May 10th, 2007.  9:30pm Brasilia time.
Approximately 48 hours into the record.
Sarmiento, Argentina
GPS: S45 35.378, W069 04.266

Bike drop standings:
1st place: Ryan: 1 slide, 2 drops
2nd place: Rob: 0 slides, 2 drops
3rd place: Sean: 1 slide, 1 drop
4th place: Justin: 0 slides, 0 drops

Wildlife sightings:
1 Armadillo
1 Million Sheep
Several hundred llamas (including one slightly injured llama)
Many Emu(?)
Several quail-like birdies (talk to Rob for further information)

Unfortunately, the standings for the motorcycle dropping are not like golf.  Taking a cue from Doug, we've started a bike-drop pool.  Each of us is going in for $20, and whoever has the fewest drops/slides when we get to Alaska gets to keep all the money.  Yay!

I realize that I've forgotten to mention the mileage we've gotten each day, so here's a little breakdown:
Day 1 (Ushuaia -&gt; Rio Grande): 225km
Day 2 (Rio Grande -&gt; Gallegos): 409km
Day 3 (Gallegos -&gt; Sarmiento): 939km

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that twice yesterday, while we were slogging through the gravel road in Chile – we got stopped, twice, by about a billion sheeps just milling around the road.  Each time, there was a vehicle stuck in the middle of them, inching its' way across the herd.  I guess motorcycles are uncommon enough around those parts that we were able to scare the sheeps away just by driving up on 'em.  They scattered, like – well, like sheep.  And they stink.  Very badly.

We're at last picking up our pace and getting on to where we need to be.  We're actually a little bit ahead of schedule right now, but the promise of an extra day on the beach in Cartagena is really motivatin' us.

Today was the best ride we've had yet, although still not without problems.  The day dawned overcast but dry.  Apparently the clouds had rolled in just before morning, 'cause I saw a star last night, and the temperature plummeted from a balmy 3 degrees C to a frigid something-cold-enough-to-frost-the-motorcycles.  Once we got out on the road at 8:16am, out of the city and through the mess of construction zones, the temperature hit 0 degrees and didn't nudge upwards until about 10:30.  I've had a few cold rides before, but this one takes the cake.  Stupidly, I'd decided against my cold-weather gloves, thinking that a clear-sky forecast for later in the day meant warm weather.

The scenery, surprisingly (to me) is that of a desert – scrub brush, cacti and sand as far as the eye could see, and nearly as flat as Saskatchewan.  Llamas everywhere, and a constant menace as they dart out across the road.  We actually saw a little armadillo scurry across the highway in front of us – I had to swerve, hard, to miss it.  At first I thought it was a giant rat, but then I saw the distinctive shelly back.  Was pretty cool – my first amadillo, everwhere.  

Apparently Argentina doesn't have a road-kill cleanup crew.  There are carcasses everywhere, in various stages of decomposition, and most are rendered unidentifiable 'cause they've been picked clean by scavengers.

While leaving Rio Gallegos, I noticed that Dad's rear tire had a wider dirty patch than Justin's.  Our mechanic checked the tired, and confirmed that Dad's tire was, indeed, low.  And then he broke the tire guage.  We decided to ride on until we needed gas, since we'd been going so far, and get all the tires checked at the gas station.  All of us were low, and now we are not.
We'd been chasing a promise of a blue sky all morning – constantly just on the horizon was a blue crescent, with the sun shining through it.  Above us was a dreary, cloudy sky.  At exactly noon we finally caught up to the glorious sun and basked in its' rays.  That marked the first time that I was able to use the robocop sunvisor on my helmet for real.  And, coincidentally enough, exactly thirty-two minutes later the odometer on my motorcycle rolled over 1000.

We lost a lot of time at our second gas stop – we'd all run out of gas just a few kilometres from it, and had to use the spare jug on Rob's bike to make it in.  Sean was actually able to coast to within about 50 metres of the service station.  Since running out of gas has been a problem two days running, we each picked up a ten-litre jug to use as a range-extender (the tanks on our bikes are twenty litres, so this would increase our range by 50%) so that we didn't have to worry about this anymore.  

Unfortunately, the jugs leaked, and we lost some more time macguyvering a seal for them.  They still leaked a little bit, on our luggage, and now this tiny hotel room reeks of gasoline.

Today marked some of the best scenery we've had since we started.  For hours we rode along the coast in blue, sunny weather, and the temperature creeped up at one point to fifteen degrees.  Again, though, this was marred by a tremendous cross-breeze that constantly threatened to push our bikes off the road, and would blow so hard against my helmet that i was forced to literally keep a constant pull on the handlebars so that I didn't get knocked flat against the seat of my bike.  It would gust, too, and everybody's necks are sore tonight from fighting that wind.  Fortunately, that finished up at about 5:00, and we had some awesome driving – winding roads in and out of flat-topped mesas.  Straight into the sunset, but the sun went down fairly quickly, and our last thirty kilometres or so were actually in the dark.

We pulled into Sarmiento about seven o'clock.  It's a little town – so little, in face, that most of the streets aren't even paved.  They've also got these weird pipe things running across the road in a sort of large, very steep speed bump kind of way.  Dad hit his centre stand, hard, on one of these things, and damn near high-centered himself on it.  Dad's been having a hard time with this bike – he's a very short guy, and even with a custom seat and lowering links on the bike, it's still almost too tall for him.  Additionally, 'cause both Sean and Robbie's bikes have been lowered quite a bit, the kickstand is a bit too tall for the bike, and they have to be very careful about parking on the correct slope so that the bike doesn't tip over when they walk away.

Robbie wanted me to mention what a great break-in these motorcycles have received.  We're each about 1500 kms now, so the break-in phase is complete.  We've been on all kinds of terrain with these bikes since we've got them, across all speed and rpm ranges.  And he doesn't have anything else to add.

That said, we've all discussed these motorcycles, and so far we're in love with them.  Several times since we started this trek I've thought 'jeez, i'm glad we got this bike'.  It's great at the highway, it rocks on the gravel, and it's got clearance to get over large potholes and pipe-shaped things.  Unless you're Sean, and catch a bad spot.  <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Very Happy" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Tonight is the night of First Service, an important time in the life of any young motorcycle.  It's when young motorcycles become mature motorcycles.  It's also 10:30pm right now, and everyone but me is outside just getting started on the first bike.  We've got to get an oil change done on each bike, and a chain adjustment, cleaning &amp; font sprocket replacement (we're replacing the sprocket so we get some better top-end speed in exchange for losing some low-end power.  This makes sense 'cause 99% of the rest of the trip will be on highways.)  

We initially had some problems finding a hotel room (just like yesterday).  Fortunately, one of the two hotels in this town had room for us.  Unfortunately, it's not the nicer of the two.

Currently i'm sitting on the sole bedside table in this hotel room.  It's a tiny room with four bunk beds and a tiny bathroom.  A bathroom which seems to have not been cleaned since it was last occupied – if it had even been cleaned prior to that.  There's hair and dirt all over it, especially in the shower.  Yuck.  Glad I showered this morning.  Actually, everybody did, so we're all probably going to skip that in the morning.

On a brighter note, though – when I walk outside the sky is overwhelmed with stars.  I have never seen so many, so clearly, except maybe a handful of times in the Rocky Mountains.  Here, though, it's stars as far as i can see, from flat horizon to flat horizon.  Only seldom in my life have I been able to make out the Milky Way across the sky – here, it's visible immediately upon stepping outside, even with light-adjusted eyes.  I managed to spot Orion in the north, and the Southern Cross almost directly above me.  I even managed to nap Sirius as we were riding into the sunset.

I'd like to finish this up by taking some time to thank Natalie O'Connor, who's in charge of organizing the rally when we come through Red Deer on June 2nd.  It's a huge task, and thankless (well, until now) and she's doing a heck of a job.  Absolutely no thanks, by the way, to Costco – who, after confirming with Sean, and AGAIN later with Natalie that we'd be able to use their parking lot for this event, have bailed with no explanation.  

We do have several live bands lined up, and HOG (Harley Owner Group) have offered the use of a massive barbecue, and the people to run it.  The Capri Centre has stepped up with an offering of some grilled food – and, if the license can be arranged, there'll be a beer gardens as well.

She's put out a call for volunteers to help with the setup and tear-down of the grounds, so if you could spare some time that Saturday, shoot her off an email to <!-- e --><a href="mailto:natalie8@telus.net">natalie8@telus.net</a><!-- e --> and let her know.  

I've gotta go change some oil now.  Hopefully I can figure out how to send this tonight.

Peace out,
Ryan Noble
Sarmiento, Argentina