Monday August 30, 2010

10477 miles later Us and more importantly the Ka are in Ulaan Bataar Mongolia.  It has been quite an amazing trip with so much to share.

Let begin where we left off.  We last emailed from Barnaul Russia.  So after we finished emailing, we found out that the Mongolian border was going to be closed for the weekend and after much discussion, made the last minute decision to stay in Barnaul for two extra days, rather than drive all night and try to make it to the border before they closed.  By the way, Jackie is exactly correct.  All the men in Russia look like Igor and all the women look like supermodels.  Even Joie was caught staring at the women on ocassion. 

Once we left Barnaul, we started a caravan (convoy in British) of the trip with a group of guys called Shads inc (Jake, Dave, and Ben)  We drove half way to the Mongolia border and camped at a beautiful camp site in the Altay mountains along a stream.  We made pancakes and grilled some really tasty sausage we had purchased at a local store (Not Polish sausage, but almost as tasty)  The next day we drove into the border where we encountered five teams already waiting in line to cross the next day (Monday)  As the night progressed, 30 teams ended up in the line at the border.  The next morning we started the very tedious process of getting across the border.  It ended up that Joie and I where the first team to actually get in to mongolia of the 30 teams in line.  The border only let six teams in that day and we ended up separated from our convoy with the shads. 

We drove about 30 miles into Mongolia and camped for the night.  The next day we continued on all by ourselves and on the worse roads I have ever driven.  The roads, which you really can only call trails are huge.  The same road may be one mile wide, but really a collection of paths that all go in the same direction.  It is possible to be on the same road with several cars and never see them, because the collection of paths you are on are all so spread out.   These paths where so corrugated that it shook the car violently and we where constantly banging the bottom of the car.  As we passed the first real city Olgy, we where beginning to feel a little lonely.  We drove the entire day passed olgy and into Hovd where they charged us a dollar for the opportunity to drive on the worst roads in the world.  Almost immediatly upon entering mongolia, the e-brake lines were ripped from the bottom of the car.  I was able to cut one off, but the other dragged until we reached Ulaan Bataar.  We found olater, that dozens of teams had already abandoned their vehicles in Olgy ut or Hovd for various reasons.  Later that same day we pressed on out of Hovd onto Altay. 

About 50 miles outside of Altay as it began to get dark, we hit a monstrous boulder and broke the drivers front spring.  The car dropped to the ground and the spring jammed into the tire.  As I jacked the car up to inspect the damage, a huge gust of wind (Mongolia is more windy than Wyoming) blew the car off the jack and the car fell onto the ground on top of the jack.  Needless to say, I was a little discouraged.  Joie, being ever resilient, dug the jack out from under the car and helped me get the car back in the air.  I was able to rotate what was left of the spring back in the air and then use the broken bit of spring to lock it in place.  We continued forward, with the car sitting four inches lower on the driver's side.  We slept in the car that night and early the next morning continued to Altay

We very slowly drove the 250 miles to Altay in the battered Ka.  The road to Altay was very desolate and we rarely passed other vehicles.  It had been three days since we had seen another rally car and wondered if we would ever see one.  Upon pulling into Altay, we felt very discouraged and lonley.  We where unsure if the car was going to make it.  Soon after, we came across the Mongol Rally Auto Garage and finally saw dozens of ralliers all with cars more busted than ours.  Each of them where impressed with how fast we had made it from the border and how well our car has fared.  Out back was a small junk yard of rally cars that had not made it and were abandoned.  The mechanics at the shop were not the brightest (I am being very generous) but they found a spring and with my help we replaced it.  The whole thing cost $18.  I disconnected the sway bar while I was at it to help with the bouncing on the roads. The next morning we where all set to leave when we ran into the Shads, who had driven all night in order to make up time for the extra day they had spent at the border. 

The shads car had lost the gas tank earlier in the trip and they asked the Auto shop to repair it.  We decided to wait for them so we could convoy.  Six hours later, the shads were ready to go with their gas tank back in place and we left for Bayonganor.  13 miles out, the gas tank fell off again.  Joie immediatly told me that we where not going to wait any longer unless I repaired their gas tank this time.  So the shads and I set out removing the back seat of their car and placing the tank inside the car and routing the power and fuel lines.  This seemed to work well and we continued on.  The next two days where very rough on the car.  The entire bottom of the Ford Ka was beat up.  Slowly we began to notice the car disintergrating.  The bracket that held the fuel filter was torn off and the fuel filter was just hanging.  The fuel tank developed a small leak and the power windows stopped working due to the dust.  At one point I hit the top of a large rock that caught the bottom of the car.  As the car pulled the rock, it rotated forward, and began to lift the rear tires off the ground throwing the car up and over, leaving a massive dent in the floor plan.  as we approached our third river crossing of the trip, we camped for the night. 

The next day, was again full of bumps and jumps and various banging to the car.  Again we drove all day and crossed two rivers (and by that we literally mean crossed the river in the Ka because there are no bridges) It was very strenous, but by that night we were within 250 miles of UB and on pavement.  We felt like we had made it and celebrated with the Shads.  Early the next morning we left for UB very excited.  It began to rain this frigid cold rain, and with our windows stuck down we where freezing.  About 16 miles into the trip, I hit a pothole and broke the rear springs on the rear axle.  The axle was sitting directly on the frame, but the tires where not rubbing, so we continued on with our very bumpy, cold,  lowrider Ford ka.  By this time we ere out of spare tires, two of our tires where bald, one so bad that it had holes in it and had an innertube placed inside, so that it would hold air.  One of the tires was much bigger than the others, which did not help much either.   We looked pretty sorry pulling into UB, but us and the Ka made it to the finish line.  It is quite the sight, but it is here. Our total count for flat tires is 13! Yes I really said 13 we thought we set a record then realized that last year one team had 17 so we were bummed about that.  My roof rack survived intact, when so many other store bought ones failed.  We fly out tomorrow morning heading for Moscow, then London and finally Denver. 

It has been an amazing trip and we have not shared one tenth of what we have experienced.  We are very grateful for this opportunity and will fondly remember it. 

And jonna.. we did not encounter any bandits on this trip just so you know so you can sleep at night now. And Carrie I just wanted you to know that Lady Gaga is alive and well in Mongolia in case you were wondering.

Thursday August 19th 2010

Hello friends and family we have made it to Baurnal Russia and are posting the last and final update before we reach our final destination in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia. We will be going silent until then due to lack of resources. So until the 28th of August the suspense is on... 

We have driven over 8500 miles and the Ford Ka is still functioning. The last few days in Kazakhstan have consisted of driving, driving, and more driving. Kazakhstan is an interesting place, the cities are more developed then I had envisioned and are followed by hundreds of miles of sparse fields of nothing! The drive from Almaty to Semey was pretty uneventful until the last 400 kilometers where the road was covered in 12 foot deep pot holes. We got 4 flat tires and it took us 9 hours to go such a short distance. That makes 7 flat tires for the entire trip! If there is an award for having the most flats in the ralley then I think we would win. We found a garage in Semy and with our sophisticated Russian, aired up the spares that could be saved after straightening the rims with a hammer and purchased one new spare to replace the rim that was unsalvagable.

 The Russian border was the easiet we have crossed since Georgia, we havn't seen so much structure in a while. We entered the border and ended up in a creepy small city last night where there were people lurking in the streets with huge bottles of alcohol everywhere. Some guy tried to convince us he was a "special police man" and wanted us to give him some money and our documents. He wasnt that convincing because he wearing flip flops, shorts, and a tee shirt. We refused to give him documents and he got aggressive so we fled the scene and found refuge in a hotel. 

The day time in Russia is a lot less sketchy and we have had a lovely day in Baurnal walking the streets. We hope to enter the Mongolia border tommorrow. Thanks for all of your comments and support!

Monday August 16th, 2010

So this is probably our 2nd to last update until we pull into Ulaan Bataar.  We will update again in Baurnal Russia and then go silent.  So far our trip from Samaraqand Uzbekistan to Tajikistan back to Uzbekistan, then to kazakhstan, can be summed up into three categories.

 

The travels:

Uzbekistan is an interesting place.  Their largest bill, the 1000 CYM, is worth about 50 cents, 20 cents if you trade on the black market.  This makes it like paying for everything in pennies.  We traded about 80 dollars worth, instantly becoming millionaires, and ended up with a stack of bills so thick it would not fit in my pants pocket.  Samaraqand was phenominal and the people incredibly friendly.  From their we drove to Penjakent Tajikistan and saw one of Alexander the greats ancient cities (Not much left but mud).  We then drove along the mountains and camped in one of the prettiest mountain settings I have seen.  The next day we drove along the mountains and went back into Uzbekistan.  The following day we crossed Uzbekistan and entered Kazakhstan and spent the night in Shymkent.  It was a nice little city and the entire city was having a party with fireworks and all.  Today we got up early and drove to Almaty.  We just ate at the American bar and grille where we had almost american style hamburgers complete with milk shake and Italian music in the back ground from Bucco Di Beppo.

 

The car:

So our car (the Ford Ka) is pretty much the pinnacle of 1970's technology.  With its cast iron pushrod engine (300 pounds heavier than more modern over head cam engine and gas mileage roughly equivalanet to a mini-van) and 59 horsepower (The same as a 1930s Ford Model A) it leaves much to be desired.  As we have traveled 7500 miles, the engine has decidedly lost some of its power (I think there are 9 horses left)  5th gear is virtually useless and we can travel faster in 4th.  I am pretty sure it is one wheel drive and the same wheel keeps spinning in the dirt.  On the upside, the a/c still works and is as cold as ever. 

 Upon leaving Bukara, the car would not start and required a jump.  We spent the next couple of days jump starting the car periodically until we got to Tajikistan and purchased a new battery.  Somewhere in tajikistan sits what is left of one of our inner fender liners, I guess it took one too many potholes.  Finally upon entering Uzbekistan, the clutch pedal went straight to the floor and the clutch would not dissengage.  We immediatly pulled into a garage and they fixed it with some parts I did not have nore had any way to locate with my limited Russian.  Upon leaving they charged me 6 dollars.  I was sure they wanted 60, not 6, so negotiated to 20.  Needless to say, they where very gratefull and excited.  My guess is that drinks where on that guy that night.  About ten minutes after leaving the garage, just as a police officer stopped me, the car over heated and the engine would not run.  I think one of the guys who repaired the clutch must have loosened the radiator cap and not tightened it, because I could not find a leak and once I filled up the radiator and tightened the cap, the car started and has run fine ever since.  This is where the 1970s tech came in handy, had this been a more modern car, as Daren understands very well, the engine would have been ruined.  The officer who stopped me never asked us for papers due to the smoking car, so maybe thats what I need to do the next time I get pulled over in the States, fake that the car is on fire.  Finally one of the fender trim peices is falling off and people are the same the world over, as they keep honking and pointing, as if to say, hey that big part is falling off your car, just like the do in the states when I drive a car with no bumper.

The Borders.

So apparently as we learned the hard way, Tajikistan is a major drug route and Uzbek borders are some of the most difficult I have come across.  When we left Tajikistan to come back into Uzbekistan, they made us remove everything from the car and put it through the X-ray including our spare gas cans (full of gas) and even the back seat.  They also made me remove all four regular tires and our three spares from the carand run them through the x-ray.  Then as we left Uzbekistan for Kazakhstan, we drove 130 milesgoing from border crossing to border crossing looking for one they would let us leave with the car.  Finally we paid a guy $20 to lead us to a point where we could leave. Unfortunately, the border guards where very mean and at times cruel, delighting in holding power over us silly Americans.  This is quite unfortunate as it left a negative vibe on a country we otherwise enjoyed so much.  

    

Tuesday August 10th, 2010

We are in Ashgabat Turkmenistan. (ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOIE!!!!!)  We left Iran Yesterday morning.  Iran was really cool.  We saw the a couple more mosques and some more ruins as well as a lot of desert.  Our guide was exceptional.  I tried to give him a tip, but he refused.  He saved us so much money, buy talking prices down on things and with the Carnet.  I think our trip through Iran with the guide was actually much less expensive than the other British teams who where on there own.  I think our experience with Iran was different from the female teams that went through.  They complained that they were groped alot.  We didn't really have that problem much.  We tried to cross into Turkmenistan two nights ago, but ended up stuck at the border with Iran with 10 rally teams because Turkmenistan closes the border by 4:00 pm.  Some guy who owned a hotel tried to force all the teams to stay in his hotel, but one of the teams called the British embassy and resolved it.  It was actually very fun being with all the teams sharing stories.   Yesterday we got into Turkmenistan.  Ashgabat is an amazing city, so clean and white and very empty.  It is very surreal being here.  We stayed in a hotel last night with several other teams and this morning drove to an underground lake and swam.  It was really bazaar, swimming with all these people in an underground lake.

Yesterday when we got into Ashgabat we went to get a Tajikistan visa, since we where unable to get one before we left.  We met with the ambassador himself.  He got the visa arranged in 30 minutes.  He noticed it was Joies birthday and gave Joie his cell phone number and told her to call him if I did not buy Joie 25 red roses today for her birthday. We bought her cake instead.  He was really entertaining and it was amazing to get the visa so quickly.  Gas is insanly cheap, like 20 cents a liter, so we are filling up our spare tanks here.  Anwayway all is well.  We will continue to update as we can, but internet is getting harder and harder to find.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday August 7, 2010

We are still in Iran.  We leave for Turkmenistan tomorrow.  The last two days have been very interesting.  We have seen several Mosques, a Bazar, the main Iran museum and the palace of the Shaw.  All the women 30 and under stair at Joie.  She must stand.  We figure that to all the women here with here jeans, long sleave shirt, headscarf, but no mantel, she must look like a scank.  If you think driving in rush hour in the usa is crazy, you should try it in Tehran where no-one abides by the lanes and people keep stopping on the freeway to shout "Where are you from?" and "what is your name?"  The last funny thing is that while we where driving, our guide had fallen asleep in the front seat (The same side that is the drivers seat in Iran and most the world) I had a guy come by in his car and started waving and honking and pointing at our guide motioning for me to wake him up, until they realized that the steering wheel is on the other side.  Anyway all is well.  Internet is getting harder to find and the phone will not work, so we will update as we can

Wednesday August 4th, 2010

We are in Yervan Armenia.  Yesterday we where in Tbilisi Georgia.  A lot happened in the last two days.  On our drive out of Turkey to Georgia, I hit the mother of all potholes and bent the rim enough the tire went flat.  I knew somthing was wrong, when as I hit the pothole, I saw my hubcap go flying up in the air and down the mountain.  We never did find the hubcap. (for those counting that is tire # 2)  We changed the tire and got into Tbilisi late at night.  Tbilisi at night is one of the coolest looking cities (not as pretty during the day)  We found this really nice hotel with a/c and everything that looked sketchy on the outside but ended up working out for us.

 

The next morning I asked where to find a tire shop in order to get two new rims and tire.  There happened to be a small mechanics shop right behind our hotel and they called someone to translate for me.  They repaired the one bent rim and then the owner, George, (yes George from Georgia) of the shop drove me to the king of all swap meets (Luis would be happy there) and found a rim for me.  We then went to the used tire market where George carefully inspected the tires.  One tire looked good, but they wanted 35 Georgian money and Georgia said they should not charge any more than 30 and so we continued looking.  Finally we found a nice tire for 30 Goergian monies (Yes I don't know what the Goergian money is called) Finally we went to another shop where they repaired and straightened the new used rim we had purchased, because George said that for such a long trip we needed to have the rim perfectly balanced and such.  After 3 hours we had a new spare tire (this make 3 spares we now have)  All this cost 42 georgian monies.  I tried to pay George for his time, but he refused my money.  Joie used the full extent of her Russian to offer George a beer, but he refused that too. 

We then went to see a couple really neat churches on the tops of a couple of hills in Tbilisi.  The road up to one was so steap that I had the car floored in 1st gear and it barely made it up to the top.  After our fun day in Georgia, we drove into Armenia and stayed in a nice elegant hotel in a city that had no road signs or name that we could find.  While getting into Armenia they charged us a 50 Euro tax to use there roads with our car (I think we overpaid, cause the roads are worth 20 tops)  Now we will head to Tetav and tomorrow Iran.  

Monday August 2, 2010

Today we are ın Kars Turkey and just got back from vısıtıng Anı, the ancıent Armenıan capıtal.  It was really cool.  Yesterday, Joıe was ın the bathroom and the door jammed so she got locked ın  for 20 mınutes. It was a really smelly bathroom and she thought she was goıng to pass out. It took 4 Turkısh men to get the door opened. I was tryıng to fınd her and she fınally got out and found me. 

We also got a flat tıre on our way to Kars on a small strech of dırt road we had to drıve on.  I purchased a new tıre today to replace the bad one.  The one that went bad had prevıously been patched and the patch blew.   I trıed to purchase another spare tıre, but was unable to fınd a rım that fıt.  Maybe tomorrow ın Georgıa.  We are tryıng to upload ımages, but ıt wıll not work.

The people ın Turkey have all been so amazıng we are sad to go but excıted to contınue on ın our journey. We hung out wıth some other ralley members yesterday. They pulled over on the sıde of the road to eat lunch and some turkısh people stopped and gave them some tomatoes. They offer free tea everywhere we go, we got offered tea even ın the tıre shop! We are leavıng now for Georgıa.

 

Sunday August 1st, 2010

Yesterday was a really good day.  We started by headıng to Hattusa (The ancıent Hıttıte capıtal cıty)  Whıle ın the Hattusa park whıle drıvıng between sıghts, I heard thıs noıse from the car, I orıgınally thought ıt mıght have been all the Freon escapıng from the a/c (By the way the a/c has been great and absolutly necessary)  It ended up beıng the radıator hose that runs from the engıne to the heater.  The ınlet to the heater core ıs made of plastıc (Never seen that before) and ıt broke.  The plastıc to the heater core was extremely brıttle and what was left crumbled ın my hands.  I rerouted the radıator hose bypassıng the heater core ın about 20 mınutes, bu the sprıng hose clamp was a lıttle looser than I wanted.  Whıle I was workıng on the car we met a couple of Turkısh guys, one named Rafat, who worked for the EU ın turky on agrıculture stuff.  They offered to have me follow them ınto the next major cıty and to help me fıne a hose clamp that could be tıghtend more.  We made ıt to the next cıty Gozat, and after goıng to a couple of garages found the hose clamp I needed.  Rafat refused to let me pay for ıt and everyone ın the garage watched on the edge of theır seat as I changed the clamp.  They all laughed when I called the car a Ford caca.  Rafat then ınvıted us to go have `grılled chıcken ın the forest`, whıch scared us a lıttle at fırst, but then they made us thıs wonderful BBQ chıcken, bread, and other assorted thıngs. on thıs hıllsıde ın the forest.  Apparently all the Turkısh ın the area goto the woods for grılled chıcken on Saturday.  They then took us for tea.  We had a lot of fun vısıtıng wıth them.  They gave us several gıfts as we left.  When we left for the next cıty.  On my way out I got gas and the two bald gas statıon attendants kept complımentıng me on how great my haır was (all ın Turkısh)

  

Monday July 26, 2010

So we made it to Germany and will be heading to the Czech Republic for the Czech out party tonight with the rally.  We spent yesterday touring Brussels and Luxembourg and made our way into Germany for the night. As for Brussels, Matt you were right it is not the most exciting city. Richard and I have been calling it the Cleavland of Europe however it is the capital of the European Union half of the year. Luxembourg is in the top three richest countries of the world and is gorgeous. As I am typing away Richard is trying to fix the radio on the car. He was in the process of fixing the horn and while resetting the switches the car locked the radio and said that we need a special code to turn the radio back on. So we fixed casualty number one but created a second one. How could one survive such a trip with no tunes? He is now pulling the radio out to get the number and there is a British company online that will give us the code for 5 pounds. With all the driving we will be doing that is well worth it and now we will have the luxury of a horn and a radio so life cannot get any better at this time. As for the biggest useless item contest, there was a car that had a speedboat on top and one that had a huge canoe. I am glad we didnt participate because I dont think we could have topped that with our little ford caca. Hope all is well at home, feel free to leave any comments for us on the site.

Sunday July 25, 2010

So today is the first day of the rally.  We had our first casualty on the car, the horn died during all the honking we were doing while we drove around the track at Goodwood.  We are the only drivers to bring a Ford Ka and everyone is making fun of us and calls the car the Ford caca, becuase it is quite an ugly car.  We are now in our third country Belgium.  We were in France for about 20 minutes.  Later today we will be in Luxomburg.  

Weather: Sunny