Another tough day today. The wind! Man the wind!
We had breakfast at our hotel in Rio Gallegos and were on the road by 8am. Almost immediately the wind began to punch us around. A strong wind from the west with lots of trucks and buses on the road buffeting us around. The road was ok and we tried to stay around 120kph but it was hard work.
Also I was still tired from a rather unsatisfactory nights sleep and I kept dozing off. On one occasion I went completely to sleep and woke up in the opposite lane at 120kph. That woke me up!
Also the other traffic on the road was hoofing it. Most cars overtaking us were doing 140kph with some doing at least 160. On such a narrow two way road with such a strong wind, it was a trifle scary. My petrol consumption went up to 6.4 litres/100kms which is very high. This meant I was keeping a close eye on petrol stations too.
We had lunch at Tres Cerros and I buggered around for ages getting some money out of the bank. We then soldiered on through Fitz Roy to Caleta Olivia. Man, what a dump. The wind whistles through here pretty constantly I think so the rubbish and plastic is everywhere. Like i mean .... everywhere. Yuck. We found a hostel but it looked a bit rumpity so we went looking for something better. They were all full. So we ended up back where we began. The proprietor is "interesting!" He insisted on having a photo taken with me. We are his first official guests since 5 December?
At least he was ok about parking the girls in the hotel foyer.
I think.
We'll be on the road early again in the morning. Up the road to the next town (Comodoro Rivadavi) for breakfast.
That's it. Hopefully we will get some sleep tonight but I am beginning to have my doubts.
Today's run: 710kms (that is huge considering the conditions!)
Cumulative: 39,904kms
Tipovers: 5
Location:Caleta Olivia, Argentina
Look on the bright side mi amigo.
ReplyDeleteWould you rather be flying around South America with me on LAN!!
The bonuses are...
You get very bumpy flights from the left over wind from your land based trip, delays and intransigent obfuscation.
Oh, and a day's shopping in Santiago... Psssst don't tell Dick.
Perhaps I should be thankful.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was learning to drive the tutor at the defensive driving course told us that most accidents happen near the end of a journey because people are tired and start to focus on being home rather than on driving.
ReplyDeleteDon't lose your focus please!
I remember thinking everyone in argentina seemed to go at twice the speed limit. So in towns where it's forty they'd do eighty and on the motorways where it was eighty they'd do 160. Lots of accidents too.