Thursday, November 26, 2009

Fin Del Mundo!! - We Made It to the end

Group photo at the end of the road.
Dining room view the night before Ushuaia
Ushuaia


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Group photo at the end of the road

Cerro Sombrero to Ushuaia – 300 miles

We left Cerro Sombrero, Chile for a town on a lake that is 60 miles north of Ushuaia. We stopped here to assemble, celebrate, and then ride as a group to Ushuaia in the morning.
Mac and I stopped after today's border crossing in a town called Rio Grande. We finally found a bank so we could get money and I then went to an Internet cafĂ© so that I could find out how my Dad is doing (He’s been in the hospital for five days now). After the Internet I went for a long ride by myself (Mac didn’t want to use the Internet). I got back to the hotel on a lake only to find out that Jeff and Mac had been out looking for me. Not only that but Jeff got a call that his sister died. She lived in Australia and may have had a drug problem. I think Jeff may be the best guy on the trip. I’ve enjoyed all of my time with him. He is a charming, humorous, and provocative character. He’s a Kiwi, has a house in Australia, and travels 52 weeks a year. He has cat-like balance, climbs, hang-glides, and rides motorcycles like no one else. I’ll miss him the most.
Tonight we had dinner as a group in a dining room overlooking a mountain rimmed lake. Utterly magnificent!

NEXT DAY:

This morning was our last ride south. As agreed, we left as a group for the sixty mile trip to Ushuaia. It was an emotional morning. We’ve all finally come to the realization that this fairy tale existence is going to come to an end. I very much want to get back to my family and am looking forward to my Dec. 9th flight. However, there has been something completely captivating about this lifestyle for the past five months. All of us love motorcycling and travel. We have arisen each morning to a full breakfast, fastened on our helmets and ridden between 150 and 400 miles to a new city in a foreign country. Once there we got our room, a shower and went out to dinner. Along the way we met and interacted with people we didn’t know. Whenever we chose Mac and I modified that plan to accommodate our mood. We will all miss that freedom.
Those returning to the job they had beforehand will suffer the most. For them the adventure will end in early December. For myself I have the luxury of being jobless. Once home I can concentrate on finding new employment, hopefully in a place where I can be challenged daily.

The ride in was stunning. I had always assumed that Ushuaia was a destination only because of its status as the southernmost city. During the ride today it became quite clear that it became a destination because it is a glorious place. It is at the end of the island Tierra del Fuego. Think of this island as an enormous diamond tiara. Eighty percent of it is flat and featureless. Then you reach the bottom of the world and this end of the island is covered with dozens of snow-capped mountains and the Beagle Channel (named by Captain Fitzroy after his boat on an early expedition. Charles Darwin was aboard for his first time at sea). The island is like a tiara in that both have their beauty concentrated on one end.

We rode 20 miles past Ushuaia to the Tierra del Fuego park and its sign at the end of the road. We all hugged and took photos for two hours. Any and all gripes and grudges were forgotten. As I’ve said before this five-month trip is a Cosmic Petrie Dish. It throws together total strangers in a complex environment, adds stress from travel and shakes liberally. One could easily do a psychology doctoral dissertation based on this experiment. We had Champagne and chocolate before we left for a group dinner near the waterfront.
All that's left is a 2000 mile ride up to Buenos Aires to ship the bikes home. I'm sure there will be adventures along the way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

2000 more miles! Congratulations Jim.

Anonymous said...

congratulations dad. were really proud of you and were happy we met mac. tell him happy birthday and have fun. love you.

The boys

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