Okay, okay, so Fairbanks, Alaska isn’t the absolute top of North America. It’s pretty darned close, though. My destination – Ushuaia, Argentina – is actually beyond South America, situated on the under side of Tierra del Fuego, the island just off the southern tip of the continent. Sitting at Latitude 54º 55' South, Ushuaia is the southernmost town in the world. As one who’s always preferred traveling to the ends of the earth over the “must see” destinations such as Paris or New York, I have been primed and ready to go on this journey ever since I earned the miles for it back in September.

Those of you who’ve read of my peregrinations in the Trip Report Forum know that I’ve hardly been sitting still all winter. I began this year by flying From Colorado to Australia ~ the long way of course, via London and Singapore. Once there, I utilized trains, busses, hitch-hiking, a motorcycle and an airplane to take me a further 6000 miles around South and Western Australia before flying an additional 17,580 miles to get back to Colorado.

Following a short 700-mile roundtrip drive from Denver over to Central Utah, I commenced a series of Mileage Runs between Denver and Philadelphia. The $118.00 all-in roundtrip fare was offered over the Internet back in mid-November and was available for a very limited time. The routing allowed me to fly from Denver via Seattle and Chicago each way, so I bought myself six roundtrips. Tack on an additional 39,570 miles, and many more miles earned.

Finally, I hopped into my trusty 17 year old Mazda B-2200 pick-up and drove from Colorado all the way back up to Fairbanks, Alaska (Pictures Here) ~ 3,152 miles in the dead of winter. Thankfully for me, the weather was incredibly cooperative and the majority of my trip was made under sunny skies and good road conditions.

Add it all up and I’ve traveled just over 85,000 miles in the first two months of this year. For most people, this would be more than enough travel for the entire year. Not me. I’m just getting warmed up.

I know what many of you are thinking – this guy’s definitely got a screw or two loose. Well you’re right – I probably do. But so what?! I’m havin’ a good time, at nobody’s expense but my own. I mean, I could sit around Alaska or Colorado all winter, find seasonal or volunteer work, and take that one nice trip like I usually do at the end of the winter. It would seem the more sensible approach. But hey – the opportunity’s here now, the finances are here now, and of course the desire is always here. Regardless of whatever else I may be doing at the time, I am ALWAYS ready go somewhere.


*** ***** ***

Many of my best trips have been spur of the moment affairs where I often didn’t know where I was going until I finally got there. Occasionally, I’ve thought I knew where I was going but then something shinier came along and I changed course. An example of this happened back in November of 1994 when I flew down to Chile, primed to do two months of hiking in the Andes. Unfortunately, unusually heavy late spring snowstorms had rendered much of the high country inaccessible. Although both Chile and Argentina have an abundance of delightful small towns to visit and beautiful countryside to enjoy and explore, I was nonetheless somewhat disappointed that my lot was primarily down in the valleys, not up on the mountaintops. I’d come all this way primarily to hike.

One day, in the beautiful resort town of Bariloche, Argentina, I came across a great round trip airfare being offered between Santiago and Miami. It was with Lloyd Boliviano Airlines and cost just $510.00 USD all in. Being the national airline of Bolivia, Lloyd didn’t fly nonstop between Santiago and Miami. Rather, it offered a four-stop direct flight making calls along the way in Arica, La Paz, Santa Cruz and Panama City. Awright! That’s my kind of routing! As an added bonus, Lloyd operated comparatively ancient 727-200s on this milk run, a definite plus for the nostalgic in me. Last but not least in my considerations, I’d never flown Lloyd Bolivian before. At that time, it would be my 96th airline flown in the quest for that magical plateau of One Hundred Airlines Flown.

Once reservations had been squared away and tickets purchased, I called up my friend Ruby who worked in the Grateful Dead’s ticketing department. The Dead were playing a two-night gig at Denver’s McNichols Arena in early December and although tickets were probably long since sold out, knowing someone within the band’s organization definitely had its advantages.

Unlike a lot of big bands, the Dead, in addition to selling concert tickets through traditional outlets like Ticket Master, also sold tickets through their own ticket office. All they required was a 3x5 card bearing the pertinent information regarding which concert, how many tickets, your name and mailing address, etc. They also required a self addressed stamped envelope. And a money order issued in U.S. currency. They were quite the sticklers about this and those folks unable for whatever reason to follow instructions to the letter very likely didn’t get their tickets.

Back in 1986, I was in New Zealand attempting to get tickets for some Spring Tour shows. Not having any access to US postage stamps, I was unable to comply with the self-addressed stamped envelope requirement. I decided to make a long distance call the band’s ticket office problem hotline in San Francisco and see what, if anything, could be done. Though a veteran of over one hundred and fifty Dead concerts since the 1970s, I’d never had cause to call the band’s ticket office before and didn’t know anybody there. The New Zealand long distance telephone operator stayed on the line and announced to whoever picked up the phone in California that this was an international call from New Zealand. Oh, whoa, man… Just a minute...

Soon, Ruby came on the line. “You’re calling from where?!!” she asked in astonishment. New Zealand, I replied and explained my predicament. I think she was impressed at my willingness to call from so far away. Many people would have just shown up at the shows and hoped for a miracle. She got me tickets to every show that I wanted, including a couple that were already sold out. They were good seats, too. The next day I sent Ruby eight separate International bank drafts in US Dollars from the big ANZ Bank in Christchurch Square, along with a nice set of bowls made from New Zealand woods. It was the least I could do in exchange for her kindness. Our relationship was borne of that call and in the years to come, I also found need to call from Thailand and Rarotonga. Although Ruby asked for nothing in return, it was always fun to send her a nice little gift from afar as a token of my appreciation.


*** ***** ***

“Where you calling from this time?!” Ruby asked with laughter in her voice. Argentina, I replied. There’s too much snow down here right now and I was wondering if by chance there might be any seats available at the McNichols shows in Denver? Moments later I was on my way to the bank to send money for tickets that would await me at the Will Call window in Denver for both shows.

In any event, what started out as a two-month trip to Chile ended up with an excellent two-week sojourn around America squeezed into the middle of it. I spent a couple of days in Florida visiting friends in the Everglades, then rode Amtrak’s Sunset Limited from Miami all the way across the country to Los Angeles. The Sunset Limited was then and still is the only trans-continental train ever to operate in America. In Denver, I met up with friends from Colorado, Alaska and Virginia and we all had a great time as only one can at a Dead concert. I then hitchhiked down to Durango for a quick visit before continuing on to Gallup, N.M. for a date aboard the westbound Southwest Chief. Along the way, I almost got stranded in Shiprock, N.M. and were it not for a trucker who picked me up in the knick of time I would have surely missed my train to LA and connection back to Miami. No biggie – I would’ve just hitched down to El Paso and caught the Florida bound Sunset Limited from there. My flight back to Santiago made stops in Caracas, Manaus, La Paz and Arica and the flight between Arica and Santiago offered spectacular views of Aconcagua, at 22,851’ (6959m) the highest mountain in South America. Within a week of my return to Chile, I was hiking the 50-mile Torres del Paine circuit in southern Patagonia.

My vacation from a vacation notwithstanding, it is precisely because of my proclivity towards impulsive travel decisions that I make all of my longer trips alone. Most people like to stick to a set plan and don’t do well with such wild deviations as I’ve enjoyed. I figure these days it’s a pretty small planet and if I’m in Chile and it suddenly looks fun to pinball over to the Western U.S. or southern Madagascar, why not? It’s all about having a good time. It’s not important to me that I happen to be in Andorra when I’d originally planned to be in Acapulco.

Granted, this is a point of view I can afford since I work seasonally most years and when I do travel, it’s not so much a vacation as it is a case of me taking my life on the road. Most people, by virtue of their jobs or families have only two or three weeks available in which to travel somewhere. As for traveling alone, much less doing anything alone, some people do well on their own whereas others require constant company. While it’s great fun to travel and share new adventures with friends, I’m hardly isolated on trips like this. I meet all kinds of people. But I also really enjoy and indeed require time to myself. As such, I don’t mind one bit doing these longer trips alone. What’s really fun is meeting up with people I know for a few days during a trip.


*** ***** ***

For this trip I have a pretty good idea of where I’m going. I’ve even pre-purchased a couple of non-refundable tickets, though nothing so expensive that I couldn’t afford to absorb the costs if something more alluring came up. Still, I like what I’ve worked up for the next couple of months and hopefully those of you who like my style of trip reports will enjoy reading about it.

Following is the tale of my journey from Fairbanks, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina covering well over 13,000 miles aboard three airlines, three luxury bus lines and one three day boat trip down southern Chile’s inside passage. Now then, let’s head on out to Fairbanks International and get this trip underway.

Pictures can be found through these links:

LAN CHILE TO SOUTH AMERICA

SCENES FROM ARGENTINA AND CHILE

Check back in the coming week and I will have them all titled.