172 miles

Hi all, I apologize for thfor lack of blog uploads recently. I have been going through some difficult patches both physically and mentally which have preoccupied my attention. As I enter the final 2,600 miles of my trip I want to focus all of my attention on finishing out my effort on a strong note. Unfortunately, this means that I am going to transition away from my blog entries of the first 55 days in favor of a brief daily update with I will post here. The update might just be a couple of photos, or I might manage a paragraph or two as well. However, to the faithful blog readers out there, don’t worry! The blogs will be back. Writing down my thoughts and recounting the narrative of my day has been an important process for me on this trip, and it has helped me work through a lot of my mental pondering. I enjoy sharing that with you all. However, what I do not enjoy and something that does not help me work through my thoughts is the 30-60 minutes of editing I must do daily to turn my thoughts into publishable journal entries. I am continually writing down my thoughts and daily narratives, I am simply not taking the time to edit and upload anymore. When I finish this trip (in hopefully less than 2 weeks) I will go back and start publishing blogs from day 56 on. For now I hope my short daily updates will suffice. Reception has been poor, so please do not worry and please forgive me if I go days without an update. Thank you all for your support. I appreciate everyone who has shared my journey, donated to my fundraiser, and provided me emotional support. Ushuaia is calling, and it’s not that far. Let’s finish this with a bang!

I am now in Argentina even though my last blog has me in Peru. I have recovered from my sickness and am riding strong now. Today I rode across the crest of the Andes into Argentina. The pass, Paso Jama, took me up to 15,853 ft. Today was one of the most remarkable and stunning rides of my life. The elevation has taken its toll and I’m finding it difficult to recover, but I will be down into the plaines of Argentina soon. The last 2 weeks have been incredibly difficult for me, physically, but mostly mentally. My last couple of days in Peru and my days in Chile were incredibly demoralizing, lonely, and defeating. Now that I am in Argentina I hope I can build momentum to the finish and things will be easier from a mental standpoint, so I can focus on pushing myself physically. Tomorrow I leave the Andes.