of the ferry to Punta Arenas


Dogs lounging in Puerto Natales

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year from Ushuaia


The landscape of Tierra del Fuego



Landon at the Ushuaia city limits. Three months of traveling south brought us to the end of the world on New Year's Eve. His face says it all.


New Year's Eve rainbow at the campsite.


My friend David Lange who flew in on New Year's Day and is beginning his South American journey from here.

Well we're finished moving south. We drove on down to the tip of South America before the end of the year under the powder blue sky of Tierra del Fuego and found a great campground on the edge of Ushuaia with several dozen other motorcycle travelers. The road down was generally good, even the gravel was better than some pavement we've been on. We ran into a few places where the availability of gas became a problem, but thanks to Landon's extra gas supply, we managed. It's generally cool and windy here with occasional sprinkles.

Some great folks at the campground grilled up a carnivor's dream supper for the bikers. It was a great time of getting to know folks from all over the world. At midnight we went outside to welcome in the new year. There was still light in the western sky.

On New Year's Day I was happy to meet my friend David Lange at the airport. We had supper and have spent the past 24 hours catching up on things.

In calling the States this morning, I realized that we are not only far south of home, but also far east. One normally thinks of South America as being below North America, but hardly any of it is. If one looks at the map, nearly the entire continent is east of the East Coast. I'm wondering why it isn't East America and West America.

Tomorrow Landon and I start heading north along the east side of the Andes with another biker, a German friend we met at the border a couple of days ago.

New Year Blessings to all of you.