El Chaltan For not having existed a mere 30 years ago, this little village has a well-established reputation as the trekking capital of Argentina, and it deserves it. We spent three full days here, with John tackling the biggest hikes including a 12 mile trek to the base viewing of Mt. Fitz Roy and a scramble to the top of a smaller peak over a snow field. Together the three of us hiked the 12 mile round trip to Largo Torres with hopes of seeing Cerro Torres. A couple of notes about El Chaltan. Fitz Roy, the peak that towers above town, is outlined on all the Patagonia clothing, their trade mark. The town is pretty much cut off from the world--internet spotty at best, very few places take credit cards (the readers do not work ... read more

After spending time hangin' with the penguins we jumped on a bus from Punta Arenas and headed for Puerto Natales. The bus ride was not uneventful, as we spotted guanacos and rheas in the fields as we drove. Puerto Natales is a town that is clearly a 'base camp' for outdoor enthusiasts. With the Chilean National Park Torres del Paine just outside of town, this is where people get the last bit of food, gear, or whatever before hitting the park. We arrived in the early afternoon on Monday and made our way to the very nice Hostel Shuen. One of the coolest parts of the place is an extra third story room with two large windows from which we could view the mountains--or the snow storm that decided to greet us! You can see the ... read more

Today we start on a trip that will take Marcia, John, and me to Chile and Argentina to explore the wilds of the 'end of th earth.' We will be flying from Columbus, OH to Dallas/Forth Worth and then on to Santiago, Chile ending up, if all goes well, in Punta Arenas, Chile. This first little blast is just an alert to friends and family that want to follow along. The way this thing works, I think, is that you can select somewhere on this site to 'follow' our trip. Then, each time on of us posts a picture or some notes, you will get an email with a link to log in an see what the intrepid travelers from the Hotel Amesville are up to. On the other hand, you could just ignore it. Next ... read more

After logging 700 miles yesterday we headed out early this morning…almost in the wrong direction. Despite a blinding sunrise from, obviously, the east, I headed straight into it—until Marcia stopped me (on the entrance ramp to the highway) and pointed out I was headed home. Clearly underfed, she handed me the last donut from yesterday, insisted I guzzle some more coffee, and got me turned 180 degrees. Thank goodness she relies on maps, not gps, and a good sense of which way is which—as in, the sun rises in the east. (OK, I cannot help myself...she does not need no stinkin' GPS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ). We were back on MO36, a great road I highly recommend as it rolls through the driftless region from Hannibal and Cameron and covers some nice rolling terrain. (By the way, the NPR ... read more

What is summer without a road trip? Usually you think of going somewhere very cool, or interesting, or something. But this year we needed to go by ground to Colorado from Ohio...a road trip that includes a slog across Kansas. But let's see if we can find somethings off the beaten path that make road travel special. But for a start, we made it only as far as Columbus, logging just 90 some miles, in order to kick the trip off with a concert by Old Crow Medicine Show. As usual, they did not disappoint. The set was full of tunes from all of their albums, and finished with encores from Tom Petty ("Won't Back Down") and John Prine. Everyone went home happy, and today we hit the road for points west.... read more