3-Feb-2010

Yesterday we were making decisions on the fly, I think I will get into that later because I had a few reactions to the Robert Frost poem and it is relevant. We ended up in Sarmiento, Argentina after making a 7pm decision and riding the last 170 miles of the day in 2 hours. What can I say, we had a tailwind.

Sarmiento is within about 100 miles of the East coast. This morning before the sun came up I woke up to howling winds. There have been several things that I have refused to say out loud. The first was about the lack of rain. We went so far, really into Peru, before having a lot of rain. Then we got drowned. The other is the lack of wind. I was actually in LaPaz, with absolutely still air that I was thinking, we really haven't been in the wind. And it took till today to make up for that. I think we paid the price for no wind in one day, but I'm sure we are not done. The winds were 60 gusting 70 for all 350 miles that we did today. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a headwind or tailwind but it was directly across the road the whole way. We are really beat. It just took full undivided attention to stay on the road. Not only that but it's cold. The heated gear worked but the heat would vanish from the upwind side and melt you on the downwind side. I got a 2 and 1/2 gallon gas can for the long legs thinking it would give us about 350 miles or range each. Today, with the wind, it took all the gas to get us 200 miles. There was no relief from the wind anywhere, either, except for the gas stations, which were about 100 miles apart. Except the one gas station didn't have any gas, so that's why we had to make the 200 miles. This wind was so bad that Nick's bike was running out of power and had to use lower gears to keep up. And that 800's pretty powerful.

We do have some good news on the wind though. The people we talked to said it will get stronger and stronger for every day later and ever mile further south. Oh, that really doesn't sound like good news, does it? It is interesting to be this far south. It feels like the forces of nature are combining her to create a pure kind of hell at the Cape Horn. Being interested in sailing puts that on my interest list. The 2 great oceans trying, and failing, to equalize at that point, the Southern winds of the earth heading into the Antarctic zone, serious power. No wonder so many ships have been lost forever there and those early sailors that made it, told the stories they did. No wonder that modern day commercial ships don't go there anymore, with the Panama Canal making that an unnecessary risk. Well, I can't wait to see that part of the world, even though we have a couple more days of hell riding to get there. I guess it's kind of like the last 1000 feet of Everest.

Decisions, Decisions

The Road Not Taken. An analysis based on our current situation. If your taking this seriously you don't know me well enough. Also, keep in mind that this is just more of Mark's particular brand of bullshit.

　

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

It is this stanza that has my attention. In Chile, when we decided to go to Argentina I was sure I would never come back, and was as sad about it as Robert Frost was in the first stanza. We always say we could do this another time. But way leads to way and never do we return. But . . . In the middle of Argentina, it became clear that we should go back. Only going back was not really an option either. I had equated in my mind El Mundo Final with El Viaje(journey) Final. I anticipated hitting the south tip and then making the long slog up the east coast of Argentina to Buenos Aires, shipping the bikes, flying home, done. I had to disconnect those 2 things to make a travel decision that made sense. When I was able to do that, at 7pm, we decided to haul ass for the south and east and make for the Ushuai(El Mundo Final). After Ushuia, we will go back into Chile, by boat, train, road, goat, whatever and make our way up the West Coast and actually getting to the Carretera Austral, which was "the road not taken" the other day.

So, in this case, Robert Frost,

　

Way has lead to way,

To allow us the Carretera Austral,

Another day.

　

Not quite Iambic Tetrameter, but it'll do.

Also, we are taking the real road not taken, which in Robert Frost's case would be both roads. And we won't have to make up any bullshit about it as he did when telling the story "ages and ages hence".

Yes, it's true. I may need extensive counseling and possibly electro-shock therapy to be able to adapt back into polite society. I've had way too much time to think about weird stuff while riding down the road on a motorcycle.