[harjeev]

Originally Posted by DukeNukem

Great pictures Harjeev. It was awesome to see you making optimum use of all your gadgets!

Thanks DukeNukem. The gadgets yes, Though I didn't need them majorly on the highways, but for the last mile the Sygic on my Android was really useful, like finding my cousins house in Malad, Mumbai, searching for my Hotel in Goa, navigating the by-lanes, finding Fuel Pumps in Goa & Malad (Mumbai), etc, etc.

Please post some more pictures highlighting the different kinds of roads you travelled in during this long trip.

The roads were pretty simple, NH8 up to Mumbai then NH4 upto Tavandi. I'm sorry dont have much pictures of the roads as I didn't think that I'd be able to write a travelogue, to be honest. Next travelogue surely will try to do my best.

Also, how long were you driving each day?

The plan was drive from sunrise to sunset. but on the return leg it went all haywire as you can see from my previous thread in this post. and the one about to be posted today

Originally Posted by infotech58

[/left]

You meant August 2011, right?

sorry for the typo. I meant August 2010.
Here's the link to the thread

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...ml#post2070494

I have been following your ownership thread of Land Cruiser and you've got a keeper to pass it on to your cute kid when he turns 18.

Thanks again man. I get this occasional pangs to chuck it when the maintenance costs add up and more so when the availability of spares takes ages but then I go through my thread and decide against it. The thing is, that the biggest problem with this vehicle is "There's nothing to Upgrade too" I know it sounds stupid but even though this is a 15 year old vehicle now, but I can still do stuff in it that I couldn't do with any of my other current and previously owned vehicles. And I'm not talking about off-roading. I've driven this vehicle from 4AM in the morning till 2AM next day, yes 22hours non stop from Delhi to Bhuj which is a little less than 1300 Kms and felt no tiredness, slept for 4-5 hours and was ready the next day. So yes. I love it to the core

Any idea on why and how the tyre got into that condition? and why the same tyre?

I have a theory will share it on my Landcruiser thread once this travelogue's over.

[harjeev]

26th March 2012 Monday
Udaipur to Delhi
Day-011

Now being a shade less than 700 Kms from Delhi and again having done this journey several times we had a late start. Another reason for the late start was that having myself being mentally strained the previous day I didn’t set the alarm clock the previous night. Second reason was that the room we stayed was so bad that I have now decided never to again stay at this hotel if I ‘m getting the same category of room.

Ready to Leave for Delhi at RTDC Hotel Kajri, Udaipur

The following picture is from my earlier stay at the same hotel in March 2011

My review of RTDC Kajri

Stayed at this hotel in March 12. Having previously stayed at this place we selected this as we had a nice enough experience the last time. However this time we really felt the effect of being in a government run place/ with that sarkari attitude.
Reached the hotel at 1020pm and there was no one to take my luggage up to the 2nd floor. We had to take it out ourselves.
The room that we had got wasn’t cleaned in days and had inches of dust all over the room.
All the staff had left for the night and no room service nothing. Even when I wanted to get milk for my kids I had to go inside the kitchen and request the staff there for 2 glasses.
Had I been staying for more than a night , I would have moved to more comfortable hotel the next morning.
The washrooms were dirty as hell. And the buckets, well let me not even comment it. Toilet paper seemed like a luxury.
The good point of the hotel is that the linen was clean.
And being a government run property It was safe.

Would I stay again at this hotel? Well hard to say. I would would definitely try searching for better quality hotel and if nothing else available and if would have to spend just a night in Udaipur. I might go here again only if I get a better category room.

After settling the bill we were out of the hotel and on the road by 9:18AM. Fuel was running low so thought it best to get it refilled in Udaipur itself rather than on the highways.

The Fuel Efficiency I got for the previous days run was 8.74 Km/ Liter which was quite decent compared to the previous figures that I was getting. Perhaps it was because I was driving quite cautiously since the tyre burst incident the previous day.

Finally made it out of Udaipur and were on NH76 on our way to Chittorgarh by 10AM ish. We were managing a good pace on this stretch, we crossed Chittorgarh, Bhilwara. Stopped on the way for water, cold drinks at Dhabha, its next to a Bharat Petroleum Petrol Pump between Chittorgarh and Bhilwara.

We crossed Bhilwara ByPass at 12Pm and had come another 40 Kms since, a total of 198 Kms from Udaipur that disaster struck again. I could feel the vehicle wobbling from the rear, only this time it was the rear left tyre. Expecting the worst I stepped down and it was pretty hot for March at 1230Pm and saw the rear left tyre was flat, Didn’t see any tyre burst, so I heaved a bit of relief. Thinking that I’ll just stop at the next puncture guy and get it fixed. Worst come to worst, if they (the puncture repair shop) didn’t know how to repair a tubeless punctures, I’ll put a tube in the tyre, I always carry a spare tube with myself in my toolkit, these were the thoughts going on in my mind. Changed the tyre and started driving slowly, keeping an eye out for a puncture shop. Stopped at the first decent shop I saw. Upon showing him the tyre, he didn’t even open it and dropped the bomb shell. ‘Saab jee, yeh tyre khatam hai” Sir this tyre is finished. I was devastated. Still not taking his word for it I told him to open the tyre and put the tube inside. ‘koi fiyda nahi hai’ ‘there’s no point', comes his reply. Still on my insistence he opened the tyre and a bad rubber burning smell escaped form the inside of the tyre. Also when he opened the tyre, I could see the wires had come out at many of the places from in the inside sidewall. I was so crestfallen that I didn’t even want to take a picture of my misery. Just took the tyre back, tipped him a bit and started driving slowly, thinking what to do now.

Having come 200 Kms from Udaipur, Jaipur being another 225 Kms and Delhi 500 Kms from my current location. My options were

1. I could head back to Udaipur being only 200 Kms and then try sourcing the tyre there. This was immediately shelved as I thought I have a better chance of finding the tyre in Jaipur than in Udaipur.
2. To slowly make it for Jaipur and search for a tyre there. I had a couple of friends in Jaipur and they could help me with it.
3. Move to Delhi with out a spare tyre as with each passing Kilometer I was nearer to my destination. (my worst nightmare with this was what if I have a flat on the front 2 tyres, not only the vehicle will be out of control, but I would totally be stranded)
4. Summon my driver to come from Delhi with the spare tyre as I already had one laying at home.

Finally after weighing my options I decided that I’ll go to Jaipur and search for a tyre there. If I get one then great otherwise might stay for the night in Jaipur and tell my driver to come over with the spare tyre. This looked to me as the most sensible decision , however I was more worried, Why is this happening. Two tyres bursting in succession within just 900 Kms from each other. Not normal

Left the puncture repair shop at 1:15PM, stopped for lunch at a dhabha in Bagaru. After leaving Bagaru for Jaipur, a friend from Jaipur called me up and gave me the number of a tyre dealer in Jaipur. He said that this guy had a tyre (old used one) of the same size and I could take it and use it as spare for my onward journey towards Delhi. I was elated. Problem solved then. I made into Jaipur and reached this tyre shop at 5PM, Best part was this his dealership was listed on the Sygic Maps database for Android phones. When I met this guy I realised that I’d already met him two years back in the Desert Storm Car Rally and his name was Gaurav. Gem of a person and said ‘koi problem hi nahi hai, I’ll just get it arranged’ . We started searching and searching and searching. Then one of his workers comes and informs him that he sold that batch of tyres to the scrap dealer just yesterday. I was again like Sad smile I then told him to arrange a new tyre for me. Upon making some calls we found out the nearest place this sized tyre was available was in New Delhi.

Gaurav then offered to me that he had a set of same sized MT Mud Terrain Tyres very sparingly used, which he uses personally uses on his jeep. He said that I could take that tyre, as a spare and then upon reaching Delhi I would have to send it back to him. Fantastic idea I thought, but then the headache of sending the tyre back to Jaipur was something which I wanted to avoid. The only reason was I didn’t want to send it through transport, so I wanted to avoid it, if I could. keeping that as a second option we decide that I would take an old Scorpio’s tyre 235/70/16 which comes to 29” in height. About 2 inches shorter than 275/70/16 which is 31” approx. So even if I had another flat, I could atleast keep on driving slowly and reach the nearest hotel/ motel and wait it out. Got that installed and at 630PM with out fingers crossed, we started our final leg towards Delhi, hopefully now, without any hiccup.

My Savior


Finally after traffic jams on the notoriously world famous Jaipur - Delhi stretch lived up to their expectations at Kotputli, Behror, Neemrana, Manesar both the Toll Plaza Manaser-Gurgaon and Gurgaon-Delhi we made it home in 6 Hours and 5 minutes covering a distance of 268 Kms achieving an Average pace of 44KMPH for this stretch with the best being the stretch between Jaipur By-Pass and Hotel Highway King, 62KMpH, and the worst being taking 30 minutes to cross a 1 Kilometer of the Behror stretch. .
I know I could have taken the Alwar, Bhiwadi route (having already done that in the past) but running on a small spare tyre I wanted to avoid that and play it safe because god forbid and incase of any emergency (read another tyre burst), atleast if I were on the main highway I could summon for help from Delhi or Jaipur and they would know where to find me.


The fuel efficiency I got on this stretch was the best during the entire trip. 10.01 KM/ Liter. Perhaps because I was driving very cautiously. No sudden acceleration, planning my braking, taking it very easy. I think that I should drive like this as it really makes a big difference in the overall fuel consumption, improving by almost 20-25%.

ODO for the day
Attachment 973830

The Complete map of the drive I undertook

This finally brings us to the end of this Travelogue
Thanks for reading

[lsp]

Harjeev paaji
You seem to be inspired by this guy.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...tml#post940084


Jokes apart, beautiful narration and pics.

After reading about the poor condition of RTDC Kajri I just had a thought - Issey achcha to gaadi mein so jaate. (Would have been better off sleeping in the car)

[GoSlow]

Great thread Harjeev. I had read this on your blog before I started on my roadtrip to mumbai. It was very helpful. Thanks!

[akshay4587]

Nice Log.
Too bad you had to go through ordeal due to tyres.
Btw,why is the top speed figure blurred out in last shot of GPS.
Please share the figure

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by lsp

Harjeev paaji
You seem to be inspired by this guy.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...tml#post940084


Jokes apart, beautiful narration and pics.

After reading about the poor condition of RTDC Kajri I just had a thought - Issey achcha to gaadi mein so jaate. (Would have been better off sleeping in the car)

Thanks Isp, I sure am inspired from that guy. My gosh so many GPS'es. Thanks for sharing.
I'm glad you liked the travelogue. I its my 1st attempt, and surely takes time but is surely worth it at the end. It's the best way to relive one's vacation.
I sure would have had I been alone. But with kids and wifey mushkil hai. Need to find another good budget hotel in Udaipur soon.

Originally Posted by GoSlow

Great thread Harjeev. I had read this on your blog before I started on my roadtrip to mumbai. It was very helpful. Thanks!

Thanks Ankit. I am glad you liked it and found it useful.

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Nice Log.
Too bad you had to go through ordeal due to tyres.
Btw,why is the top speed figure blurred out in last shot of GPS.
Please share the figure

Thanks Akshay4587.
Yes the Tyre incident was unfortunate but at least I learnt something from it. I will share it tomorrow as I have a theory why this might have happened. Am on the phone now so can't write a long post.
The max speed is blurred as 'its against the Forum policy to mention references directly or indirectly of high speed driving.'. Now I am not sure whether I should share it or not as my previous posts were edited. Hense I've refrained from doing so.
Cheers

[Auto Motive]

Harjeev,I am from Udaipur. I saw your TLC with the LTD sticker. Since it had a MH no., I was wondering it would be some TBHP member from Mumbai. Now that I read this thread I realise it was you. I have also read your other thread on how you acquired and have been maintaining this truck. I have also been reading your jeep threads. Had I known it was you, would have loved to meet you. May be next time you visit Udaipur.

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by Auto Motive

Harjeev,I am from Udaipur. I saw your TLC with the LTD sticker. Since it had a MH no., I was wondering it would be some TBHP member from Mumbai. Now that I read this thread I realise it was you. I have also read your other thread on how you acquired and have been maintaining this truck. I have also been reading your jeep threads. Had I known it was you, would have loved to meet you. May be next time you visit Udaipur.

Sure thing buddy. I would have loved to meetup too. Next time please send me a PM on Tbhp we'll surely meetup.
My TLC is a result of the true diversity of India. It was bought by me in Bangalore from a guy who belongs to Chennai at the time he was posted in Noida from a dealer who picked i up from Mumbai (hense the MH regn no). But as they say beggars can't be choosers, I pickup this one as soon as I laid my eyes on it. What a story, huh...

cheers and thanks for posting.

[Manuuj]

Great TL Harjeev!! Really enjoyed reading it. I had some issues with Yokohamas also.

They seem to be blowing up at regular intervals on this Forum. My issue is listed here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...kms-up-24.html

Really enjoyed reading about the rest of the journey though. You have a Gem of a vehicle and a lovely Family (touchwood).

Look forward to more TL's from you.

Cheers!

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by Manuuj

Great TL Harjeev!! Really enjoyed reading it. I had some issues with Yokohamas also.

They seem to be blowing up at regular intervals on this Forum. My issue is listed here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...kms-up-24.html

Really enjoyed reading about the rest of the journey though. You have a Gem of a vehicle and a lovely Family (touchwood).

Look forward to more TL's from you.

Cheers!

Thanks a lot Manuj.
I've recently posted a new travelogue. Though its not a driving holiday but a day trip to Sariska Tiger Reserve with friends.
Hope you like it

Link to the travelogue
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...gers-more.html