They rode along the Atlantic coast of Argentina, often smelling the salty sea.   As they moved north they felt the warming temperatures.  Gone were the mornings of near freezing weather.  While the ocean crashed on pristine beaches there were no swimmers or sunbathers until they had ridden nearly 2,000 kilometers north from Ushuaia.

The blue Atlantic Ocean would often meet the road. Donna-Rae noticed that the restaurants served ocean catch, but it was far more expensive than the Argentine beef they enjoyed almost daily.  For a steak dinner they would have paid $30.00 for in the United States they were paying $4.00 for in Argentina.

     Meals were another of their challenges.  Donna-Rae wanted her Americanized coffee each morning.  Instead she was often served instant coffee with warmed cream or milk.  Other times she was presented a black soup too acidic to water down and that gave her stomach spasms afterwards. Greg preferred to skip the bland breakfasts of rolls and coffee, opting to snack on juice or water at a gas station during a pit stop.  By the second gas stop both Donna-Rae and Greg were alarmingly hungry.  Greg would like to push on through the afternoon knowing that a large mid-day meal would cause him to become sleepy while driving.  Donna-Rae needed a meal with which to take her mid-day medication.  To complicate matters they discovered the Argentines ate a later noon meal, sometimes as late as 3:00 PM.  The late lunch then carried the Argentines to dinnertime, which usually started at 8:30 PM.  Often Donna-Rae would have to supplement her wish for an hour-long sit down meal with potato chips, chocolate and mineral water nibbled on the back of the motorcycle while Greg piloted on empty through the afternoon.

     Coupled with the non-USA eating schedule was the language problem of menus.  Greg spoke some Spanish, read more, and was usually comfortable with eating anything other than guts, tongue or feet.  Donna-Rae spoke and read little Spanish but was far more particular with what she ingested.  She often frustrated herself and the non-English speaking waiters with her English spoken inquiries.  At dinner Greg learned to order a drink before Donna-Rae started her ordering process, then he quietly and slowly sipped it while the lengthy dialogue and finger pointing at the menu took place.  He would be ready for his second drink by the time the waiter headed for the kitchen, which explains why he was less particular about what he was served when it finally got to the table.

     Donna-Rae tried to find a market for fruit each morning started so she could snack on the back of the motorcycle while riding.  Several times she would come back smiling at the inexpensive price.  Her smiles would be gone two hours later when she realized the fruits had fallen off the motorcycle because she had forgotten to tie them on securely.  Other times the rough bouncing of the fruit in the plastic bag on the back of the motorcycle would change the contents into a mashed fruit mix.

     This couple owned a small fruit and vegetable store.  They were happy to pose together while Donna-Rae tried to capture the memory on her digital camera. By the time she reached Buenos Aires she had taken over 1,200 digital memories.