My riding gear. Many layers.

Last morning in Ushuia.

tonight was Bill Whitaker's 70th birthday. who is Bill Whitaker? when you think of the backcountry discovery routes, they are because of Bill. our table was full of related people. in addition, Pete from Moscow Moto was also in the area on a motorcycle adventure and dropped in for the celebration, and we added one of the motorcycle vagabonds we'd met along the way, Eric, who had bought a small motorcycle in Colombia and was riding all through South America. The remainder of the table was full of similar motorcycle industry and related people. how I ended up with them all is still something of a question.

after our long dirt ride today, we rode south from Ushuaya to the southernmost point. you can reach easily. so I have been as far south as is reasonable to go without getting on another boat to the islands. Tomorrow we turn around and start heading north. our path will start on dirt roads again which I have truly enjoyed down here. ultimately we will end up in Seattle. somerero where we spent a night previously though this time in another motel. The weather was gorgeous today. it rained some in the morning then cleared off and was sunny and 50°. what a nice change. Tomorrow it looks like we go back to the normal weather pattern of more rain, high winds, and colder weather. whatever. I'm kind of used to it now and already have all my gear laid out on the floor to slip into in the morning. it has been quite a trip so far.

Bill Whitaker, Pete (Mosko Moto), Eric - free spirit motorcycle traveler.

Bill Whitaker's birthday dinner.

Tomorrow we head north. There is no more south.

A small museum

so we're riding around on the dirt road so go up into the mountains. not very high. they kind of roll through. they're pretty smooth. nothing too challenging but we did while riding on the shoreline come across a dead whale so that's pretty unusual. and one of the bikes has another problem. I think a brake line has gone bad so we are going to circle around and go to a restaurant nearby and hopefully we can fix things there.

Whale

Bill Whitaker - it's his 70th birthday today.

A good start to the day? Here comes the rain.

The Wyndham hotel here in Ushuaya is quite nice. it sits high on the mountain overlooking the town and the harbor below. we enjoyed a good meal at the restaurant here last night and I think everyone needed a good sleep.

this morning is about 50°, and not blowing. too bad. they're supposed to be some rain moving in towards the middle of the day. then it should get nicer. The plan is to ride about 100 mi on unpaved roads through the mountains. here. The guides went into town and got a couple of the broken bikes working again so we are in better shape than when we arrived.

now it's time for a little breakfast and then we are on the road around 8:30.

At our hotel.

Ushuaya

Cort Butler and a friend we've made on the road.