Meet M/C Travlers from around the world

  VIEDMA, Argentina
Sunday, December 10, 2006

Attended Horizons Unlimited meeting on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. A meeting of Motorcycle Travelers from around the world.  You need to see the pictures to appreciate this.  Will send a link with pictures as soon as I download to a site.  
We have met people who are traveling for periods of 1-2 years to 5-10 years from all around the world.  Motorcycle travelers from Switzerland, Scotland, Germany, Korea, England, Australia, Holland, France, Argentina of course,
1 US Michigan fellow 66 years of age who started riding when he was 60, and 2 Canadians - us!  Our trip seems so short and small in comparison.  I was pleased to find I was not the oldest one there.  

One couple with a sidecar, another Frenchman about my age with a sidecar 2 years into his 10 year travels, a number of couples traveling 2 up, some couples each riding their own bikes, and lots of people by themselves.  One couple from Australia are traveling around the world in some sort of converted truck.  The stories and adventures we heard about were great.  The people were fantastic.  Really refreshing to talk to people who do not think we are nuts for taking these types of trips to foreign countries. People that have have done things and been places that most of the population say can not be done or is too dangerous.  (especially considering that nearly everyone who tells you how dangerous other countries are have never visited these other countries outside of some organized tour or to some resort area constructed  to give the tourist some sort of manufactured view of what the country is really like)
                                          VIEDMA, ARGENTINA

                           A COUPLE OF WORLD TRAVELLERS

These travelers we met have been around the world and have experienced all kinds of cultures and made friends in many different countries.  What was very interesting to hear, is that people from all over the world think in the same manner as the people we know back in Canada.  It seems that no matter where you live, most people believe that foreign countries are dangerous and their home country or city is very safe by comparison. 

We stayed in our own kitchen unit attached to a Campground 20 miles out of Viedma.  Almost everyone else camped.  I guess when you travel for years, each daily expense certainly adds up.  Or else maybe at our age, we are just too lazy to camp.
On the Saturday, we all traveled into Viedma to attend a motorcycle meet not associated with the Horizons group.  We were looked upon as a pretty elite group, travelers from all over the world.  As always, the Harley was the most photographed item in town.  Every time we stop, and sometimes while we are driving, people are using their cell phones to get a picture.

On Sunday we traveled to where we viewed thousands of Sea Lions.  And when I say thousands I am not exaggerating, just look at the pictures after I send you a link.  After that we traveled about 60 KM through dirt and sand to a farm where we had a barbecue.  Karyn and I were by far, the last to arrive.  Probably an hour behind everyone else as I just could not keep the bike stable in the sand.  But we got a round of applause when we finally did arrive on the Harley.  Ours was the first Harley that ever traveled to this South America meeting. 

Motorcyle travelers from 11 countries. Some have been traveling for years.


Attended an Asado 60 kilometers down a dirt road that was mostly soft sand.


We did develop a problem with the bike late on Sunday afternoon, but we will tell you about that in our next entry.
The barbecue was great, like everywhere in Argentina lots of meat barbecued over an open fire.  Beef steaks, Beef Ribs, Sausages and an entire lamb.  Now I am anxious to to barbecue an entire lamb in this same manner when I get back home.  I wonder what the condo corp will think if I start a fire on the grass and stake out on entire lamb over the fire.  

  THE BIKE MEET THAT LEONARD AND KARYN ATTENDED,
 
Typical Asado in Patagonia. Cooking an entire Lamb over an open fire. We saw this on a number of occasions. The Asado we attended on the farm also included a lamb and it was delicious
 
How did we get to Viedma.
Had a surprisingly easy time getting out of the city of Buenos Aires.  I  was very pleased to leave the traffic and congestion of Buenos Aires and the risks associated with millions of people.  After weeks of putting on very few miles  we put on 618 KM on December 06.  The first 575 we pretty boring, but we sure made up for it with the last 40 some KM.  I wanted to get to a little resort town of Sierra de la Ventana which is located in the sierras (small mountains). 
 The map I had indicated that I could save 50 or 60 KM by taking a short cut.  The people at the gas station did not know about this short cut, and that should have been a hint that this might not be a good idea.  The road started as very rocky, with some small sandy stretches.  But it appeared to get a little better, some deep ruts, but mostly hard pack clay with rocky sections at the top of every ridge  But no signs giving direction.  A couple of wrong choices at some crossroads ended up as dead ends against a fence.  So we would back track and take the next road, and this happened a couple of times until I was sure we were completely lost.  It was about that time that the sky turned very black and all the thunder started.  

 LEONARD'S SHORTCUT

  After a couple wrong turns resulting in dead ends we finally arrived at a paved road before the storm hit.  This road would have quickly become impassable for the Harley had it started to rain heavily. All worked out well, and we were safely in our room in Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina before dark, watching  a terrible thunderstorm.

We just kept on picking what appeared to be the widest road, until we ran into a large herd of cattle.  We stopped the bike, rather than stampede the cattle, and waited for the cowboys who were herding the cattle.  The great news, they told us we were going the right way and only had another 5 KM to go.  Pretty scary for a while, especially with the black sky and thunder, but it all worked out very well.  I was very pleased at how well the bike handled over the rocky ground. We were both very dirty from the blowing dust, but after shower we were as good as new and really pleased to be safe and secure in our hotel.  If it had started to rain, the road would have turned to mud, and we could very well have spent the night out there.  No more short cuts.