Chao Argentina! Hello USA!

Before I talk about what we have been up to the last few weeks I would like to give an update on the crisis in Honduras. As you may know, Honduras and Nicaragua were recently struck by two Category 4 hurricanes, less than two weeks apart! The devastation caused by these storms on these small impoverished countries is nothing less than catastrophic. Our Honduran friends tell us that many roads, bridges, power lines and other important infrastructure has been swept away in the floodwaters. Your thoughts, prayers, and assistance are greatly appreciated. One organization that we trust with ‘boots on the ground’ is Samaritan’s Purse. Thank you.

Our last few days in Gobernador Gregores were very busy as we prepared the motorcycles and ourselves to get back on the road. We postponed our departure by one day in order to attend a grand Argentinian Asado (BBQ) hosted by Oscar and Magui whose guest of honor was a perfectly prepared lamb. It was such an honor to be invited into their gathering of family and friends. The food was amazing and nearly everybody joined in on the dancing. It definitely made us a bit sad when we thought of our imminent departure. We also stayed another day because Sharon experienced a bad migraine and was unable to travel. Finally, on November 2nd, we drove out of the town…231 days after our arrival back in March! On our way out of town we stopped for a quick picture at an out of place electric charging station. If you have been watching the Long Way Up motorcycle documentary you will recognize it as one installed for their trip…the Patagonia is a huge area, but a small world 🙂

We were both very excited to be on the road again! The only real damper on our excitement was having to travel during the pandemic (extra paperwork and police checkpoints) and how quickly we needed to travel (1,600 miles in six days). Prior to this, we normally travelled around 200 miles on a ride day and often stopped for multiple days before doing another day on the bikes. Not this time. We rode every single day and we spent as long as 10 hours ‘in the saddle’ which is more than sufficient to cause significant soreness. We perked up when we saw the Atlantic Ocean again for the first time since Columbia! Our loads of paperwork paid off and we made it through all the checkpoints without significant delay. As a bonus, all of the officers and officials we encountered were happy and helpful. We were prepared to camp, fortunately, we only needed to do so on one occasion. The main drawback is the time needed to pack up the next morning (2 hours minimum). We also had the wonderful surprise of seeing a life-sized replica of the largest dinosaur in the world – Argentinosaurus! It could reach lengths of 131 feet long and weigh as much as 220,000 lbs!!! When an 8 foot tall fossil was found in the 1980s it was mistakenly identified as petrified wood because it was so enormous.

We arrived at Buenos Aires utterly exhausted. After taking one day to recuperate our strength we dove right into preparing for our flight home. It was very difficult transitioning from our motorcycle gypsy lifestyle to regulated air travel. The biggest problem is luggage. We didn’t have any. So we constructed luggage from cardboard boxes and repurposed motorcycle boxes. Once I had removed everything from the bikes that we could use later in Honduras we left them in the care of Ricardo to be picked up later by our friend Mariano. Ricardo wouldn’t let us leave Argentina without one more traditional BBQ! We had a great afternoon visiting with him and his family.

This truly marked the end of the line for our motorcycle travels so we noted the mileage on the odometer and figured out the length of our trip. We travelled 33,094 miles / 53,260 kilometers on our motorcycles over the course of 893 days (25% of that time we were stationary in Gobernador Gregores) and we visited 13 countries (some multiple times:).

When we arrived at the Buenos Aires airport it was nearly deserted, the sheer size of the airport in comparison to the human occupation created an almost eerie feel. Our flights were on time and all our luggage arrived…that’s the good news. Unfortunately, I experienced the most uncomfortable flight of my life. It was a perfect storm of factors: we had to wear our enormous motorcycle boots, pants and jackets, I had a migraine headache and was nauseous most of the 7.5 hour red-eye flight, and we were seated in front of an emergency row so our seats did not recline! Eons later, we arrived at Miami airport and were met by Will, a member of our home church, MCC. We had never met him in person, but knew him and his wife Dianne from multiple Zoom meetings that we were able to participate in during our lockdown in Gobernador Gregores. Since both Sharon and I were exhausted from lack of sleep and migraines we were extremely grateful to be chauffeured by Will and we really enjoyed getting to know him better. We even stopped off for our first ‘American meal’ at an alehouse along the way. I kept the BBQ theme of Argentina going with a full rack of ribs and Sharon enjoyed one of her all time favorites – Fried Coconut Shrimp! Will delivered us to the home of Sharon’s sister Kim where we had an enthusiastic reunion – the first of many.

We are so grateful to all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers during our travels. Everything did not go exactly as planned or was as easy as we would have liked, but we made it and for that we are truly thankful. A good start for this season of Thanksgiving that is now upon us. May you and yours also find joy even in the midst of difficulty. One of our favorite quotes from the book Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is, ““The pupil dilates in the night, and at last finds day in it, even as the soul dilates in misfortune, and at last finds God in it.”

Things we are especially thankful for…

• We don’t think there has been any loss of life among our Honduran friends
• The thoughts and prayers of family and friends during these difficult travel weeks
• Returning to the U.S. to begin a frenzied, but wonderful time reconnecting

Things we would appreciate prayer for…

• Wisdom for finding migraine relief for Sharon
• Continued health as we visit with family, friends, and small groups as safely as possible (we tested negative for CoVid yesterday) 
• Trusting God to provide for our needs as we move back into full time ministry

Giving thanks from sunny Florida,

Chris and Sharon

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8