Monday – Commodore Rivadavia, Argentina
Another long day today, and into the wind as well, in fact the longest of the trip so far
I had intended an early start, but the bike was parked in a spot which was then blocked by other cars, I should have known. But I managed to get the cars moved and I was on my way around 9am. The ride around the lake area was quite nice and I soon came upon a roadside marker showing me the distance to the end of the road, it looked like about two days hard riding 🙂
The wind was quite fresh and a bit cool, but it was a nice day for a ride. I was still in a few minds as to which way to go as I did want to reach Ushuaia soon as I was close, but I also wanted to do some of the dirt roads on Ruta 40, but that would take me south inland, while the paved road meant hopping over to the east coast, wind was the main factor as far as safety on the dirt. Once again I would play it by ear and see which way the bike goes 🙂
After three hours riding I took the diversion to Esquelle to get fuel, I had read a post on the HUBB about fuel stations and it would become more scarce around here, so I needed to fill up at every opportunity. Here I found the stuka bird that had flown in front of me earlier but had not come out the other side 😦 I also met a couple of Jawa riders from Buenos Aries, I chatted with them for a while and they said the dirt road south of there was shocking and was full of loose gravel. Roberto on the right is the importer of these bikes into the country and was very interested in my bike, if the paperwork can be done correctly, he may be a buyer, we shall see 😉
Based on their knowledge as they had just ridden up it and one of them had crashed due to wind, I basically removed those roads from the equation and decided to do the paved road on the east coast. This was based on the fact that when riding the gravel, if you stay in the wheel tracks it is quite safe, but with the strong wind and gust factor, this can throw you out of the tracks and into the piled up gravel. In fact Vincent had emailed me and mentioned he did some of these roads and was thrown out of the track and also crashed, but unhurt. Knowing the speeds I would attain if I was to do this, I was a definite candidate for horizontalness, so sanity prevailed and maybe I would do them on the way back north when I am not in so much of a rush. Decision made I nearly rode away but spotted Mark arriving, so I waited around for him and we rode away together towards the coast, he is also in a hurry as he has a boat to catch to Antarctica, another item not on my agenda due to time constraints.
The scenery was pretty bleak from here on down, just rolling hills and very windy, not many trees around actually, but after an hour I rolled into Tecka, this would now be the last fuel for a fair while, I could get by without a top up but decided to anyway. The line up was huge and I was told off by some people for queue jumping and had to go right to the back 😳 It was a silly setup though, two pump islands with only one being used and only one hose actually working at all, stupid!
I met another BA rider and also Mark caught up, but he was a bit crook in the guts and although I had saved a spot in the line for him, he declined the extra fuel, strange behavior, but it is his choice!
The next small town down the road had been mentioned on the HUBB as having fuel, but sorry to report, that is incorrect!
From here the next known fuel was Sarmiento and I should be able to do that distance without resorting to the fuel can. I battled the wind again and although it was becoming tiring, I was enjoying the ride. The only real bad part was the constant rattling from the helmet which meant my music was a bit hard to listen to. I even managed to do some dirt, although I had no choice as it was road works!
A while after that I got to Sarmiento and found the servo on the outskirts was empty of fuel(diesel only), but I managed to find the one in town and fueled up and continued on. It was now about 6pm and I only had another 200km to get to the coast. I could have stayed in this town, but I factored in the details that I would now be heading east with the wind mostly behind me, the sun would still be up and also behind me and I actually figured although I am a bit tired, I was not stuffed, so doing this would make tomorrows ride a lot closer 🙂 I was soon entering hilly country around some lakes which proved to be a bit tricky as the wind was now funneled through the gullies and hit me from any which way!
As I got towards the coast I started to enter the oil fields although I did not see any processing plants at this time.
It was gone 8pm when I hit the coast and for the first time since Daytona Beach in Florida, I saw the Atlantic Ocean 🙂
I rode into the town of Commodore Rivadavia and could not find a hotel, in the end I rode back south to the highway intersection where I had spotted a hotel on the way past and booked in there. It was nearly 9m and the owner said food would be served from 9pm onwards, well that was lucky, so after a few beers and a steak egg and chips I was ready for a tub and bed, a long satisfying distance day and judging by the road markers I had not very far to go as I had clocked up nearly 1200km for the day 🙂
A new beer and it tasted fine 🙂
Day – 735 miles and 1183 km
Trip – 51,197 miles and 82,394 km
Salud
TravellingStrom
WORLD 
TravellingStrom 