November 5-6, 2011
I want to start this blog by saying thank you to everyone who has clicked on the link to the right. We were one of the top 4 campaigns on Indiegogo!!!! We also made our goal! We can still accept donations until our time is up, so don’t worry, your money is still good here. And please click again so we can stay on the front page. Thank you as well for all my friends and family who have already donated. Thank you so much, it really means a lot.
Saturday my main goal was to work on the motorcycle. I wanted to figure out what that noise was, change the oil, buy two new tires, and change the spark plugs. The manager of the hotel had a motorcycle and we drove all over town until we found a place with good tires. I have always had dirt tires on my bike, but I could only find good street tires. I was nervous about this, but I honestly spend more time on pavement than dirt. By 5 pm I got everything done (except the noise) as well as laundry! Nice. I headed over to Vanissa’s house to show her some pictures from Ollanta and met her family. We bought some food for dinner, then I headed back to get some sleep. I knew I had a monster day ahead.
Sunday morning I was out of the hostel by 6:00 am. I stopped for gas and to fix the rear tire which was not put on all the way. By 6:30 I was on the road. Ollantaytambo was well over 400 miles away, and I wanted to make it back that day. That would make it my longest day ever.
The new tires were AMAZING. I didn’t know I could lean so far into curves. It was bitter cold at first, but I was traveling at a good constant speed. Basically I stopped 5 times in nine hours. Gas, food/bathroom, cop, two pictures. I actually felt great. I think since I knew I had so many miles to travel that I was ready for it. By 3:30 I was in the plaza hugging Ana, Alecia, Maria Elena, and Maribel.
Thus ended the trip to Chile. In total it was 1985 miles, with 417 coming on the last day. I saw several major tourist spots, had the most intense ride of my life, made some incredible friends, got to stay at an orphanage, crossed a border, and once again experienced unbelievable kindness of strangers. Life. Is. Good.
No comments:
Post a Comment