The next morning, I was off to the border, 8 blocks down the road. That is where I met this guy from Uruguay, making a loop up and around through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and back down via Brazil. He was LOADED to the gills with this 125liter top case draped over his bike rack and passenger seat. And riding a Kawasaki 125cc bike. Nutter!



This European guy, living in Sucre, Bolivia was on a different mission, to re-enter the country with his American bike that was on temporary import papers. Nice 1200GSA amigo.



What does that sign say? 5121km to Ushuaia. That is a long way!



Damn 1909 Km to B.A. I’d end up riding it in 2 days as well!



Check out this German bicyclist that I met along the way. He started in B.A and rode south to Ushuaia, and then rode north again towards Bolivia. He was about 50km from the border. His bike was kick ass. It had a generator in the front hub that was always activated and powered the front and rear LED lights. I saw his front light from well over a mile away in direct sunlight. I was very impressed. Further, the rear hub IS the gear box, and it appears to be a single speed bike from the outside. Indeed it has a 14 speed consecutive gear box of which he can access any gear ratio from 1-14 speeds. Meaning gear 1.5, 3.8, 9.7, 13.2, are all available and accessed by the rolling gear shift on the handlebar. Meet Tom.



As I rode through the brilliantly paved Argentine highways, these impressive rock formations popped into view.



And this quite impressive burial area as well.



Then, came the clouds as I began to lose altitude from the previous 3800 meters of elevation!



It was very nice to cool down in the clouds, and smell the water in the air, kind of like at home in the “Pacific North Wet”.



When it was time to gas up again, I met Hernan! What’s up amigo?



I asked him where he was going, and he said he was returning home from a month on the road, 2 weeks of which he spent in Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca with his friends. He was riding for B.A. and planned to arrive there the next day. AWESOME. Me too! Let’s roll. But not before I get some money from that ATM.

Into the ATM I go, and realize that I don’t have my debit card! Damn it. I must have left it in the ATM at my last transaction in Bolivia. Oh well, I have another card that I can use. I took out the maximum 700 Argentine Pesos that I could, and promptly left the ATM, AND MY SECOND CARD. Faaaaack! I didn’t realize until it was too late….



And so we took off, into the sunset, headed south 300km without a gas stop as there were no gas stations anyway. All at 100kmph. (62mph)



Hernan just cruised along. We didn’t get off the bikes for 3 hours straight.



What’s up Hernan!



I took a few photos from the saddle as I rode alongside him. Most of the time I was 50 meters behind him, but for a good photo I got a bit closer.



That night we stayed in a cheap hostel in Santiago de la Banda. I rode 194miles without a gas stop, but got 45mpg, the best of my entire trip (as I cruised at 62mph the entire time. Hernan, on his Honda NX400 Falcon received more than 61mpg!

After settling in at the hostel, we hit the town to find a Parillada, and had a grill plate with loads of meat. Hernan ordered a Fanta and a Budweiser, poured each of us a glass of Beer and then added a bit of Fanta to it as well. Hmmm.. It wasn’t that bad!



Then Hernan pointed out one specific moto out of the hundreds that were passing by during the night hour. This one was special.



The next day, we really made some time after filling up with gas. We rode straight for 3 hours. Hernan lives in Campana, 80kms (50miles) north of B.A., and he didn’t want to pay for a night’s accommodation when he could sleep at home. And so we made TIME! This photo will show you a guy on his 250cc road bike drafting me at 65mph.



When we filled up for gas again, we had ridden 197miles, and I was mentally freaking out about gas. I put 17.7 liters into the 19 liter tank, and told Hernan that I couldn’t wait that long until the next gas stop. Every 250km was my limit. Every 150 miles at least. That is 2.5 hours minimum anyway!



We stopped for lunch and shared a $5 sandwich. It was massive even after cutting it in half!



A way down the road (another 400kms) we stopped again and threw on our rain suits. Well, Hernan did while I zipped my liners into my pants and jacket. On the way south from Santiago de la Banda where we stayed the night before, it reached 114* F (45.5* C)in the flat prairie/farmlands of northern Argentina. It was the hottest temperatures I have seen on a bike in my life, and 9 degrees hotter than Mexico where Tom and I saw the next highest temp of 105*F. We had been roasting in this oven for about 4 hours before cooling off in the wetter weather.



Hernan also had a large blue plastic sheet to drape over his giant pile of stuff. Made my panniers look like luxury items.



That night, we arrived at 9pm in Camapana, having ridden a couple hours at sunset and dusk and only losing each other for a 15 minute period of time when we weaved through a 5km construction zone and met up at a toll booth on the other side. I slept that night on his floor on a bed mattress after using his internet which made Peru and Bolivia internet feel like Dial up. I had forgotten what fast internet was like!

The next day, I spent the morning cleaning my bike, as it was Monday, November 28th, and Hernan would be leading me into B.A. to Dakar Motos where I would meet Steve Cook, the Australian prepared to buy my bike!

Before leaving though, we rode to the Super Mercado, bought some steaks, rode back to his house, and Hernan went to work!



His Dad had arrived an hour or so earlier, and like father like son, they were enjoying their midday meal preparation.



Hernan has a great looking Boxer as well. But he didn’t get any of the Churasco’s (steak).



Hernan’s house was a quaint thing, but it served his purpose well, and had secure parking inside his front room which served as a kind of mud room for him. Both of our bikes fit well after removing my panniers.



Check out the rear tire of my Pirelli MT90. It made it 4591 miles. Not bad on a loaded bike when Tom made about 3k miles on his last rear TKC80. I’m going back to Mefo Explorers when I get home. I made it 8k miles on my rear before it was replaced.



Here’s a shot of Hernan’s Honda NX400 Falcon. It proved to be a good bike that made it 7k kilometers (4200miles) with no issue, and was easily riding 60-70mph while we were on the highway.



This is Hernan’s way of making a living. Pimping out his truck services! A 1982 Ford F100 that has been converted over to Natural Gas. Pay the man, and he will get it done!



As we left Hernan’s house, he gave his friend a ride down to a local cross street. His friend had delivered the truck from where he had stored it, and we dropped him off.



Next stop was to deliver me to Dakar Motos, a motorcycle hostel on the outskirts of down town Buenos Aires run by Javier and Sandra. It’s a great place to be, and currently I am working on making sure that Steve gets a bike in good condition for the remaining 5 months of his adventure! The bike will be getting a new front and rear sprocket with chain, an oil change, and he’ll be ready to rock and roll!

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More to come in the next few days amigos!

YES! ONWARD!

--Alex

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NJ, NR, NBTTN