Happy San Martin Day!

I didn’t realize until later that today was a holiday. The supermarket was open on Sunday hours, so open in the morning and closed in the evening. Fortunately, I stocked up on most things in the morning. A number of the other shops still stayed closed, though I didn’t figure this out until later.

Four of us cyclists in town all on a rest day and all planning to depart tomorrow, so nice to catch up with others on similar journeys.

Some of the cars around I had previously seen in Europe but not for many years.

Otherwise also got a bit more rough planning together as I have three months (November 21st) to get to Puerto Montt some ~2150km from here. TDA will cycle the same distance in just under a month, so I do have a little time to play with. Following is a rough updated plan:

• From here to Mendoza is ~650km and will have combination of an occasional town but also camping along the way.
• I’ve booked a short flight back from Mendoza to Colorado in September. This gives me a chance to pick up new tires and potentially a few other spare parts. I had budgeted the time+money for one trip back to the USA and Mendoza seems like a good place for such trip and tires are a good excuse. The only drawback of flying from Mendoza instead of Puerto Montt is I’ll still need to carry anything extra I bring to Puerto Montt.
• From Mendoza to Puerto Montt is another ~1500km to cycle most likely heading via Bariloche on the Argentina side.
• Puerto Montt to Ushuaia with TDA is ~2475km and a more intense month of cycling – though no longer carrying my gear. TDA ride finishes in Ushuaia on December 21st at the summer solstice.
• After that, fly back to the USA. My tenants’ Austin lease finishes December 31st and I will re-enter the working world in 2018.