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GlobeRiders has their own BLOG “Silk Road Adventure 2015 LiveJournal!” There is a complete description of the excursion, rider bios, ans updates of the ride. | ||
Day 08, Sun, May 10, 2015
Start Location: Cappadocia, Turkey End Location: Amasya, Turkey Distance: 397 km (247 miles) Hotel/Pension: TasHan Hotel, Dere Mah, Ozkan Yalcin, Cad. No. 11 05100, Amasya, Turkey Money Conversion: Turkey Lira: $1 USD = Lira 2.6668 or Lira 1 = $0.37482 USD |
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Rode by myself today. Just to enjoy the solitude and beauty of the Central Anatolian Plateau. | ||
A BMW GSA’s took a dirt nap today. | ||
We stopped to visit the ruins of Hattusha, the ancient capital City of Hittites, dating back to 1,800 BC. | ||
Once again we spend the night in a rebuilt Caravanserai. The old stone building is historic and unique BUT it leaves a lot to be desired as a lodging facility. Our room was so small … we got in and out of bed from the edge! There was no room for bags, helmets, jackets, boots, etc. The bathroom was down a rickety set of stairs and the shower only had a hint of warm water. The stone door was 5’-7” tall and several of the tall riders crashed their heads into the stone. | ||
Day 09, Mon, May 11, 2015
Start Location: Amasya, Turkey End Location: Trabzon, Turkey Distance: 616 km (383 miles) Hotel/Pension/?: Novotel, Cumhuriyet Mah, Kasustu Beldesi Yomra, Trabzon, Turkey Money Conversion: Turkey Lira: $1 USD = Lira 2.6668 or Lira 1 = $0.37482 USD |
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Longest day. And in the end, very wet! | ||
95% of day was cool and blue skies. 5% foggy, cold & wet.
Rode with Chris and Bob. Out of 19 riders … 6-7 speeding tickets! Not for excessive autobahn speeds, but for over 90 kph (56 mph!). I guessing that at least 12 bikes including the side care rig got pulled over. I was pulled over with a group of 6 but I was not issued a ticket and waved on. So far no tickets. But I have talked to several policemen for various moto indiscretions. |
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Sumela Monastery was visited at end-of-day. | ||
Day 10, Tue, April 12, 2015
Start Location: Trabzon, Turkey End Location: Batumi, Georgia Distance: 192 km (119 miles) Hotel/Pension/?: Radisson Blu Hotel, 1 Ninoshvili Street, Batumi 6000, Georgia Money Conversion: Georgia: $1 USD = G Lari 2.3579 or G Lari 1 = $0.42411 USD Gas/Fuel: 1.99/l or $3.16 USD/gal! Good road along the Black Sea. Rain all day. |
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Bike Mix: There is one Suzuki V-Strom DL1000, one KTM990, and the other 17 BMWs. One F650, four F800 and the rest are 1200’s. The side-car rig is a highly modified GS. | ||
Border Crossing | ||
19 bikes and a chase vehicle created a mess at the Turkey/Georgia border. Confusion ran amok! The riders who rode their motorcycles into Turkey when right through the Turkey customs exit. The bikes that came by container did not get their license plate entered into the Turkey custom system. So when we got to the border, their vehicles were not in the customs system. It stopped the entire border crossing for 20-minutes or more while this was discussed. Kaz straightened everything out and across we went. Entering Georgia was a 5-minute 2 window stop for immigration and bike customs.
Also this is where we say goodby to Kaz (our Turkey guide) and hello to Inga (our Georgia guide). |
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What a transition from Turkey to Georgia. Gone are the minarets and calls for prayer over the cities PA systems. Rarely are burkas seen any more. Georgia is 60% Christian. | ||
Gas in Georgia is half the price ~$3.16 USD/Gal! | ||
Day 11, Wed, April 13, 2015
Start Location: Batumi, Georgia End Location: T’isibli, Georgia Distance: 372 km (231 miles) Hotel/Pension: Hotel Vere Palace, 22-24 Kuchishvili Street, T’bilisi 0179, Georgia Money Conversion: Georgia: $1 USD = G Lari 2.3579 or G Lari 1 = $0.42411 USD Gas/Fuel: ?/l or $? USD/gal! RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! |
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There is nothing I dislike more than loading my bike in the rain. Woke up and it was drizzling. Departed Batumi in the rain. Rode by myself again but crossed paths with half-dozen riders. We are mostly on 2 lane roads heavy with trucks. So passing skills and varying risk-levels tend to separate riders. | ||
In Georgia the police run with lights on all the time. Opposite from other countries where they light up when you do something wrong. | ||
Another thing different in Georgia, when you enter a traffic circle, the vehicle entering (outside ring) has the right of way. Inside the ring vehicles must yield to entering vehicles. This created some couscous moments! | ||
If on a two-lane road and the west bound traffic is backed up behind a slow truck, west bound vehicles at the back of the line will come into your south bound lane (head on collision) attempting to pass once they see I’m a motorcycle. They will forces motorcycles in oncoming traffic off to the shoulder attempting to pass! In the rain this gets pretty crazy! | ||
Stopped at the Stalin Museum in Gori, Georgia. Stalin was born here. While it was an interesting museum with much detail about Stalin, very little was said of the millions he killed by executions and slave laborers. | ||
Arrived in T’bilisi in the mid-afternoon. Traffic was heavy. Stop-N-go traffic causes the engine to heat up and the engine stalls. GPS brought me directly to the hotel. | ||
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Tremendous reporting Dean -what a great adventure! Georgia – who has been there!!
Hope you get a chance to hook up with our friends, Dean! They’re great people…just like you
Great post Dean! Looks like some interesting sites.
Loading the bike up in the rain sounds a lot better than sitting at my desk reading your posts and your adventure…..
Excellent report, thanks Dean.
Fantastic photos & text, Dean. Enjoying your journey so much. Be safe my friend!