The Crazy Trip 2:: Grand Canyon - Vegas!

16-18th Jan 2010...

Saturday afternoon. It was a long weekend and my second last weekend in US. Most of my friends had some plans but I had opted out as I had to sell off my Mustang and take care of a lot of other small small things. But when I woke up, I decided to postpone selling off my car for the last weekend. :D I wanted to go somewhere... but all my friends were already away!!!

Just a week earlier I had met Zeenat, Manoj and Anupama, and we clicked as they were also travel enthusiasts. That day they had recommended a couple of places. So I decided to visit one of those, but I wasn't able to remember the name of the place. So I sent a text to Zeenat and here is the exact conversation that followed.

Me: Hey Zeenat, Mayank Here... Can you guys tell me the name of the place you were talking about that day.. Lost something....

Zeenat: R u taking us along????Will tell you about the place only if ur drive plan includes the 3 of us :D :D

Me: hehe... wel I am still alone and just want to drive somewhere. You 3 are most welcome to join me.

Zeenat: It's called "lost coast" up north of california.

Zeenat: Will be glad to join you. When do you wanna start? We are game for Grand Canyon as well if you desire to see that before you head back to India.

Me: Great. Thats exactly the place I was planning to head to if I was not able to find info about the Lost thing... What about starting for grand canyon in an hour from now????

Zeenat: Oops. We are out. Please give us 2 hours or so!!!





It was already 3 in the afternoon when we were exchanging these texts. At 5, I left my place to go to Grand Canyon with 3 people I barely know and have met only once for a couple of hours till now!!!! At 6.00-6.15 PM we started for Grand Canyon approx 760 miles away!!!!!! The drive was smooth and fast and even with 2 decent 45-60 mins each breaks I was able to cover this whole distance in less than 12 hours and were there before the clock struck 6.









Our timing had been just perfect. The first rays of sun were just about to show up and the whole place just looked awesome. The whole place was covered with snow. We were on the South rim of the canyon, standing on ice, the canyon in front of us and the sun rising from the right. It was one the most amazing sight I have ever scene. The layers of canyon were in different colors and the colors gradually changed as the sun kept on rising up. I just wish I had a better camera and I knew how to take better pics!!, as words (specially mine) can never explain the beauty of that sight. After a couple of hours spent admiring the beauty , it was time to eat. We had a nice heavy breakfast and then just started walking around the canyon, trying to see it from different angles.





While taking a walk we came across the Bright Angel Trail and decide to do some hiking. We had hardly started the hike when we realized that the trail is covered with ice and is very very slippery. We all were struggling to walk without slipping. We kept moving slowly and I think we had covered around 2.5 miles, when we decided to head back. The hike took around 3 hours and by the time we reached back on the top it was 1 in the afternoon.







Time to decide what next!!!! We were thinking of taking a room and rest, but the met department had predicted very heavy snowfall (2-3 feet) for that night!! I had to be at work on Monday, so could not have risked being caught up there! So I suggested to drive to Vegas and spend a night there. It was a 300 mile drive and after some discussion we decided to go for it. :) Had a nice lunch and started the drive at 2.30. The drive consisted of passing over the Hover Dam, and the whole thing was a treat for the eyes. :)





Finally we reached The Sin City and checked-in in a hotel around 9 PM. We were all tired but decided not to rest. A quick shower did the trick and we were down in the casinos at 10! :) Around 11 my friends went to hit the bed but I wanted more of Vegas as this was going to be my last trip to Vegas in near future, so I continued alone. After a few beers, a couple of LITs and a few hundred dollars down the drain, I returned to our room at 4.00 AM. (Still pretty early for Vegas, but all my money had already gone :( and I surely was tired by now.)



The next morning was a relaxed one and we lazily woke up around 11. After spending some more time on the streets and the casinos, we started our journey back home around 3 in the afternoon. The return journey was uneventful and we reached back home around 12ish in the night.

So in a nutshell:
2 days and 6 hours:: 1600 miles (2560 kms!!!!) of driving.... 3 new friends... lots of Floyd, Doors, AC/DC and Indian Ocean... a few hours of site seeing at breathtaking Grand Canyon....a few hours of hiking.... 1 night of gambling at Vegas... (needless to say yet again lots of money lost)... lot of good food.... 6 hrs of sleep!!! It was a great great weekend :) :)

The Crazy Trip 1

LA-Vegas, Thanksgiving 2008...

Monday, 24th of Nov, 2008, I returned to US in the afternoon after a hectic trip to India, and hit straight to office. Just 2 more working days and then we have the 4 day long thanks giving weekend!!!! But I have no plans, as I was not sure if I will be back in US for this weekend or not. Wednesday evening, I came back from work around 7. The holidays have begun, I have no plans and now I am wondering what to do!!!! Before I went to India, Phalgun (who was in Houston those days) had called up and told about his LA-Vegas trip for the holidays and had asked me to join. But at that time I had refused, as I was not sure. At 7.15 PM I give him a call. These guys already in LA and partying around. He says "Aaja be..." and I say "OK. I will be on my way soon."

So this is how this crazy trip started!!! At 7.30 PM I left my home in Santa Clara in my Mustang and headed alone to LA, some 350 miles away. Hardly 40 miles towards my destination for the day, as soon as I crossed Gilroy and took CA-152E, the road that links Highway 101 to I-5, there is a traffic jam!!!! Although it is quite late for the weekly traffic on this route, but its the holiday rush which is causing the jam. The vehicles are crawling on the road and it took me almost 2 hrs to cover this 40 mile stretch before merging onto I-5. Once on I-5, the rest of the journey was smooth, I managed to reach the hotel just before 3.

The next day was spent on the beaches of LA and just driving on the roads of LA without any specific thing in mind. In the night we decided to hit a pub, but the day being the eve of Thanks Giving, most of the places were closed :( Finally we found one on Sunset Boulevard. The place looked a bit weird, but we were all too desparate to get drunk to bother. At the entrance, the bouncers told us that this is a 'Gothic' club, but still none of us got it!!!! As soon as we entered, we were all shocked!!! Its the weirdest place I have ever been to, the weirdest people with the weirdest hairstyles and make up!!!!! (I guess the others there considered us the weirdest people out there, as we standing out in our 'normal' clothing!!!) Anyways we had a couple of drinks, struggling to see each other and our drinks in that exceptionally dark place and headed back to the hotel.

The next day, Friday was the time to leave LA and head towards Vegas :) Left around 10 and drove as close as possible to the famous 'Hollywood' sign. then stopped at some vista points and people tried their hands on the camera to do some tricks with the Hollywood sign. Just before hitting I-15, we again get a bad traffic jam!!! But this time I was not alone and we were 4 of us in the car, so time passed relatively easily. Finally around 6 in the evening, we are in Vegas, The Sin City :P The next ~40 hours in Vegas were crazy!!! They were filled with lots of drinking, lots of loosing money, shows, clubbing, much more drinking, more gambling (read "loosing money"), roller coaster ride in New York New York and crazy rides on the 70th floor of Stratosphere.

In Vegas, you just need 2 things: Money and Time!!! And you run out of both rather quickly, generally the former vanishing at a much faster rate!!! Even I ran out of both pretty fast. The others had extended the already extended weekend and had taken Monday off, but I had to be back at work on Monday. So I stretched the limits on both, my wallet and time, and kept on drinking and gambling till 7 in the morning on Saturday/Sunday night. Slept at 7.30 Am and woke up at 10.30 AM and started my 550 mile drive, back to home all alone at 12 noon.

Within 5 minutes of starting, I am in the worst jam I have ever witnessed or heard about in the US!!!! For the first time in US, I saw people driving on the shoulders, at times even jams on the shoulder, people who have given up and pulled over, people with trucks with off road capabilities driving on the almost non-existent roads, roads worse than most village roads in India and unpaved roads!!!!! For the first 4 hours, every time I was able to put my car in the 2nd gear or touch a speed of 20mph, I felt like celebrating!!!! Finally the jam relaxed and I managed to reach Barstow, 150 miles from Vegas, around 6 in the evening, taking 6 hours to cover the distance which is a 2-2.5 hour drive in normal circumstances!!!! Phewww!!!! Had my first break at Barstow and refueled both myself and my Mustang.

But it was still not over!!! The ~150 mile road from Barstow to Bakersfield is mostly a farm road going though a valley and has a very dense fog on some days in winters. Today was one of those "blessed" days!!! After 7-7.30 pm, the fog became so dense, I was hardly able to see anything. The road was deserted and looked like I was the only one travelling on that road. This was both good and bad. Good because my chance of ramming into someone was very less and bad because I could not follow anybody. One good part of US highways is that you can be almost certain that there will not be any vehicle standing in the middle of the road and the other good thing is that the lanes are always marked. So I kept on moving, following the side markings, just managing to avoid going off the road.

I had been driving for about 10 hrs, the time it should normally take to reach home from Vegas, and was totally exhausted by now as I had not slept properly in the last 4 days. I thought that there is no way I can make it and decided to stay at a motel for the night. But I was in the middle of nowhere!!!! There was no sign of life around. I am sure, even if there was any motel right off the highway, I would have missed it because of the fog. So with no other option, I kept on moving. Finally I crossed Bakersfield and then hit I-5 around 12 in the night. Once on I-5, it was much easier. Although the fog was still quite dense but the flow of traffic was quite heavy. So it was all about just following the vehicle in front of you and pray that it won't stop suddenly.

Found a rest area, within 30 minutes of hitting I-5. I parked in the area and slept in the car for half an hour. This was all I needed. After this power nap my batteries were recharged and the rest of the journey home was uneventful and relatively easy. Finally relieved to reached home at 4.30 AM after these 4 crazy days. It was a crazy crazy trip and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

How it all began!!!!!!

Sometime in Nov-Dec 2004...

As far as I can recall this trip was the very first in the whole list of my crazy trips....

I was in Bangalore those days. It was a Saturday evening and we had no plans!!! Me and Anshul were at home we had been getting bored the whole day/evening. Around 9-9.30 pm, we were hungry and Anshul asked me, "Khane ka kya karna hai???". I was like "main yeh normal kahin khane nahi jaa raha... thodi door drive karke khane chalna hai to chal." There was this one restaurant some 15-18 kms from home, on the outer ring road, and I suggested that to Anshul. But Anshul was not interested in that place!!! Roughly the following conversation happened after that.

Anshul: ek jagah bolun, wahan chalega??
Me: Haan bol..
Anshul: nahi chor.... tu nahi chalega...
Me: Arre bol to kahan...
Anshul: Mysore chalein????
Me: (kinda surprised) abhi!!!!???
Anshul: haan...
Me: Chal!!!!!!!

So we quickly packed up a bit and around 10 pm we started from Bannerghata road on my Pulsar. Once we were outside bangalore, we stopped for dinner at some road side shop near a college. The food was decent and we were back on the road soon.

Around 12 in the night, we were near the halfway mark, when the cops stopped us!!! They asked us where were we going at such a time and when we told them that we are headed to Mysore, they were like are you crazy!!! They told us that this area is not safe in night, and that night was coincidently the night of a local festival in Karnataka, when people gamble and get drunk and kinda go insane. So the cops were trying to convince us that specially on that night, people being in such a condition can stop you and loot you. After may be 10 mins of discussion, we told them we will stay at the next hotel we find and continue in the morning. (But we had no such intentions :D :D).

We kept on moving and safely reached Mysore City around 1-1.30 am. But Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!!!! We had to go to the Infy campus in Mysore and that was 10-15 kms outside the city. We asked for the way to Infy campus and all the people scared us like anything and told us not to go at that time in the night. This time we really got scared and were actually thinking of checking into a hotel. But then both of thought "sala jo hoga dekha jayega!!! Yahan tak aa gaye hain pange leke to ab to jayenge hi!!!!" So we decided to go ahead. Anshul was wearing a jacket, which had a zipper where the hood can be rolled and packed in. We took almost all our money from our wallets and hid it in that zipper!!!! Then we decided that if anybody tried to stop us, we will not stop!!! We asked for the directions (which were not really straight forward), memorized whatever we could and started again.

Halfway from the Mysore City to the Infy campus, we saw a man coming towards us, with a torch in hand, trying to stop us!!!!! Scared!!!! As already discussed, we decided not to stop and opened the throttle and just zapped across him. On passing him we realized, it was a cop!!!! And just after this thing happened, there was a fork on the road which nobody in the city had mentioned about!!!!! Not sure which way to take, we came back to the cop. When we told him that we work in Infy, he became supportive and gave us the directions. Finally reached the campus. :) Happy, relieved and tired, we met our friend and hit the bed around 3.

In the morning, after taking a tour of the Infy campus we were ready to hit the road at 11 am. We asked about the places to visit in Mysore, and our friend told us about 4 places. Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hills, some temple and Brindavan Gardens. What he didn't tell was the relative locations of these places!!!!! So we planned to visit the hills, then the temple, then Gardens and then the Palace. It turned out to be the longest possible route to cover these places!!!! Anyways by around 4.30-5 we were done with all these places and thinking that all the excitement is over, we hit the road to Bangalore.

But there was more excitement in stores for this trip!!!! We had hardly covered 15-20 kms from Mysore, when it started raining heavily accompanied by very strong winds. There was a petrol pump near by, we went there to get some shelter from the rain. I parked the bike on the side stand (which makes my bike tilted at quite an angle). The winds were so strong that my bike was thrown on the other side by the wind!!!!! We just couldn't believe that!!! I mean the bike was on the side stand tilted towards one side, and it fell on the other side!!!! In the accident, the rear view mirror also crashed.

We waited for some time. The rain and wind slowed down a bit. It was getting late and we had no other option, so resumed our journey in the rain. So practically the whole distance from Mysore to Bangalore was covered in rain, that too on a highway which was under construction, so after every couple of kms, you were on different sides of the median.

Finally reached home at around 10 pm after covering 400 adventurous kms in exactly 24 hours.

Driving Without Destination....

23-24th May, 2009... Solo Ride... No Destination... Total Trip Duration 19.5 hrs... Total Miles Driven 1061 miles (1697.6 kms!!!!!) What a drive it was... A dream come true :) :)

A normal Saturday afternoon. I am getting bored. Have a lot of work to do but don't feel like working at all. Finally around 4 in the afternoon I decide to go for a long drive, but not sure where to go. I will decide when I am on the road. I get ready by 5, and load the car with the basic stuff. I am ready to leave when Nitesh calls. I tell him that I am going on a drive, but he sounds excited and tells me don't go, I am coming to your place in 10 mins. And guess what, he comes home in a brand new Mercedes C300 Sports!!!! Wow :) Really a reason to be excited. And this calls for a party. So we have a little celebration at Nitesh's house but I am not drinking!!!!! The drive is still on my mind!!!!

At 11.00 PM, I leave his place still thinking about where to go. Finally I decide to go up North and decide to take I5 North :) I keep on moving north and have traveled around 350 odd miles. It is around 5 in the morning and I am a little tired and a little sleepy. So I decide to call it a ride and turn back to get home. But at that very point of time I enter Oregon and man what a sight it was. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Its 5 in the morning, I am surrounded by green trees and I can see mountains ahead of me which are shining like silver. I just wish I had stopped somewhere and clicked some pics of this beautiful scenery. I was so mesmerized by the beauty of my surroundings, that I forgot to take the U-turn. I was neither sleepy nor tired anymore! I just kept on driving and driving, when around 8 in the morning I realized that I have come more than 500 miles!!!!!!! Although I would have loved to go further North, but I had to be at work first thing in the morning the next day, so I decided to take a U-Turn and head back home.

On the journey back I took a couple of detours on the historic highway 99. Around 10 it became warm enough to put the top down and enjoy the sun. Driving on the highway 99, with the top town and sun shining in, narrow 2 lane roads, passing through the country side was an awesome experience. When on the highway, driving at 80-90 miles an hour, with the top down, the wind beating my face and the sun shining on the head, with a lot of 'Coming Back to Lifes' and 'Highway to Hells' and 'Kandisas' on full blast, I was surely in heaven.

After having consumed almost 4 tank fulls of gas, i reached back home at 6.30 in the evening. I know people think most of my trips are crazy, but this one was crazy even by my own standards. I had driven 1700 kms in 19.5 hrs, all alone and that too without any destination!!!!!! However insane it may sound, but this was one of the best trips of my life. It was a dream come true and I wish I get to do many more such trips in life.....

Delhi to Bangalore... Just me and my bike! :)

26th Feb - 9th Mar, 2010.... 12 days.... 3912 kms!!!!

The experience and the feeling can never be jotted down on paper, but as they say, something is better than nothing. So here I go with my first Blog entry. :)

Since the day I had come back to India I wanted to do a long long bike trip.... I was trying to look for some company for the trip, but fortunately or unfortunately I was the only one unemployed!!!!! So the choice: Chuck the plan or do it SOLO!!! I am happy to have chosen the later one :)

Some Facts about the Bike: A 6 year old Pulsar (not used in the last 2 years!!), a dead battery, which also means no horn and a head light which is dimmer than a torch!!!! But when you are in the mood for adventure, you are in the mood and you just dont give a damm to anything else!!!

Day 0: Party at Teji's Place

Me, Teji, Mukul and a 1 Lt Bottle of Black Label!!!!!! The clock keeps on ticking and the drinks keep on pouring!!! Somewhere between, Priyanka and Veenu ask me, "where are you going???" Me: "I have no idea!!! Jahan mann kiya wahan chala jaunga!!!" At the end, the bottle is finished and we go to bed.

Day 1: Gurgaon to Pushkar

Woke up at 6.30, got ready by 7.30 and was ready to leave when Veenu made garma garam Aalu ke parathe :) Had a few of them and then I was all set to start my journey :) It was cold but nice at that time in the morning. The ride was a smooth one and with 1 tea break I reached Pushkar around 4 in the evening. A evening spent nicely meeting people from other countries who knew much more about India than I know!!! A lady and lil daughter from New Zealand and a guy from Italy. Had a nice conversation with those people over dinner. At this time I was already loving the idea of going solo or else I would not have got an opportunity to talk to those people.

Day 2: Pushkar to Bikaner

An easy and probably the shortest ride of the trip.

Started early in the morning and reached Bikaner in the afternoon. Checked in the hotel and started the sight seeing. The Junagarh Fort Tour was nice but the more interesting thing was the Camel Farm. There I had the most amazing Kulfi, Kufli made of Camel milk!! A nice, rich and spicy dinner in a nice setting just opposite the fort and then another interesting thing of Bikaner. A Deep Frozen Pan!! It was awesome :)

A reality Check: I have fever by this time and tomorrow is gonna be a tough ride!!! (Just took some medicine and slept.)

Day 3: Bikaner to Jaisalmer
Dry, Hot, Deserted and Strong Winds, it was kind of a tough ride!!

Started a lil late and as soon I started got caught up in a traffic blockage as some VVIP was visiting the place!!! What a beginning!!! Once I was finally out of the city after a couple of hours, it was pretty much straight roads. All you had to do was keep going and beating the winds. The only other traffic on the road was trucks, no private vehicles at all!!! And I remember every time I was overtaking a truck, the wind pressure was so strong, it was really hard to control the bike!!! But once in the city it was a totally different experience. Straight into the fort, all tired with the ride, carrying my backpack and climbing those steep steps of the guest houses inside the fort to look for a room with a good view, I was so so tired! But once settled, I just started loving the place. The fort had an aura of its own. So colourful the place was. I just loved it! Well as I had reached late in the evening and the next day being a public holiday for Holi, I was not able to go and check out the local attractions. But it didn't really mattered to me as I was right in the center of the biggest attraction: The Living Fort. Booked a safari and was all set to leave for the 2 day safari early next morning, but travelling alone has its own drawbacks. :( Late in the night my agent told me that thing didn't work out and he will book me on a 1.5 day safari which leaves in the afternoon!!!

(Sometime in today's drive I had completed the first 1000 kms of my Trip:) Felt Satisfied.)

Day 4: Jaisalmer to Barmer to Sanchor
Sometimes things are not meant to go the way you want them to!!

I am all exited about the Desert Safari in the afternoon, people including a lot of 'firangs' are playing Holi in the narrow lanes of the Fort and I am sitting on the terrace, having cups of tea and reading a book :) I was excited that after a few hours I will be going for a Safari. I was just loving it. But then, at 2.30 my agent comes and tell me that the safari has been canceled, I can book you on a safari for tomorrow morning!!!! I am like WTF!!!! Faced with a tough decision of weather to wait one more day and do the safari or to just continue with the Bike Trip, I finally decided to leave the safari for next time and continue the Bike Trip. But Jaisalmer, I love you and will be there for the safari very soon, may be in November.

At 3.00 PM I left the fort and headed towards Barmer around 160 kms far. Reached Barmer at 6.00 PM but was disappointed to find out that there is nothing at all to be done in Barmer. Not sure what I was thinking, but I decided to leave for Mount Abu which is another 260 odd kms, after a tea at Barmer. I had covered around 90 kms from Barmer, and it got dark!!!! Passing through a jungle, a lot of insects and cattle crossing the road like they are grazing in the farm and a head light which is incapable of showing me anything, it was getting really hard to drive!! I was getting really desperate to reach a town to stay for the night, but nothing in sight :( Finally reached a town called Sanchor around 9.30 and found a hotel to spend the night. But it being Holi, restaurants were closed so no food, no tea, just had a couple of biscuits and went to bed!!!

Day 5: Sanchor to Mount Abu
Started my drive to Mount Abu and I realized that the road now is not a Highway! At some places the road didn't even exist!! At that time I was so relieved that I had stopped last night at Sanchor!! In the final leg of journey that day, met a French couple who were also on a Bike Trip covering the whole of Rajasthan. The wheel of their bike was jammed and we were trying to fix that. Spent a nice half an hour talking to them.

The day in Mount Abu was spent quite well. Covered most of the attractions there and the sunset point was just amazing. :) I guess there were at least a few thousand people at the sun set point!!!



Day 6: Mount Abu to Daman
The endurance test!!!! 646 kms!!!!! A still can't believe a did it, that too after having driven ~1550 kms in the last 5 days!

I decided to start early but was still not sure where to go!!! Should I go to Jodhpur, complete the Rajasthan trip and go back to Delhi or should I make it more exciting and head South!!! The Biker in me wanted more!!! and I decided to head towards Mumbai, still not sure of todays destination... may be Ahmadabad, may be Vadodra, may be Surat... not able to pick a destination I left the decision on run time. Started around 8.00, I clocked good time and had my first break 240 km away in Ahmadabad around 12 in the noon. After a short break decided to head towards Vadodara and it was the first time I hated being on a bike!!! There is a sexy Expressway between Ahmadabad and Vadodara, but 2 wheelers are not allowed!!! WTF!!!! Had to take the poorly maintained old highway going right through the center of various cities!! Reached Vadodara, still have a lot of time, lets go to Surat!!! 30 kms from Surat: I will have to take a 20 km diversion for Surat, Daman is ~ 120 kms away.... what to do!!! I think I can make it!!! Surat Cancel!!! Daman is the destination of the day :D 40-50 kms from the destination, it is already dark, but luckily this time I am on a busy highway not passing through a jungle all alone, so I will be able to make it!!
Reached Daman around 8.30, all tired, looking for a hotel to rest my ass, but the next thing I get to hear is: "Sir you are travelling alone and it is against the law here to give room to people travelling alone!!!!" Are you kidding me~!!!!! Went back to the city from the beach area and checked into a shady types hotel, ordered some biryani and a beer. My first sip of alcohol since I had started the trip!! And I guess a well deserved one. By the time the beer was over I had already crashed!!! What a looonnggg looonnnggg day!!! Also the 2000 km milestone had been achieved during the days ride. Bike readings at the start and end of the day!! Had driven 645 kms in the last 12.5 hrs!!



Day 7: Daman to Mumbai
The easy Ride.

Started the day with site seeing in Moti Daman and Nani Daman. Kinda disappointed with the beaches, but driving through the old city was a good experience. Also the place had a couple of nice 17th century churches. Also the breakfast on road side shacks was yummy. On my way to Mumbai :) Time to meet folks after so many days of travelling alone. Reached Mumbai. Met Joy (I guess after 3 years!). He loves travelling and is so excited as well as jealous after hearing about my trip. Killed some time in a a nearby book shop while he wrapped up his work for the day. Reached home. Now time to party. :) Tomorrow is the first 'rest' day so we can drink like anything. Beer, Beer and more Beer flowing, with good music and good food and a lot of discussion about the current trip and previous trips!! An evening very well spent. Happy and High :D

Day 8: Rest Day!
The one and only rest day of the trip.

Finally a relaxed day. :) Spent the whole day sitting at home chatting with family and cousins and planning for the next day. The lunatic in me was still not satisfied and wanted more!!! I wanted to go to Goa and even Joy wanted to join. After a lot of discussion around the time constraints and all we settled down for 'Murud', an unexplored coastal town around 200 kms south of Mumbai. This decision proved to be a real good one over the next 2 days :)

Day 9: Mumbai to Murud
Once out of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, the ride was mostly a scenic coastal drive. :) Stopping at Alibagh for a lil while, we reached Murud around 3 in the afternoon. After taking a room right across the beach, we headed for lunch and it turned out to be one of the best coastal meals I have ever had. Time to hit the beach and have some beers :D Beer in one hand and shoes in the other, we started from one end of the beach and walked in the water, finished the beer till we reached the other end, then back to the wine shop and another round of beer!! This process repeated n number of times!! after 8 beers, 4 each all of different brands, and a bottle of red wine, we have no idea when we crashed in our room!!! A day very well spent. A good drive along the coast, good food, lots of beer and a nice beach, we couldn't have asked for more. :)



Day 10: Murud to Mumbai
The first thing in the morning was to go to the Zanzira Fort. It is huge 15th century fort 3kms into the sea. We went to Rajpuri and took a boat to the fort from there. The boat ride was nice and the fort tour was interesting but it gets super super hot!!! Back to the hotel, took a bath and started the journey back to Mumbai. Stopping at Kashid beach, we had really yum Maggi at one of the shacks on the beach.



Day 11: Mumbai to Hubli
Another Marathon Ride.

2800 kms had not satisfied me!!! I wanted more!! So I decided to head towards Bangalore, a lil over 1000 kms from Mumbai. Started early in the morning, and had my breakfast at Lonavala. While entering Pune, missed a turn and got on the wrong side of Pune!!!!! Had to go through the busiest parts of Pune to get back on track! From Pune the ride towards Satara, crossing the western ghats was a nice one.


Mumbai-Lonavala - Pune - Stara - Kholapur - Belgaum, cities came and cities went, but I just kept on riding and riding and finally settled at Hubli. Again I had driven 638 kms!!! Had food and crashed!! 3000 kms milestone also completed today.


Day 12: Hubli to Bangaluru
The Final Day

Just 450 odd kms left to reach the destination. I had thought that this one should be an easy ride. But I guess I was wrong!!! Very soon the roads turned really bad!! The worst of the trip was saved for the last!!! Since the last so many days the bike engine had been running at 6000 rpm for hours at stretch without a break and I had not bothered to check the engine oil! So there was no oil in the bike and the engine started to seize. The engine went dead a couple of times at places where there was nothing around for miles!! I was both tired and scared at that point of time. But the engine started and I had to drive rest of the way keeping in mind not to push the engine at all. A lot of jams before entering Bangalore and after entering Bangalore. Finally reached Manas' office at 7.30, took the keys from him and went to his home!!! By this time I had done 3912.5 kms in 12 days!!!!!

This is how I patched up with my bike after 2 years of break up!!!! :)