Left Rio Mayo nice and early to continue down Ruta 40 but fond that on the other side of town there was more road work and after yesterdays shake and bake taking the forced roads seemed not the way to go again, so lets take option #2 and head back to the coast that's only 250 km (155 mi) away and hopefully it has better roads than this. Headed down R26 towards Comondoro Rivadavia and I was hoping that it would turn into a paved road (it did after 140km), even though the hard packed gravel is very drivable so long as you stay in the tire tracks. The only problems you encounter are usually in the curves where everyone just doesn’t know how to stay in a track and so there is none, most of the time you zig and zag a little but get through, then of course if your doing 100 km/h you get something like this, (wipe-out).
Was time for a little siesta anyway, and my left knee had been spared all the previous attempts for a nap, so now were done, bandaged it up and now were back to limping a little again. The bike did take another beating today though. The fall broke my hwy peg off, the luggage lock is busted and a bolt is ripped out of the bracket, luckily a trucker did drive by and helped me set the bike back up and I went back to riding at 100 but did take the curves way slower this time.
Decided today to go further down Ruta 40 and see just how far I could get. 
I started today by first having a good breakfast and then headed into town for some relax time and a good Cappuccino to take it all in. 
The road to S.C. de Bariloche did become way more scenic as I climbed higher and higher into the mountains and with that of coarse also making the temperature drop from 34c in the valley to 24c by the time I got there.
Will stay for an extra day and see the sights around here, and let you know what I find.
Another day of country roads with oddly enough pink Flamingos in the pounds.
Later today the road made way for desert with a bit more hills, sometimes you would be travelling for several hours before another truck or car would pass by and they would be waving there hands to great you as a sign of camaraderie on this desolate road. This is not the kind of place to go off the road for any reason.
Just before I left Salto today a lady (Jan) says hi to me and we strike a broad conversation on a lot of things, including the question of humanity and is it still there? As it turns out she is an ex pat now living and teaching here for the last I believe was 20 years and she has found that now with the Internet and Cable TV being offered, that here too the pace of live has changed, people are more in a hurry than before and the city is changing with new building designs (out with the old and in with the new). Jan was also in love with the old Gran Hotel Concordia where time has stood still and she fears that all the reasons why she moved and loves it so much here in Uruguay (laid back in a timeless era) will be lost. 
