24-Jan-2010 9639 Miles

Tocopilla, Peru. I loved Arica. Cool little coastal town in Northern Chile. Very nice. I think I said it last time but Nick and I are both feeling better. Must've been the cumulative effect of illness and altitude. It is nice to get warmed up and thawed out. We did not get out of Arica until about 1pm, but we rode until dark to end up here in Tocopilla.

What a ride. Such different country. So dry, so much desert so close to the sea. It is quite beautiful in a very uninhabitable way. We rode out of Arica and went a little bit inland. I don't know whether to call these things Sand Dunes or Sand Mountains but they rise about 3000 feet so you be the judge. We went up and down these things for a couple hundred miles before coming to the sea again at Iquique. And what a view that was, wow. No pics of that, sorry, the road was too wild and nowhere to stop without getting run over.

This is the first time that gas has been an issue for us and we are really gonna have to be careful. It was about 200 miles between gas stations today. That is only do-able on Nick's bike if we go slow. There have been gas stations everywhere up until now. We may have to tanker gas in my bike and find a way to syphon mine to put in his to make some of these distances. It is going to get challenging.

The first pic is of a nice Argentine family that we met. Father, mother and their 2 boys have been riding around South America together. Very cool. The pic of my bike dash shows the mileage. That is exactly double what it was when I left Price, Utah. The most amazing part of that to me is that I had that many miles on it before I left, just from May to November. Damn things gonna be old before I get back. And no, Newby, I'm not gonna give it to you. The last 150 miles were along the coast, very beautiful. I was wondering about it after seeing Peru, but it is way nice. I think I could sail the West Coast of South America.

It feels so good to be warmed up and dried out. The temp is in the upper 70's to low 80's. Pretty tough to take.