August 2010

Aral Sea and The Stans

16.08.2010 in Uncategorized

Waking up early and leaving our desert camp ground at Darvaza, we made for the Uzbek border, filling our fuel tanks both internal and external to full, including some extra 5 liter water bottles, as we’d heard about a gas shortage in Uzbekistan. We made…

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Stuck In The Sand

14.08.2010 in Uncategorized

We are in the middle of the desert in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, hunting for the ghost ships of the Aral Sea near Muynaq. For the first time some locals just gave us some bad directions and we took a wrong turn into the desert. So far…

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Salam Alaykum Turkmenistan

13.08.2010 in Uncategorized

There is a glow a few kilometers to our East. It’s an unmistakable warm orange-red glow of fire, but this fire never goes out. It’s been burning for the past 40 years or so. We are in Darvaza, Turkmenistan, camped out in the middle of…

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Cruising The Caspian

11.08.2010 in Uncategorized

I’m sitting on a rusty old cargo ship on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, waiting for a spot to open up at port for us to dock, watching the sun set. After a few technical difficulties I’ve finally got the sat-modem working. We’re…

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Photos!

09.08.2010 in Uncategorized

Finally, we got some photos up on Flickr. When I get more time I’ll add more tags & frame them on the site w/some comments, but we have to run to Turkmen Consulate. For now, enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/autarken/tags/baatarhero/

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Azerbaijersy Part 1

09.08.2010 in Uncategorized

Our attempt to wake up early and get out of Tbilisi this morning was met with the usual struggle to coordinate 6 people and 3 cars, but after getting some Georgian Lari and a delicious little breakfast in a charming area of downtown Tbilisi, we…

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Roaming Green Update

08.08.2010 in Uncategorized

Here is a little Roam Green update on the trip so far. As expected, our little Puntos have been performing admirably in the efficiency department. After strapping some skid plates to them in Serbia, they sound like little race cars, but we have been getting…

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Long Road To Tbilisi

08.08.2010 in Uncategorized

When the border guard asked me today what I knew about Georgia, I had to stifle myself from blurting out “Joseph Stalin was born here”. My answer was still honest, “Nothing, but I’d like to learn more”. He smiled and asked me how big Seattle…

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The Russian Dilemma

04.08.2010 in Uncategorized

The past two days have been a roller coaster of emotions and contradictory bureaucratic responses from the Russian Consulate in Istanbul. On Monday, we went down to the Consulate, even though we were still waiting for Kim’s new passport, and explained our situation to them….

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