Gobernador Gregores is a small town of about three thousand people in the middle of Santa Cruz, a long way from anything else, and it is one of the few real service points on this huge stretch of Patagonia. It sits on a broad, wind-swept plateau of steppe, where sheep farming has been the main business since the early twentieth century, and the nearby estancias, some of them enormous, sprawl across tens of thousands of hectares. The town has the orderly, slightly spare look of a place laid out on a grid and built for practicality, with wide streets and low houses.
The road to it from Bajo Caracoles is one of the long, lonely stretches that give Ruta 40 its reputation. The surface alternates between gravel, rough patches and newer paved sections, and the character of the ride changes with each repair. Wind, as ever, is a crucial factor, especially from the west, and it can slow a bike to a crawl or push it sideways in a gust. The land is flat to gently rolling, with a few low hills, and you can see a truck coming from twenty minutes away. Spring and autumn are cold, and the best period for riding is December to February.
Gobernador Gregores has fuel, shops, a few places to eat and some basic hotels, and it is the place to stop, rest and prepare for the next leg. Fill the tank and bring food and water, because the next settlements are far apart. Meals tend to be simple and filling, with meat, pasta and a bottle of local wine. People here are used to travellers and happy to chat about the road, and the weather forecast is always the first topic.
The wildlife of the steppe is the real attraction. Guanacos, rheas, hares and foxes are all common, and flamingos sometimes gather on the lagoons that dot the plateau. A short ride from the town, the landscape opens into a sea of grass and low shrubs, scattered with volcanic rock and the occasional salt pan. There is a sense of space here that is hard to describe, and it is best felt at sunset when the sky turns orange and purple over the empty land. Keep the throttle steady, the visor clean and the tank topped up.