10-Feb-2010 13449 Miles

Aboard the ferry ship Evangelista in the Straights of Magellan. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday, 19 years old, I miss her.

I have been on board for 2 days now as we steam ever northward for Puerto Montt. It is amazingly beautiful here in a very raw unchanged way. I am quite sure, except for the channel markers and lighthouses it is very much as Magellan and Cook found it over 300 years ago. I am thrilled to be here as I have been thrilled to be everywhere we have been. I am also thrilled to be headed home. It is time. We have been in the Straights, protected from the open ocean for the entire voyage so far. Within the next couple of hours we will be in the open ocean, taking whatever it is the Pacific has to offer us for the next 19 hours, it will be interesting, hopefully not much more than that. I have spent a great deal of time on the bridge with the crew, imagining what it would be like to sail a sailboat through here. It will require much more experience than I may ever be able to get. And a funny thing, the number of sailboats that we have seen sailing though here is all the way up to 0. Maybe there is a reason for that.

Even with the protection of the Straights, the first day was rough. Very cold, winds up to 70 knots, and wet. For those Utah people who think I have been working on my tan in a South American summer, its not exactly been that way. The last day of riding into Puerto Natales was brutal, and for the entire week before that we have not really been able to get warm. In fact I did not get warm on this boat until after my second shower yesterday, finally I feel warm in the protected confines of this vessel. Although not exactly a cruise ship(think backpacker hostel), far from it actually, but the berths are comfortable, the showers warm, and the meals serviceable.

I guess I can't complete this blog without some mention of Che Guevara. Shirley gave me the book, "The Motorcycle Diaries", before I left. Thanks, Shirley. I finally finished it on this boat ride. I carried with me for over 13000 miles. I have been asked several times on this trip if I had read it or seen the movie. One person asked me if I had seen the movie too many times and if that was the reason for my trip. Deanna and I tried to watch it while I was in Utah in December but both fell asleep. So no, that was not the reason for the trip. I can't really reconcile to his politics based on what I have seen here, or even reconcile him to his politics based upon what he described in his book, but I did enjoy reading his descriptions of places we have already been. His descriptions were based on a 1950's view and really not much has changed. The thing I really enjoyed about it was the way he saw things based upon his place in the world at the time as opposed to mine. So it turns out that reading it after I have seen those places was a good thing. Enough said about Che.

The book I had read prior was, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Hopefully none of you have read it because the guy was clearly insane and there are enough parallels to my experience on this journey to cause concern. Mostly his Chautauqua, which is mostly relative to my having too much time to think on this trip. But the thinking was good, and if it causes me to approach life in a little bit different way, that will be positive as well. I will just try to leave out the electro shock therapy or frontal lobotomy part.

We met 7 other bikers on BMW's before boarding at Puerto Natales and they are on the ship with us. It has been fun exchanging experiences with them. There are 2 couples among them that seem to have managed this type of journey well together. There is, however, one single that started the journey as a couple and sent the wife back home from Lima to get a divorce. It would definitely be a test to do this as a couple. They are great people and of course we all share this common desire for adventure. We have not seen any Americans on bikes this far south, and in fact very few on this whole trip. The one that we met that had been to Ushuaia had started from Buenos Aires. The people on the boat with us are from all over. A couple from Tazmania and a couple from England that started in Alaska. A guy from Germany. A guy from Chile. And a guy from South Africa. Wait a minute, the guy from South Africa lives in Miami and just got his citizenship, so he calls himself an African-American(white guy).

As I finish this up we are within about a half hour of open ocean. The swells are starting to get larger and the mountains smaller. I guess I had better put this away now.

11-Feb-2010

As it turned out, only the first few hours were rough. The Pacific ended up living up to her name. Today is warmer, drier and we even have some glimpses of the sun today. I told Nick that it will be 70 and sunny when we get to Puerto Montt. I don't think he believes my weather forecasts anymore though. I don't either but I will keep making them up nonetheless. We have had dolphins swimming with the ship and I saw a seal this morning. We are out of the open ocean and back into an inside passage, where we will remain until Puerto Montt at about 8 am tomorrow.

This has been restful but I am pacing now, ready to get back on the bike. As strange as it seems, this journey has inflicted routine into my life, something I have successfully avoided for most of it. The routine was get up, shower, pack, load up, coffee and breakfast if it was included where we stayed, ride for an hour or 2, get coffee, and free will or situation intervened for most of the rest of the day. We didn't let much interfere with that. Weather never, touristy things a couple of times, but that's about it. Strange that something as out of the ordinary as a motorcycle trip to South America would inflict routine. The ship is a total breakdown of that routine and by the time I get it working for me I will be unloading and going on the bike again, so I'm not even going to try. I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.

13-Feb-2010 14177 Miles

El Viaje Final

Angie will be so proud. I made it 13779 miles without breaking or losing my sunglasses. Unfortunately we are further than that now. Thursday, on the ship, the sky opened up, it warmed up a little and the ocean was as calm as a lake. We are starting to see the high volcanic peaks of southern Chile as we cruise ever northward. We were able to see the South Star and the southern cross last night. We got off the ship yesterday before noon and rode about 70 miles to Osorno and had lunch with our new biker friends before going our separate ways. At that point Nick and I decided to make Santiago this night. 700 miles. It was a perfect day to ride and a perfect ride to end the trip. Weather in the low 80's and no wind. It was 1am before we rolled into Santiago.

Our focus is getting home now to family and friends and a special woman in my life who has managed to stay close to me over the many months and thousands of miles. Thank you, Deanna. Thanks to all of you who have been following this blog and thanks to those who haven't because they have been too busy doing the things I should be doing, to have any time. I could not have done this without the wonderful support of all of you. And especially all of my great people at Redtail Aviation, who have carried on in the best way, under some tough conditions, while I have been away. You are all so special to me.

6-Feb-2010

We are back in Rio Grande and will continue to head north tomorrow. I will continue to keep you updated as we progress in whatever way we end up progressing. Of course I found boats, seriously cool sailboats, equipped for this kind of hell. Here are some more pics of Ushuaia, enjoy.

As we were looking around today a favorite line, by a favorite actor, in a favorite movie came to mind and seems really fitting here.

"There is nothing like riding a fine horse into a new country. This is just what we were meant for . . ." Robert Duvall as Augustus McRae in Lonesome Dove

Nick has carried a rock with him since we left the states for the purpose of throwing it into the water at El Mundo Final. He wrote on the rock, "onward and upward". It meant something to both of us. As great as this adventure is, it is not what defines us and not something that I want to spend the rest of my life looking back at. We give a great amount of lip service to Living for now or living every day to its fullest and so little time doing it. And it doesn't have to mean that you live for one grand adventure after another. It just means you have to happy where you are, you have to love with your whole heart, embrace each day like there is no tomorrow and you have to be responsible to those around you in your life to be able to feel the freedom of the other things. I have not always been able to do those things in my life, but on this journey I have recognized them, gelled those thoughts together and will carry these things into my life.

It has been a true joy to get to travel with Nick Lucas on this Journey(Viaje). He is a good man and great spirit.

5-Feb-2010 3 months, 12994 Miles

El Mundo Final.

Yes, we made it. The end of the world, Ushuaia, the beginning of the world, jumping off point to Antarctica. If you sailed east or west from here on the same latitude line, the next landmass you came to would be the one you left.

We left Rio Grande late today, about 3pm. We were trying to make some arrangements for ferries, etc. When we got to the bikes, I had a flat tire. Nick's little air pump is cool and we filled it up and went looking for a tire place, at siesta time, no bueno. So it was after 2:30 before anyone reopened.

We had about 120 miles to go into Ushuaia and the pics are limited because I had another camera crisis. Maybe that's good, it let me really focus on the last 60 miles into here, which I think I needed to do. I will get some pics tomorrow. After the last 1000 miles of the windswept plains of Argentina and the northern half of Tierra del Fuego, the last 60 miles into Ushuaia was sensory overload. The black mountains rose up to white glacial caps with the black forests trying to conquer them. It was a spectacular ride in, and just as it should be. I have not looked ahead on the internet to know what to expect and as spectacular as the ride in was, it was just right. Just fitting for the final leg into El Mundo Final.

So many feelings, so powerful and emotional to have accomplished this. We have been through a lot. We stopped in the center of town and parked on the sidewalk and got off to walk the pier. 5 Australian guys cornered us and started asking questions. It was actually quite good. They took us to a pub for a beer and we spent the next couple of hours recapping the trip with our new friends. I think that was a fitting way to arrive here.

Robert Frost, my nemesis for the last bit of this journey, is going to be correct after all, about way leading to way and doubting that I should ever come back to the "road not taken". And with all my BS and analysis, El Mundo Final is approximately equal to El Viaje Final. We will work our way back to the most expeditious method of returning to our lives, my next adventure. It is both scary and exciting. I miss my loved ones and it is time to go home.

4-Feb-2010 12894 Miles

Well, we are back in Argentina. Oh yeah, you thought I was still in Argentina. Well, your right, I was. But we went back into Chile, then back into Argentina. Look at a map. You'll understand. Fortunately for me, Nick never looks at the map either. But I think he finally figured out that we were going to be between Chile and Argentina a few times. Easy border crossings though. This is the first time that we have done 2 in 1 day. Plus all the miles we covered.

Rio Grande, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. Holy shit, Tierra Del Fuego, amazing. 450 miles today, 100 miles of that in the dirt, 2 border crossings, the winds gave us a little break today but were in the 30 to 60 mph range, temps in the 40's, dang cold. I am so excited to be here I don't even care that it's cold. It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm still pumped up.

We took a ferry from the mainland to the island of Tierra Del Fuego across the Straights of Magellen. El Mundo Final is close. Speaking of Magellen, a great explorer, no doubt, but obviously a dull fella. He named this place, Tierra del Humo(Land of Smoke), cause of all the native indian fires created a lot of smoke over the island. It was Charles the 5th, obviously the more creative spirit, that declared "there is no smoke without fire" and renamed the place Tierra del Fuego(land of fire). The new name certainly stirs the soul.

I have been told that I have way too much time to think(thanks, Deanna). So yeah, if I put down everything that has gone through my head while riding down the road everyone would think I had gone nuts. So I'm keeping a large part of that to myself. My book on politics and the new world order will be coming out soon. Taking deposits now.

Furry and feather critters. The large mammals are, I don't know. If you do, please let me know. They are as big as an elk. The did not like the sound or frequency of my bike. They totally ignored cars, trucks, Nick's bike, but they would freak out over mine. I don't know what the feathered critters are either, but if you do, let me know. All I know for sure is that if I lived in this windy place I would be a flightless bird too.

El Mundo Final manana.

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.

1-Feb-2010

The first pic is of the road not taken. We were trying to get a ferry to somewhere south so we could join the Carretera Austral in Chile. The ferries were full until Saturday. So we backtracked about 60 miles, something we haven't done all trip, to Osorno and headed East to Argentina. It was a beautiful trip up and over the spine of the Andes through the lake country between Chile and Argentina.

As we were crossing the border Nick says, "this is it, last country". And although technically correct, I didn't have the heart to tell him we needed to cross back into Chile 2 more times to get in and out of Ushaia. And I know he isn't reading this blog, so he'll just have to figure it out on his own.

The roads got interesting enough that the daydreaming ended. But the area did have a Yellowstone kind of feel. A lot of tourist traffic and when we rolled into the first town in Argentina I told Nick we needed to get something to eat while we were in Jackson Hole. But after that the comparisons ended. It's great to find yourself in an area that bears no resemblance to anything you have been exposed to before and such is the case for this part of Agentina. We are still in the mountains but winding down into the plains. We will stay pretty far west as we continue south.

We met a guy from California this evening that just came up from El Mundo Final and he gave us some great advice. At least it sounded good. Hopefully he's not crazy. Guess we'll find out.

Oh yea, for Megan, you can put tonight's pin in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.