17 March 2018 – It’s my brother Rick’s birthday today. I’m
wondering if he’s enjoying his 70th birthday. Sometimes racking up those years
are some pretty tough apples to eat. Happy Birthday Rick.
I was eating breakfast and it was 9:30 / 10:00 in the
morning and I get a texted from Russ. It said they’re ready to ride out into
Parque Nacional – Tierra del Fuego -
Bahia Lapataia to take pictures by the sign. This sign is the Holy Grail or the
Brass Ring of riding to the tip of Argentina. It’s the sign you want to show
all your friends and your grandchildren when you’re bragging up your motorcycle
travels. I asked if they could give me a minute or two I so can get myself
together and I would text them back when I was ready. They said they could wait
and drink another cup of coffee. I got myself and my motorcycle put together
and texted them back and said “I’m ready to ride.”
They showed up at my hotel and I asked who wants to lead. I
had my GPS programmed to go to the end of the road in the park. I told them
that and they said “lead the way.” I told them I’m slow and sometimes miss
turns, and they said they were ok with that too. So off we go. I never missed a
turn on the way out there. When we arrived, I drove right up into the area of
the sign. I wanted to get a picture of me, my motorcycle and the sign. That was
my mission. We had to wait through many tour bus people to get our turn at the
sign but we eventually got our photo session at the sign with very little
interference. We even took pictures for people and they just loved us for it.
Russ had a Cuban woman chew his ear off because she really
liked his motorcycle. Had he wanted to pursue it I’m sure he could have had a date
for the night. Every one of us got all the pictures taken we could want, and we
left for the Green lake. Neil and Russ wanted to see this lake. I’m not sure
why the water is green. It could be caused by the minerals in the soil, trees
or the vegetation in the area. I’ve seen a green river like that farther North
that I took a picture of.
Neil and I were standing on the observation deck talking and
this tall woman was standing there looking around. I don’t know if she was with
a tour or with a boyfriend and Neil said “She’s an American.” I asked him how
he knew. He said only American / U.S.A. people have white teeth. So we asked
her if she was American and she said yes. I asked her where she was from and
she said, Chicago, Illinois. I about fell over dead. I told her I was from St
Paul / Minneapolis, Minnesota. We also told her one of the guys with us who was
out taking in the views was from Chicago. It just goes to show you just how
small this world really is.
I asked Neil where he heard about only Americans having
white teeth. He said he was watching an interview with Russel Crowe the
Australian Actor, who told the individual who was interviewing him that the
only people in the world who have white teeth are Americans. I noticed some
women in Central and South America who had white teeth: maybe they were from
the USA and I didn’t know it.
From there we stopped once more to take some more photos and
then we were off to the hotel. We got back to my hotel and then Russ and Neil
split off to their hotel. I sent out some quick e-mails and then went to look
up some motorcycle shops in Ushuaia. The Kawasaki shop was closed, the second
shop was closed and Moto Pablo’s was open. I knocked on the window and someone
opened the door. I walked in and everyone was wondering “Who is this Gringo?”
And I was thinking “This is my kind of place.” We translated through our cell
phones. I got the oil I wanted, I was able to change my own oil and they
disposed of my old oil. I was happy. It was a Gomer Pyle kind of place. People
came to talk and shoot the bull. I worked away with an occasional observer
checking out my motorcycle. Nobody was an ass. I paid up, everybody was happy
and they helped me to jump a 3.0 Inch / 8 CM step to get my bike out the door.
Before I left, I showed Moto Pablo that I found his place on
the internet and he gave me some stickers to put on my motorcycle. I was really
glad I got that job done. It was a rainy trip back to the hotel. One thing for
sure I was glad I had Blanche doing the navigating, otherwise I would have
never found the hotel. I sat down and was eating at my hotel and texted Russ I
had changed my oil. Boy I was glad it was done. 
No comments:
Post a Comment