Disused petrol station – Laboulaye – 128 km
The next day, and after thanking the staff, we pointed our bikes in Buenos Aires’
direction. Not a great deal happened apart from cycling past massive cattle
ranches, known as Estancias in Argentina. This was indeed a world-famous cattle
country. With enough rain and fertile soil, grazing was nutritious, and I understood
the beef was excellent. It’s said the good taste is due to the cattle’s organic and
free-range roaming. Not only was it a cattle country, but vast areas were planted
under corn and soybeans.
Route 7 became narrow with heavy truck traffic, and care had to be taken to avoid
disasters. A steady headwind slowed us to a crawl, and it became late enough to
get concerned the last stretch to Laboulaye would be cycled in darkness. Seven
kilometres from Laboulaye, Ernest came to an unexpected and sudden halt. The
front hub on his bike had seized up and with a fast-setting sun, he quickly did an
emergency repair job, allowing us to reach Laboulaye, albeit in the dark.
Laboulaye was much bigger than anticipated and it was easy to locate a
reasonably priced hotel until Ernest repaired his bike. Fortunately, Argentineans
were a sporting nation, and one could find decent bike shops in practically all
sizable towns. Laboulaye was big enough to sport a bicycle shop where Ernest
bought the necessities to fix his bike.