Skip to main content

Motoventure Day 22: Oruro to Random Location

P1050587 (written 11/2 @ 5:45AM)  I just watched an amazing sunrise over a desert after sleeping under the most beautiful sky of stars I have ever seen.  I'm also typing this with gloves on so apologies for typos.

 

 

P1050558 I think my bright idea of heading to Tagua then across the salt flats may have been a bit more ambitious than I thought.  The roads here have been insane – ever since Chalapatla I have been fighting sand, immense rocks, huge potholes, and generally very inhospitable terrain.  On top of that, parts of the road are under construction and are very confusing – especially since I decided to continue on at night.  Apparently my current coordinates are a good 10+km south of the main road right now according to my map, woops – guess it's a good thing I stopped when I did.

 

P1050535 On the other hand, what a day yesterday.  Rob & Will and I left Oruro fairly early, with me deciding I would wait to get my jaumoto fixed until the next smallish town because Oruro was just so huge.  We caravanned a few miles out of town then sadly separated ways – they decided to make a race for Asuncion while I was still destined for the salt flats.  Even though I've been on my own a lot over the last couple weeks, I always knew someone was behind me to catch up to me – no longer, as no one is taking the route I'm taking from here on.

 

P1050544 In Chapatla I found a mechanic who helped me out with my header – couldn't fix it the right way, so we literally wedged the header on with a welded bolt against the frame.  Awesome fix, and it has really held up over some super rough terrain.  We'll see how many days it lasts…

 

 

P1050551 I can't really say a whole lot about last night as it's impossible to explain the experience.  I will say that I felt really good about it and aside from getting lost (woops) I am very happy with what I pulled off, but bummed I didn't get to see the sunrise over the salt flats.  Now I need to get in gear for a very long day of riding…  hope I have enough gas in my gas can to get me out of here!

* edit added 11/12 @ 7PM in Uyuni:  This day was pretty emotional and contained a lot of different experiences, from leaving Oruro, driving on nice roads, and saying goodbye to Rob & Will to getting stuck in sand, getting lost many times, driving on soul destroying roads, and thinking I might not make it after all.  Then I spent the night wrapped in a blanket in a construction quarry at about –10 degrees F, constantly waking up due to the cold and staring at the stars until I fell back asleep (I don't know why I didn't get out my sleeping bag or other gear).  It was very intense and this lackadaisical blog spot reflects that.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Days 94-98: The Struggle for Beauty

In which Pete nearly loses Red and gives up once again, before crossing an ice field to spend the night with the Bolivian army at Laguna Colorada and returning to Uyuni for supplies.

Jury Duty: Not Like TV (or: Longest Post EVER)

Prepare yourself for by far the longest blog post ever – if you’re at all curious about real life jury duty or enjoy all those cop & lawyer shows then give it a go - this recount of the trial and details given for evidence will blow your mind, make you think twice about the effectiveness of our police officers and the impartiality of our juries… Shortly before leaving on my trip in January, I was summoned for DC Grand Jury Duty .  I was able to have it rescheduled to begin on June 7 and made it back to the US only a few days before it was due to start.  After thinking about it I really felt that I would not be comfortable spending 27 days of 8:30AM to 5PM in an “office” for $30 a day, especially with the changes to the economy going on right now – I’d rather enjoy that time. Upon arriving at the courtroom for Grand Jury Duty, I quickly noted that there were over 40 people in the room, considerably more than the number required for the Grand Jury.  Once we were checked in, the c

Days 61-62: The Little Engine that Could… Not?

In which Pete returns to Ruta 40 with a shiny new front wheel, struggles against mysterious engine problems, has an argument with a police officer in the dark, and survives a desert of prickly thorns only to get a flat at Walmart. Day 61 Begin: Santa Rosa, Las Pampas, Argentina @ 10:30AM End: Unknown Location, Ruta 143, Las Pampas, Argentina @ 6:15PM Distance: estimated 350km (218mi), no odometer and GPS datalogger failed I was pretty stoked this morning. Red was shiny and clean, his new front wheel was incredibly stable, swapping out the fat and loud MT40 in back for a normal road tire made him more quiet and docile, and all that ash and gunk was cleaned out of the intake system. The temperature was so warm (upper 50’sF) that I felt free and agile wearing less layers than normal and the wind was blowing straight south while I would be traveling mostly westward – incredible luck that I wouldn’t be traveling straight into the wind the entire day.