By Trudy

Together on the way from Beyneu in Kazakhstan to Lagodekhi in Georgia.

Last night we took Ton and Tim to the train and waved goodbye. Thanks Ton and Tim. We
had a nice trip with you. You had a key start and a train journey at the end. In between we
drove many kilometres together, many of which were on very bad “roads”.

Then the two of us will leave for Lagodekhi on July 17, where our new team, Rozemarijn,
Arnaud, Floris and Ruben, will come. We have to go to Georgia via Russia. We cannot make our planned trip across the Caspian Sea due to the closed borders by road.
It is quite a detour and our new team also has to travel a different route than they had planned.

Dirk connects the Model T behind the LandRover and we set off.
The first day we even drive more than 500 kilometres. That’s coming along nicely.
We see camels and dromedaries. They live together here. Lots of bumps along the road and lots of holes in the road.

There are so many bad roads in the world. We look for a hotel but are invited to stay with a
family, where we are spoiled with delicious food and a mat to sleep on. The family actually
doesn’t allow us to leave the next day, but we want to continue to the border.

We succeeded and we slept just across the border.
The next day we leave early again. I find it difficult to find the right path. We do not have a
map of this area. With patience and inquiry and the place names we have to pass on a piece of paper, we succeed. The Garmin will also pick up the road later. After a long day we sleep in a room with 2 beds and in the other rooms there were a lot of men sleeping on the floor. There was no water and a toilet was a hole in the ground, first outside and then 3 doors further, at the back of the courtyard. At 4 o’clock in the morning the hallway was very busy. All the men were already leaving. We also left early for the border with Georgia.
The border crossing was difficult. The road was bad and we also had to go through a narrow tunnel. We made it. When we were allowed to leave the customs area, the Model T did not start. We hooked it back up to the LandRover and were still able to find a hotel in the dark. The next morning Dirk found the cause. The spring of the bendix is broken. We decide to tinker today and then continue driving tomorrow.

Dirk was able to put a new spring on it. We did have a nice place to tinker.

We get the cars ready and can leave tomorrow.

Then the last day we ride just the two of us. It is fun in the LandRover, but we would rather travel in the Model T and with our team.

After a long hot ride, which started with a pass in the mountains, past Tbilisi, the capital of
Georgia, we arrive at our destination. Lagodekhi.

We drove an additional distance of over 1800 kilometers together. But we’re here!!!!Door