just take the 40 down to chilecito and then continue on the 74. no problem if you're heading for chile anyways, the stretch of the 40 down from the cuesta miranda is not too spectacular anyways (just my opinion).
can highly recommend the paso agua negra (mostly good gravel) into chile, leads into the valle elqui which is also nice (stop for a pisco tour at pisco elqui, distillery los nichos). so what i'd do would be 40 down to chilecito, then 74 to patquia and then the 150 via the PN. ischgualasto (you can do it if you want to, though nothing new to see if you've done spedro de atacama) - to the paso agua negra, into the valle elqui.
if you like gravel roads you'll have a good time at the paso agua negra, though they're paving it so hurry up
you'll have to do the stretch from la serena to valparaiso on the panamericana though ... which is boring as hell and a toll road. but not much to see at this stretch anyways.
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hit the road jack! tr15a
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