Riding the Americas, or attempting to...

[Dirtmonkey]

What a fantastic adventure. Thank you so much for sharing it with us (thumbs)

[SHarper]

Congratulations on reaching the end of your adventure/quest.
What's the plan now? Turn around and bimble back up?

[OnHellas]

Congratulations on reaching the end of your adventure/quest.
What's the plan now? Turn around and bimble back up?

Thank you.
The plan today is not to drink as much beer as I did yesterday!!

The next thing that we need to do is start looking at how we are going to get home.
Buenos Aires or Montevideo seem to be favourite. Although Montivideo will mean another border crossing.
Team Desmo airfreighted their Sidecar from BA so we have an idea of who can and how much.
Sea freight needs looking into. I'd like to have an idea of the difference in cost. Although we don't want to wait to long to get the bike home.
I'd like to get it serviced, sorted and ready to go. It needs a few things doing, the rear shock for one. That brings me on to another task. Convincing my mate and good bike mechanic Paul that he does want to work on the outfit.....even though it doesn't fit through his workshop door!!

[mark vb]

Hey Paul,
great to hear you've made it to Fin de Mundo, what an excellent way to spend 7 months. Safe riding for the final leg up to BA/Montevideo.

Thanks Mark. It's been an adventure that's for sure.
If you'd like to meet for a cup of tea and a chat sometime I'd like that.

Maybe at H's? They do bacon sandwiches.....mmmm, bacon.

Yep, it'd be really good be meet up, any travel tips for SA will be gratefully received! Send me a pm when you & the outfit are back (thumbs)

[OnHellas]

It's all a bit strange, the trip isn't over by a few weeks but reaching Ushuaia, which has been our goal for so long, makes it feel like the end.

We were both very tired the day after getting to the end of the road. So we spent a day doing nothing. We just sat around enjoying the scenery through the windows and reflecting on our journey.
We then had a day of wandering around Ushuaia, buying some more stickers and eating a huge Banana Split. We did share one between us, honest.

Yesterday I went with Patrick, our crazy French travel partner of a little over a week, to see the Penguins. First we went to Haberton Ranch where we boarded a Zodiac (?) for a 10 minute ride to the island.

Penguins, more than 20,000 of them apparently. There were two King Penguins amongst them. Like on the chocolate biscuit packets!! Only two, they have only just started to appear on the island in the last couple of years.
We stayed for an hour before the boat took us back. It was an amazing experience, you get so close to the Penguins, one cheeky chap (or chapess, they can't be told apart) took to pecking legs and shoes as our group walked very slowly by.

Last night we went and found us a proper BBQ restaurant. Steak, sausage, chicken, lamb and pork.
Add in some beer and a decent bottle of red wine.......sorted. A celebration meal.
For Patrick seeing the Penguins was a major goal for his trip. His life really, he thinks that there is a good chance he hasn't got long left. It got a bit emotional at the end of the evening.

Today we only rode for 130 miles back north to Rio Grande. Patrick followed, back on form with his humour. The wind picked up as we went, it does know how to blow around these parts.
So, a short day today but tomorrow will be a bit different. We are following the same road, Ruta 3, that we went south on. At least we know that the two boarder crossings that we will have to do tomorrow are well organised. Fingers crossed the queue for the 20 minute ferry ride isn't to bad. And maybe the 50km of Ripio will have been covered in a lovely smooth layer of fresh Tarmac since last week?? Well I can hope......

With just under 1800 miles to Buenos Aires, if we decide on airfreight to get the bike home, or a bit more to Montevideo if we go the seafreight route the trip isn't over......and I'm fairly sure that our box of naivety isn't quite empty yet either!!

www.sidecartravels.co.uk

[gspod]

Congratulations.

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone since you started to travel and I started to read. I would air freight, you'll be a long time in Blighty waiting for your baby to get home.

Thanks for the RR but............you haven't finished just yet (thumbs)

[OnHellas]

Congratulations.

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone since you started to travel and I started to read. I would air freight, you'll be a long time in Blighty waiting for your baby to get home.

Thanks for the RR but............you haven't finished just yet (thumbs)

Thank you for the comment and for following our journey. It's helped is a lot on the tougher days having support out there.
Air freight??? I think so too, most of the time. It's about a grand more expensive but we won't have to take the ferry across to Montevideo, pay for more nights accomodation etc.
We won't be riding it for a while but if we get it home sooner we can get on with getting all the things that need doing. Service, new rear shock, tyres, etc etc etc

Decisions eh? I'll let you know in due course what we decide.

[gbags]

Well done on a wonderful trip.

How about a few lines on highs and lows, do's and don'ts. I want to do this trip in 2018 and would appreciate your insights.

[OnHellas]

Well done on a wonderful trip.

How about a few lines on highs and lows, do's and don'ts. I want to do this trip in 2018 and would appreciate your insights.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Highs and lows......Bronchio Pneumonia was a low. But that turned in to a high because of the kindness shown by people, plus the expertise,kindness and care of a fantastic doctor.
Breaking down in Stewart was a low.....which turned in to a high. Again people going above and beyond to help and the fact that it's a great story. (Car battery on pillion seat, long cables and a battery charger)

Highs......all of it really. But getting to see a bear, a glacier. Riding the Alaska Highway.....there is so much. Every country we have visited has been a new country for us. All of them!!

Do's and dont's........do go! Don't get hooked up in 'which bike/helmet/accomodation etc etc etc.

I've learned that your trip is the right trip. If you don't want to camp, don't. If you've got a 250cc bike, ride it, it'll be fine.
Etc etc
However, do have the correct documentation. Make sure that your name in your passport matches exactly the one shown on your reg doc and driving licence.
Do some homework.......don't get put off by the naysayers......be sensible. Most people that are scared of some of the countries that we passed through have never been. We hadn't and are a lot less scared now.

If you can go, go. It's brilliant. If at any point you really hate it you can go home. But you'll probably love it. So many roads, so many people, so many landscapes, so much different food, so many experiences.

www.sidecartravels.co.uk

[OnHellas]

Leaving Ushuaia was a bit strange really, it felt as if the trip was over as I've said.
We had a short ride back to Rio Grande. It was cold and the wind was blowing. It was just a sandwich for dinner and then an early night.

We wanted to get away from Rio Grande early, as we had two border crossings to make an the short ferry ride. Our one lunged French friend Patrick was still with us and he was quite concerned especially about the unmade section. And, no, it hadn't been tarmaced since we'd headed South a few days earlier, despite my hopes. After a panic search for his phone we set off a few minutes after 8am. The phone was in his tank bag that was already on the bike, not at the breakfast table, nor back up in his room.

After 50 miles we stopped to top up with fuel again. There would be only one more fuel station on our route and it was closed last time we tried to fill up there. We would have 200 miles or thereabouts to do and the outfit will only manage about 150 so the RotoPax fuel cans came into their own down here.

Border 1..... tick
50 km of dirt road..... tick
ferry crossing ..... bugger, the bike won't start. Turn on, wait for colocks to do their sweep, push starter button, CLICK, everything goes dead.
Push outfit onto ferry..... tick
Sail to other side ..... tick
See Hector's dolphins..... tick
Push outfit off of ferry ..... tick


First point to check battery terminals. A negative one came loose before giving the same symptoms, back in Nicaragua I think?
So, seat off, battery cover off, 13mm spanner- check terminals. The negative one was slightly loose. Nip it up, start bike, look at the French mans amazed face.....tick

We then plugged in the GS911 diagnostic tool, just to check and clear down all the faults due to low battery voltage. I then took another look at the amazement on Patrick's face. He now thinks I know what I'm doing ....fool.

Once the bits of bike had been put back on and the tools packed away, we got ready to go to the next border crossing. Patrick had had about 4 cigarettes and a Cafe-Au-Lait, and so was suitably charged to get on with it.

The border crossing turned out to be a quick and easy task, just as the first one had been. The borders between Argentina and Chile do seem to be logically laid out and very efficient.

That evening we arrived at our hotel in Rio Gallegos just two minutes before Troy and Tracy. They had ridden a couple of big days to meet up for the last time, on this trip anyway. They have been a big part of our trip since we met them a few months ago on the Guatemalan/Honduras border. They are top blokes.

We stayed for a couple of nights, but Patrick wanted to carry on, so we said goodbye for now I'm sure we'll catch up with him before he flies back home to Delaware in the U.S.


Ruta 3 has been very windy on the way North, just as it was when we went South. There just seemed more point to it going South.

Yesterday on our way to Puerto San Julian, I spotted a sticker covered Yamaha 660 Tenere going the other way, that looked familiar. It had a yellow number plate too from what I could make out in the mirror. I said to Mrs OnHellas later that I thought it was Spencer Conway. A Facebook message later confirmed it, shame that we didn't stop and have a chat.

Today sees us at Comodoro Rivadavia. 260 miles of headwinds saw the fuel consumption plummet, add to that that most of the fuel pump attendants seem incapable of actually filling a tank completely.... you can probably tell, I'm a bit tired.

Rice and tuna for dinner from the trusty JetBoil. It's ready now, so that better be it.

Oh, just before I eat, we saw an armadillo today, and it got me thinking, if there was an unarmoured armadillo, would you call it a 'dillo'?

www.sidecartravels.co.uk