Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that we are all fine and well here at The World by Road. We have successfully made it across western Mongolia and have crossed the remote mountain-top border at Tashanta into Russia. It was one of the most exhausting weeks in my life. Driving over 1,600 kilometers across one of the most remote places on earth with hardly any roads to speak of can scare you a little bit, especially when you get lost… which seemed to happen at least once a day. It was really slow going as well. Try driving from Denver to California on rugged dirt roads at an average speed of 25 mph while constantly keeping your eyes on the compass to see if you are actually on a road or just a trail that leads to an abandoned ger (yurt).
We are now currently in the Russian Siberian city of Barnaul. It is actually really nice here and reminds me a lot of Colorado. We made a clean entry into Russia, although I can hardly say that about the Toyotas and ourselves. We got pulled over by a Russian cop because he could not see our license plates and the smell emerging out of the trucks and off of our bodies after 8 days in the middle of nowhere was enough to make the cute Russian girls at the hotel cringe. I am happy to say that we are now showered and are working on eliminating the smells inside of the Thundra and Little Pepe.
We are still on the move though and are leaving for the Kazakh border tomorrow morning. Once we get to Almaty, Kazakhstan on the 18th, we will have some time to update everybody on all of our adventures, encounters and future happenings. There is a lot to talk about.
Dasvidanya for now…
