Guardian Angel

While I was contemplating setting up my tent on the covered deck near the guard station at the entrance to Ushuaia (if the rain didn’t let up) a friendly black Labrador retriever with a red collar decorated with dog bones came by to say hi to me. I petted her just a little and she just kind of hung out with me. 

Munchi where I first met her

As I left the area of the police/guard/sign I tried to tell my little friend to go home. I tried in Spanish and in English but she just kept following me.  When I came to a long downhill she couldn’t keep up running with me and I watched her get smaller in my rear view mirror. I thought she would give up and turn around but she just kept on running and of course caught up to me on the subsequent uphill.  She never turned back.  

Well it seems I was officially adopted by this dog.  She had not left my side since the day she found me. My friend Tenecia’s boyfriend has a cute black lab mix/mutt named Munchy and has been trying to give him away to a good home but to no avail for a while. Tenecia jokingly asked me before I left Anchorage if I wanted to take Munchy with me on my bike trip.  I told her that I wish I could have Munchy on my trip with me and that it would be a lot of fun to have a companion along like him but logistics would be hell. Well, I guess the saying is true, “Be careful what you wish for” since I think I ended up with Munchy after all.  I have been calling her Munchita, Munchi for short.

Fast forward 5 days later and I am in Tolhuin only 100km (60 miles for the metrically handicapped) from Ushuaia. I switched my GPS and bike computer to show in kilometers because it makes me seem so much faster and like I have gone so much further! Incidentally, all of the signs here are in kilometers anyway.

Munchi stayed with me like the best friend a dog is supposed to be for these 60 miles. I only rode about 18 miles each day but that meant she was running most of those. I would be taxed going uphill and she would be taxed going downhill!  I really had to ride the brakes on the downhill parts for fear of her poor little heart giving out 
because she would try so hard to keep up!  What a trooper!

Munchi and I getting water. I was purifying mine but hadn´t realized yet that all the
water from streams etc in Chile and Argentina are okay to drink from!

Well, I really enjoyed her companionship at night in the camp. I had visions of appearing on Oprah with this miracle dog that followed me home across two continents!!  Mom would be so proud (she loves Oprah). Then came a reality check when someone mentioned the difficulty of crossing the many countries' borders with a dog and besides that Munchi was really slowing me down on my riding. Munchi is such a great companion and she makes me smile.

Munchi sleeping in the entrance vestibule of my tent

So, I landed in the town of Tolhuin and I was explaining my dilemma to the bakery owner’s son who speaks English. He thought it would be impossible to cross the borders with Munchi and he thought Tolhuin was a better place for her than Ushuaia but of course he personally could not take her in. I left the bakery and Munchi was gone!  She disappeared from my life the same way she appeared in it. As I walked around Tolhuin that afternoon I never crossed paths with her. Munchi served an amazing purpose to me.  She was with me on my first 4 nights of camping in the trees off the highway and in horrible weather, over my first mountain pass, and she saw me through to the next town outside of Ushuaia. A job well done. She will be greatly missed.

A Tough Start

I started my journey on Dec 18^th the morning after my friend Kim left me in Ushuaia.  Kim flew down from Alaska and stayed eight days with me.  We did some touristy stuff that I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise.  We rented a car and got a preview of some of the riding I would do, we saw penguins (different kinds than we saw in Antarctica), and Kim helped me immensely with last minute things I had to do.

Kim and I on the boat to go see penguinos

Magellanic penguins

Fully loaded for the 1st time

I was supposed to set off for my adventure before Kim left in her taxi to the airport. She was to photograph me riding off into the sunrise (yada yada) but it just didn’t work out that way.  Instead she left whilst I was loading up my bike  in the midst of my anxiety from realizing that I was packed up to the brim!

Now, at the moment of truth I had to reach way down and muster up some inspiration and I hadn’t even started yet!  I remembered my friend Eric’s words of encouragement when I told him my concern about the weight of my stuff whilst I was still back in Anchorage.  He said that I would just have to pedal harder and take it slower but eventually the weight would feel like less and eventually I would be able to ride longer and faster.

I knew this would be the hardest part of my trip for several reasons;

1)     Confucious say: that the hardest part of a 10,000 mile journey is the first step (or something like that)-smart man, and it’s true because someone said that he said so J.

2)     This part is the learning part. Learning what I need and don’t need, learning/remembering where I packed the friggin such and such, learning how much food I need to last me until the next town etc.

3)     This is the physical training part.  I didn’t do any training on the stationary bike they had at the South Pole Station because I don’t “work out,” can’t do it, and won’t do it. I knew the beginning of the trip is when I would be getting my training in and I have the time to go slowly.

4)     The coldest parts of my journey are at the beginning in Patagonia and at the end in Alaska and I HATE THE COLD!!!

5)     The most remote and uninhabited parts of my trip are at the beginning (and end) but here I don’t speak the language very well and don’t know how many days it will take between towns.

6)     This part is where I will have to camp a lot (and have no choice) as I am not able to make it to the next town in most cases so the camping is in the cold-did I mention that I HATE THE COLD?!!!

Okay so now I first had to ride west and south to the REAL end of the road down a dirt road into Tierra del Fuego National Park just to start. What is 30 miles on top of 10-20,000?

The end/beginning of the road

The two days that I was camping in the national park I couldn’t help thinking about what I was going to do with all of this weight.  Trudging on the dirt road through the park was a little disheartening my first day.  The road was rough and the inclines were much steeper than the normal grade of paved roads AND my bike with stuff weighs a ton. 

Enough worrying because I am just going to get stronger as long as the bike holds up!

I rode out on the third day with a brief stop in Ushuaia for internet use.  When I was leaving Ushuaia it looked like heavy rain was eminent so I put on some warmer clothes and kept an eye on the sky. I was determined to start the trip but I didn’t want to be a statistic.  I could see it now, “Whatever happened to that girl Holly who was going to ride her bike to 
Alaska?” “Oh, she got as far as the first day and was found frozen to death in her tent about 100 yards north of Ushuaia!”

The goal, the plan, the execution!

Hola and Feliz Navidad from Argentina!!!

Some of you are new to me as I may have just met you on the road or we may have lost touch but thanks for joining me on my journey!

Here is a short synopsis of the makings of this trip/blog:

• Hollywood was a name given to me by a coworker in Antarctica (United States Antarctic Research Station of McMurdo) in 2005 and modified by me to the current spelling of Hollywould a couple of years ago.
• This bike trip was dreamed of by my friend, Kim, probably about 4 years ago. At the time Kim was intending to join me on the trip but current life situations don't allow for that now.

• A year and a half or so ago I got serious about making this trip finally happen. My friend Andy Martinez (I forgive you Andy, lol) came up with the idea of spending 13 months straight working in Antarctica (instead of my usual summer there of 4.5 months per year) because staying in Antarctica for both my usual summer and then the winter offered me a way to save money (not such great pay but just having nowhere to spend it).  This was drastic for me because I hate WINTER! I applied for a winter job anyway and landed a position and arrived at South Pole Station at the last minute possible before the station closed of all flights in and out for the 8-9 months of winter.



Leaving the South Pole on a DC-3 Basler aircraft

• After being "on the Ice" ( the nickname us workers affectionately give to Antarctica) for exactly 13 months I flew home via New Zealand to Alaska and flew south again with my gear, bike and friend Kim to Ushuaia, Argentina.  Talk about a carbon footprint! Ushuaia is advertised as Fin del Mundo (the end of the world) but the advertisers have obviously never spent a winter at the South Pole! Well at least Ushuaia was to be the "end of the road!"
• Kim has since flown home to Alaska and I am now heading home too but via bicycle!  Estimated time of arrival home in Alaska about 20 months from now or August 2013 (or when my money runs out OR I stop having fun).
• Thanks to everyone who has made this trip possible, for their encouragement, support, and ideas and for taking care of my stuff while I am out living this dream!  I couldn't make it happen without all of you!
• Now it is off into the wild blue yonder...