[Above: On the road to the port at Zarate, the team encountered an emmense rainbow.]

Journal and photos by Neil Dana

We have been on the road hard for the last two days now, and this is our last stretch towards Buenos Aires. We woke up this morning and it was raining, and, unfortunately, last night there were no signs of rain, so none of us put up our rainguards on our tents. So when we awoke, we all awoke to wet tent bottoms, pads, and sleeping bags. That's not always the greatest way to wake up, but oh well. We also woke up two hours later than expected, so we were already behind schedulel. The great thing is, none of us were in a bad mood. We were all ready to charge forward and get to Buenos Aires. We all welcome the challenge of driving nonstop for days on end to meet our shipping date. And to tell you the truth, it is really fun.

While on the road, we tell jokes, drink our mate tea and coffee, and also learn all kinds of new interesting information about the areas we are travelling through, as well as random trivia facts. It is really funny to see what people come up with to talk about after travelling with each other for 3 months, especially locked in cars together most of the time. With our radios, which span more than 10-20 miles at times, we can fall behind or get way ahead of each other and still communicate. It is awesome, and we never lose each other, which is always a convoy's worst nightmare.

What I really love the most about our long drives is the solitude. We are travelling together all the time and always doing group activities and talking and having great times; however, time alone is something I cherish as well. And when we are driving all day long for days on end, one gets plenty of solitude. Colin and I were driving together for this three-day stretch, and he would sleep in the back while I drove. And that is a perfect recipe, for two reasons. One, obviously, is so after 10 hours of me driving, he is well-rested and ready to take over. And the other reason is that while he is sleeping, I can get in my cruisin' music landscape mode. I adore soaking in the landscape and just looking at everything and being completely filled with amazement of where we are and all the beautiful surroundings. And coupled with groovy tunes, I am in paradise. It is very relaxing. In fact, many times when the team is playing games over the radio or doing other things on these long drives, I prefer to turn down the CB and eveyone else's voice, and get into a driving groove. And sometimes, I am the opposite, and get giddy and talk and talk and talk.

So anyway, we drove all day today and watched the landscape
change from desert brush to farmland and green fields, with towns growing bigger the further north we came. Half of the drive, it was raining, which slowed us down, yet the sky really filled up with beautiful clouds and colors. At one point, the sun was out to our left, and on the right side of the road was a huge rainbow that went from one end on the ground all the way up and down to the other side. It was beautiful. And, not only was there one amazing rainbow, but there was another rainbow on top of it, a bit more faint, but there. It was a wonderful moment.

As we kept heading north, the people were starting to have more fashion and style as well. We were entering a much more industrial and cosmopolitan area. We were under a time crunch as well today to drive about 700 miles, as well as stop for some time in a town that had internet so Justin and Nancy could get some information out online. Justin has an article that is being printed in the largest English newspaper in Argentina! And Nancy had some press releases to upload. And we accomplished both in a town a few hours outside of Santiago. The stop ended up taking us a couple of hours and by the time we were back on the road to head to Buenos Aires, it was almost midnight.

Also, while we were in the internet cafe, a local radio station reporter came up to us and wanted to interview us. So he interviewed me in Spanish and we were supposed to be on the radio that night. We weren't able to listen to the radio when we were supposed to air, we were all preoccupied with other activities. But I am sure many people in Argentina were listening and hopefully are on our website right now donating money to Parkinson's.

Around 11PM after we finished eating some yummy ice cream, we left the internet cafe and were on the road and heading to Buenos Aires. As we got closer, I was sleeping, and I guess I was talking outloud as I was dreaming of finding surf. Colin was laughing and telling everyone on the radio that I was telling him to look for Island Azul, and that I saw some waves that were really crowded, and to keep searching. I guess I can't get surfing off my mind, even when I am sleeping.

So we finally did reach Buenos Aires at around 3AM, and headed to a town called Zarate
, which is the port town from which we are shipping our vehicles. We found a hotel and crashed out. We were all exhausted from three days of nonstop driving. We were stoked to finally make it, and we were ecstatic to go to sleep. In fact, sleeping in a room with Colin and Justin, whom were both snoring in full force didn't even keep me awake at all. We made it!!

Now we are heading in a few different directions over the next month while our cars are at sea to Australia. I will be heading to Brasil and chasing Carnaval, Samba, and Surf, so until next time, Ciao!!!

Neil

Logbook for February 16th, Day 108
Start: East of Nuevo Leon, Argentina
Time: 9:00 a.m.
S: 40*42.829
W: 69*32.031
Finish: Lujan, Argentina
Time: 3:30 a.m.
S: 34*33.627
W: 59*07.278
Mileage: 628
Notes: Well, we made it! We drove for three days straight, and we covered 2000 miles, and we made it. We met with Merco Mar, who is handling the shipping of our vehicles for Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Everything is set. We will bring the vehicles to the port to bid them bon voyage tomorrow morning. We'll be without vehicles for six weeks! (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.