Tue 5/23/06
I'm leaving for Alaska tomorrow, so I decided to to drive to Coalinga Ca today to get a run at the ride.
I pulled into the chevron station in Coalinga and the station guy asked where I was going I said Alaska and he asked where I was from, I told him San Jose, he said your 150 miles in the wrong direction. Actually I drove down to meet Vernon Danielson and Joe Mandeville, who were going to ride with me up to Oregon and Alaska.

Mon,Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri 3/20/06-3/24/06
Got to Lima today

Sun 3/19/06
A very unusual day, no wind.

Sat 3/18/06
Crossed the boarder into Peru today

Fri 3/17/06
The Atacama is never ending it just goes on forever.

Thur 3/16/06
No wind but cold enough to wear my overpants

Wed 3/15/06
Drove thru Santiago today more later

Tue 3/14/06
Left the boat this morning and saw Dale & Sandy riding to get on waved no chance to stop and talk.

Sat, Sun, Mon 3/11,12,13/06
Three of the Rio guys.

Friday 3/10/6

This is the road from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. My camera broke so I am steeling a few pictures from Dale Ploung. He and his wife Sandy are traveling through South America for the next couple of years, and he takes some great pictures. Here is a link to his web www.ploung.com

This is the Navimag office in Puerto Natales, where you catch the ferry for Puerto Montt about 900 mile North.
Since I didn't know when I would get here I didn't have a resevation so I went on the wait list. At three oclock I got a cabin and was set to leave. The boat was to load at 9pm and leave with the tide sometime sat morning.



These six guys showed up they came up from Ushuaia, they were all from Rio de Janeiro. they rode bikes 2 Harleys, 2 V Strom(1,000), KTM 950,BMW(GS).
We went to town to eat and Walter the veternarian, kept saying when he is 68 he wants to be me. They all spoke English and we had a lot of conversations on the three day trip North.

I thought the crew were getting carried away with thier tieing down of the bikes, until we hit the open ocean on sunday then I knew why.








Another picture of the bikes tied down.

I had three cabin mates 2 19 year olds from England, and a 28 year old from Philidalphia, who had lived in Venezuela for the past 2 years. The kids from England were traveling for a year between high school and collage. Like I did when I hitch hiked around the U S in 57&58.




This was a working boat with a lot of frieght, including horses, sheep, and cattle. this picture was taken from my cabin window, I told the guys to imagine they were on a farm in Nebraska, when the noise started.

3/9/6 Thur
I left Ushuaia this morning, it was cloudy and misty, by the time I got to the pass it was sleet and snow, then at the lower elevation it got sunny and warm for the rest of the day.

One thing I hate to do is backtrack on the same road I just came over. But since there is only one road to Ushuaia, I had to do it. The same car was still at the station, must belong to the owner.
The road is the same until you get to San Sebastion, Where it turns to gravel at the boader to Chile. There are two ferries that go to Tierra Del Fuego, one from the North East and one from the North West. I came in from the N.E. and am leaving from the N.W. each is about 100 miles of gravel road. The road going to the N.W. is longer but more hard packed. When you meet a truck and have to cross over the loose stuf in the middle it can be a little hairy for a moment but the rest is good and fast 55to 60.













These are Guanaco's, related to the camel, they are everywhere down here. The good news is they seem to be a lot smarter than deer. Anyway I never saw a dead one in three thousand miles of riding past them. One time one ran in the ditch beside me, I was on the road he in the ditch, I took the bike up to 57 mph this was on the GPS not the speedometer, so I know it was accurate. I finally upped the speed and left him. They can also clear a 3' fence from standing right next to it.
I got to Porviner at about 5pm and changed my Argentine money for some Chile then got gas. About 9dollars USD per gallon, welcome to Chile highest gas so far.

This is the ferry dock, the town is a little bigger.













This is the ferry to Punta Arenas. The ride is a little longer at this crossing. Two and one half hours vs twenty minutes at the N.E one. When I got to Punta Arenas it was 11pm and raining, I got a room at the first hotel I saw.

The hotel is the pink building, nice room and hot water.