FLCC> Setting off in Argentina

[daniel at ppckernel.org]

Hola, all ye who are entering winter.  It's spring down here and in a day
or three we should be out of the city.  Toby and I are in Buenos Aires
right now where we've been taking Spanish classes for two weeks (very
useful, except that I really still can't communicate, fortunately for me,
my brother is doing a little better).
We really have very little idea of where we're going, exactly, from here. 
We picked up a bunch of train schedules today, planning to take one out of
the city this weekend and setting out on the bikes somewhere where the
crazy drivers at least have room (hopefuly!) to not kill us.  Since
arriving in the city we've only ridden once, on a Sunday (calm day).  That
was "a real thriller."  There are quite a few intersections in the city
with neither stop sign nor traffic lights.  We thought there were
surprisingly few accidents (none), given the way people drive here; until
we saw two in one day.
In just a few days after my bland Waynesboro missive we met a lot of
wonderful folks (apparently October is late for touring, and we really ran
into almost no cyclists, touring or otherwise, until then).  One
particularly wonderful Lady proved to be about a 5 mile ride from
Waynesboro.  Known as the Cookie Lady (real name: June Curry), she used to
bake cookies every day for cyclists, but now, after having had a few
strokes, she lets them cook for themselves in the well stocked kitchen of
the 'bike house.'  Her "bike house" is a next to her house.  It's a huge
house in which the walls, ceilings, and tables are all covered with post
cards, photos, and things cyclists have left in the past thirty years. 
You'd have to see it to understand, but two qoutes left by earlier
visiters really rung true with us: "You should have a warning, one night
is not nearly long enough to see read all the articles, notes, and look
through the photo albums; cyclists staying here won't actually get any
sleep but be up all night reading."  And: "Have you ever felt you stumbled
into a fairy tale??"  We certainly did.
After our stay there, which was much too short, and I highly recommend
anyone ever riding anywhere Waynesboro stop by to see her.  Her address:
June H. Curry
3252 Afton Mountain Rd.
Afton VA 22920
If you're following Skyline Dr./Blue Ridge Parkway she's just about two
miles off the route (east on whatever highway crosses the parkway/drive
where one becomes the other, and Afton Mtn comes off that, take it south.)
If you're doing TransAm cycle route 76 just look for her "Water for
Bikers" sign; she's on the route.
Two days later we ran into our first fellow tourists.  Hannah and Erin
were headed south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Neither had ever done much
road riding; Erin was more of a mountain biker, and hannah had never
really done any cycling, she was in hiking boots.  We found them at the
top of the longest climb to date (13 miles, 3300 feet of elevation gain). 
That hill was their second day of riding.  Hannah had a fiddle straped on
her rear rack on top of the tent and sleeping bag.
Despite the minimal riding they'd done though, they kept up with us fairly
well (which maybe just means we were carrying too much weight, and maybe
just means that women are much stronger than men).  We ended up riding for
a week with them and staying at the house they were headed to for a
weekend.  There we made a lot of biscuits, gravy, and apple dumplings. 
Hannah, Erin, and Josh (owner of said house) all played fiddle, guitar,
and banjo.  They played some damn fine oldtime.  It was hard to leave, but
we managed to only a day later than we planned.  When we left Hannah
decided to come down to Asheville with us and visit some friends there.
We then had a nice little cold snap in the mountains.  We were sleeping in
20 degree weather, and riding in 30 degree, windy, sometimes snowy weather
for a couple days.  Fortunately the sun came back out as we reached our
highest point on the trip, near Mt. Mitchel.
Having someone around who'd been to Asheville before (Hannah) turned out
to be quite wonderful.  Asheville was a story in it's own, but I need to
go get some food as we're leaving the city tomorrow and not packed at all
yet.  We said goodbye to Hannah in Asheville, and spent 50 hours on bus
and plane gettintg to Buenos Aires.  Then a few more hours finding a
hostel.  It's quite a city (12 million).  Very European for South America.
Time to be one my way.
Hope you're all doing well with winter.
Cheers,
Daniel