The Official Final Post

While our travels ceased around a month ago, our journey is just coming to an end. After flying from Santiago to San Francisco, Trevor and I bicycled 300 miles from Newport, OR back up to Seattle. It was a much shorter stretch than the 1,000 miles we had planned on doing from San Francisco up, but we were both eager to be home and felt ready to begin the the next phase of our respective lives.
We arrived home happy, healthy, and immensely grateful for the journey we had just been on. It is easy for me to identify the single most valuable thing that I am taking away from this trip; that unique and priceless gift I doubt I would have received any other way. It is my deep and wonderful friendship with Trevor. We traveled together for nine months, bicycled some six thousand miles, met scores of new people, formed relationships and said goodbyes. We faced and overcame huge challenges and discomforts, unexpected, unimagined obstacles, and realities of ourselves and our own lives that we never wanted to admit, ever, to anyone. Through all of this shared experience there emerged one foundational element of our friendship and respect for each other: Honesty. Honesty is the base on which grew much affection and camaraderie; it was a wonderful gift to receive and practice.
Since returning home I have struggled. I have felt overwhelmed by all the things I want to or feel I should do. This final blog post, for one, is something I felt should have been done much sooner. There are friends I still haven't seen and boxes I have yet to unpack. Of course, everything comes in its time, and while I still experience that overwhelmed feeling, I am grateful that I haven't done everything in my power to "get it all done." Grateful because one of the changes occurring in me during the trip was a priority shift.
I have lived the last five years of my life with the focus to "get done" as much as possible. And, in reality, I have done quite a lot. There was a problem, however, and that problem was that my relationships were almost always lower in priority than work, or school, or anything else I could think to do at the moment. Traveling with Trev every day I could see how ugly it was when I went on with the attitude that biking however far I'd decided I wanted to bike on a given day was more important than being a friend to him, and yet it felt so natural, and even empowering, to me. Slowly, but surely, my priorities began to shift. It is meaningful and encouraging to me that when Jesus is asked what the most important command is, he replies that it is to know that God is one and to love him with all we are, and then that he volunteers the second most important command: to love our neighbors as ourselves. Two relational imperatives. Getting back to my point, I'm grateful that I haven't gotten all my stuff done because I have been able to choose to invest in some important relationships instead. It has been good.
While we were learning the centrality of relationships, we were also being guided and provided for. Trevor and I certainly worked, saved money, researched, and planned for this adventure, but please believe me when I say that I am thoroughly convinced it was only by the generously granted grace of God that we made it through our journeys, and that we survived them well, and together. We have just gone through a nine-month practicum on not worrying about our lives, what we will eat or drink; nor about our bodies and what we will wear, for life is more than food and the body more than clothes. God abundantly provided all these things, and the strength to carry on, and the love, and the honesty, and the joy.
At the end of our trip, many have asked me if I would ever do something like it again. My answer is definitely yes. I will adventure, with friends, in foreign lands for extended periods of time. I am not, however, looking to do it again any time soon. I'm quite ready to stay home for some years.
Many have also asked what we plan to do next, and it's relatively simple for the both of us to respond. I'll be returning to school to study chemistry (chemical biology eventually) and working much as I have for the last two years, and Trevor will be working rather more, going to India with our church, and applying for a plumbing apprenticeship program while investing much into his relationship with Megan. We're also thinking of renting a place together when Trev returns from India.
Finally, we've gone through the photos that we saved from our journey and selected the 30 that we most enjoy, either for their breath-taking quality or for the story of which they remind us. I hope you thoroughly enjoy them.
Much thanks, again, to those of you who prayed for us, loved on us, and kept up with our travels. It was encouraging to hear from you and read your comments. We are immensely grateful to God for taking care of us every step along the way, and for making the trip greater than either of us ever imagined.
Love,
William and Trevor
Guille y Trebol

Top 30 Bike Trip Pictures

Final Post

There's a final post coming, honest, and this isn't it.

Home!

We're back!
More later...

Newport, OR

I had a fun time with Trevor's family, running on the beach and listening to hours of stories. Trevor and I are with our bicycles again (if you ever ship something with Greyhound you must watch your luggage very carefully!) and preparing to head out from Newport tomorrow! The wind will be in our faces, but we're excited about this last short stretch of our journey.
Thank you for your love and prayers,
William and Trevor

We'll be home sooner than previously planned!

That's right, rather than returning from Oregon to bicycle up the coast from San Francisco, we've decided to bike up from Newport, which should have us home around the first of July! We're excited.
In considering our options for moving forward, neither Trevor nor I wanted to "cop-out" or miss out on some great last part of the adventure that God has in store for us. That said, we didn't want to bike 1,000mi into the kind of headwinds that there are right now blowing down the coast, and seeing as how we're both going up to Newport anyway...
So, that's that. We'll be biking a mere 300mi from Newport to Seattle, and then home!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Love,
William and Trevor

Pictures!

Thank you for welcoming us back! Trevor and I are apart at the moment, he spending some time with his girlfriend, and me with my father. I don't know if I'm adjusting to being back, but I haven't gone entirely crazy yet.
Without further ado, here are the pictures:

From the High Plains to San Francisco

I got to do some work with my Dad, which was wonderful, but when I went to deposit the check I found I'd kind of forgotten how to do so. It was nothing serious, but while I knew I wasn't supposed to stick the bare check in the machine, I couldn't quite remember what I was supposed to do with it until I looked over at the man next to me and saw him with an envelope. Eureka!
Love,
William and Trevor

And I'm proud to be in America, where I can flush my toilet-paper...

Of course, we haven't actually left the Americas, but so goes the song...
Seriously, though, we're back and happy. The three of us (we met Fernando at the airport) managed to get to the gate with plenty of time to get on the plane, and yet missed our flight. We had, perhaps, too much time. Rather than get on the plane and wait, we went to goof off and spend the last of our Chilean money. Goofing off was so successful, however, that, while we did return to the gate before the moment of departure, it was less than a minute before, and the airplane door was already closed.
So, we missed that flight. The nice Delta folks were generous and booked us on another airline on a flight that would have us arriving in SF twenty minutes earlier than we would have had we not missed the flight. So, despite our efforts, we got home on time.
And now we're here! Megan (Trev's girlfriend) and Gunnar (his ex-roomate) are here and we're enjoying the city with them and my Dad.
Oh, it's so strange and familiar and different and good to be back. I think it'll all work out...:)
We really are doing well and I am indeed grateful to have adventured as we have. And, it's not quite over yet!
Love,
William and Trevor

Packing

Trevor and I are in Santiago again, ready to fly home. We did a lot of work preparing and packaging our bicycles to make them fit within the airline size restrictions. We felt rather good about ourselves until we got to the bus Terminal in Arica.
As Arica is a frontier city, we had to pass through customs again before getting on the bus to Santiago. While offering our bags for inspection, the agent asked us if our oddly shaped bags were bicycles, I replied that they´re luggage. "Are they bicycles?" He asks again. Yes, I reluctantly reply. 5,000 pesos ($12) each. What? Why?
"Bicycles are cargo, the busses don´t transport cargo, they transport luggage, luggage is clothing."
I was feeling a little indignant there. There were people who are checking through huge bags packed full of who-knows-what, bags much larger and heavier than our bicycle packages.
I went back and forth with the customs man a couple of times, pointing out the small size of the bags in relation to others, and each time he countered with, "Luggage is clothing, these are cargo!" He finally threatened that, should we wish it, the bicycles could be sent through a seperate company that could get the bicycles to Santiago three days after our flight and, that said company would happily charge us twice as much per bicycle. That, he advised, would be the proper channel for cargo.
I shut up for about 5 seconds, aware that arriving on time with our bicycles was an incredibly valuable aspect of our journey, but after those five seconds, I burst a little. As the man was walking away, I cried with all my marginalized-foreigner fury, "This is madness!" Without a pause he cried back, "This is Chile!"
We paid the 10,000 pesos for both bikes and are happy to be in Chile. I did tell Trevor that I want to get to the airport with plenty of time for ranting if they try to charge us extra for our bicycles simply because they´re bicycles and not because of their size or weight or anything of that sort.
I still feel a bit of what seems to be righteous indignation over the whole matter...perhaps I need to spend some time talking with God about it.

Our plans on returning to the states do not involve bicycling north right away. We´ll be met at the airport by my Dad and some friends and enjoy a couple of days in San Francisco. From there, Trev will be heading up to Newport, OR with Megan for a family reunion on the 22nd of June. I´ll stay in SF and spend Father´s Day with my Dad for the first time in several years, possibly doing a little work with him while there, and then join Trev and his family in Newport for a couple of days. After the reunion, Trev and I will return to SF to begin the journey back up the coast and expect to arrive around the third week of July.

Soon we´ll be back in our home country. Soon, Trevor and I will spend more time apart than we have in almost 8 months. As difficult as it has been at times, spending so much time together, I will most definitely miss it. We´ve gotten into eachother´s lives in such a good way and I´m a little sad when I think about living with so much distance between us. We are planning to get a place together after Trev gets back from India (did you not know he´s going to India for a couple of weeks in September?).

Anyway, off we go! Vroooooooooooom!
Will and Trev

Safe at Sea Level

We have made it back to sea level and are delighted. The air no longer attempts to suck the very life from my hands after sunset and I don´t get light headed anymore after bending over.
The last stretch of our bicycle journey in South America was beautiful and difficult, and now we´ve a 31hr bus-ride to return to Santiago and catch a plane to the US.
We are excited for all that is to come on our return.
Thank you all for your support, love, and prayers,
William and Trevor

More of Bolivia

Ahhh, and yet we aren't done with Bolivia, just yet. Will and I ran out of money, well the acsess to it by way of having no banks or cash machines since Uyuni. Needing some to contiue our next leg into the Chilean Mountains for seven days, and... missing the last buss into Chile for the night, we decided to bus further into Bolivia, Four hours, (Ah...Bolivian roads...they are truely beyond words) to the city of Oruro. It is really big, the biggest we have seen yet in Bolivia. Something told us when we entered that we didn't need to come quiet this far for a bank. But here we are, with our pick of the crop are far as internet postoffice and banks...Yey civilaization! And yet all these modern convenaces we prefer the smaller towns to the cities. Its funny when we talked about getting here, "So what did we come here for..? Oh yeh...a bank." Thats funny. We left our bikes at the paduana( customes) and took a bus that cost next to nothing. Bolivias are unbelievable friendly and nice. They seem to have their feelings hurt when we talk about leaving the country and going into Chile. They say..." they don't have the salars, the cactuses, the charm." It is true I like Bolivians they are really sweet poeple. I thouroughly enjoyed playing soccer with they on the island of Incahuasi in the Salar de Uyuni. Although the girls humilated me at the sport. I should have seen it coming, but really, I have an excues, my lugs don't usualy burn at sea level the way they do at 3600 mts above. I think any person playing anything remotly physical at such a level should be considerd hard core for just the effort. And now we will enjoy this city of Oruro and then head for the boarder of Chile, to take advantage of the beautiful mountains, hotspiring and the end of our time here.

Salars and Sand

Amigos,
Trevor and I are happy to be done with the Bolivian portion of our trip. It´s been beautiful and the people are quite interesting, but the air is cold and the roads are sandy and we´re just plain excited to get home. Friends, of course, are a huge draw, but it´s also amazing just how enticing things like school and work can seem to us.
As for Bolivia, it really has been wonderful, and we are continually taken care of. The salars really are all salt, in case you might have thought otherwise, big flat sheets of salt generally packed as hard as concrete. The Bolivian roads are as sandy as our experience on the bus led us to believe, and I managed to fall to the ground probably six times the other day trying to stay on my bicycle through the sand (my pedals were also very stiff so it was difficult to click-out).
From here, we're headed into northern Chile for a weeks worth of bicycling through four national forests and will finish it off with a climb over a 15,000ft pass.
We´re excited.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We're almost done!
William and Trev

And here are some photos!

Traversing the Salars of Bolivia

Welcome to Bolivia

Trevor and I have been off our bicycles for several days enjoying some rest and allowing Trevor´s abrasions to heal. That doesn´t mean, however, that we haven´t been traveling.
We have had a sobering introduction to the nature of Bolivia´s system of roads by way of our bus travels from the border to the city of Potosi, and then to Uyuni, from which we´ll begin bicycling again.
After traveling a little more and doing some intensive route planning, we´ve decided not to go up to Peru after all. We just don´t really have the time for it in this trip, and there´s plenty to enjoy in volcanic northern-Chile.

Oh yes, and here are some wonderful pictures from the last stretch of our trip.

Jujuy Argentina

It´s interesting how the end of the trip doesn´t seem easier than the beginning. It is, in many ways, I suppose, but the reality that my relationships with God and Trev and friends and family are so much more important than this particular journey is...right in my face. While Trev and I have gotten a lot closer during this trip, it still seems...I don´t know. I´m stopping and starting and generally wandering around my mind not sure of what I want to say or how to say it.

I guess the bottom line is, please keep praying for us, that we might finish well and continue to learn to love eachother more.

Thank you!
William and Trevor

Also, thank you for your comments! We found some antiseptic cream, and along with rest days, Trev´s almost completely healed up.

Elevation

Trev and I have been getting high the last few days. Slowly and steadily higher and higher...wouldn´t want to rush such things.
Up at 3,500m (we got to descend about 280m to finish off this days riding) we´re higher than all but a handfull of places in the state of Washington, yet all around is desert with rolling hills and frozen streams (the ones in the shade, anyway).
We do well, and find ourselves about 70km from the southern border of Bolivia. Trev started having some interesting chafing issues, so if anyone can recommend a miracle remedy that we´ll be able to get ahold of here, please do. I´ve suggested butter and chain-lube, but he´s not interested.
Ahh, the journey goes well, but we´ve only got a few weeks left on this continent!
Yikes...
Love,
Will and Trev

Our Last Visit to Tucuman...For Now...

It's been good returning to Tucuman. We've gotten to spend time with Fernando, relax, celebrate Trevor's birthday, visit friends we made on our last visit, and plan for the next portion of our trip. Life always has its difficulties, of course.
I found myself not particularly good at adjusting to life here. There are many opportunities or eager distractions, things that are not important to me, that have come in and taken the place of some things that I really do want to invest time into. Perhaps it's been a bit of a window through which I get to see what some of the difficulties of getting home might be. Either way, it's been good time and a welcome break from cycling.
The next portion of our trip will take us through the last stretch of northern Argentina into Bolivia where we'll ride through the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world, and then across the arid and remote high plains. From there we'll swing west to La Paz and then, hopefully, up to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We didn't want to spend the money necessary to change our tickets and fly out of Lima, so we're going to have to hustle it back to Santiago before the 8th to dismantle our bikes and get ready to return to San Francisco.
And...here are some pictures!

I've been getting some route advice from other cyclists that we've met in our journeys and I think this will be the best route for us to take through Bolivia. Perhaps the most difficult as well.

I was up and antsy quite early, but I could only stand around 10 minutes at a time outside of the tent because of the cold.

Finally in Tucuman, Fernando took us to a futbol game at the local stadium. Their team isn't even in the top division, but the stands were packed out and it was plenty loud. They won, too!

The warmer northern climate seems to support larger bug-life. Look at the needle on that thing.

One of our friends, Pablo, who introduced us to some beautiful bike rides here in Tucuman, made this model of the three of us so that he could travel with us in effigy. I think he did a fantastic job, and even included such details our Crocs.

We never know quite what to expect when we head out for a new leg of our trip, but we have been wonderfully cared for thus far, and I have every reason to believe that as we throw ourselves into new and difficult situations, that great care will continue.
Love,
William and Trevor

A Tucuman Birthday

Not knowing what to expect in an Argentine celebration. I awoke uncertain on my birthday. The night before, Paster Aguirres told me I would learn, how we celebrate birthdays. This comment sent my mind spinning with crazy unsertanty about the day. In Argentine Weddings the groom is egged and feathered and paraded around town in his birthday suite. I got to see this first hand and almost interfered for him until someone told me they were his friends... But, when I arrived downstairs and found two dozen donuts, Facturas as they call them, to my name, my mind was at ease. I knew this was going to be a good day. Oh...and it was glorious. We finished the donuts and later played video games and drank beer in coke together. Hey! don't judge, the coke gave it some badly needed flavor. The gloriously burned CDs for the Playstation were crappy but we made the best of it. Then we watched movies until the party started at a early 10pm. Totally for getting about our massages...Aaaaaaaah, oh well. Really I felt loved the whole day...I don't even speak Spanish and everyone was at my party. Hats, balloons, crazy Spanish dance music, Meat, Empenatas, pizza, Wine and coke together... the list goes on! Really, if I couldn't spend my birthday with my family back home this is were I wanted to be, with my family here. Who cares whether we can't understand each other, words are a secondary and almost unnecessary line of communication, really. Ok, maybe not, But, I felt like a King all day. A king that gets egged and floured and his hair straightened. Thank you Fer, Will, Aguirres Family and Abuala Clerita por el todo feliz! Grasias, I will never forget my twenty eighth cumpianos.

Here are some photos from the day for you to enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Frozen Water

This morning was only the second in which Trevor and I awoke to find the water in our bottles decidedly crystalized. It´s not a particularly welcome discovery considering that the only two warm places around are inside our sleeping bags, and that there´s not really enough warmth to share with the crystalized water.
Fortunately for us, out in the middle of the desert where we´d camped, there are no pesky trees or large bushes to block the sun. So, at the not so early hour of 7:30 when it finally showed itself over the distant hills we enjoyed it´s slow but thorough warming of this side of the planet.
We finished our ride through the beautiful and arid mountain valley in the northern part of the province of Mendoza, and now have plans to bus the rest of the way to Tucuman. We´re hoping to leave as much time and money as possible for the next portion of our trip. The budgeting is getting a bit tighter, but we´re still hoping to make it through the huge salt flats in southern Bolivia, the volcanic desert of north Chile, and up to Macchu Picchu (I really need to check to see if I´m spelling that correctly) before returning to Santiago for our flight out.
It´s strange to feel that our adventure is coming to an end, but as I´ve been reminded by Trev´s girlfriend, we´ll be back in the US next month!

Thank you to all who love and encourage and pray for us.
Will and Trev

Perfect Timing

Trevor and I reminisced a lot as we rode the familiar and arduous road up the Andes. We spotted our old rest points, remembered conversations, and generally appreciated that we hauled so much less gear with us this time. A lot has changed for us since our last visit to this place, and we certainly feel a lot more comfortable traveling.
That said, we are still surprised sometimes, and abundantly grateful for the fortuitous timing of our trip. Had we left one day later, we probably wouldn´t have been able to cross the pass. As it was, we had plenty of adventure.

Up the Andes...Again?!?

Thank you for your love and prayers and comments,
Will and Trev

The Road Warriors Have Arrived!

Trevor and I decided to push ourselves hard from Villarrica and bike along the main north-south highway through Chile in an effort to reach Santiago (some 780km away) as quickly as possible. Here we are! Yesterday afternoon, while still some 340km outside of Santiago, we decided to try to hitch a ride the rest of the way into town. You see, we had a slight head-wind, the weather was crummy, and well...we were tired. We also wanted to spend more time on the other side of the Andes.
It all worked out, and we actually hopped a bus arriving last night. After dinner, we went walking and came across an authentic Chinese restaurant. The family working the restaurant came over to Chile from China six years ago. Trev and I decided to get some takeout for an after-dinner-snack (being the eating machines we are), and walked back to our hostel happy as can be.
Sadly, the food was horrible. I say it was worse than China Express. Trev isn´t quite sure. China Express has better sauce, but this food had real chicken (yes, it was dry). Of course, we ate all the food. We were just dissapointed as we´d been hoping it would be so good that we would want to return for breakfast. I bought a box of cereal instead.
Today, we´ll be getting together with our friend Marina, the British gal we met in our hostel in Ushuaia, and then it´s off to the Andes!

Here are a few photos, too (though I can´t use my normal photo editing software :( )


Bicycling through beautiful pastureland by some gorgeous trees that are almost completely obscured by my head.


Fall has returned! As we bicycled down the west coast at the beginning of our journey, the leaves were changing and showering down around us. Though we´ve had some especially cold days, we never really had a winter. Now that fall is back, it´s special and reminds us of home.


Goodnight, sun.


We´d better find a place to camp soon...


School children in Los Angeles preparing for a parade and enjoying the gringos (us).

Love!
Will and Trev

To Villarrica and Beyond!

Hello dear friends and family,
Trevor, Felipe, and I have arrived in Villarrica, Chile, and are enjoying a couple days of rest. Well, we kind of rested yesterday. We tried to summit the Volcano Villarrica but were stopped by unfavorable conditions. Here are some photos!

Villarrica

From here, we´ve decided to try and push it back to Tucuman, well, to see how far we can get on bicycles and still arrive before May 7th (Trev´s birthday!). It´s about 3,000km (very rough estimate) and I don´t expect us to be able to make it on bikes, but we´ll see :).

We will probably be parting ways with Felipe tomorrow when we head north, so tonight we plan to do some loving on him. Other than that, we´re doing well. I´m in the midst of the too-much-time-on-the-computer haze, and while I´m sure there´s quite a lot I´ve wanted to write here, I can´t think of it at the moment.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos. And may we honor, respect, and worship God.

Love,
Will and Trev

Some Forgotten Photos

I uploaded these photos some time ago, but never shared them. So...here they are. The last of our photos from the Careterra Austral in Chile.

The Last of the Careterra Austral

Enjoy!
Will and Trev

San Martin de Los Andes

Hello Friends,
We have arrived in San Martin de Los Andes, a couple hundred kilometers north of Bariloche, and while the rain has left us alone, it´s been powerful cold. Last night Trevor slept wearing almost every article of clothing that he has...and he was cold. Our waterbottles were frozen solid this morning and there was a thick crust of frozen condensation both inside and outside the tent. Daytime temperatures are wonderful and our riding has been beautiful. "Grrrr," says my stomach, I am hungry!!!
Sorry.
We spent several days in Bariloche. It´s a beautiful place, which was great. More importantly, however (for there are many beautiful places in our journey), is that we got to stay in a ridiculously nice house. Felipe, our Mexican friend, has a friend whose relative has an amazing house in Llao Llao, a beautiful area about 20km outside of Bariloche. We enjoyed three nights there relaxing, taking in views, and enjoying their wonderful kitchen. It was such ridiculous and unexpected luxury.
Here are some photos of our journey!

Esquel to San Martin de Los Andes

Love!
Will and Trev

Maps and Weather

Trevor and I are in San Carlos de Bariloche now, the jewel of Argentine Patagonia. Felipe, our Mexican cycling companion, was checking the weather, and well, I thought I'd share the map with you all.



You see, I have wanted to put a map up here for a long time, something on which people could watch our progress in some way. Unfortunately, this map lacks in detail. You might even say, "William, I don't even see Bariloche on this map. What good is it?" And, well, you´d be right if it weren´t for one simple fact. Bariloche is located precisely under the only rain-cloud on the map.

Yup folks, We have managed to plant ourselves in the only rainy place in Argentina.

Soggily yours,
Will and Trev

Freezing our Tushies Off

Sometimes the great difficulties of life hit when I wouldn´t expect them. At least, that´s what I think the last day of biking was teaching me. Trevor and I have ridden through windy, empty, un-known southern Argentina and Chile, and well, it´s been manageable. It´s not really as deserted as some made out, and the 100kph winds never joined forces with the hail. All in all, it seemed quite doable.
That is, of course, until we left Esquel yesterday, headed for El Bolson. The morning was brisk and damp, it had rained a bit during the night and couldn´t seem to decide if it was done or not, but it was nothing that would keep us from a day of cycling.
Twenty-five kilometers into the day we were having a grand time of it. The rain never completely stopped, but the pavement was welcome, traffic was light, and the sun would be ever so slightly brigher through the clouds every now and again, giving us hope of clearing. We even asked God to help us make it to El Bolson that day, about 160km from where we began.
Fourty kilometers into our riding, it was a different story entirely. We had climbed a lot and were riding on some high-plateaus where the air was a bit colder than it had been in the morning, and the rain steadied up a bit, thoroughly soaking us. Intrepid youths that we are, we bicycled harder to keep warm. That strategy worked...for a while. Our hands were never warm, but slowly they stopped hurting (in a numb sort of way). Our legs and ankles became stump like, but we pedaled on. The up-hills felt a little like merciful relief from the cold of the swiftly passing air, but what goes up must come down.
At the top of one rise Trevor suggested we pause to warm our hands. This would help in case braking were to become necessary in the descent. Unfortunately, as good an idea as that may seem, it´s really a bad one. There was no hope of warming our hands, and stopping only cooled the rest of us down. I don´t know that we could have pressed on much longer, but we gazed off into the valley that stretched before us for some sign of warmth and civilization (we hadn´t passed any in the previous hour). Seeing nothing, we began to talk plan B.

Will: "Hey Trev, does your thumb still work?"
Trev: "Yeah, if I use my other hand to pull it up."
Will: "Sweet. I´ll do my best to look pitiful"

You must understand that all this was said in mumbles, for we could not precisely control any muscles of the face, and looking pitiful did not proove difficult. The first truck to pass us stopped and gave us a lift all the way into El Bolson.
I´m really not sure what we would have done if not for passing traffic. We might have been able to cycle another 20km, but we would´ve been really weak at that point. Setting up the tent and getting into our sleeping bags is another possibility, but who knows how many days that weather was going to last.

So...there. I´m feeling better!!!! Oh, it´s such a joyous thing. For several days I was not able to eat very much without considerable stomach discomfort. I noticed that I was getting slightly weaker as time went on, and well...it was disconcerting. But, the last few days I´ve been improving, and I feel positively normal today! I ate a ton last night and had plenty to show for it this morning.

Anyway, from here we´re heading to San Carlos de Bariloche with Felipe. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your encouragement.

Love,
Will and Trev

A Few Photos from Futalefu

Trev and I did get to go rafting today, and it was fantastic. We traveled 9km of the river getting to run through two class 5 rapids, and a ton of class 4 and 3. Our guide suggested we use Paypal to pay, and it worked flawlessly (I think).
Here are some photos of our day (none of them capture the size or awesomeness of it, but they're better than nothing, eh?


That's our rafting crew. You can probably guess which one's the guide. Trev and I are the crazy looking gringos, and the gringa's a French gal named Cecile. We only had half a raft-load, but hey, they have minimums for some reason, and besides, when the raft is lighter it catches more air.






(We just emerged from the "Casa de Piedra")



The most difficult rapid we went through is called "Casa de Piedra" or "House of Rock" because it's got only narrow passageways amongst some really big rocks and there's a lot of water there dropping fast. We had a great time. Our guide ran through the different calls for who was supposed to paddle and how (i.e. forward, back, right back, left back) which isn't too complicated, but snappy reaction is really desired in difficult rapids, and our team came through with big, wet smiles.

The image most clear in my mind is actually of a rapid we didn't ride a whole lot of. It's a series of waves that build from small to massive, I think there are seven in all. The last one is virtually guaranteed to flip the raft and send all into the drink (which didn't seem a horrible idea to Trevor and myself, but then again, we're not rafting guides). We went by it within a couple of feet on the left hand side, and the sight of those river waves was impressive! Trevor looked so small right up next to it.

Last photo for now actually comes from yesterday at the town BBQ.

It's of Trevor eagerly waiting with hands in pockets (to make self-control easier).

Love!

Will and Trev

Argentina, here we come!

Trevor and I have arrived in Futalefu, the last town before we return to Argentina, a mere 10km from the border. From Coyhaique the road´s been good, tough, rough, and both Trev and I had days during which sickness plagued. Mine was a little worse and involved some very orange vomit, but there wasn´t anything truly disturbing about it. The only really disturbing things are large and some colorful signs that we see occasionally on buildings. These signs picture a somewhat cute looking mouse with huge words of warning about some hantavirus somethingerother. I have accidently left bags of crackers exposed, and twice they were nibbled on. I didn´t smell any hantavirus (though I wasn´t on the lookout), so we ate them. I certainly don´t mean to alarm anyone, and I am not the least bit concerned about having contracted the virus, but perhaps I should be?
Anyway, This day, Trevor and I got to participate in celebrating the 79th anniversary of the founding of Futalefu, and there was a municipal BBQ with music and folkloric dancing and a military parade and a marching band. The town is small, but they celebrated well.
Tomorrow we hope to raft on the famous Rio Futalefu, but payment is an issue as we can´t cover it in cash, and we can´t use the only bank that´s in this town. We shall see. Anyone feeling prompted to offer up prayers for rafting, please do so.
Updates should come a little more frequently on the Argentine side of things, but you never know when you´re going to roll into a town during an internet outage day :).

With love, missings, achings, and longings for home, and joy about where we are and what we´re doing,
Will and Trev (or as one friend put it Guille and Clover)

The Promised Pictures!

Now you can see a bit of what we´ve gotten ourselves into.

Starting with our time on the island of Tierra del Fuego:

Tierra del Fuego

And then our trip from Punta Arenas, Chile to Coihaique, Chile.

Punta Arenas to Coihaique

Enjoy!
Will and Trev

Coihaique!

Amigos,
We have arrived in the largest town along the Careterra Austral. Our friend, Felipe, arrived a couple of days before us and found a nice hostel for us that we´re enjoying thoroughly. Trev´s got a bit of the flu, and the weather seems to be turning cold. And...happy Easter! There aren´t any great festivities here in Coihaique, unfortunately, but I´m glad to remember the holiday (it´s quite easy for me to forget about such things) and wish you all a happy one. I sat by a woodburning stove this morning and was so thankful for my saviour. Seriously, it´s not everyone who offers to save you from death and makes good on it. I have been rescued from such death that to remember it almost boggles my mind.
It´s a beautiful day here, and I´ll put some pictures up soon.
Love!
Will and Trev

Cochrane and Ripio

The Careterra Austral is amazing. It´s a gorgeous and incredibly low traffic dirt road that stretches through southern Chile for about 1000km. As dirt roads go, it´s not great. It´s also not awful...most of the time. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

You should all be jealous, because last night Trevor, Felipe, and I got to share a leg of lamb that we roasted over our campfire by a beautiful glacier river in the mountains of southern Chile. It was many, many mouthfulls of delicious salty lamby goodness. God has fantastic ideas. Not only does he make things tasty, he suggests, nay, demands that we eat them. Thank you, God!

We´re in Cochrane, now, about 300km south of the largest city we´ll encounter in Chile, Coihaique. The road today was rough and difficult. I want at massage for my hands and my upper-back/neck. Surprisingly my butt has not been in any pain. PTL?

Love! And this time, flying kisses.
Will and Trev

Villa O´Higgins

If you´ve ever gone hiking with a bicycle, you knew something I didn´t really know until the day before yesterday. It´s difficult. After busting our butts (which becomes rather literal when bicycling) and battling the wind to reach El Chalten so we could ferry across Lago del Desierto, we got to push our bicycles up steep hillside and through deep ruts for two hours and bicycle another 15km on some of the worst things I still classify as roads, we reached Chile in time to take the weekly ferry across Lago O'Higgins. We enjoyed three hours of rest on the ferry, and reaching the other side realized that Trevor´s rear tire had blown apart.
Anyway, yesterday was a lovely rest day for us. When we reached El Chalten, we caught up with our Mexican friend, Felipe, and will be bicycling with him for a little while. He's a great guy who speaks English well and has much nicer equipment than we do. Is that all I really have to say about him? Ahh, the things a bicyclist focuses on.

And so, here we go. 700 Kilometers of dirt and gravel stretch forth before us, but everyone we meet coming the other way assures us that ´vale la pena de hacerlo.´ So we are encouraged.

Love and hugs (though I wish the hugs could be in person and not only imagination),
Will and Trev

Regular Exercise

Thank you to all who offered suggestions to help Trevor and myself cope with our relational difficulties. It´s actually one of the great priveleges of this gjourney that we get to spend so much time growing relationally. Of course, the greatest gifts and experiences often come at the greatest cost. It´s good, so good.
I think my favorite suggestion was that we schedule some regular exercise and be sure to include it as part of our day. Exercise is important.
We will be headed north from this awesome glacier and incredibly touristy town to El Chalten which is near the base of Mt. Fitzroy. From there, we will enter Chile again and begin the most remote section of our trip on the southern Careterra Austral.
Internet in this part of the world is slow and expensive, so updates will probably be text-only for a little while, but be sure there are astonishing things to see in this part of the world.
We had a great day at the Perito Moreno glacier yesterday. We rented a car and went there with an Austrian couple that we met on the road. We spent a lot of time watching the glacier break, bits of ice fall into the water, and enjoying deep philosophical musings and stories. Before coming to South America, they bicycled through Tibet, and had many interesting stories to tell.
Love!
Will and Trev

Torres Del Paine

Trevor and I just got to spend five days trekking in Torres del Paine national park, an amazing place. Now, we head up to El Calafate where we'll get to see the Moreno Glacier, one of the three or so glaciers in the world that is still expanding.
It is an amazing adventure that we are getting to embrace every day, and I am more and more grateful for it. We do seem to be getting frustrated with eachother more frequently than before, so anyone with good tips for what to do with that feel free. We are doing well, and getting to learn so much about what it is to travel with, work with, learn with, live with, and love someone else who is so close almost all the time. Good practice for marriage I imagine.
Yesterday, while riding out of the park, I was imagining what it'd be like if we got into a fight, and while I'm fairly certain that Trevor could thoroughly pummel me in the end, I'm certain that he would visit me in the hospital almost as much as my mom.

It's a little odd, but I really am grateful to all who keep up with this blog and what is going on with us. It´s nice to know that people care.

Love,
Will and Trev

Puerto Natales

The famous doorway to the Torres del Paine national park is surprisingly squalid in a charming sort of way. Lots of tin and bright peeling paint makes for an interesting view from the surrounding hills, but is mildly depressing in town.
Trevor and I battled through 40-60mph winds yesterday, biking 50km toward our goal. Then we hitched for 35km to an estancia where we were able to stay the night. It was a fantastically difficult day.
Now that we´re here though, we´re planning to take several days brake from the bicycles, borrow some packs, and trek around the park for four days. It´s supposed to be spectacular.
T&W

The Land of Fire

I did partially melt my shoes in the land of fire, but other than that, no permanent damage was done. We met several friends, enjoyed a lot of biking, endured a lot of biking, and were yet again amazed at the hospitality of so many.
Trevor and I are now back on the continent, but this time in Punta Arenas, Chile. We ferried for three hours yesterday evening to arrive here.
I've already been at the internet cafe for over three and a half hours. I´m tired of typing and hungry, so off I go.
Love, courage, and hope to you all!

Tucuman: The Final Update

Trevor and I left Tucuman several weeks ago, but there were many pictures to share that I hadn't organized yet. I am afraid that I have not done an adequate job telling the stories, but I never can seem to tell the stories well enough anyway. May you enjoy the pictures and travel a little with us.

Tucuman-The Final Update

Love,
Will and Trev

What do you do when the very air you breathe is against you?

Trevor and I arrived in Rio Grande late this morning. The wind was powerful and in our faces for most of the ride. Such was its force that, when we turned a bend and it blew into our sides, it caused both of us to fall at different times. Impressively strong wind.
We biked 15-20km into the wind at its strongest and crawled along the entire way. Trevor´s chain even self-destructed...mildly. Still, he made this simple yet profound statement, "All progress is forward progress" (he even did it with a genuine smile on his face). I laughed. Progress shmogress. I have expectations here. I expect to be able to bike along the flat pavement at 15km/hr...at the very least! If I can´t do that, I expect to be able to alter my circumstances in some way such that I can. Failing that...well...I quit!
Maybe not. It just seems so hard sometimes. And all I´m doing is biking.
I read two emails from people in situations far worse than mine, and equally as powerless to change their circumstances. What does one do when surrounded by death or evil or hatred or illness...what can we do? All progress is forward progress...but damn...it sure would be nice to change the circumstances in which we´re progressing sometimes, wouldn´t it?
I can´t even begin to express the fulness of the amazing generosity that has been poured out upon us in our travels, by God directly, through eachother, and through new friends and strangers. I am grateful to get to bicycle into the wind. I am grateful when it calms down, too... May we learn to delight less in circumstances and our standing relative to others, and more in progress. Loving God with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls, and with all of our strength. And loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Further up, further in!

Heading North

After two incredibly diverse days in Ushuaia National Park, Trevor and I are finally heading north. We´ll be bicycling for three or four days heading for Rio Negro, and from there turn west for Porvenir where we´ll take a ferry across the water to Puerto Natales.


There´s snow in those hills....


It was so cold that morning that we stayed in the tent and our sleeping bags until 1:30pm. I even got a lesson in button sewing.


When we did finally find our way out of the tent, it was time to thoroughly disfruit the park. His shoes were dry again by the time we returned to camp.


The national park was beautiful, especially in the not so commonly visited areas. That red dot in the back of the photo is Trevor.


We´re leaving today, so I woke up early to take a photo of the sunrise (then returned to sleep).


Good bye Ushuaia, we look forward to warmer weather!

And...They´re off!

The End of the World

We finally arrived last night, after some 78hrs of traveling by bus, in Ushuaia, Argentina. It´s beautiful, cold, and wet. We plan to spend a couple of days camping in Ushuaia National Park before heading north on the bicycles.
We continue meeting ridiculous numbers of friendly and interesting people. On the street, on busses, and in hostels, there are fantastic pedople everywhere.
Thank you for your prayers!
W&T

Finally! A Month's Worth of Update:

Hello all!
It is once again update time, and though I've been negligent in my blogging duties, I know many of you have continued to ask about us and pray for us. Thank you so very much for that.
Let us begin with the basics:
We're still in Argentina, Tucuman even.
All three of us are alive and healthy.
There have not yet been any more E.R. visits.

Now that we've dispensed with the most basic, we get into the more interesting and, for me, more difficult to organize.
There'll be three chapters.
1. Fer's Bike Was Stolen
2. Trev and William Take a Trip
3. Fer's Decided Not to Continue Travelling with Trev and Will.



Big event number one: Fernando's bicycle was stolen!

We'd been keeping our bicycles in his Grandmother's backyard, which seemed a reasonably safe place. There's a rather high wall (the barbed wire is a new addition) and it's a back yard. Who's going to jump the wall to hoist a bicycle over? Doesn't it look like it'd be rather difficult?
One day, about three weeks ago, I went looking for Fernando's bicycle. I didn't see it in the back with the others, so I asked. This, of course, got us searching. Bicycles don't normally disappear. We were incredulous at the thought of someone hauling the bicycle over the wall until Fer spotted something at the base of the wall. Our GPS. It was laying there with not a care in the world (fortunately it's waterproof). I then remembered that the previous day I'd picked up some sunglasses from the yard, assuming that the wind had somehow blown them out there. So, it looks as though Fer's bicycle lept over the wall, dropping our GPS and his sunglasses along the way. We did a little asking around, searching for accomplices to the bicycle's grand escape, but haven't come upon any promising leads.


Big event number 2: William and Trevor go for a 3-4 (make that 12) day trip!
There's been much conversation between the three of us on the subject of when exactly we'd be leaving Tucuman. We tried to set dates a couple of times, but it just wasn't happening. Fernando needed to send out law school applications before leaving, and decided that he wanted to stay in Tucuman until he and his mother were able to find someone to live with Grandma.
Trev and I didn't have anything particular to do here in Tucuman, and were rather annoying Fernando with our constant antsiness (I was unsympathetic at the time for was not Fer at least partially responsible for covering us in ants?), so on his suggestion, we decided to take a 3-4 day trip to a beautiful little village called Tafi del Valle. There are many, many stories to tell from this trip (all good and beautiful stories), including how we joined a family on their vacation up to the province of Salta, but those will come at another time. Suffice it to say that a series of wonderful circumstances and gifts from God inspired us to triple the length of our trip.


Big event number 3: Fernando's decided not to continue travelling with us.
This one is difficult to write about, and it's something that we've been discussing almost since our return to Tucuman. It's probably the main reason I haven't updated the blog in the last month as well. I know it hasn't been an easy decision for him to arrive at. There's a part of him that does want to keep travelling with us, and he also feels very peaceful about the decision. There is much council and many circumstances that have contributed to his decision, and I don't think I'll try to go into any of it.
It's sad for all of us, but it's not the end of our journey, nor is it the end of our brotherhood (by the grace of God). Fernando's excited about spending some more time in Tucuman, being discipled a bit here, and possibly spending more time in Buenos Aires, and Trev and I are excited about continuing our bicycle journey. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again before heading back to the states. Perhaps meeting up in Patagonia for a few days of fun, or when Trevor and I return to Tucuman.

The Next Leg:Our journey continues, Trevor and I are leaving Tucuman by bus Feb. 3rd at 4:15am and heading for Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. We'll be bicycling north for three months, going through one of the most beautiful parts of the world, Patagonia, with amazing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and more. We plan to return to Tucuman by May 7th to celebrate Trevor's birthday with our friends here, and prepare for the new and as of yet unplanned but hoped for leg: Bolivia, Peru, and Machu Picchu. Our plane tickets are for June 8th, and neither of us is planning on changing that date, but we may change the location and depart from Lima, Peru instead of Santiago, Chile...we shall see. The plan is still to arrive in San Francisco, CA on the 9th, and pedal our butts back up to Seattle. It's possible that some friends will join us for the trip, and if you're one of those friends who's even vaguely considering it, please do! We're hoping to take around three weeks for the ride, arriving in Seattle on or around the 1st of July.

As for now, that is all. There is more, much more, always more. God is amazing, and we're learning more about that every day (though sometimes it takes a week or more to be able to look back and recognize it). Thank you for your prayers, please continue, or start if you hadn't begun previously, praying for us :).

Love,
W.T.F.
(for one last time)