Feb 13th

Our stop to gas up in the morning.
We're seeing more and more log and stone structures a long the way with beautiful log carvings. The only disappointment here was the jars of Nescafe on the cafe tables. Oh I do miss real coffee


Had to admire the wood stove in the gas station.


On the road leaving Chile a beautiful unknown Andean peak.


The view from the Chile, Argentina border station.

Our first border crossing without Max and his language skills! We survive. Border crossings are getting easier and faster. We usually run into people who speak enough English if we get stuck, which is happening less and less.


We're here in Argentina, yeah. I just got the last new country stamp in my passport another milestone.
Stopping for lunch we watch a group of goucho's trail some horse by us and across a good size stream. Beautiful horses and riders, all done up as if out of National Geographic. Really neat.


We found a nice campground in San Martin meeting all my requirements, wifi, hot showers, beer nearby.

Again I'm impressed with how big car camping is down here. Very few trailers or RV's but lots of families with big tents and lawn chairs. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow is Valentines day. Difficult for me being so far away from Knikki.

Location:Pucon, Chile to San Martin, Argentina

Feb 6th

Miles today 346
First mile stone of the day. At some point yesterday I had traveled 10,000 miles since leaving Bellingham WA. A lot of pavement has passed under me in just shy of 4 months, wow!

One of the landmarks of any adventure rider doing South America is the "Hand in the Desert" sculpture. La Mano del Deserierto in the Atacama desert. We made sure it was a stop our our trip.








Locally know as La Mano, it's story is good and worth a google search.


We are now riding through the Atacama desert which according to all I've read hasn't had rain in over 600 years. Surprisingly it isn't all that hot in fact delightfully cool riding however you can feel the dryness.


Max and Jim, desert lunch break.

Location:Beach Camp to Urban Beach camp near Chanaral, Chile

Feb 5th

We say good bye to Noel and Paula in the morning. I hope they make it up to Skagway in the future, two really nice people.


Desert sculptures as we leave Arica.


Max and Jim discussing KTM issues on the road.




Me on the desert road. Yes it was that hot.


Max picks an awesome beach camp site and we settle in.


We're in Chile, good wines for not much money, yeah!


My view while washing up the dishes after dinner.


Sunset and surf as I call it a night.

If all goes well tomorrow another mile point in the trip. The "The Hand of the Desert"





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Arica to beach camp 2

Feb 4th

KTM rolls out of the Honda shop. As we have discovered the motorcycle shops here take there work seriously. Max dropped the bike off last night they jumped right on it. The electrical problem was thought to be a bad battery. They checked out the bike's electrical system, changed the battery and stored the bike for the night all "no problem".


We head out of town for quick ride to the border. Still in the desert area but now cultivated mostly with olive trees. It amazes me still how a little water will grow so much down here.

At the border we meet Noel and Paula riding two up on a KLR almost an exact twin to mine. They're from Vancouver, BC. They shipped their bike down and plan on ride in south America for the next couple of months.
We all finish customs and immigration together and ride off to Arica for a late breakfast which with the two hour time change turns out to be a late lunch.



It's a treat to be in Chile. At the border I realize that unknown to me till this moment but being in Chile feels like one of the reasons I'm on this trip.
Hmmmmm.



We lunch at a beachside restaurant. The first change I experience in Chile is the selection of beers several are craft brews from Chile. Noel, Jay and I sample and approve. After a relaxing lunch and factoring the time change we decide to find a place here for the night.



Noel, Paula, Max and Jim discussing the KTM challenges.

Our party is now up to six of which four speak some level of Spanish leaving me and Jim as the token non spanish speaking gingos. Next year I will learn to speak spanish, yes, I will.





Watching the kite surfers enjoy the wind and waves.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location: Tacna, Peru To Arica, Chile

Feb 3rd

Another day in the Peruvian coastal desert with the associated crosswinds and blowing sand.


Long open stretches of straight roads with not much traffic.

The KTM is having starter problems so Max has been kick starting it or if we can find a hill bump starting it. Today after a navigational break with a very small hill and a push from Jim and Jay saved Max some effort.




Over the last couple of days we've decided to head straight to Santiago, Chile to get the KTM worked on. All and all this will be a good thing. Not having a reliable starting bike in the group is putting stress on everyone.

When we stopped to look for a place to stay tonight we discovered Max's battery was dead, down to 5 volts. So even kick starting won't get it to fire. Jim takes off and finds a Honda shop and place to stay all within a block of where we had stopped, beautiful.

Honda shop thinks it's the battery. We'll see.
Tomorrow we cross the border into Chile another mile stone on the road.


Jim and Max. Navigation stop in the Peruvian desert.

Location:Camana to Tacna, Peru

Feb 2nd

Miles today;

After all the miles I've ridden today was the most amazing.
We left Nazca in the morning and it wasn't long before you could feel the desert heat building. Rolling through the immense desert landscape I was struck by the beauty and hugeness of this part of Peru.


I could feel the road turning south and dropping in elevation. Down a couple of long hills and we where running along the ocean shore. Stark desert on my left side and the rolling breakers of the pacific on my right. The wind off the ocean was wonderfully cool keeping the air filled with salt sea mist.



Our road ran along the entire coast area you see in the background. Miles and miles of open beach on one side, miles and miles of desert on the other.

For me it was everything I imagined adventure riding would be, wide open wild places, sand blowing across the road, over the sound of the bike hearing the ocean waves crash onto the shore.


Running along the shore then back up on the mountainside the road gave me constantly changing views.



Jim and Max at the days lunch break.




Jimi approving of Peruvian road surfaces.


Site seeing stop.

Towards the end of the day we started see large expanses of rice farms sandwiched between the desert and the ocean. After all the desert it was nearly shocking to see this much lush greenness.


Two local motorcycle riders picked us up and lead us to this neat beach community, actually right to a place to stay.


Beautiful sunset. Thinking of Knikki in Hawaii enjoying the same sun.
MUF YML

Location:Nazca, to Camana, Peru

Feburary 1st

Back to the blog. I will fill in the missing days over the next couple of days.

Cool foggy coastal ride this morning. Heated grips on, thinking about my jacket liner. I love how the fog rolls up off the ocean, long stretches of deserted beaches.



As soon as we turn inland I can feel the heat and it comes on fast. As we ride I realize how much I love the desert landscapes. Beautiful light on the distance peaks, dunes, huge open stretches. We stop for lunch and another adventure rider, Jay from LA, rides by, makes a U and joins us for lunch. Jay's riding solo from LA to Brazil to work on his Portuguese language skills.
The usual chicken,beans and rice for lunch and we are on the road. Temps around 100 with a wicked crosswind keep riding interesting.



Stopped to check out the Nazca lines. I was so so about seeing these but once I looked at them I was captivated.


All the who, what and why's occupied my brain the rest of the ride to the town of.


Bike parking in the hotel lobby is getting to feel normal these days.

Settled into our hostel for the night. Email connection to Knikki is wifi challenged, learning to live with the technical challenges and smile with her.

Location:Micaela Bastidas,Nazca,Peru