Return to Buenos Aires

We landed in BA the morning of the 14th September and got a taxi ride to Dakar Motos. Javiar was not yet there so we had a little wait. But soon got the Buell out of the storage line and began making repairs and changes. I had brought down new hand guards, new latch for drawer, new mirror, new kick stand and inserts for mounting frame for boxes.

The mounting holes for the boxes originally had been ¼ inch but when they broke I had them drilled out and taped to what was available, metric. Not all were the same and I wanted to go to better bolts so I brought drill and taps to put in 5/16 inserts. These were ½ thread on the outside steel inserts that should hold. Also brought down Allen head 5/16 bolts that are stronger than grade 8 bolts. This along with a support strap to the rear should prevent failure, time will tell.

Replacing the kick stand was not easy as the muffler had to be dropped down. But we made it only to find that new style kick stand would not bolt up right so had to put washers under it. About midnight I woke up thinking about that fix and determined that it would not work so the next day we tore it back down and put on the old kick stand. When I get it back home and have a milling machine I will fix and install new kick stand.

Took a run down town to banko and Harley dealer for a small part. Went across the street to McDonalds for a bite to eat. While there Jackie came along and asked if she could speak English with us. She was a lot of fun and introduced us to her twin sister. Then back to the shop.

Wednesday we packed up and headed out by 10 on Ruta 9. Stopped for lunch and had really good Asado (BBQ) beef and chicken. Traffic came to a stop on the freeway and after about an hour we got to the front and found a demonstration blocking the freeway and all traffic exiting then getting back on. I found this very interesting as I have advocated we do the same back home where we have had the liberal, urban, elite cram zoning rules down are collective thoughts that will destroy commercial agriculture. Made many mental notes on how to do it, just need more people than local jail space.

The agriculture here is mostly grain crops. Would be much more interesting later in season, but right now (early spring) not much is happening. A few have started tilling yet most fields are brown with the residual of last years crop.

Spent the night in Marcos Juarez, an interesting town with many businesses devoted to the local agriculture. Lots of modern equipment dealers, so they must be doing ok.

Woke up this morning (Thursday) to rain and wet streets. Road all morning in the rain then went into a town for gas and lunch. On leaving I made a wrong turn and ended up on a dirt street, (well was dirt before rain now mud) and went down with foot under right box. Felt my knee snap and ended up stuck with foot under box. Good thing Martha was there cause I could not get foot out and might still be there. Knee hurts and is swollen.

Went on to Ojo de Agua and found a nice hotel for the night. Everything is wet, new rule no paper in pockets when raining. There was a hair dryer in the room which helped out some in drying stuff.

The agriculture has changed from crops to desert livestock. Many goats and sheep flocks along the road. Looks much more like parts of Mexico than what I have seen of Argentina. Far more native people in this area.

Headed out in the morning with some difficulty making knee work right. Went to about 11:30 and stopped for gas. Pulled back on to the road and it was like transmission popped out of gear. Broke the drive belt, This is the new super-good belt that is suppose to take anything and is so good that they no longer make an emergency belt that can be laced together. Could have been much worse though, we were right across the road from a hotel with internet access.

Once we got a room, I got on the internet and emailed Harley shop in BA for help. These guys are great as they have put a belt on a bus headed this way. Belt should be covered under warranty but normally you need to return bike to dealer to get coverage. They have emailed factory and think they can get it covered if not they will contact me latter for payment. Most would want payment or credit card before shipping. Now we wait and explore the small town of Loreto.