Issy-Kul is cool! The temps dropped dramatically after we began climbing toward the alpine lake. Our first view of the sparkling water bolstered our spirits considerably. We spent a leisurely afternoon near the town of Tamchy in a wide open area facing the lake. Everyone went for...
August 1st: caught speeding (finally) About 9am a cop motioned us over asked for our documents, then directed Don to follow him back to the car. I bounded out alongside, to find a man in a dirty shirt and loafers with a full gold grill sitting...
Leaving Kyzlorda for Shymkent July 31st Amazing how much better we all feel after a half night of good sleep and a shower! Plus we had some real coffee this am in the odd little bar of the hotel Nomad Palace. It is about 45C now, and...
July 30 If I could photograph this searing heat, it would look like flames. It burns your eyeballs just to open them, and the hot wind blows without break. Parching and endless is this stretch of desert between Aralsk and Kyzlorda. We saw three horses, two standing...
Note: since we just gotten Internet for the first time since the dawn of time, I'm uploading notes from each day so sorry for the flurry of random 2am commentaries. July 29. Kaz improves, or at least our impression of it. Once we made it into...
Kaz the soul crushing rubble roads July 28. Lacking the nimbleness of the noble Lada or the soviet sorcery of the giant Kamaz, the Dixie Chicken bus plods along at incredibly slow speeds, switching between the dirt tracks and the cratered 50 year old gravel road....
A new day in Kazakhstan July 27 We all had a restful night in Atryau courtesy of my Marriott points--a welcome respite after the 36 hour stretch we spent in the bus without a break. Wait, it really was 36 hours? We got in at Luhansk...
Kazakhstan - this is not a good start to your relationship with the Dixie Chickens! It all started at the border. The grim-faced guard spilt all of us off from Don to go to a far away office while he inspected the vehicle with Don. Then,...
A few photos from the random pile: Sarita and her stuffed chicken friend, scary basement dryers in Odessa, Bears and Llamas at the zoo hotel, Sarita and Caroline couch-sharing, the bus on the ferry crossing near Galati, Romania, and Don's gas station attendant friend adding a...