Got up before sun rise and made it to the ferry on time. The ferry crossed the Estrecho de Magallanes in about 2 and half hours. Sun rise looked promising. It was about 24'F at the start. One hour into the ride the winds picked up and it started to snow. A bit later rain mixed in. Then snow, rain and wind, the straight of Magellan living up to it’s reputation. A perfect day for a duck and Uncle Walter. I hunkered down in Punta Arenas and worked on la Poderosa. Odometer on arrival 3502.6
5/7
Arose after sunrise and left late. The roads by then were in good shape, mas or menos. In a small bay on the way out, some splashing along the shore line caught my eye. It turned out to be dolphins eating. They are fast! I would hate to be a little fish. One minute just hanging out in school, learning what ever it is little fish learn, and kabamb!!! you're a dolphin scooby snack. The little fishes had no chance. It was a great show.
The ride from there took me back out across the pampas (the desert grass lands of Patagonia). The winds stayed down till after 1:00, than steadily picked up. I stopped to take the above picture of the ranch named after Chula-bean and could tell it was about to start. About 30 minutes later I came across a cattle drive like the one pictured. The cattle drive had bout 150 head coming down the road. I stopped, shut the engine off, put the kickstand down, leaned into the wind (onto the kickstand) to watch. Bammmmmmb! Along came a big gust! Couldn't hold her. La Poderosa and Uncle Walter got knocked over flat. Took about 1/3 of a second and I was eating sand, La Poderosa unscratched. By the time I got the bike back up, with the help of some nice Argentinos, I was surounded by cows, dogs and cowboys. Couldn't take a picture as the wind kept blowing and it took 3 of us to keep the bike upright. When all the cows past a guy with a van pulled up and blocked the wind long enough for me to get going. I only got knocked over 1 more time, about an hour later. I had stopped to take a picture of los torres, in a well protected spot and a gust came form no where and flattened me and the bike again. No worries, no one hurt.
Uncle Walter
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