Ruta 40

A long day driving. Argentina is long as the USA is wide. So our drive to the southern tip is like driving from west coast to east coast of the United States. We have been trying to figure out what route to take and where and whether to enter Chile and return to Argentina while heading south to Ushuaia. Complicating this is that some of the roads, especially the ruta 40 in some places is dirt, potholed, repaired, or washboarded for miles. 

Yesterday was seven hours driving and today would be about the same if not longer. We let the kids play in the pool for an hour before we hit the road. 

We stopped to get some lunch at a parrillada with dirt floor.

There was a off road rally going on in the town of Villa Union for the next two days. We passed muddied dirt bikes and off road vehicles headed in the opposite direction.

The scenery continued to look like Red Rocks near Las Vegas and the eastern sierras. 

We made it to Mendoza, Argentina's fourth most populated city, known for the wines and vineyards which surround it, of which we shall have naught for we no longer drink alcohol. The sky started spitting rain. Google maps took us through sketchy parts of town before connecting to the nicer parts in northwest Mendoza to our campground. 

This campground was nice and well maintained with a lot of trees for shade and with gray water drain and water hook ups and a pool. The sun had just set so we found a spot and then walked out to find dinner at a restaurant next door. There were a couple fruits and vegetables stands and we refilled our coffers after a couple Argentinian agriculture check points took our apple and banana. 

We found a parrillada and ordered a pizza and a steak. Both were acceptable. The pizza crust was more like their thick bread. The steak was ok. Christine ordered a hot skillet of melted provolone cheese with caramelized onions. That was nice to dip into. 

We went back to our camp and it started to rain. We did some more route calculations and made more plans for the route ahead that seemed reasonable. There were be some long days ahead. We need to do some laundry and get an oil change and wheel rotation and alignment tomorrow.