Necochea to Bahia Blanca, 210 miles

We started the day by cleaning and lubing the chain and then quickly shot down the arrow-straight highway racing through the six gears before hitting my 80mph wife-imposed maximum about 8 seconds later. We passed by blurred bright yellow fields of sun flowers, blue ponds, brown pasture, and prairie. It got hot and we couldn’t get to Bahia Blanca fast enough.

We did the hotel shuffle for a while before finding Hotel Victoria, the best deal in town, but run by a guy from another planet. You get the feeling he is wearing women’s clothing under his hotel outfit, or is a serial killer—one or the other Amie and I decided.

After checking in we headed out to see what Bahia Blanca was all about, but then noticed gear in the lobby not unlike our own. More adventure bikers! No one was around so we walked across the street to the parking lot to see what type of bikes these folks were riding. That is when we met Rick and Salvador, two travels from Southern California who met along the way in Honduras and were now on there way back up the continent from Tierra del Fuego. Funny, because Amie and I were talking about how we haven’t seen any other moto-travelers since the Gassmen, the friendly Canadian couple, in Costa Rica and Gunther, the bitter German, in Ecuador.

Rick was an older Harley guy on a KLR650 making the ride from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Salvador was chemistry major from Nicaragua by way of Italy, who sold all of his worldly possession in OC to do a 10 month South America trip with plans of moving to China for work when the money runs out. We spent our evening drinking Quilmes and swapping stories with these two. My favorite was Rick’s, it went something like this, as best as I can remember:

Somewhere in Ecuador he asked a police officer for directions. The police officer and partner, sharing a motorbike, offered to lead Rick to his destination, but first offered an escorted tour of the city. Rick agreed with enthusiasm. He followed behind the officers to the police station, where he parked his bike and climbed aboard another bike piloted by yet another police officer. The three cops and Rick went out on the town on the two bikes with lights flashing and all. The story goes, the cops traversed the city and suddenly drove through a narrow doorway that opened to a courtyard that was a square city block full of hookers. In the center were men drinking, playing cards, enjoying a meal etc. Along the perimeter were rooms, each with a women sitting in front of the door. The officers pulled up to a room that had the door closed. They barged in with no warning where Rick witnessed a man pulling up his pants and shuffling in as the police stormed the place. Rick said inside was a 6’ tall blond prostitute, the climax of the city tour…

He wasn't interested in a trade

Sunflowers at 80mph

Our new friends, Rick and Salvador

Watch out for that one...let's hope we make it through the night!