Early Up

Getting an early start is important. We were up at 6am and on the road at 7am. The idea is that there is less traffic and fewer trucks on the road then.

The Day started slightly overcast and then we hit some rain showers but finished in the sun.

If the rain got to strong we would pull into a bus shelter and wait it out. Thankfully there were few showers and we stopped to let the rain pass only a couple of times.

Up and Down

Ruta 5 is part of the pan American highway stretching from Alaska all the way down thru Chile. It is a scenic route and has some lovely vistas and river valleys.

Coming into these river valleys is always a treat as I think there is little or no maximum slope permitted by the people who design the roads. My Max today was a break squeezing 55.7kph and Bob's was way more as I could just see a speck of him as he glided into the town at the bottom of the slope.

The downside, however, is that once in the valley you have to get yourself back out of the valley and the grade is steep and long. One climb seemed like forever and I walked most of it. Bob rode to the top, parked his bike, then walked back to help me Walk my bike up the hill.

You Never Know What You'll See On The Road

Coming to the crest of a hill I could see something on the side of the road.

There are lots of dogs...

Is it a dog? No!

I've seen lots of sheep.

Was it a sheep? No!

Cattle? No!

Momma pig and her piglet!

They ran out after Bob. Then into the middle of the highway where they got honked at!

They trotted along the shoulder for a bit. We could hear them snorting after us.