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Hello & Goodby Iran

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.
Day 21 – Sat 23 May – Tehran-Gorgan

Start Location:  Tehran, Iran

End Location:   Gorgan, Iran

Distance:          408 km (254 miles)

Hotel/Pension:   Hotel Mahar-Khoran, Nahar-Khoran Gorgan, Iran

Money Conversion:

Iranian Rial: $1 USD = Rial  28,349 or Rial 1 = $0.000035 USD

409 km (254 miles)  We are in Tehran and need to be in Gorgan, Iran.

Great divided 4-lane road 90% of the way.  Top speed is 110 kph (68 mph).  Of course it was packed with speed control cameras and manned radar units.  Since we left Turkey, radar has been widely used by all countries.  Several of the other riders have speed tickets but I have not been caught yet.  I wish I had my Valentine 1 radar detector!

Here’s how we get to our destination safely.  Almost all the road signs have English subtitles.

Signs says approaching a town, speed limit is 50 kph (31 mph).

Caution, speed bumps in 250 meters.

Autos & pickups-110 kph (68 mph) buses & trucks 100 kph (62 mph)

Keep Right. Almost all road signage have English subtitles

The road signs are very easy to understand.

This sign was a problem. We just ignore these. What ever is was happens in 500 meters.

Oh oh! Ken wants to know "What's this?"

Bob joins in with his thoughts ... Turn left. Ken says turn right.

Then it really gets confusing ...

This is a police checkpoint. They put a crashed vehicle up on a platform to remind everyone to obey the speed limits.

We stopped at a roadside tea house for afternoon tea. The owner (in center) would not let us pay. With all our motorcycles parked out in front of his little shop, it became the talk of the village.

In another village, school just got out. We stopped and were surrounded with excited kids.

The 3 boys came riding up next to me on a 125 motorcycle.

The hotel Mahar-Khoran had very poor WiFi.
Day 22 – Sun 24 May – Gorgan-Bojnurd

Welcome to Turkmenistan!

315km (196 miles) – Again, a well maintained divided 4-lane road 90% of the day.  Lots of radar and a few aggressive car/truck drivers.
Our route took us through Golestan National Park.  Saw a momma sow and a bunch of piggies.

A wild piggy following a huge momma sow in the Golestan National Park.

Took a walk to the Bojnurd city center and it is our habit to say hello to all who pass us.

These two young ladies immediately said in perfect English “Where are you from?”

We respond with “America and Canada.”

Turns out they are 17 & 18 and are English teachers at the local University (our high school).

I took this photo of the guys and the two English teachers.

And they wanted a photo with me. They asked where our wives were. I showed them a photo of my family.

Hotel Negin, Bojnurd, Iran only had WiFi in the lobby.  Strong enough for text, photos took forever to load so I gave up.
Day 23 – Mon 25 May – Bojnurd-Ashkhadbad
Dumb and Dumber = Late for the Turkmenistan Border
245km (152 miles)
Today is a short distance day but a border crossing – Iran/Turkmenistan.
We were told to arrive at the Iran/Turkmenistan border by 12 noon.  The border crossing could take as long as 6-8 hours.
If you look at my tracks for today, you will notice a little additional track along the Iran border.  We were told to get gas at Quchan because there was no gas until Ashkhabad.

I was with a group of 3 other riders but we were all stopping separately to take photos.  At Quchan I found myself alone and decided to get gas on the other side of town.  The traffic in town was typical bumper-to-bumper, squeeze in here, dive in there and on the other side of town … no gas stations.  So I missed my first rule “Never pass known gas for unknown gas!” Then I made the decision that I had enough gas to get to the border (84 km / 52 miles) and continue on to the border.

The road was a fantastic twisty-turny with great sweepers down a very long and deep valley.  I was having so much fun I didn’t notice that I missed the turn to the border.  I rode 45 km in the wrong direction!  And there is no way I can be at the border by 12 noon.

I turned around and backtracked 45 km to the missed turn.  I just rode 90 km to get to the correct road and was seriously low on gas.  The fuel gauge was on blinking reserve.  I pulled into a roadside area where a couple trucks were parked.  Across the road were 5 shacks with Farsi signs.  I asked the driver for “Benzene” and pointed to my tank.   He looks around and pointed at one of the shacks.  I walk up to the shack and inside was a line of plastic jugs of all sizes.  I pointed to 2 jugs and the guy carries them out to the Strompasourus along with a funnel.  The two jugs were approx. 6 liters of gas so I asked for 1 more which amounted half-a-tank.  The total was $30 USD.  Cheap for my predicament!  I turned and rode to the border where I arrived at 12:30PM.  I was 15 minutes late from the group beginning the Iranian border exit procedures.

Two bad decisions and a lucky break!

My emergency gas station. Funnel is still in the gas tank.

It took 2 hours to exit Iran and 3 hours to enter Turkmenistan.  We were warned no joking, no political comments, no photography, and during our luggage inspection any medicine could be confiscated.  For us it was waiting, then doing one procedure, then more waiting, and then going through another procedure and it continues.
Finally we are done and for the first time, ride in a convoy 30 km to a border check point where our documents were reviewed.
It’s 5:30 pm, the ride down from the border was a little like the Wizard of Oz.  Off in the horizon, we see a massive city gleaming white.  As we ride closer and closer the towers, golden domes, huge glass and stone hotels, government building get taller and taller.  Everything is white, clean, green, fountains gushing water and for the most part … drivers stay in their own lanes!!!!  Rush hour city center is helter-skelter but on the outskirts of the city, minimal driving drama.
Our hotel, Hotel Oguzkent, Avenure Bitarap 231, Ashgabat 744000, Turkministan is magnificent!
We eat on the 15th floor overlooking the city center.  And those that stayed up past 11PM, a magnificent 20-minute fireworks show to celebrate the city and end of the school year.
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8 comments to Hello & Goodby Iran

  • Dave Chiurazzi

    GREAT post Dean – exciting….you did get lucky with the gas…the STROMP gets angry when she is hungry!

    Amazing journey my friend – Definitely wish I was on it!

  • Cletha

    Thanks for the update. Sounds like you are have a fantastic time and everything from gas to border crossings to free tea is yet another adventure. Looking forward to more :-)

  • Dewitt

    Dean, you old fox, two women around and you get a lone picture with them.

    Oh!!! How I envy what you are doing. And thank you for sharing, you make it SO VERY interesting.

    Be safe my friend…………….

  • Tom B.

    Dean – congrats on surviving Iran and making it out, that’s really something. Thanks for the continued great reporting. My German buddy Uli, with whom I’m on a MC trip through the Pyrenees, is following your reports as well and we discuss them over dinner. He’s looking forward to meeting you in person, maybe in Baja one day soon.

  • Dean,

    Following your trip makes the day fun even though I’m working. Sure wish I could go on one of your great adventures. Thanks for the time you take to photograph the sights and document what’s going on…Great reading.

  • Mary J Cunningham

    Very interesting Dean, thanks so much for sharing this adventure. I have saved all your postings. Stay safe.

  • Brother Tom

    Did they confiscate Dad yet thinking he was contraband? :-)

  • Brian R.

    Dean – I finally got a few minutes to check in on your adventures and find out things just have not changed. You are doing Landry each day, taking pictures you really shouldn’t, and getting lost without gasoline…..

    I have to wonder what the heck a traveler would do if their required daily meds got confiscated – seems like a critical failure for traveling like this.

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