Ending Point: N43°13E76°56
Distance Traveled: 248.9 miles
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We woke up to another incredible breakfast at An Artisan’s Guesthouse and then squeezed in a yoga session before heading out of town. On our way to Karakol Coffee, we passed a parking lot full of Mongol Rally cars and invited the ones that were ready to go to join us. Our last stop at Karakol Coffee was just as perfect as the first—good times with good people. We are so thankful to Aikerim. She said that she didn’t do anything, but she really did everything to make our time in Karakol wonderful just by being there and being her (and in doing so attracting a great group of people). Team Turnagain headed out of Karakol in convoy with the Elephants and the Lumberyaks. Together, we passed some of the most beautiful landscape of our trip. Yes, some of that journey was the most technically demanding driving of the Rally—we took the Panda across a gravel mountain pass that was over 6,000 feet in elevation where cows, sheep, and goats roam about and are herded by the folks living in the surrounding yurts—but those few hours were unforgettable. From the pass, we re-joined the main road leading us to the eastern border crossing of Lake Issyk Kul. As far as border crossings go, it was a good one: all three teams made it across in a fairly timely order, the Kyrgyz guards called us “G-Unit” and “Pamela Anderson,” and the Kazakh guard went through Chase’s passport and pointed to the landscape photos to indicate whether or not Kazakhstan had the featured animal or type of monument. From the border, we traveled across more breathtaking mountains until the sun set. It was our first time driving west, and we were driving into the sunset (either we’re doing something very right or very wrong). Not long after sunset, the Elephants blew a tire, and we had a bit of roadside repair by flashlight to prepare for the last stretch into Almaty. As we entered the city, the Elephants, our lead car, separated from us and the Lumberyaks, leaving us a little lost. As luck would have it, the five star Rixos Hotel was nearby, and they allowed us to use their wifi and complimentary city maps to find our way to the Almaty Backpackers’ Hostel. Now, the décor of the hostel in no way compared to that of the Rixos, but the people there absolutely made our evening—other Mongol Ralliers! We grabbed supplies from a nearby shop and made dinner with the Lumberyaks, which led to a late-night session with the Rally crew. Starting Point: N42°29E78°22
Ending Point: N43°13E76°56 Distance Traveled: 248.9 miles
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We finally took a day off to relax and to catch up on all of our things that needed catching up, including our blog! Karakol was the perfect place for such a day. We went downstairs in our guesthouse to find a full delicious breakfast awaiting us; the table (which seated 10) was covered with fruit, jams, honey, sweets, bread, and beverages, and so we were even more delighted when eggs and cheese arrived as well. After breakfast, we took it easy in our beautiful surroundings. Charla had a yoga session with Lisa Goodwin’s DVD, and then we set to work on our blog and correspondence. A while later, we thought a change in scenery was in order and headed to Karakol Coffee, where we continued working on our blog. While there, we met too many interesting new friends to be bothered with a computer any longer. Starting Point: N42°29 E78°22
Ending Point: N42°29 E78°22 Distance Traveled: 0 miles We left the Ganza house after a quick breakfast so that we could meet another Ganza, Alexey, at the Fiat garage. The directions we plotted in our book of Moscow maps were perfect, and we arrived on time (Nikolai is much better than Google Maps, if only we could take him with us to Mongolia!). Only in Russia do you take your car in for an oil change and then have an offer of a suspension check. They were especially keen to check the suspension because we were planning to leave the city going east. While the car was being serviced, we went out for coffee with Alexey. Charla and Alexey had not seen each other in over ten years since Christopher and Olga’s wedding (Charla’s cousin and Alexey’s sister); there was a lot to catch up on! Once we returned to the dealership, all was relatively well with the car, and we set out on the ring road to leave Moscow. The drive out of Moscow was somewhat long, as the city seemed to never end! Eventually, we left the realm of the Moscow city map book and started crossing fields of sunflowers. The road surfaces varied quite a bit in the stretches between small towns, but they were fantastic compared to those in the Ukraine. At one of our stops, Chase befriended a group of gas station attendants who were interested in Alaska and our comically small blue car. Our drive also took us through a surprisingly colorful town called Tambov that we could have certainly spent a little more time in were it not getting late in the evening. Appropriately, the day ended in a sunflower field where fireworks from a wedding nearby provided our evening entertainment. Starting Point: N55°40 E37°19
Ending Point: N51°47 E41°47 Distance Traveled: 446.1 miles We woke up early, thanks in part to the sounds of the road nearby and to Jared and Duncan for shaking our tent. Getting up early put us on the road in the soft light of the morning, and we were able to enjoy the landscape a bit more than the night before when we were trying to find a camping spot. We didn’t drive too long though, as we were nearing the border of Luxembourg and wanted authentic Belgian waffles for breakfast. (Who’s heard of Luxembourgian waffles?) We found Café Melba in the main square of Bastogne, the perfect answer to our waffle desires. Though Chase liked his double waffle with fresh cream, Charla, Duncan, and Jared clearly chose the best option of a cappuccino and a waffle with fresh cream and fresh fruit. In Bastogne, we were just a few miles from Luxembourg, so our first international border crossing of the day was an easy one. Getting out of Luxembourg, however, proved to be much more of a challenge. The route we planned was simple—cutting across northern Luxembourg and then into Germany—but part of that road was closed. And, so was every other road we attempted to take to get back on that road. Two hours later, we found the German border, got on the autobahn, and headed east. Somewhere in the process of getting on the autobahn, we lost the kiwis (they made it to the castle two hours before us…). Again, a simple route proved to be the most difficult. An accident 5-10 kilometers ahead of us shut down the entire six-lane highway. We sat, and we inched forward. As the inching slowed, another Rally car approached! That’s how we met the Phileasfog Reformers! There’s not exactly tons of entertainment sitting on a major highway on a hot day. We listened to the stories of the man trying to get home for his own birthday party with his girlfriend (she was not a happy camper/didn’t believe he was stuck in traffic). We attempted to get the van full of British lads to come hang out with us. Then, Justin busted out a deck of Uno cards. We had to move the car forward a couple times, which helped us to finally discover a use for our cassette tape deck! It’s a perfect Uno cardholder! Then, just as the birthday boy told us would happen, the highway started moving again around 4:00 PM, two hours after we stopped. Once the autobahn opened, it was a straight shot for us to the Czech border and on closer to the party. We turned off the highway for a possible shortcut, though we’re starting to learn that perhaps the long way is the faster one. We drove through the scenic villages of Stod and Merklin before finding ourselves a little lost under a canopy road. Luckily, there was a Czech couple out for their evening walk. They looked at our map and discussed something, then started giving directions, of which we caught the words “Oplot” and “Presice.” With a flourish, he ultimately declared in English “LEFT!” Now, we didn’t take a left turn at all, but we were able to navigate back to the main road and on to Klatovy using his directions. Once in Klatovy, we realized the castle wasn’t actually located in the city. A giant map board helped us out after a bit of driving around. Stoked to know where we were going, we headed back through the city and noticed four Rally cars whirling around a roundabout. We jumped in with them, and after a pow wow with our friends of Ulaanbat-Tartan, took the lead to Klenova Castle. With the last flecks of daylight illuminating our drive, we led the caravan into the castle! A feast and party were waiting. Today’s lesson: A journey of a thousand miles always starts with someone saying, “Hey, I know a shortcut.” Starting Point: N50°10 E05°22
Ending Point: N49°19 E13°13 Distance Traveled: 513.9 miles We left Trieste a little too early in the morning. Luckily, our hotel packed us breakfast to go—the enjoyable part of our journey to the airport after the bus driver freaked out about us not having tickets in advance. Charla’s Italian got us by and earned a stop at a roadside café where she ran inside to buy tickets after the fact from a kind older lady. The journey from Trieste to Milano was short and sweet. There, we met up with Charla’s friend Patrick for coffee and second breakfast. Charla and Patrick met while they were studying together at the University of Bologna in 2007 as students of the Eastern College Consortium between Vassar, Wesleyan, and Wellesley, and they have stayed in touch across the continents, as neither one seems to stay put for too long. Patrick had just made it back to Italy some four months before and had lots to say about the city. Breakfast in Milano felt close to breakfast in Bologna—cappuccini, pastries, and lots of catching up (this time, we had a year and a half to discuss; it used to be the events of the night before at the Cassero). As Patrick left for work, we went for a walk around the city that took us by the Duomo, La Scala opera house, a few notable statues, and the oh-so-not Italian but rather Irish O’Connell’s Country Pub before heading back to the airport. Our last flight until Mongolia! After flying from Milan to London City, we decided the best idea would be to avoid the actual city of London. Tomorrow we’ll be picking up our car in the eastern suburbs, so we decided to head there tonight. After navigating London’s public transit lines (airport to Stratford, Stratford to West Ham, West Ham to Purfleet), we finally walked up to The Royal, our hotel for the evening. We arrived right as it was getting dark, and immediately grabbed some ciders from the Riverbay, the bar in the hotel, to enjoy on the banks of the River Thames with a view of the London skyline as the last bits of daylight were fading from the sky. Once it got completely dark we went back inside the bar and met two of the funniest people we’ve met along the entire trip. There was Wes, the bartender who met his American lady playing Call of Duty, and there was Jake, who had to explain to his wife how he innocently lost two pairs of pants within days of each other. The two of them kept us rolling with laughter late into the evening until we climbed up a couple flights of stairs to collapse into bed and dream about getting a car tomorrow.
While Charla was in her morning lectures, Chase visited the Museo Postale e Telegrafico della Mitteleuropa, or the Trieste postal museum. This museum was a pretty obvious choice, because Chase is fascinated with the world’s postal services. The museum was not geared to non-Italian speakers, but luckily one of the museum employees was very excited that Chase had traveled all the way from Alaska so she gave him a personal tour. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak English and Chase didn’t speak Italian, but they made it all the way through the museum together. This evening was one of our favorite moments with the Joyce School. We gathered at the Osteria da Marino for dinner and music led by Gerry Smyth. The osteria’s main room, which we filled beyond capacity, featured a piano and was decorated with old rugby uniforms for the team it sponsors, photographs, and sailing paraphernalia. Gerry performed several selections from Joyce’s “Chamber Music” as well as some traditional Irish ballads to get the crowd involved. We picked up one of his CD’s to listen to on our drive as well!
The Trieste Joyce School was our reason for coming to this amazing city that inspired the writer some hundred years ago as he lived and worked here as an English teacher. Organized by a group of dedicated professors, the School’s daily program featured two lectures (and a coffee break at Bar alla Motonave!) in the morning session and seminar groups on different texts in the afternoon. Most nights included some kind of evening program, which we will get to later in the blog. While Charla went to the lectures, Chase went exploring in the beautiful city of Trieste. He wandered out along the seawall to the lighthouse in the port, and then came back to meet Charla for a picnic lunch of Nutella sandwiches in the Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia. After lunch Charla went back to her seminar, and Chase explored the ruins of the Roman Theater in Trieste. The School arranged for an evening visiting the Santuario di Monrupino in the hills surrounding the city and practically in Slovenia. Reaching the church took us on a short walk further up a hill that granted us amazing views of the city and the sea, as it appeared to be one of the highest points in the area. While walking around the church area, we got to know some of the other students and lecturers at the School. From the church the entire group traveled to Milič, a local osmica that participates in the trendy agriturismo method of farm-to-table food. Osmicas are farms that are found in this local region, and they specialize in ham, salami, cheese, and red wine. While the entire group was at Milič for dinner, Mark Axelrod gave a reading from his book Borges’ Travel, Hemingway’s Garage. We really enjoyed our evening of good food and new friends.
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