RTW 2006-2007

No time to think, we were already late for our 5:00am meeting at Perfect English for a last hug and goodbye to our staff and friends crazy enough to get up so early to see us off. After more than a year in planning, the pre-departure good byes, last business dinners and what seemed to be an endless round of planned and several unexpected TV and newspaper interviews, the morning of our departure arrived in a state of total confusion.July 29, 2006

Shadows are strange, secret and magic things.I was obsessed with the following shadow of Max, Janet and me. The sun now, once a molten red apparition on the low hills to the east was now almost silver. A crow flashed silver as it took flight, wings changing in an instant from black to silver. The road ahead showing silver in the distance but the long black shadow consumed my interest.Mongolia 2

On The Road

The sky was finally clear this morning, the thick, clouds that had been rolling in from the north are gone and the promise of a good day appears in the windows of the building across from Gana’s Guesthouse.This exercise, removing the transmission, is now familiar. I am even getting to know which size wrench to use for each nut that has to be loosened or removed. I know where to put the nuts and washers so none are lost. It is almost automatic.Ulaan Baatar to Moscow – 2
Saturday, September 09, 2006

My oft touted “never, never, never, ever, ever never quit” has to, of course, has a caveat.Right now Janet is laying down trying to sleep or at that is what she wants me to think. She was so angry with me at lunch that she just got up and left the table. She made a comment, I over-reacted and hurt her, and she left to go to the room. We have been acting like this for several days. The reason I think is that the bike broke down again!Mongolia 1
Sunday, August 13, 2006

Ivan, our truck driver we met at the Ukrainian border, was constantly asking questions, looking for new words and trying to pronounce words as Janet and I spoke. Inside the cab of his IVECO tractor it was warm and dry and it was almost as if we were old friends talking for the first time after a long absence. Sometimes reality comes as softly as a sunrise and in moments one experiences a kind of gestalt where everything becomes crystal clear and the mind is refreshed. Sometimes it comes with the stopping power of a boxer’s body blow with devastating physical and mental consequences.

All the rushing around was over, Max was in the baggage car, hopefully safe from all of the other crates and boxes.I again felt as though I had been cheated by the motorcycle gods by not riding in western Mongolia. I didn’t even get a chance to ride the road to the northern border crossing. I don’t like the anger I felt but it was there. I have to remember, I don’t always get what I want when I want it. I also know that I’ll be back and I will ride through the western Gobi and more.The Train to Moscow

Friday, September 22, 2006

I have been up since 2:45am playing with the computer. I hate to go to the shop and look over Frank’s and Kong’s shoulders while they work. Maybe they are as frustrated as I am with not being able to easily solve of Max’s problems. I know I don’t like it. I suppose I could ride the old Chang they have given me but the traffic here is much worse than anything I have driven in to date and my inability to speak Chinese puts me at a real disadvantage.
Sunday, August 06, 2006

To take you through all of the machinations of the next three days it took to get permission to start to get the bike out of Customs would be both tedious and boring. am known for my penchant for embellishment if not for outright exaggeration at times, but in this instance I am trying to remain completely objective for in this case I have nothing to gain from overstatement. We asked the customs agents at the baggage claim area how to get the bike and would get, if lucky, a shrug but more often we were simply ignored.