Близкия изток

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

the hill in the background is in Armenia. theres an overlook, where Armenians can look down on the ruins, as they are not allowed to visit.
theres a big fence & turkish border towers all down the ridge

Хълмът отзад е в Армения. Има място на високото, откъдето арменците могат да гледат надолу към руините, тъй като не им е позволено да ги посещават.
Има голяма ограда и турски гранични постове по цялото протежение.







Hey, I told you I took alot of pics!!!!!

Хей, казах ви, че съм направил много снимки!!!

[Жоро Нешев]

От: Близкия изток

Великолепни снимки поднесени с фантазия. Благодаря че споделяш с нас!

Мисля си от някое време , че не е лошо да обсъдим дали форума да не учреди една ежегодна награда за най-железен задник /iron ass/ в мотоциклетните походи. Като естествено предлагам първата да получи Дъг. Мога да се ангажирам с изработката на подходяща статуетка.

Гледам на едно друго място ..... какво стана с бобината? Да помагаме ли?

Splendid photos, presented with imagination. Thank you for sharing with us!

I've been pondering for a while, that we should discuss whether the forum could establish an annual "iron butt" award in the category "bike traveling". Naturally, I would like to nominate Doug to receive the first award. I can commit to sculpting an appropriate statuette for this award.

I was reading through the topic and wondered - what happened with the coil problem? Can we offer any help?

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

Thanks to whoever is doing the translation, it is perfect!

Like I would know!

hahahaha

Doug

Благодаря на тези, които правят превода, перфектен е!

Все едно мога да преценя!

хахахаха

Дъг

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

I headed south from Kars, towards Mt Ararat, of the Noah & the Ark fame.
The road was actually pretty good thru here. A bit barren tho, this is right along the Armenian border, & theres military checkpoints
& patrols everywhere. In fact, this road is closed after dark, so I had to make sure I was somewhere I wanted to be by then.





lots of chinese bikes around here. they are very localized, you wont see any for a couple days, then a town is full of them.
These guys saw me & chased me down, asking me to stop.
they pulled a melon out of the bag & cut it up, we sat around looking at bikes & sorta talking.
Then of course other people kept stopping to see what was going on. I finally had to go, as it was getting late



this old guy stopped by on his peewee herman signature series bike

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

finally, Mt Ararat, from the west side. I saw the east side a couple weeks ago

Най-накрая планината Арарат - от западната страна. Източната страна я видях преди няколко седмици.

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

about now, I was thinking that gee, 2 weeks ago, I was about 20 miles from here when the bike broke. 2 weeks later, I've only gone 20 miles. that sucks!

not long after that, of course the bike dies. just like I flipped the switch. I coasted to the side of the road, got gas, kicked, nothing.
I pulled the points cover off, they were a lil dirty, so I cleaned them. it started back up, & off I went, an easy fix....
(this will return later)

I got a room in Dogubayazit, they are repairning the roads in town of course, putting down these nice little bricks that are great
for a few months, till the trucks make em all crooked & wavy (as I have seen in other towns)
they put down a base of what looks like ground lava powder, smooth it, & install the bricks.
I hit a spot where they hadnt finished yet, & got stuck.
I had to get off the bike, & move bricks that were hanging up on the frame so I could keep moving.
in traffic of course!
and the lava dust that ends up leftover on top of the bricks is REAL slippery!

The panhead had more ground clearance. I admit I built this bike too low, but I thought the roads here were gonna be better.
Im surprised I havent broken the frame yet.
I hope I didnt just jinx myself!

This was a bustling border town, anything you could want was for sale on the streets, bootleg stuff from Iran, which is only a few miles
away, & probably from other places also. I was a bit worried about the bike, but the hotel owner let me put it in the hallway.

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

sites from the balcony

this was in the morning, things here dont really get hoppin til later in the day

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

I headed south, right along the border with Iran. so close I saw border checkpoints!
I didnt stop the bike!
pics taken while I was riding, the border I just had to take a pic & zoom in on it



it was really high up here, over 7000 feet. there were some awesome lava beds that went on for miles





less military prescence here, I guess TR is more worried about Armenia than Iran?

storm clouds ahead, and spittin rain, so I stopped to put on rain gear the 1st time since leaving BG. I was hoping
not to need it at all

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

10 minutes later, the bottom fell out. at 7k feet, rain is COLD!
soon after, it was HARD!
Yep! Hail storm!
sunofabitch!
theres no cover anywhere. nothing. a hail stone the size of a thumbnail hits me on the keecap
OUCH
1 minute later, another, same exact place!
F&%K!!!!
its hittin so hard my helmet sounds like John Bohnams drum kit. I'm ducked over, tryin to stay on the edge of the road, there looks to be a village up there.
I'm barely crawling, I get to the vilage, & stop, looking for something to hide under. some kid runs out to me with an umbrella,
& invites me to his house.
a lady opens the door, & waves me in, but Im dripping wet, & dont wanna go, til she pulls the carpet back, & I stand in the doorway.
these people have obviously had a wet hairy bedraggled sort like myself in their house before. I had to duck to get in the door.
I was a foot taller than they were. It was kinda funny.
of course they offered me tea. hahaha
Very nice people, even if we couldnt talk much. there was a couple, & I think 5 kids, and grandpa living there.
you could tell they were very poor. I wanted real bad to take a picture of them, but was embarassed to ask them, so I didnt.
The sky started to clear, and the oldest daughter, who could have been 16 or 26, was hard to tell, was makin googly eyes at me.
I dont know the culture here, or the requirements for a shotgun wedding (well, here its probably a 'sickle' wedding)
so I decided to skedaddle. I didnt think this would be something I could pass off easily to Poly, like when I bring home another bike!
hahahaha

I offered the mom some money for her kindness, as I knew they could use it. she refused, so I just laid it on the windowsill &
said thanks much, as I walked out.

Everything was flooded, the road, the yard, etc, but it was running off the road quick, I only had to ford 2 small rivers.

my hail haven



comin down like a cow pissin on a flat rock



this was fun to ride on......
some places it was 2 inches deep!





then the sun came out, 10 miles later, dust is blowing, they didnt get a drop!

[Nik Nikolov]

От: Близкия изток

Страхотна находка !
Поздравления за Дъг.
Успял е да пресъздаде цялото настроение между преходно и вечно.

Zabriskie Point <> Armeniskie Point.


Great find!
Congratulations to Doug.
Is able to recreate the whole atmosphere between the transient and ever.

[giorgio]

От: Близкия изток

Doug, I understand that you have found a coil.
Hope your motorcycle, do not break more!
Have a nice trip!

[ВладиЧ]

От: Близкия изток

Пак спря СПОТА на Дъг. На 26 вечерта спря край езерото Ван. Днес вече е 28-ми и още не е тръгнал. Някой има ли инфо какво става?

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

I just turned on my spot, I am in tatvan waiting to hear if the coil has shipped. I call, but get no answer.
I was supposed to pay for it by bank transfer this morning, but the bank here is closed, so I dont know what will happen.

if the 1st idiot I talked to at 11am yesterday had bothered to send me the info like he promised, I would have paid, & had the coil today.

Doug

[Ivan_J]

От: Близкия изток

Doug, ask at first workshop to make a bashplate for you. The chance for broken frame will be much less. HD is a great adv enduro bike, bashplate will suits it

[Motosapiens]

От: Близкия изток

it has a bashplate, I put one on when I built the bike

they say the coil is shipped, & will be here tomorrow!

Doug