the end end.

Yesterday I took a drive. I had to empty the tank so I could use the gas on that roof rack before the truck goes in a container.  More importantly I had to go the end of the road.  I rambled about how my arrival in Ushuaia was anything but triumphant.  It got me thinking a bit.  Ushuaia was the destination but it wasn’t the town itself. It was the town’s location.  But the location didn’t sink in until yesterday.  75 miles or so southeast of here I found the end of the road.  I love to drive. I think that is obvious and goes without saying since I’m at almost 28k miles in 5 months.  The end of the Dalton Highway in Deadhorse AK and the end of Arg Ruta J are the two farthest points apart from each other in the western hemisphere and now I’ve driven to both.   (some people know that Inuvik NWT Canada is farther north than Deadhorse but because of the east/west travel Deadhorse is the longest distance from Ushuaia via road)

 

So yesterday about 2pm I the afternoon I arrived at the end of the road.  Then the emotion and reality set in. I was there. I was done. My only choice was to turn around. It would have been poetic to have the road just end with a sign.  But nope. There was a gov’t radio tower and house with an affable yet tacit gentlemen with very mean dogs making the pic taking iffy and sort of ruining the aesthetic.  But the emotions were very true.  And what  were the emotions?  Honestly a bit overwhelming.  Pure satisfaction.  Excitement.  No tear. No sadness. Just a sense of accomplishment followed by a large void of loss and lost.  The dream is over, the planning and preparation, the staring at maps and looking at websites for the last decade is now fulfilled. What next? What is next on the horizon. I have no plans.  I can still live moment to moment and day to day because there are no long term goals. (although the mind has been scheming since yesterday about 5pm) So what I am doing now I’m sitting here watching Gilmore Girls and typing a post since it is raining again and my windshield is leaking.  I’m going to go start smacking skulls and get my truck in a container by tomorrow (I need this to happen since you can only live in a hotel room for so long) so I can get on a plane and go watch the Sox get their World Series rings. But just a bit more about the town of Ushuaia.

 

I think I may have come across as disenchanted with the town the other day. The exact opposite is the truth. I really like this town.  It’s location was the destination but the town itself has a lot offer.  It offers something far different to me than to most of you however. This town is very familiar to me.  It lies rather sinuously between the placid Beagle Channel and the glacier covered Darwin Mountains.  Aside from all the Spanish being spoken this town would not be out of place in Southeast Alaska.  The main drag of tourist shops and restaurants, the port and sightseeing cruises, the wet and washboard roads are all reminiscent of every seaside tourist town I know.  Having lived in Sitka and Juneau this town feels comfortable to me. Like home.  It has a lot of things I know and therefore the stress of waiting here is more frustration of being out of control of the situation and not one of discomforting surroundings.  Even the Spanish isn’t that bad. The three and half weeks with justin and j really helped my comprehension. I’ve found that I’m pretty damn good at understanding people now.  But somewhere I’ve forgotten how to speak it.  I spend a lot of time eavesdropping over dinner and I’m doing pretty good.

 

Four dinners in this town. Three at parillas the other at a pizza joint.  I’m not dying to eat red meat but if you could go to Morton’s or Ruth’s Chris and pay Sizzler prices would you pass it up?  Yeah I didn’t think so. The ricotta, basil and walnut ravioli I had on my off night was pretty damn good though.  All in all I like it here.  Great food and the best pananderia of the trip.  Now if I can just find an available 20ft standard height container heading to the city they call Long Beach I’d be set.  Hope to use my connection to work some more on the gallery tonight.  I’ll let you know.