Chile...

This is Andy.
Andy stopped us on the highway in the Atacama desert... the driest desert on earth, and needed water. He is from Minnesota and rode his bike all the way here from his house... dude is nuts!






















Yesterday the Dakar traveling horsepower circus left Argentina for Chile. Our route took us over the Andes mountains to a maximum elevation of 15,500 ft. A surreal liaison with scenes straight from another planet. Difficult to breathe and at times tough to concentrate on anything for more than short periods of time.
We are starting to get into a rhythm of navigating our way through the day using a variety of roadbooks and maps to find our way out to the special section followed by making camp, eating and a little sleep. Wake up at dawn, break camp and repeat. As I write this we have just seen our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean where the infamous Atacama desert meets it.
By the way Robby took the stage win yesterday... America, Fuck yeah!
-B.

I wrote the above yesterday. Today Robby had a horrible day and is not really a factor the win but our man in the VW camp Mark Miller is in contention for the win... stay tuned.