[KSM-Vtec]

13th August 2011 – Mumbai Roadsters

You will recollect that we were still crossing Surat around midnight on 12th Aug when HVK and team were in Behror “Scrapping the Vessels”. At the very outset our plan was simple, we had decided to drive throughout the night and next day and make it where ever we could. The minimum target being Kishanghad.

The constant rain was slowing us down in each sector and we were finding it difficult to keep up the average speeds inline with the targets. It was about 4AM when we reached Ahmedabad and about 8AM when we were at the Suraj Pole Circle in Udaipur turning right onto NH 76 heading towards Chittorgarh.

Taking minimum number of fuel stops and clubbing them with a quick face wash and chai breaks we covered the distance as quickly as we could. We wanted to reduce the length of the next day run which was ambitiously planned till Rampur, all this since we had started 20 hours after rest of the team and were wanting to catch-up with them ASAP.

We manage to do some good speeds in the Udaipur-Chittorgarh-Kishanghad-Jaipur section and cross Jaipur around 4PM. Jaipur (the desert land of India) bypass was a shocking experience because we faced a flood, yes a flood and had to wade thru knee deep water in a few sections.

Now that we had covered up on the lost time we decided to go for it try and reach Delhi by the night but as luck had it the cops on the Jaipur outskirts stopped us for checking and their usual money making agenda. Having found out (which we ourselves found out for the first time) that one of our cars dint have a valid PUC he got an opportunity to get Rs.150 out from us and more importantly 20-25 minutes of our valuable time.

We move ahead reach Behror at about 6PM stop for refueling and chai and also discussed the idea of driving further on to Delhi. YP told us of a close friend (Rahul) of his who had been asking him to stop by for a delicious dinner and stay over in his house hence that became our motivating factor. Another advantage was that his house was in Dwarka next to the airport and not very deep into the city.

So we drive on for a couple of more hours and enter the Gurgaon Road around 8PM and find our way towards Rahul’s house in Dwarka and settle down there by about 830PM catch-up with Rahul, order a lot of food, take a shower & take a few sips.

By this time (930PM) we start enquiring about rest of the team and get to know about HVKs vehicle and also that none of the cars have reached Rampur yet (and would not reach before 11PM). We discuss our plan for the next day and decide to hit the road at 4AM. The food arrives and we hog on it (remember we did not stop anywhere for a proper meal, we were surviving only on the packed food from home) and hit the bed (1030PM) wondering if we will be able to meet the next days target.

Pictures by KP (doctorque) to follow…

It was going to be a really early morning. …a long day….and a big ? …will we reach our destination? To add to all the issues…we were still one full day of travel away from rest of the team.

[doctorque]

Just when the 2 swifts met..at Surat

Traffic jam at the Narmada Bridge

First Refueling stop







Udaipur Still Farrr....

Good Morning RJ....













Green RJ

Green RJ

Green RJ

[hvkumar]

The MUmbai Roadsters 2 SWifts had a slightly different plan from ours in order to catch up with us on their Day 2 of the drive. They decided not to visit Chitkul or Kalpa and so we had planned such that we will meet at Nako in KInnaur Valley on Aug 15 night, and that is how KSM-VTEC and his pals unleashed the horses in their Swift and did a marathon run on their Day 1 and planned another aggressive run on Day 2.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

They decided not to visit Chitkul or Kalpa and so we had planned such that we will meet at Nako in KInnaur Valley on Aug 15 night.

looking back, had we known that the block in kaza would have taken away 3 days we could have actually done the Chitkul/kalpa section also.

[hvkumar]

It was a rainy week - but we were quite lucky, we did not face heavy rains in GJ & RJ like KSM-VTEC and we were luckier to have dry weather in HP Kinnaur & Baspa Valleys. AS we found later, others were not so lucky...

[akaush]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

looking back, had we known that the block in kaza would have taken away 3 days we could have actually done the Chitkul/kalpa section also.

Chitkul was definitely worth it. For people like me who returned from Kaza, Chitkul and Komic village will be the highlights of the trip!

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by akaush

Chitkul was definitely worth it. For people like me who returned from Kaza, Chitkul and Komic village will be the highlights of the trip!

Oh ya komic was a crazy place for sure!!!!

[wanderernomad]

You guys came up north and I sort of being busy with new assignment seemed to ahve missed out on the gossip that you guys were up there in my state. Would ahve loved to catch up with you. Especially HV you were in Chandigarh, I should have passed on my new Chandigarh number to you would ahve been fun to meet up and get your car serviced. Maybe next time. All of the team bhp folks coming up north please if time permits leave a word about your intended travel and we can wherever possible organize a short meet with the local bhpians at Chandigarh or even individually would be great to catch up with you guys.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

You guys came up north and I sort of being busy with new assignment seemed to ahve missed out on the gossip that you guys were up there in my state. Would ahve loved to catch up with you. Especially HV you were in Chandigarh, I should have passed on my new Chandigarh number to you would ahve been fun to meet up and get your car serviced. Maybe next time. All of the team bhp folks coming up north please if time permits leave a word about your intended travel and we can wherever possible organize a short meet with the local bhpians at Chandigarh or even individually would be great to catch up with you guys.

That was a big miss, wish we had known. Our detour into Panchkula was sudden and unplanned, prolonged because of my car problems. Please do PM your number for the record.

[Surprise]

I have been waiting for this travelogue since I came to know that HVK along with a gang is on a trip to Ladakh+++. Read the pages written in one shot. As I read through the initial few posts, I was drawn to be part of such trip in future...but only 3 hrs sleep in 48 hrs . It indicates what it takes for such a trips.

First time looking HVK writing so many lines in a travelogue & what a crisp & engaging one that was

Laluks is one of my favorite member when it comes to reading travelogue...he never fails to deliver. Great Team out there & each member has written their experience wonderfully.

[laluks]

@Maverick79, wanderernomad, rajcs, Surprise - Thank you

no_enthu_da's wonderful clicks, HVK and KSM-Vtec's crisp accounts, doctorque, akaush, jeepcaptains clicks and narration - I am kind of reliving the trip now.

Indeed - Maverick79 is right 100% - Cheers to the spirit called Driving.

[anku]

hello
so as the planning was going from past 2 months was very excited to do the road trip of 7000km which was going to be my first longest trip as i keep on doing mumbai surat amdavaad rajkot and amreli offend which is around 865km
so planned n left my heavily luggage wife in surat and join yp and km at Kim

[tsk1979]

Six pages and we are still in Surat. Hurry up man. Show us ladakh.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Six pages and we are still in Surat. Hurry up man. Show us ladakh.

TSK Sir, like the drive this is a convoy log , speeds are different, also the time zone. Please bear with us.

[LongDrive lover]

Originally Posted by laluks

TSK Sir, like the drive this is a convoy log , speeds are different, also the time zone. Please bear with us.

No problems with different speeds as long as write-ups are coming. Enjoying this convoy log. BUT, Lalulks, you can't escape from writing your own versions of the stories, just because others are chipping-in. Your job is two-fold, narrating, as well as, bringing out your SLR outputs soon!!