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Just when everything seemed so easy…

PHOTOS: If you want to see the photo’s full-size, click the photo, it isolates to a new page and click it once again.  Use browser’s “back” to return to blog.
CURRENT LOCATION:  Upper right corner is my Delorme inReach Explorer satellite tracks provided by SPOTwalla.  When activated, it provides a real time track of my travels.  The tab “All-Star Motorcycle Circus & E” opens for more options.  “Adjustments” enables the viewer to select more days of the tracks.

The tracks are archived back to my arrival in Heidelberg, April 16.

Use the zoom slider on the left to open up the map to see our entire route. The two tabs in the upper right “Map/Satellite” switches the map illustration with satellite photos.

GlobeRiders has it’s own BLOG “Silk Road Adventure 2015 LiveJournal!”  There is a complete description of the excursion, rider bios, updates of the ride, and an active satellite location link.
Trapped in No-Man Land!

Day 14, Sat, May 16, 2015

Start Location:  T’bilisi, Georgia

End Location:   Sheki, Azerbaijan

Distance:          238 km (176 miles)

Hotel/Pension:   Hotel Sheki Saray, M.E. Rusulzade Street, Sheki 5000, Azerbaijan

Money Conversion:

Azerbaijani Manat 1 = $0.955 USD or $1 USD = .87756 Manat

A whole day is allotted for border crossings.  You just don’t know what could happen at a border.  But, up to now, all border crossings were painless.

The last time GlobeRiders did the Silk Road one rider went to the wrong Azerbaijan border crossing.  He crossed from Georgia into Azerbaijan then realized he was at the wrong crossing, turned around and entered back into Georgia.  When he arrived at the correct border crossing he found out that his Azerbaijan VISA allowed only one entry.  He could not reenter Azerbaijan again.  He had to spend the night in Georgia while the GlobeRiders’ staff negotiated an emergency VISA.

Exiting Georgia the crossing gate was empty! No waiting.

Ken Southam heading to the Georgia immigration & custom exit.

So this year GlobeRiders kept us together at the Azerbaijan crossing.  It was smooth exiting Georgia.  We arrived at the border around 10AM.  After we crossed the bridge/border and summited a small hill, behold a new modern Azerbaijan Immigration & Customs port.  And like the Georgian exit, the Azerbaijan entry was empty.  This was going to be sooooo easy.
Entering the area we slowly rode through camera/scanning station.
Then a guard came running out and stopped the motorcycles 150 yards from the station.  And this is where we sat while they processed 2 riders at a time.  Cars and trucks were held up with us but the motorcycles were taking 20 min each so the last in line sat out in the direct sun for 2-3 hours.  We found shade next to an 18-wheeler.
Of course the security guard said no cameras!!
This was one of the most frustrating international border crossings I have experienced.  It was not the worst but is was frustrating because of all the modern technology the agents seemed incapable/unwilling to process the motorcycles like the cars and trucks.
At 2PM there were 4 of us left.  A couple of the riders before us had to return to the Azerbaijan entry and pass through the camera/scanner a second time.
When they got to me, I was requested to return to the entry point and ride through the camera/scanner again.  Pass #2

15 minutes later, “Mr Gilbert, please return to the camera/scanner one more time!”  Pass #3.

In my moto travels, one of the legendary tales is exiting immigration and customs of country A and before you cross into country B, the border closes.  Now you are in No-Man’s land and you spend the night sleeping on the ground.
The camera/scanners were out of service.  It seemed everything hinged on the camera/scanners for entry & exit.  At that point, 3PM, Azerbaijan closed the border!  The border staff has our passports, vehicle registration and VISA.

14 riders cleared the border and continued to Shiki; four, including me, were trapped in No-Man’s land.  All this time, there were no restroom facilities, food or drink (except what was on our bikes).  We waited for an hour before we were informed of a staff restaurant with restroom a 200m away.

Now the GloberRiders staff began looking for overnight lodging options.  We could go back to Georgia because we were not officially entered into Azerbaijan.

Finally a truck passed the restaurant.  We returned to our bikes and all of us had to make another pass through the camera/scanner.  Pass #4 for me!

After 6 hours at the Azerbaijan immigration and customs, we are officially in!

In Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia you can expect an occasional cow, goat, sheep, on the road.  In Azerbaijan there hundreds and hundreds of cows in small groups grazing alongside and on the road!
Tomorrow into the port city of Baku.
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