So you’re cruising along the Carretera Austral in your self contained camper van and you start thinking it’s time to stop, maybe take a nap or who knows? Stop for the night. What to do?
Look at iOverlander, that’s what. The good news is the app is excellent, the bad news is everyone knows it so don’t expect to be alone when you get there. Timo from the Netherlands was here in the RV he bought and registered in Montana along with his three kids and his wife and not enough electricity to run their Starlink so I gave him our password. He went fishing with one of his sons and and caught a twig.
Then four German youngsters showed up in a rental car with a tent and they took iOverlander seriously and went for a dip. It lasted 15 seconds but the girls were cute shivering in bikinis. We let them use our Starlink too.
Rusty and I went for a walk while Layne reorganized her pantry and all the stuff we bought in Coyhaique. The rain came and went as it does around here. Constantly.
There is wind in Patagonia so our afternoon high temperature this fine summer day is 44 with a wind chill temperature of 37. Well, look at it this way: there are no flies or mosquitoes to annoy us.
The two Swiss couples renting a pickup with a pop up camper shell also left. The Chileans in a small rental van washed their teeth lakeside staring at the mountains and then they left. The young Germans left. Rusty slept on his bed. Timo and family left.
Occasional picnickers stopped by and stared for ten minutes at the water and I suppose some more travelers will be by for the night. We were going to leave tomorrow and drive to Chaiten where there is a ferry to Isla Chiloé five hours across the channel which we visited before we left Puerto Montt in December.
Meanwhile we had a beef empanada for lunch and watched a movie.
Rusty walked in widening circles. I carried my camera. It’s what we do.
Then a large Chilean family moved in under the trees with a shovel, a suitcase, music and a plan to construct a large fire pit.
It seemed we were surplus to requirements but that’s also part of the joy of being a nomad as our home has wheels. I packed up the Starlink, Layne cleared the kitchen counter and off we set.
It was a nice spot but we had more of the Carretera Austral to see. Just a little bit sooner than expected.
iOverlander is our tool for daily living and this spot looked like this.
But we ended up somewhere else entirely, 50 miles up the road. What a road it was.
Then just the way Patagonia does when it looks glorious it goes to crap.
My old friend the garbage gravel was back with water filled potholes and all. We had 14 miles to go to our next proposed wild camp site. On pavement that would have been twenty minutes, now it looked to be more than an hour. Perfect.
Hairpins galore.
There were a few weird miles where the traffic going south had cement but we didn’t and there were nasty steel spikes separating our lanes so we couldn't cross over safely.
It was a spectacular drive all in all but when we found a pull out a mile and a half ahead of our planned spot we took it.
It’s right next to the highway but overnight traffic is negligible and the wind was not too bad even in the gusts and GANNET2 is quite comfortable.
Rush hour on the evening Carretera:
Queulat Fjord:
Wherever we go there is our home.
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