Dakar...Chile / Argentina 2010

Para todos que tienen interes en todo lo que es Dakar 2010, puedes ir a este sitio: http://www.emol.com/especiales/2010/especiales/deportes/dakar_2010/index.asp

Carretera Austral

Anyone interested in reading about the Carretera Austral, the road that I explored on last years trip to Chile, might be interested in reading this article. Travel writer Colin Barraclough, along with a good friend, recently made the journey to Chile, to drive a 330 mile section of the Carretera Austral, and he chronicled his experiences for the Boston Globe. You can read his impressions from the road in a story posted here. A word of warning however, after reading this article, you just may be booking a trip to South America.

Things Are Looking Up

BMW has returned to its sences, and brought back the RED R1200GS after a year of absence.

Likely “The Last Time…”

Few planes in the history of aviation are as well known as the Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 was the plane that pioneered the Airline Industry around the world. As anyone that regularly reads this blog knows, I ride my motorcycle to Oshkosh, Wisconsin every year for the week long "EAA AirVenture". EAA AirVenture is the largest aviation event in the North America. EAA has recently announced that probably the largest gathering of Douglas DC-3's ever, will take place at AirVenture this year to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Douglas DC-3. AirVenture will take place, July 26 - August 1, 2010. Read more here.

Dakar Rally announces 2010 route in Argentina and Chile

Sands of time: the 2010 rally begins in Buenos Aires on Jan 1 Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The route for the 32nd edition of the Dakar Rally begins in Buenos Aires on Jan 1 and ends in the Argentine capital on Jan 16.
Held over approximately 9,000 km the race passes through Chile and will spend seven days in the Atacama desert, known by experts as the driest desert in the world.


Dakar Rally route:

In brackets total distances/specials.

Jan 1: Buenos Aires - Colon (317 km)
Jan 2: Colon - Cordoba (652km/219km special for motorbikes, 684km/251km special for cars)
Jan 3 : Cordoba - La Rioja (626km/294km special for motorbikes, 687km/355km special for cars)
Jan 4: La Rioja - Fiambala (441km/182km special)
Jan 5: Fiambala - Copiapo (629km/203km special)
Jan 6: Copiapo - Antofagasta (670km/483km special)
Jan 7: Antofagasta - Iquique (598km/418km special)
Jan 8: Iquique - Antofagasta (641km/600km special)
Jan 9: rest day
Jan 10: Antofagasta - Copiapo (568km/472km special)
Jan 11: Copiapo - La Serena (547km/338km special)
Jan 12: La Serena - Santiago (586km/238km special)
Jan 13: Santiago - San Juan (434km/220km special)
Jan 14: San Juan - San Rafael (796km/476km special)
Jan 15: San Rafael - Santa Rosa (725km/368km special)
Jan 16: Santa Rosa - Buenos Aires (707km/206km special)

The good news is that the Dakar race will be coming south in Chile as I'm heading north, so I should run into the Dakar this year.

North To Alaska.......The Route

The route I plan to take to Alaska will take me from home to Toronto, Canada, then north around Georgian Bay, over the top of the Great Lakes and across the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Albert, British Columbia, The Yukon Territory and finally into Alaska. I figure it will take about eight days to get to Alaska. The return trip will be just the reverse.

Alaska

Welcome
Lots of great information in here in great detail

Yes, Alaska! The planning phase of a motorcycle trip to Alaska has begun. I have been toying with the idea of going to Alaska by motorcycle for quite some time. Although the ideal motorcycle to take to Alaska would be the bike I have in South America, the BMW R1200GS, I will probably make the trip on the BMW K1200LT that I have here in the States. One thing that I have to find out before I go is, where are the paved roads, because the K1200LT is not the bike you want to take down a wet, muddy gravel road, as it weighs in at nearly 900 pounds before you load it up. I just ordered and received the latest copy of the "Mile Post" for 2009. An inch thick publication, the Mile Post touts itself as "The Bible For North Country Travel" and is packed full of all kinds of information about traveling to Canada and Alaska. Now....to plan the trip.

Re-thinking Next Years Motorcycle Adventure To South America

Geysers in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Photo by Eric Cleaveland
Well, I had thoughts of heading back south to the Carretera Austral in January, but now, after talking with my friend Eric Cleaveland, who last year rode his motorcycle from Ushuaia, Argentina to Alaska, I am now contemplating going north in Chile to the Atacama Desert. Eric tells me "It's worth the trip". Others have also mentioned that the desert in northern Chile is quite spectacular. It is the dryest place on Earth, and it is said that there are parts of it where it has never rained. The good thing about going north is that I can pretty much count on good weather. One thing is for sure.....I'll know when I get there!

**UPDATE**
I have made the decision....I will be going to the Atacama Desert of Chile for sure. I am also going to go into Bolivia, since I will be so close to the border when I reach San Pedro de Atacama, adding yet another new country to the list.

Great Day For A Ride To Niagara Falls

Maid Of The Mist

Today turned out to be a great day to ride the bikes out to Niagara Falls. Joe and Howie stopped over this morning and we rode out Route 104 to the Falls. After walking around the American side for a while, we went up to the observation deck where there was a spectacular view of the entire Falls. On the way home we stopped in Johnson Creek, where Sharon met us for some hot wings and cold beer.

Announcing A New Site For My South America Adventures

Starting on January 7, 2010, the date that I will arrive in Santiago, Chile, there will be a new Web site dedicated to all my South American motorcycle adventures. All my adventures in one place. If you would like to follow my travels in South America, please go to this link and bookmark it so you can return often. Here it is: http://samotoadventures.blogspot.com/ I will be keeping you updated every chance I get.

Thinking About Next Year's Motorcycle Adventure

This is the place where Felipe went to Villa O'Higgins, and I went to Chile Chico and on to Argentina
I have been giving some thought to where I will go when I arrive in Chile this coming 7th of January. I have DirecTV here at home, and one of the channels offered is a feed direct from Chile called "TV Chile". TV Chile offers all the latest news and a great deal of programing direct from Chile. I've been watching a program that shows a great deal of the tourist attractions in Chile, and I am getting the itch to head back down to the "Carretera Austral" where I visited this past year. My thought, this year, was to go to the very end of the Carretera Austral that ends in Villa O'Higgins (Lat -48.458467, Lon -72.553602) Last January and February I made it almost to Villa O'Higgins, but because of the fact that last years trip objective was to go all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina, I had to turn east into Argentina before reaching Villa O'Higgins. (Picture above) The Carretera Austral is a rough gravel road that runs down the middle of the Andes Mountains in extreme southern Chile. It is some of the most scenic areas of this planet. Since I'm going to be in South America for almost two months, I should have plenty of time.

Motorcycle Video - Chile and Argentina

This morning I received an email from an adventure motorcycle tour company called Moto Quest Tours / Alaska Rider Tours. I met the founder of the company, Phil Freeman, at the BMW Motorcycle dealer in Rochester, NY about a year ago when he gave a presentation about riding in Alaska. (A future trip) Any how, the reason for this post is to show you a video from Moto Quest Tours of their ride in Chile and Argentina. The reason I wanted to post this is because it shows in good detail the kinds of sights and scenery that I rode thru this past January and February. I actually rode on many of the roads in the video. So, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQB7V2v4Tg Enjoy!!

$100 Dollar Pancake

They arrived in all kinds of craft

A Cessna 140 from the '50's

Two classics, an Aircoupe and a twin engine Beech 18

A Russian Anatov An-2 from Geneseeo, NY

This morning Sharon and I flew the 1200LT over to the Ledgedale airport in Brockport, NY for a pancake breakfast put on by the EAA Chapter 44. There was quite a crowd there and many airplanes of all types. Everything from a homebuilt Ultralight to Cessna 140 dating back to the early '50's all the way to a large Russian Anatov AN-2 from Geneseeo.

A Ride To Duluth, Minnesota

The last "Whaleback" ship

Nasty accident

Engulfed in flames

On Wednesday I made the trip to Duluth, Minnesota to the Aerostich Rider Wear factory to buy a new rider suit. For some reason I thought the ride would take three hours but actually was five and a half one way including stops. On the way back, I stopped to take a picture of a ship at the museum in Superior, Wisconsin, just across the water from Duluth, Minnasota. Turns out the ship, that to me looked like a cross between a submarine and a lake freighter is the last of its kind. It's called a "Whaleback". It's the "SS Meteor".

On Friday, I took a ride to the Ultralight plane area of the airport to watch them take off and land. I then rode over to the Sea Plane Base, that is located on nearby Lake Winnebago. On my way to the Sea Plane Base, I had to detour due to a very serious accident involving a pickup and a motor home. It did not look good! Later on Friday I decided to pick up my toys and head for home, so I broke camp and headed out. Due to my impeccable timing, I reached Chicago at the height of rush hour. Three hours later I was south of Chicago. I will never go thru Chicago again!!!!!! I made it to the east side of Gary, Indiana before calling it quits for the night. I'd had enough after having to deal with the bumper to bumper in Chicago. Did I mention I'm never going thru Chicago again? Any way, I was up early on Saturday and on the road by 5:30am. Somewhere in Ohio I encountered a Minivan on the opposite side of the thruway and there was a small amount of flame coming from the underside of the vehicle. I called 911 as did others, but in less than five minutes, the van was engulfed in flame. Too bad! If anyone had been carrying a fire extinguisher, the van could have been saved.

And that is the end of another motorcycle trip to Wisconsin and back.

Tour Of The Airbus A-380

The A-380

The largest and the smallest. This little plane was brought to Oshkosh inside the belly of the A-380
In the upper deck
Thursday July 30

The big deal today was my chance to board the largest airliner in the world, the Airbus A-380. Boarding started at 10:00am this morning and as hundreds of other people, I took my place in line in the rain. After an hour and fifteen minutes, I stepped inside the cabin. The plane that is here at AirVenture is the second one ever built, and as such is a test bed for the Airbus company. What I mean by that is that this plane is not full of seats, but mostly test equipment. This plane is used to test various layouts that a customer may require. The large gray barrels you see in the pictures are used to add weight to the plane to simulate the weight of passengers or other things. Never the less, this is a huge plane. We boarded near the rear of the plane and proceeded to go to the second level via the rear spiral staircase. As we made our way to the front of the plane we returned to the main level by a large much wider staircase that brought you to just behind the flight deck. Off limits, of course. As a mater of fact, you weren't even allowed to bring a back pack on board.

BIG !!

White Knight II

Eric Lindbergh
Sealing the deal
Airbus A-380

Monday and Tuesday

The first two days of EAA AirVenture 2009 have been BIG to say the least. On Monday we saw the arrival of “White Knight II”, the aircraft that will carry "Space Ship Two"and eventually take people into space. The aircraft is a joint venture between renowned aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Sir Richard Branson, and a deal was signed at AirVenture on Tuesday, between Virgin Group and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi. The deal is a 280 million dollar investment giving the Abu Dhabi firm a 32% share in Virgin Galactic.

The big, and I mean BIG thing on Tuesday, was the arrival of the largest airliner in the world. I'm talking about the Airbus A-380. A double decker aircraft capable of carrying a maximum of 500 passengers. It flew over the crowd of thousands to demonstrate the capabilities of the huge plane, before landing and taxiing to Aeroshell Square, where it dwarfs everything in the area, and will remain on display until later in the week.While wandering around the vintage aircraft area in the afternoon, I ran into a young pilot that I had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago. This young man flew a small plane SOLO across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris, France. His name is Lindbergh... Eric Lindbergh, grandson of the other famous Lindbergh... Charles. Eric was gracious enough to allow me to take his picture. Thanks Eric.

One Day To Go

Sherpa K300 bush plane

A different kind of Ford...a Ford Tri Motor

$100 give you the chance to win this one of a kind Ford Mustang built especially for AirVenture.
Although AirVenture doesn't officially start until Monday, I got a sneak peek this afternoon and found everyone hard at work getting their respective displays ready for the morning. Tomorrow morning there'll be a mad dash for the gates! Here's a little of what I saw. Remember, there's more in the photo gallery.

First AirVenture Update

The trip to Oshkosh was a long one. Before leaving home, I studied various routes to get me around Chicago and all the road construction that goes along with that city. So, I chose to take route 294 North, just to the west of Chicago. Boy was that a mistake! There was more construction going on in that area than there had ever been in the City itself. The tie-ups were horrendous and there was no getting around them. After about twelve hours of riding, I’d had enough and found a motel. The weather was closing in on me and I was ready to stop for a while.

This morning, refreshed and re-invigorated, I rode the last hour to Oshkosh. After checking in at the main gate, and getting all my passes and what have you, for the week, I went to find my usual spot in the campground. As you can see from the picture above, I’m all set for the week, and just waiting for the gates to open on Monday.

EAA AirVenture 2009 Coming Up

This coming week end I'm off to Oshkosh, Wisconsin on the motorcycle, to the annual EAA AirVenture. “The Word’s Greatest Aviation Celebration”, one week of everything aviation. One of the biggest attractions (no pun intended) this year is the largest commercial airliner in the world, the Airbus A-380. It will arrive on Tuesday. I will be updating the site from AirVenture and should have lots of pictures.

Back From Detroit

Ford Model "T"

The original Kenneddy car
Some early motorcycles

The town center

Driven from southern Chile to Dearborn, Michigan

The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are well worth the trip. The museum complex houses some of the rarest and best collection of cars, planes, inventions and memorabilia from the days of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers and beyond. Things you will see nowhere else. An incredible collection from all over.

Sharon and I left home on the K1200LT at 6:30am on Friday and headed to the Lewiston bridge to get into Canada and head toward Detroit, Michigan. We hit some rain on the way, but as we neared Detroit, the sun came out and stayed that way until we left to come home on Sunday. We went direct to the Marriott (the worst Internet connection ever) on the outskirts of Detroit and checked in.

Saturday morning we headed over to the Museum to spend the day exploring all it had to offer, and it was a lot! After a full day at the museum, we found a great Irish Pub where they offered some exceptional Prime Rib and cold beer.

On Sunday we headed back home and the closer we got to New York, the crappier the weather got, but the trip to the Henry Ford Museum is definately a trip you want to make. Go to the "Photo Gallery" to see the rest of the pictures.

The Henry Ford Museum

Dearborn, Michigan is the home of "The Henry Ford Museum". Sharon and I will be riding the bike to the museum later this week. The museum complex also includes "Greenfield Village", an area of historic buildings and attractions, including Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, the first light bulb, a real "Model T", a Ford Tri Motor, the car that President Kennedy rode in on that fateful day in Dallas, and many more historic artifacts. The ride to Dearborn should take us about five hours, going thru Canada. I'll post pictures in the "Photo Gallery".

New Addition To The Blog....VIDEO

I'm trying something new on the Blog, Video! With the release of the new iPhone 3G S, and now the phones ability to record video, I thought I would attach the phone to the bike on my trip to Pennsylvania and see what it would do. I shot some video on Route 184 just to see how well the phone records video. Other than some unexplained waviness at times on the screen, I think it takes a fairly good video, given the constraints of the phone. I've uploaded the video to You Tube and you can see it by going here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBP3gncTUi4 Don't expect too much! Remember, it's only a test.

Piper Aircraft Museum

My guide, Pauline
Bill Piper's silver Cub and far left, his Buick convertible

My visit to the Piper Museum was exceptional. Since the small town of Lock Haven , Pennsylvania was having a parade down on Main Street for some reason, I had the entire museum to myself and the person in charge had the time to give me a personally guided tour. My tour guide was Pauline, a very pleasant woman who it turns out was a personal friend of the Piper family, and so, had a great deal of personal information to share. The museum is small, but has a great display of the history of the Piper Aircraft Company as well as a small hangar with some of the most beautifully restored Piper aircraft I have ever seen. There is also one of Bill Piper's own personal J2 Piper Cub and his Buick Convertible among others. I had to ask Pauline, why the Piper Cub owned by Bill Piper was silver and not "Cub yellow"? She explained that, that particular model was built before Bill's father, William Piper, chose the now famous color yellow for the Piper Cub. Seems the first Piper Cubs were silver. For more pictures, go to the "Photo Gallery".

Kent, NY to Lock Haven, PA

The rain Gods were against me today! I left the house this morning at 10:30 and I didn't get twenty minutes away before the rain started. I pulled into the gas station in Elba, NY and waited for the rain to pass, then continued on. As I got south of Batavia on route 63, the sky got uglier and uglier, until again drops started to fall, so I turned around and returned home. By 4:00pm in the afternoon, the skies where sunny and warm, so I dicided to take off again. This time, by the time I reached the area near of Mt. Morris on Route 390 south, I had to put on my rain suit as I would ride in and out of rain showers for the next three hours. Nearing the Pennsylvania border, I rode out of the band of rain that was traveling west to east, and the sky became sunny again.
The ride thru Pensylvania was very nice, especially an area on PA. Route 284. Turning off of Route 15 south onto Route 284 near Buttonwood, PA, the road tuns into a narrow two lane road that winds thru the valley and along side a small stream. The road is a joy to ride since it winds thru a forested hilly area. Great fun on a bike! Four hours after leaving home, I arrived in Lock Haven.

Off To Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

Route to Lock Haven, Pa.
Piper Twin Comanche

The weather for this week end is looking good, so it looks like I will be pointing the bike toward Lock Haven, Pa., and the home of the Piper Aircraft Museum. Piper Aircraft has been responsible for building some very good planes over the years, and probably none more famous than the legendary Piper Cub. My Dad had a Piper Twin Comanche that we flew to Santiago, Chile and back, in August of 1968. A trip that took us to ten countries in four weeks.

More Trips Planned

Dearborn, Michigan is one of the destinations that Sharon and I will be heading to. We plan to visit the Henry Ford Museum there. http://www.thehenryford.org/ Another weekend trip I plan to make will take me to the Piper Aviation Museum in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. http://www.pipermuseum.com/ And of course the Big Daddy of them all....EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. "The Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration". http://www.airventure.org/
This year will see the worlds largest passenger airliner, the Airbus A-380, make its debute in North America at AirVenture. This is the worlds only true double decker airliner with a passenger capacity of 525 in mixed seating. See the first A-380 to land at London Heathrow here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvR1Oe6CfoQ

Lots Of Progress

Day 5....the finished product
Progress being made

Day four of the deck project and it is looking like a real deck. The railings are promised for tomorrow, and hopefully we will have all the decking installed by then. Boy, am I sore!

Soggy North Carolina

Scenic Overlook On The Way Down
My Grand Kids, Michael and Sarah

My helpers, Tom and Michael

Michael drilling into the concrete

Well, we sure picked a bad week to build a deck in North Carolina. We started on the project today, and we had to work around the downpours all day. Even though it rained on and off all day, we got a lot accomplished. We made good progress.