January 22
Caught the ferry to Chile Chico at 10:00 and arrived at 12:30. Checked out of Chile, then down the road to check in to Argentina. Once we moved into Argentina the land flattened out to desert range land. A view we would have for many days. We road hard on Ruta 43 all the way to Fitz Roy on the east coast and rented a cabin for the night.
Saw a small tire shop on the way in so I went down their and asked it they could drill out broken bolt. We worked on it for at least a ½ hour but he would not take anything for his work.
Somewhere on Ruta 43 we stopped for fuel and when I went to get on one of the kickstand bolts snapped. They had come lose and I had tightened them but must have been bent. Found a stick and cut to right length for a crutch till I can make a fix.

Ferry to Chile Chico, was a tight load

young girl on the ferry that wanted to talk the whole way, so she helped me with my Spanish

January 23
Pulled out of Fitz Roy early heading south on Ruta 3. Kind of a boring ride, only flat straight roads. With the wind to keep you on top of it, we ride with a 10 degree list to the right. Passing the trucks can be tricky as the wind is blocked as you pass but hits hard as you clear the front.
Goal was to ride to Rio Gallegos for the night. We arrived at 4:30 and Tom suggested we go on another 43 K as it looked like there was something there. There was, the border (must pass through part of Chile to get to Ushuaia. So we checked out of Argentina and into Chile. Chilean Customs (animal plant person) took my wood crutch for holding up the moto, had bark on it. So I am on a bike with no way to get off. Stopped and found a stick along the road that worked. Ended up a small Hotel/café/bar in the middle of nowhere, ran a generator for power.
It was getting cold the farther south we went but I went out and lowered the muffler far enough to get the non-broken bolt out of kickstand mount. It was bent and would not tighten up. Replaced with a new one from kit so now I have a side stand but will use a block to keep it more upright, less stress.

The long straight road

Llamas running wild along the road

January 24
Up and off to Purta Arenas to catch the ferry across the Str of Magellan. My luck with ferry is getting better as we pulled into Purta Arenas, got gas and went to check on ferry. When we got to ferry they were loading, so we got tickets and rode on to the ferry.
Pulled into Ushuaia about 6. Got a nice room at Rio Uno.

The road south from crossing the stright

The top of the pass to Ushuaia, The last 110K was the perfect ride, good weather, great road, 120K sweepers to the twisties on the pass and views that were spectacular. (also no speed tax collectors)

view from the pass

January 25
Spent the day taking pictures, getting laundry done and went on a tour to see the penguins. Ushuaia is a tourist town with cruse ships docking here. It is also cold enough that the electric vest is really great.

The picture to prove I made it, This is the end of ruta 3, only way to go now is north

Me with the penguins (I am the one with blue vest)

This penguin is of a different spices and a loaner

Wind blown tree

January 26, 27,28,29
The long ride north to Buenos Aires. These days kinda got pushed together in to a blur. long days and many miles. On the 26th had dinner with a fellow traveler who had ridden with Tom through Mexico. In looking at my bike he mentioned how exposed the shift linkage was. Next day at 4:00 I found out, deep loose rock on a detour and I washed it out. The rest of the way I shifted with vicegrips on the shaft. Spent the last night in Azul, 300 K out of BA so we could come into the city with time to find where we were going. GPS lead us in all the way to Dakar Motos.

Back to pavement and the long road north, now we lean to the left to counteract the wind. Some of this was constant 80 to 100k cross wind. For the little while we went in the same direction as the wind it felt as if we were not moving.

Met up with Pat and Chris from Canada, will ride into BA with them and then maybe north.

January 30
Spent the day resting and waiting for HD to finish survice. Pat, Chris and Tom want to head north tomorrow. Will go with them if bike is ready.

Moto travelers at Dakar Motos