Santa Barbara to Buenos Aires, and then some...

Trip Summary: Moving Average: 80.3 km/h Moving Time: 83:28 hours Total Distance: 6670.4 km = 4002 miles  Travel time: 14 days Travel per day: 476 per day Flat tires: 2 (both within 30 minutes of each other) Accidents:1 (rear ended on the road by a truck that was driving too fast on a mountain road) Stops in San Luis (province of San Luis), Uspallata (Mendoza), Las Flores (San Juan), Vinchina (La Rioja), Tinogasta (Catamarca), crossed into Chile  at Pasa de San Francisco (4,730 meters altitude = 15,470 feet) in the Andes before coasting into the immigration/customs office on fumes where we spent the night and were happy to be fed toasted rolls with spam by the janitor, Juan Carlos.  The next day we fired the afterburners (after Juan Carlos arranged for the water truck driver to bring us 20 liters of fuel) and made it to the coast and stayed in Taltal, Chile.  The following day we decided that driving through the Atacama Desert was like driving throug...

Packing it in. Arrived Buenos Aires at 12:43 AM Impact zone, fortunately, the bags took the brunt... Road Rash After 6,745 km in 13 days of some seriously rough roads through Argentina and Chile with lots of dirt and several passes over the Andes at 16,000 feet and Matt finally admits he doesn't want to see a motorcycle for a while... Never mind a few flat tires and getting slammed into from behind by a truck in the mountains with no serious injuries - you know you're extremely skilled (LUCKY) when the truck that kissed my moto had to be towed down the mountain while we were able to ride on.  Too bad my luggage, their mounts and most of my cloths are toast.  Armored cloths , real boots and a good helmet are good things. Cheers, Nick, from my phone.

Matt with wild alpacas in the altiplano.  In the high desert at 15000 ft with alpacas. An amazing twisty road north of Jujuy and vistas south of Salta. The route down from the altiplano where we dropped from 13,800 feet to 7,100 feet in about an hour. Flat number 1 Flat number 2 While fixing flat number 2, Gonzalo, a fellow adventure rider (returning from the Bolivian border) stopped to help and had the correct tube - we were trying to cram a 19 front tire tube into the back rim... Later we all went out to dinner later.   Dinner with Gonzalo  Cheers, Nick

Panoramic of the high desert with volcano in the distance Watering hole for the alpacas Cheers, Nick, from my phone.

Twisty Update Cheers, Nick, from my phone.

Panoramic Cheers, Nick, from my phone.

4,726 meters elevation Aduana Marriott, in the Andes of Chile Matt and Juan Carlos Juan Corlos hospitality, which was warmly appreciated. McTasty Tea and crumpets Got gas and ready to roll Riding riding riding... like the energizer bunny, we just keep going. We ran out of gas at the border of Argentina to Chile at altitude 15000 ft and ended up spending the night in the emergency shelter of the immigration office on top of the mountain in the middle of NOWHERE !!! It's all part of the adventure (or so they say, I just want to know who "they" is?). The janitor (Juan Carlos) took us in and fed us spam-ish sandwiches and sweet tea then gave us 8 blankets to use on a couple of box springs they had laying on the floor.  The next morning Juan got a hold of the water tanker driver who brought fuel from 180 km away (on dirt road down elevation of 11,000 feet).  Then he made us scrambled eggs and toast in his little camp stove - delicious!   He...

Rode off the mountain on a few hundred km of dirt.  Got tired of mountains so Noe we're riding the coast, sort of.   Cheers, Nick from my phone.

The border was closed on the Chile side above Vinchina and a major landslide prevented us from  cutting over to Chilicito so we drove four hours around a major mountain ridge and then up towards a different border crossing.  We ended up driving the last hour on a dirt road in the dark but we coveted a lot (too much) ground today.  Cheers, Nick from my phone.

Leaving Las Flores for the frontier of Chile - we'll be riding gavel and dirt  all day crossing the Andes at about13000 feet; it's getting cold! Will post more photos later if we have wifi.