Day 59
41,092 – 41,502 410 Miles today (18,802 Miles Overall)
Villa Union, Argentina – Mendoza, Argentina.
I got up at 6 today and cleaned up to go outside and load up the bike. I got some nice shots of the bikes at the hotel with the mountains in the background getting lit up by the sunrise. The guys eventually came out and noticed my rear tire looks flat. I pushed on it with my feet and they were right. It looks like my plug I put in a few weeks ago in Huacachina was leaking air. I pulled the plug out, doubled up the new plug and put it in the tire. Looks like it was holding air now. But when I removed Pinchos portable compressor the valve looked like it was broken and air started pouring out. I had him take the valve cap off the front rim and put it on the rear. It seemed to be holding the air in from leaking. I’ll change the valve stem if I have to fill up on air today again but I didn’t want to do it with his portable compressor since it took a while and I didnt want to kill his battery on it. I said bye to the guys and was on my way.
I was going to follow Pinchos route he gave me which made my ride a few hours longer but it was supposed to be beautiful. It started off with a sort of boring straight road but with beautiful scenery all around with snow capped mountains. I came to a turn and had to detour off of Rt 40 to take his route. Well god damn im glad I met him because I didn’t expect to see this beauty back here. You’ll see in the pictures when you scroll down shortly. The roads went up in a mountain of desert and red rocks with cactus everywhere. Eventually coming down into a valley with a huge river flowing through it. The roads were freshly paved for most of it and there wasn’t one straight section for a while in the valley. I was ripping along on my bike having a grand time all alone. The views, the temperature, the roads, everything was just perfect. I realized I was getting low on fuel. I tried to stop for fuel where he told me to but the gas station was closed. I barely made it to the next town with my fuel light on and thank god I had this big tank on my bike or else I would have been stuck in the desert. I filled up on fuel and tried to refill my SIM card with luck in the small town.
Back on the road I had a few more echoes to Mendoza including the detour he told me to take. He told me there were some dirt roads coming up and it was only 10kms. I ended up getting to the section after the police stopped me to check my papers. I was a bit nervous as I still haven’t gotten insurance but they didn’t ask for it luckily. I hit the dirt section which ended up being about 30 miles. I was ripping right along doing 70mph on it. I’m starting to get really comfortable riding on dirt and gravel with some sand. I let the bike search a bit with the front wheel but I stayed relaxed and loose on the bike and just let it do its thing. Last year I probably wouldn’t go over 20-30 on this road. Here I am doing highway speeds on it for 30 miles blasting over loose gravel and sand. I make it out back to the paved road after a while and I stop to take in the view. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This view in front of me looked fake. Absolutely fake. So many mountains full of color with clouds floating over them for miles and miles in the distance.
I was riding through some small towns, this is what Patagonia feels like for some reason. High elevation, pine trees filling up my nostrils with the smells, cleanest air you could imagine in the middle of nowhere. Couple of girls walking through a vineyard waved to me and I waved back. What a lovely day this was. Everyone walking by looked so peaceful in the middle of nowhere with small houses here and there.
I pulled into a packed restaurant in the next town and got myself a lovely Argentinian steak now that I know what to order. I watched the soccer game on tv with Poland which they lost. The food was delicious.I got back on the road and did the shortcut into Mendoza that he gave me. I passed a huge blue lake where people were sailing and chilling on the beach there. The mountains going into Mendoza were wild. I was anxious to get to the city so I could get to the hostel and jump in the pool. I made my way into Mendoza, checked into my hostel and got right in the pool. I made some friends here and went out to dinner at the best steakhouse in the city with another rider. OH MY GOD. These steaks put steaks to shame everywhere else in the world. The price was like $12 for a 2.5 pound steak that we split along with drinks. I came back to the hostel and crashed super early because I was tired from the three long days of riding I just did.
