Chile (Part 1)

Day 43: Woke up on the wrong side of the bench seat.

Doing my best to be grateful for this opportunity, but three hours doesn't provide nearly the patience required to deal with a Latin American border crossing. Instead of being thrilled with successfully crossing the border, I couldn't get over the fact they confiscated my trail mix. Sealed trail mix. For raisins. Picked up two hitch hikers at the border which couldn't come at a better time. Thought gas was $1.75-$1.90 a gallon, but just as I was about to break out the City Slickers 2 "gold" dance, I realized it was the price per liter. Even after $5 a gallon in Peru it was enough to knock the wind loose to the point of almost throwing up and crying at the same time. Atacama desert provided a phenomenal back drop for our first real gas scare. No GLP in Chile and a useless customs official made for a great crossing. Need to study the route closer before setting out for the day. Falling behind timeline. With a third driver we are going to try and push through the night.

Day 44: 01:30 driver change and we had to use our first spare tank of gas to get to Altofagasta. Although the inner "prepper" is proud, between the time change, our shitty waitress in Arica, and two gas scares, we are well over six hours behind. Even if we drive through through the night. The high desert gave us our first below freezing wake-up call followed by a mad dash for layers while filling up. Pushed through the night but only made 300km due to road conditions. Still no where near where we'd hoped to sleep. True breakfast of champions - Cheetos, coconut cookies, chocolate wafers, and a cigarette. It's continental and included in your hitch hiker fee. *Song - Langhorne Slim "Land of Dreams" (never felt more like a movie in my life)* Everyone has finally come to terms with our plight that is time and distance, but spirits are still high. "Already the sickest road trip of my life" - Jeremy Antonyshyn Near collision on an attempted pass in fog, and it looks like it's my turn to drive again. Made some time during the morning shift only to have it crushed by construction. Hoping the border is 24 hours so we can maybe crash in the Aconcagua national park after dropping off the hitch hikers in Santiago. Roadside bathroom stop at potentially someone's winter trailer getaway, in the middle of the desert. Found a bucket but couldn't decide if the owner would be more upset if it was meant for the bathroom and I didn't use it, or if it wasn't for the bathroom, and I did. My 3oz of body wash is no more. Inner prepper is very melancholy. Pushing through the night for Mendoza by 9 which will put us back on the original timeline. Truck is running great. Starting to find her highway legs. Relatively speaking of course. Certain we will do this entire trip this side of 70mph, and only breaking 60 on the downhills. Never thought I'd be so content to cruise at 50. Mendoza looks like the halfway point to Ushuaia, distance wise, and we will have five times as long to get there. Let's hope it's enough.