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Published: March 25th 2014
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D Duke and D Nurse
A road for the Duke for sure!! The Argentina Bum Snake and more Adventures...
Our stay in La Rioja meant different things for different folks this year, with Bob and Mary visiting a cultural Museum and finding that absolutely fascinating, they had a woman guide who spoke reasonable English and was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the museum. In the mean time, I was disappointed about the outcome of my negotiations over a late 60's VW Double cab ute, while both D Duke and Bones were caught by the infamous 'Argentine Bum Snake' it gets in some how when you least expect it and proceeds to make your life a misery....so not wanting to venture far from the hotel, they just rested, lucky D Duke had D Nurse and Bones had me!!
We had planned a reasonably early start the next day, but when we got to the garage we found the Duke's rear tyre was FLAT!! Bugger, out with my repair kit from Best Rest Products in the USA, a couple of gas tubes and we were on our way....next stop 80 kms for more fuel, a coffee and the loo, as somehow that bloody snake got up my ass last night!!
We moved
onto our next scheduled stop at the Talampaya National Park, where those others that had escaped the snake had a great lunch. Shortly after, in the high heat of the day they boarded a bus that would take them on a two hour excursion of the park, D Duke felt he was up to it. The bus was to be air-conditioned, but all it did was make a noise, so it was a long 2 hrs - Bob had wisely ditched his riding pants for a pair of shorts.
Bones and I saddled up and headed directly for our accommodation in Villa Union, it was one of the longest 60 kms I think I have ever ridden, but after refuelling the bike at the only station with some gas, we both made for the loo and a rest up before the others arrived. (sorry I don't have photos of the park at this stage)
They all duly arrived around 7.00 pm, and all were pretty exhausted after such a big HOT day.
Later, they all went for dinner down town, but not me .........
The next day, we were to have ridden onto San Jose de
Great Ride!!
Photo captured by Bob Jackel, but we had a chat and Gerardo came up with a good idea that we stay another night here, then ride directly to San Juan the next day - it turned out to be a good decision.
Late morning we saddled up (not Bones) as I was feeling a bit better and we rode up Ruta 40 to the Cuesta Miranda. I took D Nurse with me on the Harley (as a treat) to give D Duke and Gerardo a bit of 'Play Time' as it were.
On reaching the summit, we encountered major road works and I mean MAJOR, I could hardly make out where the old road had gone, those of you have been this way in the past would not believe it!! We returned to the hotel and some of us washed our Harley Davidson and Ducati....ready for the next part of our adventure.
We left Villa Union at 9.00am and headed off towards San Juan. The early morning ride with the sun on the Rocky Andes Mountain range was what we came for.
At one point in the ride, we had to cross a culvert that was covered with fine sand,
Harley Heaven
Also captured by Bob. and we know what lives in the sand...the Bloody Argentina Sand Snake!! It took D Duke a bit by surprise, but he managed to shake it off with legs flailing about, all in all a good save!!, thank god the Harley missed the sand snake....
On reaching San Jose de Jachal, we needed fuel and the only gas station had a queue that took us 45min to each get a tank of gas. While we were there, we decided to make it our lunch stop, as there was not much choice on our planned route, which took us via Rodeo and Los Flores and some amazing rocky passes, we reached a altitude of 2626m before dropping down to the throbbing metropolis of San Juan and our Hotel el Bono. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the bloody bum snake had even got D Nurse.
The next day the situation was....Bob and Mary, along with Gerardo had avoided the snake, D Duke and I were well recovered, but Bones and D Nurse were still in 'Recovery'.
Tomorrow we head South again to Mendoza, so until then, hasta pronto, Rosco.
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Peter H
non-member comment
Snakes!
No snakes on the plane please!