Day 75 Water everywhere

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Distance driven last two days: 301 miles / 484 km



Cumulative distance driven: 14,581 miles / 23,466 km



Last two days’ trip: Laboulaye to Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Today’s ride was a wet story in many respects. It was raining heavy all morning as we left the little town of Laboulaye, and the wet weather continued for many hours. This made it rather hard for Christer to drive, not only because of the very poor visibility, but also because on top of the rain, he had to constantly pump up the pressure on the clutch handle. Overtaking big trucks on the road under these conditions was certainly not optimal, but then again what alternatives did we really have? As a result, we had to make rather frequent stops as gas stations along the road, and get something warm to drink to mitigate the dampness and cold we felt in our bodies.

In addition, big parts of the district of Buenos Aires, which btw has an area equal to that of Italy, have been flooded due to very heavy rains over the past week. We suspect that it is the same storm weather that has been responsible for dumping massive amounts of snow on the pass to Chile and along either side of the Andes, and which forced us to turn around a few days ago. As a consequence of the excessive rainfall, most rivers has swollen with 1 to 1,5 m, or about 3 to 5 ft. Lots of people and livestock have had to be evacuated and we saw plenty of trucks moving cows away from their now flooded pastures. All day along we could see the plains along the road being completely under water, and many times the water level would be almost reach the road surface level. The weather forecast predicts for more rain during the week, meaning that the flooding will probably only get worse.

All in all, it was not the greatest riding day of the trip, but we at least we managed to get to the capital. First thing tomorrow morning, Christer is headed to the BMW motorcycle dealer here in Buenos Aires to get the clutch hydraulic fluid flushed and replaced, and to do a full service on the bike. Once those things are done, we will look for a flight for Zoe to return to Seattle and the US. Last, but probably not least, Christer has to figure out the logistics of the last, and probably longest and most difficult part of the trip, which will take him to Ushuaia at the southernmost tip of South America.

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