Date: August 13th, 2016
Distance: 94 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Starlight - Muse

I felt great getting out of Ulaangom. Paved roads, blue skies, and calm. I will take no wind over a headwind any day.

As expected, the pavement didn't last. I crossed a river and was back onto dirt tracks. The first couple of kilometers were rough. I climbed a little ridge and crossed into a vast basin. To the north of me was Uvs Nuur, a huge saltwater lake. The whole depression here is almost flat, just a slight grade down to the water. To the south were a few small hills bounding that edge of the basin. I could see the lake off to my left side. It was just a narrow band along the horizon, trapped between the land and the sky. Occasionally there would be white dots in the distance. These were the location of various ger camps along the shore of the lake. It was all quite pretty, but the photographs all came out rather similar. With clear skies and the hot sun overhead, I really wanted to go swimming in the lake. Nothing flows out of the lake, so through thousands of years of evaporation it has become salty. My folks went to the Dead Sea a few months ago and I wanted to see if it was anything like that. But the road I was on, if you can call it that, never got close enough to the lake. It was always five to ten kilometers away. I didn't feel like rumbling for that long over uneven grasslands just for a five minute swim.

It wasn't really that hot, at least. The temperature here is so much cooler than I expected. I'm still not sure of the elevation of this area, but most of Mongolia is at more than a thousand meters. It was warm, certainly, but not like the oppressive heat of Thailand or Africa.

That was pretty much how the whole afternoon went. Most of the time I wasn't even on the marked "highway". Those markers were simply old tires every few hundred meters. I was just on the other side of that, following along the path of a new cable that had been laid. From fragments left out of the steppe I could see it was a fiber-optic line. It got me thinking that even though so much of Mongolia was undeveloped, wiring it for internet must be incredibly easy. With so much open range out here there is no need to worry about land ownership or conflicting rights of way. Even crossing a major road out here wouldn't be a problem, as they were only tracks in the grass. You just need to dig a trench, drop the cable, and fill it back in. Nothing to stop you except the rare river crossing.

It was a little bit strange to be so close to a connection to the rest of the world and yet be so far removed from it. This is not a highly populated or well traveled place. I think four cars passed me the whole time I was in the basin, with maybe just half a dozen motorcycles as well. For most of the day I was the only person around for miles. It was like being the gunslinger from the beginning of the Dark Tower series. I found at least one very vivid reminder the vast emptiness of the place.

As the sun began to set, the road began climbing out of the basin. I found a good place to camp next to a small corral at the base of a mountain. For once the night was clear and mercifully free of bugs. I laid out for a while, staring up at the stars. It was supposed to be the height of the Perseid meteor shower. I didn't see that many, but it was a wonderful end to the evening. Possibly too philosophical. I was relaxing in the grass and staring up at the stars above just the way I would do with my friends back home at this season. I could ponder how disconnected from the world I was. My friends and family couldn't know what I was seeing, what I was thinking. We had no way to communicate. They couldn't even look up and see the same stars. The sun was just coming up on the other side of the world and drowning out the faint light from our celestial neighbors. Yet my thoughts, memories of great moments together, connected us across time and distance. It didn't matter how far away they were, for the important people in my life I carry with me wherever I go.



-Dravis

Date: August 12th, 2016
Distance: 92 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Sheep - Pink Floyd

Today was also much less exciting than yesterday, or the one before it. To start with, it was darker than yesterday. The storms had passed, but dark clouds still hung over me. The wind had also turned once more, so I was back to riding into it.

Thankfully the road was downhill through a couple of broad valleys. That didn't make it interesting, though. Gone were the fascinating rocks or the gorgeous red hills. It was just a broad green plain with dark grey hills rising in the distance.

I was happy to pick up a developed road. No more picking a path through the various tracks laid out before me, although maintenance continues to be a problem out here. At one point a stream had washed out the road. I thought I could ride across it without getting my shoes wet, and I was wrong.

As I got to Ulaangom the road began to get steadily worse. The traffic had worn the road away to round rocks the size of my fist. It was a horrid place to ride a bicycle so I was happy to get into town. They had new paved roads, which made me very happy.



-Dravis

Date: August 11th, 2016
Distance: 101 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Hold Me Down - Minus the Bear

When I woke up today the wind had calmed quite a bit, and by the time I was leaving camp it had actually turned into a very light tail wind. Nothing to complain about there.

The landscape also began to improve. The ground was still undulating. Every little valley seemed to lead to another ridge and yet another valley beyond. The up and down was almost frustrating, but each new valley was more interesting than the last. The ground became dotted with various rock formations. It's amazing to think of the geological processes that created such monuments.

Sadly, the roads hadn't improved much. They really wound their way along the valley floors. Navigation here isn't easy. I usually try to pick the path that has the most parallel tracks but even that method isn't surefire, as often a road will split fairly evenly between two paths. Often the two paths will converge again, but nothing is assured out here. Just as frequently, I find myself navigating by the sun. If I know what direction I want to go, I just head that way and hope that I'm on the right path. It also helps to stop and ask for directions. There aren't many people out here, but if I see a car or a motorcycle I will generally stop and ask for the next town.

By the afternoon I was riding along a large plain of bright green grass surrounded by red rock mountains all around. Under the hot sun and the bright blue skies, the view was amazing. It's hard to describe the feeling in either words or pictures. There are just moments that are so vivid they remind me of the beauty of the planet we live on.

I passed through Ulgii late in the afternoon, then along a big lake. After leaving the basin I was back to climbing up ridge after ridge. The sun disappeared and soon black clouds started moving in. I stopped a bit earlier than I wanted to, but with thunder and lightning on the way it was time to pitch camp. I got my tent up just in time. The rain began to pour as I climbed inside. I fell asleep to the sound of water against the canvas and thunder overhead.



-Dravis

Date: August 10th, 2016
Distance: 63 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Whistles the Wind - Flogging Molly

Leaving Khovd today, I was happy to be on paved roads. The wind, for once, wasn't against me. It wasn't really going my way, but it was blowing from one side in a way that didn't slow me down too much. I stopped to fill up with water at a local spring. When in Rome... After that I made pretty good time for the first 40 kilometers.

Things all changed at once, though, after crossing the Khovd river. The road turned 90 degrees and the pavement disappeared. The wind changed and blew in a big storm. With that and the turn in the road I was now heading right into a nasty headwind. The rain didn't last too long, but the wind did and it was brutal. It didn't help that I was also making a gradual climb into the hills. For the first 10 kilometers the dirt road was at least developed. It was rough, but it had been built up. This meant it was compacted rock, not just loose gravel and sand. There were a lot of corduroy roads, but for the most part I could find a smooth path to ride on.

Eventually, even the constructed part of the highway disappeared. From there the road was released onto the plains of Mongolia, where it branched and braided its way across the landscape. It didn't help the washboarded roads, but it did make the sand worse. The tires of my bike were slipping and grinding through pits of dust. I was crawling along. Even getting off the road didn't help. It looked like the sand would be more compacted there, but it wasn't.

Eventually I just gave up. The last 23 kilometers of the day took twice as long as the firt 40. With the wind being so strong, going any further was a waste of calories. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow.



-Dravis

Date: August 9th, 2016
Distance: Rest day

I was hoping to leave Khovd today, but I woke up super late. I think the last few days really took it out of me. Plus, I always have stuff to do during down time. I still have a lot of planning to do for the portion of this trip through Siberia. This rest time also gave me time to go to the market in town and pick up a few supplies, so the day went entirely un-wasted.



-Dravis

Date: August 8th, 2016
Distance: 23 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Close I've Come - Ben Lee

I was awake with the sun this morning. The guy with the truck had to get to work, but first he provided breakfast. It wasn't what I would usually have for breakfast, but good none the less. It consisted of a bowl of egg and onion soup with a dumpling. They also had a pot of spicy beef for people to pick at. I wasn't used to it, but I have to say it was filling. The other shocking thing was how quickly everyone was eating. The food was shoveled in and they were off. I said goodbye to everyone and they got in their vehicles and headed out to the construction site, so I headed out along the highway they were constructing. It was before 6:00 AM. During the next hour, I enjoyed seeing familiar faces and big smiles behind the windows of the trucks and construction equipment. I have passed many of these crews, but this is the first time I have felt connected with them. Thanks guys.

In addition to my nice early start to the day, the morning was cool and the terrain was mostly flat. The wind was still hounding me, though. I'm not much of a morning person so I made slow progress into Khovd, but it wasn't far. I walked around town and found a nice cheap place to stay. Then I took a nap.



-Dravis

Date: August 7th, 2016
Distance: 111 Kilometers
Song of the Day: I Have Not Found the Science - Soul Coughing

This morning I was still having navigation issues. I spent a couple of kilometers going the wrong way. Instead of backtracking, I crossed over a swampy area and was of course attacked, again, by mosquitoes. I will be very happy when humans finally decide to kill off this scourge. Until then, I just have to book it out of the areas where they're the worst. Not that it was easy today. The ground was crossed by a number of small streams. Most were small enough that I could cross easily, but a few were large enough to form little gullies. I had to pick a good flat spot to cross them. All the while, I was still being eaten by mosquitoes. Yuck. I see why the highway went around this area. That's what I get for trying to cut my own path out here.

Eventually I came back to the main highway. It was up and over another ridge, then onto a great section of road being constructed. That was really nice. I could cruise downhill on a great spot of compact gravel for miles.

And then it ended. Where it did, the road turned to follow a decent sized river. The road was trapped between the rocky hills to one side and the stream to the other. Unfortunately, this meant that the usual Mongolian method of just making a new road to one side wasn't going to work. Instead, all the traffic was funneled onto this small patch of earth. And it was awful. Now, it's one thing to do this on a mountain bike, but it's totally different on a loaded touring bike. Everything feels like it's going to rattle apart. You can't turn as well, and in each pit of sand you're weighed down by your panniers. Remember how a few days ago I was worried that Mongolia would be too well developed now to be any fun? I was wrong. Be careful for what you wish for.

The last 50 kilometers of the day was back onto the nice compact gravel of a highway under construction. The wind had come up and was pushing against me. I am sorry if the last few days sound like just another list of my grievances. The wind just has a way of sapping your strength, and that's very demoralizing. I should instead be talking about how amazing it was out here. Going slowly meant that I could really enjoy it. Again, not many plants, but the rocks and mountains around come in all different colors. Reds and tans against snow-covered purple mountains. It's a tough place to cycle through, but I wouldn't say that it isn't worth it.

Over every rise there is a new, amazing vista, with new mountains or hills to wonder at. The country is so vast and empty. You can stare off to the horizon in all directions and not see a living soul. Even Kazakhstan wasn't this uninhabited. It's another wonderful part of the world that reminds me how tiny I really am. At the same time, it shows off how fantastically crazy humans are. We don't let things like endless deserts deter us. Instead, we recognize how small we are and continue to try anyway.

I started to get a little deterred, though, as the sun began to set and I still hadn't reached Khovd. That was my goal for the day. I was starting to run out of water, snacks, food, and battery power. It was time to recharge in a town. I never made it, though. Along the highway being constructed was a work camp. The workers are all Chinese. I stopped to ask how far it was to Khovd, but my Russian wasn't helping and my English was little better. While I was trying to communicate, I was getting swarmed by mosquitoes. They invited me inside one of the camp tents to get away from it. Inside, the tent was hot and acrid with the smell of men and cigarettes. The Chinese workers were very excited to have me there, though. They gave me food and a small bowl of beer. I wouldn't normally drink beer, but it was cold, wet, and probably cleaner than the water they had. In all, the road crew was very kind. One of the guys even gave me the cab of his truck to sleep in. I tried to tell him I had a tent, but he insisted that I sleep there. Well, fair enough. I was exhausted and very ready to get to sleep.



-Dravis

Date: August 6th, 2016
Distance: 93 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Always Waiting - Deep Sea Diver

I left the hills this morning and headed back down into the lowlands. The clouds had blanketed the morning sun, but were burnt off by the afternoon. Mongolia remains a very pretty place, if somewhat barren. It isn't sand dunes and rocks out here, but there isn't that much vegetation either. That which does survive out here is usually a low shrub or some grass.

After 40 kilometers the nice paved road I was on ended. There were construction crews working on it, though. Also, there were berms that blocked cars from access to the new highway, but that didn't stop me. It wasn't paved yet, but the compacted sand and gravel made almost as good a surface. I could still cruise along, making good time.

That didn't last. Outside the town of Tolbo even the new construction stopped. It was back to bad gravel roads for me as I climbed up into the mountains once again. It took quite a while, but eventually I was able to reach the top of the pass. Here is where things got to be a little weird. The main highway branched out into more than a dozen paths. That was fine for a short while, but soon these paths began to diverge and make their own ways across the valley. Which was how I found myself lost in Mongolia. The best I could do was follow where the other vehicles seemed to be going. The more trucks going one way, the more likely it was to be the right path. Not my best form of navigation, but it worked out okay.

Eventually, though, I just gave up. The sun was beginning to set and the mosquitoes were coming out in force. Little bastards. Every time I would stop to try and figure out if I was going the right way they would pounce on me. It was time to call it a day. I set up my tent and went to bed.



-Dravis

Date: August 5th, 2016
Distance: 102 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Just Wait - Blues Traveler

This morning was bright and cool when I woke up. I'm not sure what the elevation is exactly, but it must be over a thousand meters. The night was much colder than I had expected. It wasn't a problem, as I actually enjoy the cold, but I didn't expect Mongolia to be so chilly. That bodes well for the rest of the trip. I was worried I would be overheating all the time.

I packed up my tent and got ready to head out. Ned and Joe were going to wait around for a couple of friends who were a day behind them so we said our goodbyes and they headed to hike up a nearby hill while I headed off down the road.

The next 10 kilometers were pretty much like the ones from the previous evening. I was trying to choose the best path from several roads braided across the valley floor. They only came together on a few occasions where there was a bridge over a small stream. I thought that was going to be how the rest of the day would go, but soon all the roads converged once again. I was shocked to find a nicely paved road. This must have been recently done, as the markings were fresh and there were no cracks or pot holes. This day was going to be a snap if this kept up.

There was one more section of dirt roads for the day, over a big pass through the hills. I don't know why you bother paving the flat parts and not the steep parts, but it really isn't my call. After the pass, it was back to nice paved roads again through a number of broad, flat valleys. The good road took me all the way down into Oglii. It seemed like a nice place. The roofs of the buildings were done in brightly painted corrugated metal. I got more offers for places to stay and so forth, but I wasn't ready to go inside. The afternoon was beautiful and I still wanted to put in a few more kilometers.

The road out of town was long and steep over the next ridge. It was still paved, though. I am starting to worry that the whole country is going to be paved. It may be odd, as I do prefer paved roads to bouncing over bad gravel and rocks, but I thought Mongolia was going to be an adventure. If it's all paved, that's going to take some of the fun out of it.

I found another good place to camp high in the hills. Just me sleeping under the stars.



-Dravis

Date: August 4th, 2016
Distance: 37 Kilometers
Song of the Day: Just What I Needed - The Cars

Today got off to a bit of a slow start. There were a few last things to upload, a few more e-mails to send. I also needed to get some supplies. This was mostly food for the next month or so, as I cross Mongolia.

While I was at the shop I met a couple of guys from London who call themselves "Super Red Thunder Business Pandas World Wide". They are on this "Mongol Rally" thing, going from Brussels to Ulan Bataar in a car with a small 1 liter engine. Sounds fun and crazy to me. The guys, Ned and Joe, were driving a red Fiat Panda, hence the name. That isn't a car we get in America. Since we were crossing the border together they invited me to hang out and camp with them that night, wherever that happened to be. Sounded like a good idea. We still had to get through the borders, and I wasn't sure who was going to get to the far side first.

The Russian side took some time for me. They didn't like my passport, for some reason. They couldn't tell me what it was, but I am guessing that the RFID in it has died and they don't like that. It took them ten minutes of hemming and hawing before they would stamp it. Then the guy took my passport into the back office for a while. I really have no idea why. I did get through the border before the Super Red Thunder Business Pandas World Wide guys, though. They were still having to pull everything out of the car and show it to a Russian customs official when I took off.

After leaving the customs and immigration post, I wasn't yet out of Russia. There was still a 20 kilometer gap to cross. Russia, being Russia, doesn't like people hanging out in these border regions, so I had to get through it before they closed the border for the night. It was all uphill, but with no wind I made some pretty good time. It was also very bare and beautiful, just green rocky hills and grass under a blue sky. About halfway through, the Super Red Thunder Business Pandas World Wide team passed me with a quick wave.

There was one more checkpoint before leaving Russia. This, from what I could tell, was a military checkpoint. It was easy, though, they just checked my passport for the right stamps. They were also impressed that I was heading to Ulan Bataar. That doesn't seem so wild to me. I have already covered ten times that distance.

Just beyond the barbed wire the paved road stopped. Welcome to Mongolia. From there it was another five kilometers to the Mongolian customs and immigration post. I saw Ned and Joe there having to once again pull everything out of the car and show it to the customs officials. I felt sorry for them but I almost got worked over myself. After all the delays, the border post was closing and there was still a long line of people waiting. Right at 6:00 the lady stamping passports just left. I was frantic for a moment before one of the head officials told me to wait. After a couple of minutes another lady came out and gave me a quick stamp. Phew. I was about to leave when they the head officer told me to go to customs. I went into the side office, but they were rapidly closing down. Some of the people there were arguing with the staff. They had clearance to come to Mongolia, but their stuff, including cars or motorcycles had to stay behind. What a mess. One of the customs officers looked at me and said, "Velociped?", as in bicycle. I said yes. He took me outside, looked at my bike once and said "Go". I wasn't going to wait around. I had no intention of camping at the border overnight.

There was a small settlement just over the border. Nothing major, but it was my first experience with Mongolia. Most of the buildings seemed to cater to Western tourists. Many even had European 4x4s parked outside of them. The proprietors were trying to get me to stay, have tea, have food, or spend the night. Really, I just wanted to get a bit further down the road. On the outside of town I saw the Super Red Thunder Business Pandas World Wide car pulled over. Ned and Joe were changing a tire. (Actually, Ned was changing the tire, Joe was just standing around.) I thought they had punctured a tire, which would have been a frustrating introduction to Mongolia, but instead they were just switching from street tires to off-road tires. I headed off to find a place to camp while they worked with the tires.

My first chance at riding on Mongolian roads has been very enlightening. The highways are really just well-worn paths in the empty grasslands out here. That is the main problem, though. They are worn down to round rocks, washboards, and sand. No problem. This is the vastly empty land of Mongolia. The drivers just move a bit to one side or the other and create a new path. Repeat as necessary. Leaving the border, there were at least three different paths all going basically the same way. I found the newest path to usually be the best.

I only made it about 10 kilometers before finding a decent spot to camp. It wasn't anything that special. There isn't much out here, so almost anywhere will do. I just wanted to avoid being too close to cows, goats, or yurts. One of the locals did come up on a horse and spend a bit of time with me. I thought Russian would be useful here. It isn't. I got what I think was approval to set up a tent there, though. Or in any case he didn't seem to mind me setting up a tent.

Soon enough the guys in the Fiat Panda showed up. Ned and Joe are cool people. They had at least as many crazy stories as I did, and anyone who can keep up with me is pretty good in my book. We had dinner, drank a bit of wine, and watched the stars come out. It was a beautiful night for it, clear and calm. Almost no bugs. The Perseid meteor shower is coming up and there were several good shooting stars. It was a really fantastic night.



-Dravis