As we blew our budget yesterday sucking crab, we decided to have another Oros Dinner last night which we made in the foyer of our Gran? Hotel, to the horror of the poor lady working at reception. I smoothed things over with her by giving her a little wire animal from Africa and then asking her for a broom and mop, (so she new we were planning on cleaning up after us, and then I asked for glasses, knives, cutting-board and plates, mayonnaise, salt pepper, serviettes etc.)

Today was a long day, the kilometers was not over the top, just over 400km, and the road was mostly straight tar road, but we 1st had to cross the border out of Argentina into Chile, then take the ferry across the Straights of Magellan again and then 140km further cross the border again, out of Chile into Argentina. And when we got to the Ferry Crossing, who was waiting for us??? Yes, old Murphy, the guy from Murphy’s Law, (if something can go wrong it will,) and it did go wrong. As we arrived we saw the ferry pull away from the dock, missed it with minutes. then when the next one came it was filled with trucks that was in a line behind some buildings which we could not see. All these trucks were transporting either LPG Gas or Fuel or Diesel, so they all went on their own without any cars, bikes or other trucks. We could only get on the next ferry. So we had time to work on the bikes, wax the chains, tighten Tex’s chain, again, and Rocky’s bike sprung an oil leak from the one fork, so Pie was trying to clean out any dirt from under the fork seal. A trick you do with a special tool that you force in under the seal and then turn the tool and it hopefully cleans out all the grime and the leak stops. It is a bout a 50% chance of this solving the problem, if it still leaks you need to replace the seals, and oil etc.

This is the state of Tex’s back sprocket:

The only way he can ride his bike is with the chain set very tight, and then he can’t accelerate fast and must be gentle, if not, the chain slips over the sprocket as all the teeth has been worn. So both the American 990’s are in trouble. You will remember that Pie fitted the back tyre that Tex discarded when he fitted his new tyre, so it is rather worn. We blame all of these woes on South African Airways as the lady at the check-in-counter accepted Pie’s luggage and inside his luggage was his new back tyre for his bike and a set of Chain & Sprockets for Tex, but when his luggage passed through a X-ray scanner they flagged his bag and they refused to load it, their excuse was that it contained a Power-Bank, but we suspect it was the 2lt of motor oil also inside the bag that caused the X-ray to freak-out. Pie thought SAA had lost his luggage. So both Tex and Pie had no choice but to ride South with us as El Calafate was too small to get a tyre and some sprockets, but now as we are heading North, we hope to find these items in this town or maybe in one of the next towns. We are also looking at Couriers. I am however not worried as DadAss is 100%, but I am on the look-out for a Laundry as I can smell my Laundry bag every time we stop as the socks are maturing and mixing their aromas with the scent of my underpants, and today is a Sunday, so no luck for me there as they are all closed today.

While we were waiting for our ferry we decided to indulge into some lunch:

A packet of crisps, a packet of biscuits and “coffee” which comes from a machine and is as sweet as syrup, and does not taste like coffee at all, but it was hot, and we were cold today, again. Well, 4 out of the 7 of us were cold, or, let me re-phrase, the MEN were cold, but the ladies we ride with had invested in Electric Heated Vests, so every time we stopped, Millsy and Dog and Pie took longer to dismount their bikes as they 1st had to un-plug their pink vests from the power point on their bikes. “Since My Life” I  have never been this jealous. (Yes, “Since my live” is an African saying, I did not just get confused with my wording.)

We had a long line of bikers joining us waiting for the ferry.

In the line of bikes waiting to board there were several bikes from Brazil, they all had these “Piano Wire Cutters” on their bikes, remember I told you about this in one of my Leg 22 Post. In Brazil gangsters and thieves takes thin Piano Wire and tie it from telephone poles across the road and then bikers get almost decapitated when they ride into the wire. This device cuts the wire before it cuts you. They said it was common and one hears about a biker dying in this way very often in Brazil. We battled to communicate, but I think he was also saying that it is not just thieves who does this, (to steal your bike) but it also happens when one gang wants to eliminate someone from another gang. He told me that it was not just in the big dangerous cities but even on rural roads. The photo below shows it before it is extended, almost like an olden days arial on a car. I took another photo of the cutter on the head of the device but Murphy distracted me and that photo is out of focus.

This guy below has warm hands and a cold heart:

We met very interesting bikers of the ferry:

Some were even good looking:

This guy below has a Star Link Satellite Dish mounted on the top of his Top Box and is never not reachable I guess.

At a fuel station just before the ferry we met this guy who re-wrote the book on Oros as he travels on less than a shoe-string.

He is from Colombia and is traveling South America on a small unknown motorbike, a 150cc. He camps and never sleeps in a hotel. His top speed is 70km per hour and some days he covers 600km. His bum is obviously made from Carbon Fiber.

A few days ago his bikes Magneto and Alternator died, so no more spark to the motor. So he bought a car battery, mounted it behind him, and this battery is enough to provide Spark to the motor for the whole day, but he needs to charge it at night, so he eats dinner in little restaurants and eats very slow while he uses their electricity to charge the battery. See the battery in the photo below:

And for some of you that spotted the little round Tube on his seat, well spotted, but no, he did not just have some hemroids removed, it is so that his seat is more comfortable. ( My stupid A.I. “Friend” that stays in my computer does not know the word hemroids and keeps on changing it to Hermits.) Skaap

Talking about Skaap, (sheep,) we did have some today on the road. Most of the road we just had warnings of all the Alpacas and Lamas that we were going to see, and we did, hundreds next to the road eating the grass, but they are clever animals and I only had one “Oh My Golly” moment when one wanted to cross in front of me. In Africa we have goats and they are not clever, some would see a biker and then run 100m to throw themselves in front of you, but not these long neck animals.

But here are the sheep video. They were crossing the road, 100’s of them, herded by modern day “Cowboys” on quad bikes. If you get to see the video below, note that there is a dog with them. This dog is not for helping the farmer herding them, these dogs  stay with the sheep day and night and are there for protection of the sheep should a predator try to kill one or get close to the herd.

Click on the video below:

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But everyday is a good day, regardless of what goes wrong, if you could see behind this Bandana, you would see my smile:

And that is all for today, sadly there was not much photo opportunities, did I mention that it also rained? When it rains your head goes down and all the meandering flies out the window, ok, we dont have a window for it to fly out of, but rain and photos just dont mix. Maybe tomorrow will be better, sorry.

You must all have a Great Week !!!!!

XXXXXXX

Fleisch