I am seeking some advice from those "in the know" about a trip from San Francisco (SF) CA down to Ushuaia Argentina later on this (2017) year.


I live in the UK and have a planned SF to Prudhoe Bay trip. It’s already planned and booked, and I have my shipping arranged to get my bike over to the USA. The Alaska trip departs Santa Rosa July 14th and returning August 12th taking roughly 7-8000 miles. I would like to continue my trip to ride down South to Argentina and Ushuia to make it a bucket list trip as I am nearing 50 years of age.


Although I don’t have a locked route in place I would like to hear people’s thoughts on:

- What weather I am likely to face in Central/South America if I depart California in mid August?

- Preferred/best ways to bypass the Darian Gap?

- Roads/routes I really have to avoid?


I won’t be so foolish as to ask for a list of “must see” places on the way down, but I would like to hear people’s favourite points of interest as that may well change the shape of my trip.

Also, has anyone used the free Open Garmin maps at http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ for planning trips this big? and did you use Mapsource or Basecamp?


If the weather turns out to be a problem based on the time of the year, I will probably opt to leave the bike in the USA (Arizona as I have another bike there) and fly home to the UK and do some work. If the weather works, then I have the finances in place in order to do the trip.


Thanks in advance for any help.

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Regards,
Leigh