Day 60: The Road to Atyrau

September 9, 2009

Long day, terrible road. Took off early, on awful road. Would ride for 10 minutes then stop for 10 minutes to wait for Petar and the Kamaz.

20 km/hour on the bike is minimum, Kamaz was doing 15 km. 70 km took 5 hours. Then the Kamaz broke down, needed to change tire. 1.5 hours sitting in the dirt. Continue. Pull into Atyrau at 9:00 pm. Make arrangements to put bike on different truck, unload/load,

Petar stays with bike, Cory and Tim go into Atyrau to find a Hotel. Check into worst hotel of the trip. No sheets, no Toilet Paper, No hot water, $100 per night.

This was a long, hot, dusty, crappy day, topped off by a terrible, crappy hotel. Blah.

I didn't take any pictures of the hotel because it sucked so bad.

During the long drive to Atyrau driving for a bit, then waiting for the truck, Cory and I played a game called, "Guess when the Kamaz will Arrive", mostly because it beat the other games, like "Count the Rocks" or "See if you can hit that Goat with a stick"

The first time, Cory guessed about 45 minutes from when we stopped, and I guessed about 32. The Kamaz pulled up in exactly 32 minutes. We were all suitably amazed that I guessed it exactly.

The second time we played, he asked for my time, and I said "7:33". He laughed, and said "my guess was "7:32". So, about 45 minutes later, at about 7:32, the Kamaz comes into view, and rolls up to our bikes at exactly 7:33.

Bang on, twice in a row. To the minute.

If there was a way to turn my talent into profit, I would.

:)