Sand

Mary to Desert Camp
September 1st
135km (163m vertical)

Left the hotel in a police convoy, even though there was almost no traffic on the road. The police had their lights and sirens going though, and yelled at the other drivers through a loudspeaker. I think they are afraid both of us and for us: we might corrupt that locals if we interact with them or we might get lost. Either way, they always look very worried as they drive up and down the road, counting the cyclists. I stopped to pee at one point, and the police went past me. When I caught up with them again, I could see them thinking “Where did he come from? How could we miss him? How many others have escaped?”

Leaving Mary, we entered a sand desert for the rest of the day. The past few days have been more of a rocky, barren landscape...but not sand. There are still lots of little weeds dotting the landscape, so it doesn't look like perfect windblown dunes. But it was an interesting change of scenery.

Much of the road from Mary was being rebuilt, so there were long stretches of beautiful black new pavement that we rode down as the cars drove beside us on the old rough road. The new road ends abruptly at every little creek, and then starts up again immediately on the other side. Perhaps they are waiting for a special piece of machinery, or different materials before they can span the creeks.

There was a 10km stretch after lunch where large dump trucks were hauling loads of sand back and forth. It was related to some kind of road construction I think...although it looked very strange to see dozens of trucks moving sand around in a desert! The sand blew out of the open trucks and blinded us. We got absolutely covered in it - not ideal when you have 2 nights of bush camping with no water before your next shower.

We have yet to be caught in the really hot Turkmenistan weather. It was 105F on the bike today, which is manageable.

Camping in the sand tonight, beside a police checkpoint. We are happy for the shade from their building, and they are happy that they can keep a close eye one us.

Riding past a mosque in Mary:

A real Turkman...watching his flock of goats:

Big trucks made a big sandstorm:

Tiny village in the middle of the desert:

Local kids selling a warm yoghurt drink at the side of the road. I decided to pass:

Another young girl selling yoghurt at the side of the road: