2-6-06
We left in the morning with sunshine peaking through the clouds. It was 40 degrees on Jims thermometer on the bike. It was still wet on the road and the road where there was road construction was muddy and slick. This is Ruta 3 and it will be paved all the way to Ushuaia soon.
It was a cold ride but it didn’t rain on us but it did get cloudy and a little windy. We finally pulled into view of Ushuaia and we could see the Ocean cruise liners huddled at the dock.
First view X
We made our way downtown and found a place to have some lunch. This town is just like any other tourist town is seems. The cruise boats dump off their passengers and they run down town and buy presents for themselves or friends back home. You folks aint getting anything so don’t go out and watch your mail box for incoming gifts. All you are going to bet is an email log with a photo of downtown.
Downtown Ushuaia X
I thought this was a interesting little art work that was downtown.
Peace X
On our way out of town on our way to the ‘end of the road’ we stopped and checked out a couple of hotels for rooms and prices. Wow, they were pricey!! We finally found a nice campground and paid our fee for the evening. We didn’t set up camp as we didn’t want to leave our gear there while we headed for the end of the road so we just charged off. The road is mostly paved but I am sure soon it will all be paved. We had to go into the park where they charged us ten bucks each to enter. There were actually a lot of people there as I guess it is a favorite camp and hiking place. The last fifty miles or so getting here, there were trees finally and we had left the flat pampas behind. There are big mountains here too but we couldn’t see much of them as it was so cloudy. One of my friends wanted me to send photos of the rivers of molten lava running down the mountains, well here is the best I could do for ya….
Volcano X
I finally made it to the end of the road and snuck through the barrier and pulled the big yellow dog up for a photo op. I looked at the back of the sign and found Greg Frazier had truly ‘signed’ it as I heard he had. I had to scratch BMWDOG there too.
End of road X
They have put up a new sign next to the old one so I put the dog over there and took its photo too.
New sign X
I checked out the back of this new metal sign and found a virgin sign. Not even one person had signed it and I was pleased to be the first to add a sticker to it.
First sticker X
I had a little stack of stickers made before I left and have been putting a sticker here and there along the way. I sure wish I had brought more, as there are many places where stickers are posted. Much like a dog marks its territory.
Jim an I shook hands and congratulated each other on our accomplishment. I think we are both very happy to have done this.
As I have been traveling down the road, I write the names of the towns I will be passing through along the way on my windscreen with one of those ‘wipe off’ markers. When I get into a town and the roads are confusing, I just look at the list and ask someone where xxxx is. I took this photo of the last list of towns on the windscreen.
Last town list X
This is the photo of the odometer at the ‘end of the road’ or ‘end of the world’ as the chamber of commerce likes to state.
14986 Miles X
We made it back to camp and the odometer read 14999. My buddy Ken says that is more than half way around the world when you take into consideration I have already made the trip to Alaska. At least it is a good start………..
Now I gotta get home.
2-6-06
We left fairly early this morning from camp and we thought we were lucky to not have it be raining. It was cloudy and cold but no rain.
Cloudy leaving Ushuaia X
It turned out that we were not that lucky after all. It started to rain but not really the driving rain like we had the day before. It was however very cold and the temperature thing said 50 degrees but with the high humidity, it was very cold. I had my electric liner on (plugged in) and one pair of long johns on. It actually wasn’t that bad but when going 70 mph, it was cold. We stopped at a service station and got gas and talked with a couple of guys riding a Honda 250 that were going to go camping down near Ushuaia. They didn’t seem troubled by the fact they only had 250 cc’s but then they were from Ushuaia and were only going about 200 kilometers. When I went to start the yellow dog it only gave a few grunts and the battery was dead. I don’t know if it was having on the heated grips and the liner on at the same time that is the problem or if the new battery is going bad. I have run the grips and liner at the same time before so I suspect that the battery is going. I guess I will find out in the morning.
We made it back to Rio Grande and found a room at a hotel right on the beach. It looks ugly and cold out there. I don’t think I will go for a swim.
Jim left me here at the hotel and took off to find a place to change his oil and see if he could find someplace to fix his saddlebag mount. We found that the mounting bracket for the bags is broken as well so he might need a welder too.
There is a truck stop down the street with internet service so I guess I will go down there and send this log out.
I HAVE BEEN TO THE END OF THE WORLD AND AM ON MY WAY BACK…..