Click on the image to enlarge

Dan and Iain with the bikes right before starting the trip
(Ushuaia, Arg, January 09, 2006)

Dan on the move, first day out of Ushuaia

Iain peeping out of the tent. That is hail boys, really big
hail.

Campsite in the mountains.

Taking a break from the saddle, Dan on Ruta 3.

Iain standing in the wind. Time for lunch!

January 13

This is the first of a series of informal travelogues that we will be posting on our page so that you can follow our whereabouts and what we are up to. The availability of computers (as well as our time) is a bit unpredictable, but we will do our best to keep the site up to date with logs and pictures. We will also give a pre-emptive apology for spelling and grammatical errors. We will be writing fast and with limited proof-reading. Thanks for understanding.

We left from Ushuaia, Argentina on January 9th, 2006, fully loaded with enough supplies to last to Tolhuin, which sits 107 km. north of Ushuaia on Ruta 3. The first few legs of our trip will be a bit slow, to make sure that we are not forcing our bodies too much, taking good care to eat and rest sufficiently.

The first day was generally an uphill climb, but we were lucky enough to have the wind at our backs. It was an amazing climb, through mountains and forests, crossing rivers and streams. The weather is very erratic in this part of the continent, and the sun came and went, raindrops fell and the sky cleared again. A beautiful day. We camped on a mountain a bit off of the road. As we were setting the tent up, we watched a wall of hail come across the valley towards our campsite and hurried to get everything covered. Gumdrop-sized hail covered the ground in a matter of minutes and stayed until the next morning.

The next day we continued on Ruta 3 to Tolhuin, another 60 km. up the road. The last 35 kms.of this stretch was our first ride on gravel. Really wide, dusty roads with a fair amount of traffic. We met a couple other groups of cyclists headed south towards Ushuaia, one of which was a Canadian who started in Canada a year ago and was finishing his trip to Ushuaia that afternoon. What an accomplishment! That night, the 10th, we stayed in Tolhuin and took the next day (partly) off. We sat and ate pastries all day in a confeteria, trying to gain a little of our lost weight back. That evening we started off toward Rio Grande, another 110 km. away. We made about 15 km. and decided to camp by the road. Cooked a good dinner and prepared to leave the next morning.

On the morning of the 11th, we awoke and pedaled northward. This was our first encounter with the Patagonic wind. It is pretty incredible. I don´t know if you all will understand what it means to ride into a 50 km. headwind for 60 km., but we can now speak from experience and say that it is a taxing, very frustrating thing. You can always climb to the top of the next hill, but this wind is something that you can never really overcome. It gets in your head and makes you slightly crazy. Frustrating. We went as far as we could, and then stopped at a large sheep ranch (estancia) that is owned and operated by the family of some of Iain´s friends. They put us up for the evening, and fed us a feast of lamb, salad, and homemade bread. Needless to say, we didn´t waste the opportunity to fill up. We talked to the ranchers a bit about the wind, and decided that we should try to get a little earlier start on the day, around 4:00 a.m. or so. We set the alarms and had a good night sleep.

At that time, we were on the eastern coast of Tierra del Fuego, and riding right next to the ocean. There are a lot of migratory birds in the area, many ducks that "winter" down here and then pass the summer in Dan´s home stomping-grounds, the Midwest. We´ve been seeing teal, mallards, black ducks, what look like spoonbills, snipe, and a variety of other birds. Pretty surreal to see some of the same species 12,000 km. south of where we usually do. Other accounts of wildlife that we´ve seen: hundreds of guanaco, which are llama-like creatures. They roam around individually and in herds, and are a constant roadside presence. Carachos are a more ornate version of vultures and are commonly seen flying around. A wide variety of other tanager and finch-like birds are around as well. We also have two sightings of the elusive grey Patagonia fox. Not too elusive actually, they both just ran across the road in front of us. Fun to see though.

The morning of the 12th we got up at the sheep ranch and headed out into a COLD morning. The wind was better, more tolerable, but we didn´t quite beat it to the punch. We had about an hour and a half of relatively calm riding, but by 7:00 it was whipping. For the next 25 km, we averaged 8 km. an hour until we arrived in the city of Rio Grande and took a physical and mental break. We are both good and tired. The wind is very erratic, and it tosses you around on the road, so it´s hard to keep a good, smooth pedaling cadence. More "wear and tear" on your joints and muscles. We are thinking about taking another rest day here in Rio Grande, and then on Sunday starting off towards Punta Arenas, which is another 250 km. stretch. From the looks of it, we will be wrestling with the wind for all of it, but we are going to try to start our days early, around 3:00 a.m. and see if we can make some tracks before the wind picks up. Signing off for now. . .Dan and Iain