April 1 – Argentina/Chile
Day 243 – We made it to The End of The World!! Tierra del Fuego. And we survived the Straits of Magellan. We drove up to the ferry terminal noticing strong winds and rough waters ~ along with a ferry boat coming towards us, but drifting sideways through the Straits of Magellan. With hopes that it wasn’t our ferry, we went into the cafe and got the information we needed. It wasn’t our ferry. I wish I could say something exciting happened, like the jolly green giant walked through the straight, or a shark came jumping onto the ferry, but I can’t. The ferry crossing was fine and the boat had 15 foot tall walls on all sides of the parking area, just in case.
Now with all four tires on the firm ground of Tierra del Fuego, we continued on the last 440 kilometers of highway before you hit the ocean and Antarctica. Ushuaia was the port town of destination. Driving down the highway with flat fields surrounding us, and the night starting to settle in, we decided to look for a place to sleep for the night. Soon small hills started to appear out of our pitch black environment. The van started to sputter and cough as we climbed one of the gentle hills…..more bad gas. Down shift and ride it out; that has been our mantra in dealing with it for now, unless of course the fuel filter needs to be emptied…..Henry’s energy started to drop quickly and he died. We started him back up but it only lasted a few moments until more sputtering, then bucking. A bucking VW made us pull over, and Jason got out in the freezing wind and rain to clean out the fuel filter. Any time we have to get to the engine it is quite a process, since it is in the back under the storage space. We have become very efficient at transferring our belongings from the back to the front.
After a clean fuel filter and a damp, chilly Jason got back into the car, we started the van back up and tried moseying slowly down the road. It didn’t last long. Apparently Henry had had enough, and decided that we should camp on the highway for the night. We drove, if you could call it that, until we could find a good spot to pull off the highway and not be on the shoulder. Our first choice was the entrance to a restricted area, we passed on that idea. By the time we found a dirt road to pull on to, I think we got enough training to properly ride out a mechanical bull. Unfortunately, it was still windy outside and the pop top canvas was getting a licking from it – so we ended up sleeping three in the lower bed and one in the front seat. Jason pulled the short straw and slept up front. 🙁 Only 170 kilometers from our destination ~ so close, yet so far away……..
In the morning Jason was able to work on the engine in the daylight and with no rain. He got it running just enough to get us to the next gas station without too much whiplash. We got the last part we needed for a contraption (that we purchased last week) that will separate the fuel and water. We installed it and Jason cleaned the basic parts of the carburetor. Here we come Ushuaia! We all took our seats and took off ~ for about 20 feet. The car died. Uhmmmm…….we looked in the engine and saw that the part of our gas/water separator that holds the gas, was cracked. No gas, no rotating wheels. Jason took off the contraption and back to the gas station we went. We pulled back into our work spot and Jason took what he learned from an earlier mechanic and took every piece out of the carburetor, and cleaned it thoroughly. The car was finally happy again, and all the gunk got cleaned out of the carburetor.
Ok ~ Ushuaia here we come! The rest of the drive was smooth, with absolutely amazing views. The hills turned into mountains, and the Andes were back. The tree covered hillsides were full of all the fall colours and were showing off ~ brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows, against the blue- grey of the mountains and the sky. We made it into the port town and celebrated with a beer. Now the only thing we need is a new gas/water separator so we can successfully leave the end of the world at some point…………
Tags: 15 - Chile, 16 - Argentina, driving, Tierra del Fuego, ushuaia
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You will be experts at getting by with an old VW. I’ll bet you are glad It is not fuel injected. It sounds fun . I am still glad to stay home and tend my goats and read about it. We ( every one on the farm) had a nice visit with Don and Diane Last week end. The kidding season is about over so thing are returning to normal, what ever that is. It was a good crop.Dave and Margaret