Southwest Kaz daily recap...longing for scenery
Incredibly remote riding. Kaz is so vast, uninhabited, and unchanging. We just ride all day, nearly from dusk to dawn, because there's really nothing to see.
Days 107-108 - Atryrau to Shalkar - 25 hours, 480 miles. The longest days and just a lot of rough roads. Day 109 - Shalkar to Aralsk - 5 hours, 215 miles. We were flagged down by some locals who were excited to sit on our bikes and share camel milk. I was a bit annoyed by the fact that flagging us down was more like running me off the road, but they had great intentions.
We also experienced the great Slovenian rescue of 2017 on this day. Wow. Rolled into Aralsk just before dark...again. Another full day of riding. Day 110 - Aralsk. Decided to spend another day in Aralsk to do maintenance, visit some abandoned ships on the dried up Aral Sea. It's quite nice to roll up to a car shop, borrow a couple tools, change the oil, and be on my way. Plus, this dropped a few pounds of cargo, as I'd been carrying spec-specific BMW oil from Moscow and hadn't changed it since Kiev.
Day 111 - Aralsk to Kyzylorda - 6 hours, 275 miles. Likely the most mind-numbing day of riding on the entire journey. We stopped mid-day in Baikonur, the home of the Kazakhstan space program. They were to launch a rocket today, bound for the ISS with supplies. But, it rained and was a bit windy. The former is so rare that the launch was delayed a day. Randy's a truck driver back in the UK, and so he tends to prefer truck stops for meals and lodging, and he landed a win for us. $8 for private rooms with great wifi, showers, and air conditioning. Also, it was connected to a restaurant, which is great to support my 4:30am blogging and coffee addiction. Day 112 - Kyzlorda to Taraz - 8.5 hours, 400 miles. Went outside at daybreak to an abandoned building far behind the truck stop, hoping to hang my gymnastics rings (yes, I am lugging those around the world) for an upper body workout, but the skeleton structure was occupied by homeless people and transient construction workers.
We rolled out at 9am and once again, arrived at the destination right at dark. These days are so exhausting, but there's really no reason to do fewer miles. Not much to see along the way, and we'd rather get ahead of schedule and use that extra time in Mongolia. The pack got separated for the first time today. Kenny likes to randomly pull over without communicating to the group. Some local in a Land Cruiser got excited after seeing our bikes and held a thermos out his window. Kenny saw this and pulled over to enjoy a cup of tea with the man. Randy and I had no idea what had happened. Hours later, Kenny pulled over for some reason. Randy and I stopped for fuel, Kenny sped by without seeing us, and I took chase. Randy's little 250cc dirt bike couldn't keep up, and he soon accidentally deviated from the route. I have no idea where Kenny went, as I should have caught him within a couple minutes. Luckily, we regrouped 30 minutes later without having to bust out Randy's satellite phone. Not a terrible tragedy, but frustrating when the pack is not in sync.
Oh yeah...everyone wants photos with us...and the bikes.
