We got out of Zapala wearing almost all of our winter gear. The ride today was only going to be a few hours as we were staying in Bariloche for two nights. The wind was whipping and we were ready for some cold riding. The road was fast and smooth. High desert like scenery and were again “stretching the throttle cables”. We cruised along at 90 for about an hour or more, The road had just enough corners to keep us awake.
If you have ever been to eastern Oregon this stretch reminded me of that. Complete with Mt Hood in the background. And of course Dan’s UFO in his camera!
The road took a turn and dropped down a hill into the Lake district. It was quite a contrast to the desert we had been blasting through. High rock formations around beautiful smooth lakes. Not one boat on any of them. With the road down in a canyon the wind had stopped and the sun was out! The road also began curving along the shoreline and we were loving it.
Then my reserve fuel light came on….. I quickly did the math to Bariloche and realized I was not going to make it. I slowed way down and began the “oh shit, I’m not going to make it routine” over and over. A few miles later Dan slowed down to see what happen to me and we chatted about fuel. “well we’ll go as far as we can and get Wes to run in and come back”. It seems the fuel mileage of the V-strom goes waaay down when you cruise at 90 plus….
It really wasn’t a mile later we came around a corner and bingo a gas station in the middle of nowhere!! Not sure why a guy would have his business there, but we were happy he did. While topping off we saw a Restaurant on the hill over looking the lake. We decided to go have lunch. It turn out to be a forgettable lunch but the view was great and it was nice to take a break during the day. Our normal routine is to ride all day, Skip lunch and just ride till were ready to stop for the night.
We rolled the 40 or so miles into Bariloche carefree. Very beautiful city right on a lake with high peaks all they way round the lake. A little touristy but a nice city with lots of timber/stone type buildings.
Tomorrow we chill in Bariloche…
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