Date: July 14th, 2016
Distance: 83 km
Song of the Day: Sway - Heartless Bastards

I got to leave Almaty today. It turns out, after all the running around, that I don't need to register. Yay! And it only cost me a day.

The road out of town was fun. Traffic was all backed up for one reason or another. It didn't bother me, though, I could just cut through it all like a champ. It felt so good to be rolling down the road, passing cars and trucks. Maybe too good, because I missed my turn. Whoops. That wasn't a big deal, as I could take a different route that paralleled the main highway. It wasn't a bad choice. The road was flat, nothing really interesting. Just open pastures with a town every few kilometers. Good for my speed and distance.

The big problem came late in the afternoon. The road I was on was going to run out and I had to make the turn back to the main highway. The trouble is, that wasn't marked at all. I took the wrong turn, which led me right into... an airbase. I wanted to turn around but it was too late. The soldiers guarding the place were already looking at me. I figured the best plan would be to ask for directions on how to get back to the main road. That didn't work as well as I thought. My Russian isn't very good, and I think everyone got a little confused. Eventually way too many people got involved, but at least they let me go with some basic directions.

The "road" to the main highway was not much more than a path through the pastures, a few wheel ruts crossing various fields making turns for no rational reason I could see. It certainly was not paved. I was a little fortunate, though. In spite of the clouds it hadn't rained, so the ground was solid and didn't cling to my tires. I was able to find my way to the road. I stopped short of it, though, because I was in a great location to camp, off the highway in a little grove of trees on a road that almost no one was using. It wasn't going to get better than that. So I set up camp, cooked dinner, and went to bed.



-Dravis

Date: July 13th, 2016
Distance: Rest day
Song of the Day: Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

Remember how I said I was going to try not to hang out in one place too long anymore? Well, those plans were ruined today. All of this over a stupid registration law. If you stay in Kazakhstan more than 5 days you might have to register with the government. The problem is that no one knows if that applies to me specifically. There are all sorts of exceptions and exemptions, I guess. Even the guys at the government office weren't sure. I have to wait until tomorrow for someone to come back or give me a response or something. Kind of frustrating when all I want to do is get on my bike and get out of here.

I tried to make the best of it. I made a few friends with the other travelers at the hostel. We had a good evening, with dinner, telling stories, and dancing.



-Dravis

Date: July 12th, 2016
Distance: 128 km
Song of the Day: Circles - Soul Coughing

I packed up my stuff, got back on the road, and ran right into a headwind. Lame. It's really boring out here as well. I would say it's grassland here, but it's more like scrub brush. It's actually intimidating when the land is too harsh to support grass. The soil here must be tough. Oh and it's hot, too. I was going through water like it was going out of style, plus eating ice cream any time I could get my hands on it.

I arrived in Almaty tired and found a great little hostel to crash at. I even had time to get a pizza. There's pizza here! It was not good.



-Dravis

Date: July 11th, 2016
Distance: 102 km
Song of the Day: Warning - Green Day

I have been noticing how slow I've gone here in Central Asia. It isn't just that the poor road conditions have kept me from traveling as far during the day, it's also that I've been stopping longer when I get to somewhere nice. I thought staying 5 days in Istanbul was too long, and now I have just spent 6 days in Bishkek. I really need to figure out how to get my logistical stuff done faster. Oh well, I shouldn't have a problem for a few weeks. Since I only have 15 days to get through Kazakhstan, I don't plan on staying anywhere more than a night from now on.

I said goodbye to my hosts at AT House. They are great. Angie and Nathan, thank you and I hope to see you guys around.

Once I hit the road, I was reminded of how much I love being on my bike. Cruising down an open highway with nothing but the power of your own legs pushing you along is just amazing. For me, cycling is something I love to my core. People like to ask me how I keep motivated to do what I am doing, and I really don't know how to answer that. Most of the time I love cycling so much that it doesn't even occur to me that I could stop. Sure, the mountains are tough, but I am still doing what I love and with a fantastic view.

Of course, leaving Bishkek wasn't all that amazing. It was pretty much riding through a city and suburbs and there isn't anything exciting about that.

The border with Kazakhstan was interesting. First, it's only 25 kilometers from the heart of Bishkek, so I got there much sooner than I thought I would. Then, getting through the border was a total pain. Well, the Kyrgyz side was pretty simple. The Kazakh side was a mess. The immigration office was hot, crowded, and chaotic. It didn't seem to be organized in any way. No one was directing traffic or being helpful. People were pushing and shoving. It took me five minutes to figure out what the process was. I just had to push my way into the scrum and try and get my passport stamped. All this with a loaded bicycle. I would have felt bad about that, but there were other people pulling giant suitcases or pushing big carts through the mess. Eventually I got my passport stamped, but then the customs people wanted to do a quick check of my bags. Not that they really cared about it. The only questions that mattered were "Narcotics? Pistol?" Finally, there was another backup leaving the border office. I slipped out a side door and through the traffic gate. Phew. I made it to Kazakhstan. Country number 19 on this trip.

The rest of the day was hot, windy, and fairly boring. I am leaving behind the beautiful mountains of Kyrgyzstan and coming to the empty steppes of Kazakhstan. I like mountains better than endless open fields, but at least the open spaces leave me lots of places to camp.



-Dravis

Date: July 10th, 2016
Distance: Rest day

The last few days have been kind of a blur. I've been working on so much stuff, and none of it that exciting. Mostly just getting myself organized. It is amazing how much stuff goes into a trip like this. Boring to read about, though, so I didn't do any blog posts for it. I finally got finished with all my work, though, and I'm super happy to be getting back on the road tomorrow.



-Dravis

Date: July 6th, 2016
Distance: Rest day
Song of the Day: Another Way Home - Valley Maker

Man, I really enjoy it here. I have had a fantastic rest day. Sadly, four of the cyclists left today. I wish them the best. I was trying to help out the American guy and the Canadian guy who stuck around. They had some questions about bikes, repairs, and routes. Other than that, I have just been trying to catch up on the blog and catch up with some family and friends. Maybe a bit of news. I will probably stick around here for a few days until I get all that stuff done.



-Dravis

Date: July 5th, 2016
Distance: 128 kilometers
Song of the Day: Spirit of Radio - Rush

Well, it was a long day, but I can't say there was much excitement going on. Just more big highways. The day was flat and started out free of wind. I was making great time, doing something like 30 kph most of the time. Things changed after lunch, when I picked up a bit of a headwind again. Ah well. I as still doing pretty well. The only interesting part of the day was the number of jets flying overhead. I realized a few days back that I hadn't seen many planes flying over in the last few weeks, but I was thinking jet-liners. The jets I saw today were military fighter jets. At first I was impressed with the Kyrgyz air force, then I realized that the jets were actually Russian. I had forgotten there was a Russian airbase here.

Once I arrived in Bishkek I made my way over to AT House. This is sort of like a hotel, but just for people on bike tours. A few of the cyclists I had met along the way recommended it. I was really happy that they did. When I arrived there were six other cyclists there. One of the couples was from Italy-Vietnam, but they (normally) lived in Paris. They also were making a huge dinner and I was invited to join right in. The food was wonderful. We all got to share stories from the road. I gave some advice about the places I had just traveled to. It really was a lovely evening.



-Dravis