Long run with a busted driver seat, but finish line here we are!

We made our longest run yet at 350km to reach our finish line. We hit something in the road and had a blow out, but a 10 minute stop, and we were bag on the road. Only had 6 hours ride left with a broken drivers seat. We pulled up to the finish line just as they were closing the gates for the night, so we opted for a hotel room and we will get our pictures tomorrow.

Not quite to Jodhpur.

Just finished getting laid down in bed. Today included a stop at the welder for frame repairs to our friends tuktuk, then we made it about 20 minutes up the road from the welder and their entire wiring harness caught fire. Dad, Roberto, and I tried patching it with wire pieces purchased from a guy, and missed something. We caught fire again. They got their tuk tuk pushed by a guy on his motorcycle holdish his foot out. He pushed them 10km to the next town where a mechanic bypassed all electrical. That allowed us to make Pali where a auto electrician repaired almost all of the system. Behind 70km, but ready for another day.

In Udaipur for the night.

We had a long day of travel today, and had to finish with a little night driving. You don't want to drive at night in India. We did get stopped in a small town today by a local dignitary, and insisted that we visit their "national saint". Which is apparently some late teen girls that sits wrapped in her blanket reading prayers from a book. While sitting there listening I was informed that she was prayer for the safety of the cows. We also hit a few thousand natives in the river and crowding bridges across the Mahia River. Either it was a big ceremony or it was regional wash day. We are still unsure.

Half day a ride after bad mechanics

Just got to a hotel after staying half a day in the last town for brake repair. The so called mechanic couldnt bleed one if the easiest brake systems on earth. I feel for anyone that has their brakes repaired by them. I'd rather have the jiffy lube guy replace the crank in the turbine on my particle accelorator. Dad and I helped steal the TukTuk from the mechanic and got it fixed in 15 minutes after finally finding a place with the right tools.

3 hrs down the road and now our tuk tuk has a bolt duct taped in for an exhaust mount and a solid wrapping of paracord to give it a hand. There's a significant rattle/top noise that we are hoping is just our wobbly muffler. Tried too late in this town to find a parts store, hopefully it holds well until a store up the road opens up tomorrow.

Brokedown with brake problems

We didn't quite make it to our intended destination. After our brake repairs, we ended up having more brake problems, and we have to wait until morning for the parts. They're planning on a rebuild of the master cylinder, but Dad and I just think it needs bleeding. We just don't have the correct tool.

Ellora Caves

We stopped for the night with our new team at a place just outside the Ellira Caves. We walked down 16 of the monasteries built into the side of the mountian. After dinner we hit the sack to be up early for driving with our new caravan.

Pretty neat stop at an old fort.

Make a stop at this old fort and ran into another team with Mike from Vegas, and Roberto and Alisia from Italy. We teamed up with them for the rest of the trip.

End of Day 6, Nearly lost a muffler and the carburetor.

Stopped to stretch and noticed a stranger sound coming from the TukTuk. Pulled over and we had lost 1 exhaust flange nut wit the other only a few threads away. We tightened it back up after stealing a nut from the cargo rack. We also found a massive split in the carburetor tube that connects it to the engine. Fortunately, for once, the trash on the side if the road proved useful. After finding a piece of tire inner tube and rewrapping the tube, we were on our way. Did circles in this town, with help from some local words and Indian head nods, before finally fiding our hotel.

Got lost and found some British history.

Rolled across this old Fort after spending over an hour bumping down a rough gravel road in the tuk tuk.

Nice place in Pune, but a boring ride today.

Had to unclog a fuel valve today, but otherwise missed out on some good scenery. We ended up picking a destination that was up a main highway. Weare going to try and see better country tomorrow.