As you saw from the last post, Cory and I had plenty of fun with the Bruns’ in our short time riding with them through Georgia, but as Cory mentioned it was time for us to part ways with Theo and begin our push to Istanbul. Not enough can be said about the man who was able to drag us along to Bukhara and Khiva on our sickest days, use his Russian to secure a free night’s stay just about every evening, and pump out enough positive attitude and jokes to make the Kyzylkum Desert a fun experience. Riding with Theo through Central Asia was marvelous. It’s too bad he’s taking the northern route home through Russia rather than joining us on the south side of the Black Sea, else I’m sure there would be plenty more laughs and stories to be had. He will certainly be missed dearly.
I entered the tunnel laughing, “That was INSANE. I guess I’m not so pleased about that storm any more… How are you doing?” Cory responded, “Oh, I was basking in it! You’ve got to love that part of the experience.” True words spoken true. The hail subsided, but the downpour continued. We both basked in it while we waited out the storm in the tunnel and danced about to stay warm. After an hour the rain eventually lightened and police crews arrived to guide the now parking-lot of traffic along the rock-strewn road. Adequately marinated in mud and water, we carried on downhill through the valley. The rain continued through the evening and we slept underneath a roadside mountain restaurant for shelter. The first hailstorm and mudslide of the trip where quite an experience. We had a good laugh reminiscing on it later and I’m sure we will for a long time.
Basking in the hailstorm and Motown praises, we made it to the Black Sea and spent a half-rest day in the lovely town of Batumi. The final day in Georgia held a big milestone for me – I joined the five-figure club with 10,000km on the trip! Many kilometers down and many more to go. The next day we rolled into Turkey to ride the Black Sea coast for 1500km until we reach Istanbul and the end of Asia.