One night with no wifi sets a person behind with their Facebook posts. That is what happened when we stayed at the estancia. Remember, there was no power, water, heat, or electricity, but a good time.

We said our goodbyes to Mateo and his lovely wife and set out at 8:45 to tackle the remaining 51k of rough gravel road on Ruta 40. Averaging about 13kph, I finally reached the pavement, got on my hands and knees, and kissed the newfound asphalt. That gravel and the washboard surface had shaken every bone loose in my body. My hands were sore from gripping the handlebars, my shoulders aching from the vibrations going up my arms, but I made it, well on track to enjoy the next 40k of a slight downhill with a decent tailwind.

Along the way, we met two sets of motorcycle riders, three from Paraguay and two from Brazil. The two from Brazil did take a tumble in the loose gravel but were not hurt; the bikes had a small amount of damage.

On the road, long-distance bicycle and motorcycle riders share the same bond. When chatting, we ask simple questions like where are you going, where are you from, how long are you riding, what is the road like, and then we take photos.

Around 3:30 pm, we reached the small town of Tres Lagos and found a lovely cabin complete with a washing machine. Then, at 6:30, we found the only restaurant in the village for a well-deserved dinner. However, we had to wait till the chef showed up as dinner was not available till 8 pm. The chef showed up at 7:15, and Gloria talked him into preparing us dinner a half hour earlier at 7:30.

During dinner, a lovely young German couple came in and asked if they could join us. Of course, they could, and we had an enjoyable evening sharing our experiences. They had shipped their converted 1975 VW from Germany to Uruguay for $3000, which took five weeks. Soon, it was time to walk back to our cabin. Once there, we found we had neighbors from Chile who rode two large 1200 cc Italian motorcycles. We talked about their route, which covered the trail we would take. We studied the map with them, and they pointed out a better path for us to take to avoid more gravel. We will adjust our route slightly during the next rest day.

When we finished talking with them, it was time to hang up the clothes to dry and crawl into bed