I started a posting with this title 2 days ago in El Calafate, but
the guy running the cafe accidentally remotely reset my computer,
as if for a new customer to use, and the posting was deleted.
I was about 20 minutes into it and thought it was going well.
Some of these postings seem to flow better than others, and that was
one that seemed like it was flowing.
So now I have a little free time. Part of the reason for the
title was that I was having a few issues with the bike. The
rear tire wore extremely quickly, the steering head bolt started to
loosen itself and one of the fork seals gave way and was leaking fork
oil. Fortunately it was the one opposite the brake, not above.
These were unresolved issues 2 days ago, and looked to be potential
real problems. But, here I sit at a Honda shop in Rio Gallegos,
200 miles out of the way and the wrong direction, but I'm getting
a brandy new Metzler Enduro 3 rear tire, and the spare fork seals
I brought along "just in case" are being installed out back.
And the bolt tightened. And they asked if I would like to use
the internet, and would I like any Seven Up (or is it 7Up?)
This place was recomended yesterday by a pack of Brazilian bikers
on BMW 1100GS´s and a couple of Cagina (sp?) Italian bikes with
Ducati engines that I'd never seen the likes of before.
This post ends about 17 weeks and 3 days, and I'm up around 16,200
miles travelled since I left Oakland. I last posted from
Ushuaia, and as you can possibly tell quite a bit has happened since
then. After spending a couple days there and working on the
bikes and visiting the Tierra del Fuego National Park, we started
the long journey north to Santiago. The first day we returned
to Punta Arenas via a different ferry, and the next day headed into
Torres del Paine National Park via Puerto Natales. Had a great
seafood lunch in Puerto Natales, but only stayed long enough to eat.
I wanted to do some of the backpacking circuit in Torres del Paine
but it just wasn't feasible with the bikes, plus the weather was stormy
with snow up on the mountains. Dick's bike isn't set to be left
anywhere with his leather saddle bags, so all we did was a day hike.
We tried to get up to the most scenic lookout that is many of the
more famous photos of this rather amazing park, but decided we had
missed the turnoff and tried to bushwack our way up the valley, only
to find that the turnoff had been just ahead, and we were now on the
wrong side of a gorge. We hiked up until we came across a fence,
and then turned back. The weather wasn't very good at the time,
cloudy in the scenic area with rain. By the time we got back
to camp it cleared up there and we got a glimpse of what we missed.
I must go back someday, and I want to hike the whole 123K circuit.
The following day we crossed back into Argentina and went to Al Calafate,
where we hoped to luck out and find tires. We didn't.
Lot's of people told us where to look for tires there, a gas station
employee even seemed to say there were 2 motorcycle shops, and told
us where to find one. The woman at Tourist Information said
it was probably on the main street, someone at a pharmacy with
a motorcycle parked out front gave us a map to a place we looked for
for a while. There was no motorcycle shop. However there
was this other place on the map where we were told to ask for
tires. After a long search, basically looking for an auto repair
type place and me getting annoyed at driving up and down the street
and not finding anything of interest, we stopped and I walked around
and asked people where this place is. I was lead to a taxi stand.
No one was there. Finally someone drove up, and said he could
help. I went back to get Dick, and at that moment we saw Miah
and Anne at the gas station across the street, and they waved us over.
This involved crossing a 6 way interection, and Dick drives across
the intersection and somehow doesn't see the red car coming off the
bridge. I can't believe what I'm seeing. At the very last
second Dick percieves the oncoming danger and turns out of the way,
but the car slips the back of his tire and his bike goes down.
It looked much worse from my angle, and he gets right up off the ground
and starts to pick the bike up himself. I get over there and
ask if he should really be standing, but he does seems okay.
A crowd gathers. The driver of the car looks horrified.
We tell him everything is ok and go ahead and take off. He seems
thankful to be able to do so. A cop walks over and asks if we
want to fill out a report. Dick is like ¨what am I going
to stay, I was stupid and pulled out in front of that guy and everything
is basically ok?" Miah must think we are lunatics.
When he first encountered us we'd just duct taped my front sprocket
back on (which I just pointed out to the mechanic out back) and then
the next time he sees us Dick dumps his bike right in front of him.
Heh heh, maybe we are.
After telling stories back and forth, we all go off in search of reasonably
priced hotels, which were in short supply in El Calafate. I
finally found this horrid little dive of a motel, but at least it
was cheap, and we were staying two nights. Then the search for
tires continued. They were not to be found in this hotel, but
people were super helpful with ideas. There was one guy in our
hotel from Buenos Aires who owned a Suzuki and said he could call
a friend and have tires shipped. Another guy was from Spain
and made calls for us to Rio Gallegos, but couldn't get through.
The next morning on the way to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier we
ran into the Brazilians on the big enduro bikes, and they told us
they had work done here in Rio Gallegos, and that the mechanic could
work on fork seals on BMW's, he'd had his replaced.
The Perito Moreno Glacier was well worth the side trip. Intense
man. 60M high, and one of the most active glaciers on earth.
I overheard some guy say it moves 2M a day, but this seems like too
much. Nonetheless, we saw some action. Almost immediately
some giant chunks fell off. It was hard to tell just how giant
though. Then a tour boat drives up, and the tour boat looks
tiny parked way off the glacier, and the people look really really
tiny. Man this thing is HUGE! There are a couple pieces
on the front point that look ready to go, but who knows how long it
will take for them to actually fall. We finally decide to head
back, and I'm walking up the stairs when I hear someone gasp and I
instincitively look at the glacier just in time to see a 15 story
high tower of ice fall out and into the lake, sending up a pair of
teh hugeest splashes I've ever witnessed, chunks of ice flying through
the air for a remarkable distance. A few minutes later I hear
a similar reaction, but this time trees are in the way. The
next pinacle of ice had crashed in.
We get back to the parking lot, start the bikes, and some guy points
at Dick's front tire. Flat. Doh. It turns out to
be an easy fix however, front tires are a dream compared to changing
the rear tires. An hour later and we are on the road.
This morning we headed in to Rio Gallegos. It was a boring 200
mile drive over the pampas, the high plains. Once in town it
took a while to find the shop, but when we did and told them what
we needed, they had 2 really nice tires, and told me to pull my bike
into the garage. Within 2 minutes the bike was coming apart,
and last time I looked the forks were off. Should be like new
any moment! I wish I had time to let them do a full tune-up!
