Why Patagonia??
Every couple of years, we like to do a big trip, typically to New Zealand. This time, though, we knew we wanted something different. As much as we love it there, and love seeing Shaun’s family, it felt like time to explore somewhere new.
We also knew one thing for sure: we wanted to escape winter. We absolutely love summers in North Idaho—and ours are usually packed with biking, hiking, and being outside as much as possible. Winter, on the other hand, can feel like one long gray stretch. So if we were going to leave, it had to be to the southern hemisphere.
South America quickly rose to the top of the list. Africa, didn’t seem too appealing, Australia, well Shaun lived there for over 6 years, so he wasn’t too keen for. And were not really island/ beach vacation people.
At first, the plan was vague. As painful as the thought was, we didn’t want to bring our bikes, its kind of a hassle and we both bike thousands of miles a year, so it was time to switch things up. We considered a road trip with hikes in between.
Peru, Chile, Argentina—everything was on the table. But the more we researched, the clearer it became that trying to cover too much ground would mean spending more time driving than actually exploring. When we realized Peru would be in its rainy season, the list narrowed even more.
That left Chile and Argentina. We thought maybe we’d start in Santiago and figure it out as we went.
While researching spots, I stumbled across an article called “The Last Best Road Trip.” Obviously, I clicked it. It was about the Carretera Austral—an 800-mile stretch of road winding through southern Chile, deep in Patagonia. Gravels roads and remote landscapes. The kind of place where plans are loose and weather decides the day.
I showed it to Shaun, and he was immediately intrigued.
The original idea was to drive it. Rent a small 4x4, camp along the way, take our time. We even found vehicles that came fully outfitted with rooftop tents and cooking setups. It felt like the perfect balance of structure and freedom.
But the more we read about the Carretera Austral, the more one thought kept creeping in:
This would be unreal on bikes.
We tried to ignore it. Eight hundred miles was too far. Three weeks wasn’t enough time. It was impractical. Unrealistic. Not the plan. I also didn’t have enough PTO from work.
A couple weeks later, after one too many nights of research, Shaun finally said what we were both thinking:
“What if we just say fuck it and bike it?”
I stared at him, hesitated, probably said a few other words. And then said, “ Yeah sure… fuck it. LETS bike it”
And just like that, the trip stopped being a road trip—and became something else entirely.
