We dreamt it, we did it - Our 20 days family road trip to South in Black Tigress

LongDrive lover · 2nd October 2010, 10:46

Day 20:

A long last day's drive

On this last day, family was happy to know that tonight they'll be reaching back their sweet home. We enjoyed morning tea in the small lawns of RTDC, Rishabhdeo, had good breakfast of Allo Parathans with curd, and left at around 9am. Road was known as we took this route during Dec 2009 Mumbai trip. I was hopeful to reach home by 11 pm!

Today was going to be a 1000 km run and we were fade-up with taking highway pics, so only fuel/pits/food/tea breaks were allowed!.

Lunch was decided to be at Kota, if Kota bypass was still incomplete. We reached Kota approx 1.30pm, went, bypass was incomplete indeed, so went inside city, to the same restaurant we visited (and liked) last time - Jain Restaurant. had, good lunch in cool relaxed environment, left around 2.30pm, filled fuel at same hp pump when leaving the city. Also smsd ampere and HVK sir, adjusted expected travel time needed to reach home. I thought it'll be 12 pm now.

Drove hard on Kota-Shivpuri-Jhansi stretch - superb 4-lane with hardly any traffic. Approx 325 kms were done in 3.5 hrs.

On reaching Jhansi, queried from Locals about complertion of Jhansi by-pass, got mixed/confusing opinions - some said not complete, but traffic goes with some diversions; some suggested to go through the city as diversions passes thru kuchha-village stretch. At that evening hrs (but still daylight was there), we didn't want to brave the peak city traffic, so decided to take risk and check the status of bypass!).

A couple of fly-overs over railway track were incomplete, and had to take diversions through local roads, but being day-time, it was no problem, reached the other end of Jhansi, just at the fag end of the daylight, stopped their for a well deserving pits and tea-break.

From there on, the famous (or infamous!) Jhansi-Kanpur stretch was left to be braved through, in night again!

And, all our hopes of seeing some improvement/progress in road widening work, over our journey on this stretch 6 months back, were floored soon! It lived upto its reputation, no improvement, a nightmare in night. First 150-160 kms of this 220 kms stretch (till you join NH2 GQ at Bhognipur) are still pathetic, the work is ongoing for east-West corridor, but, at a dead slow pace.

Finally we reached home at 1.30am.

Were tired, but, completely satisfied, having done this dream run which will always remain a benchmark for us and others who dream about a family road trip to down south in their own car alone, driving self (no driver).

We could follow the plan drawn on paper for these 20 days ditto, except failing to achieve the days target only one day!!

Many many thanks to all those once again who helped in this endeavor (some of the names have figured frequently in these pages, like HVK sir, ampere, MX6, ranjit1p, beejay), and to whole of the T-BHP.

Shall post trip stat and info about accommodation details..shortly..

MX6 · 2nd October 2010, 10:58

LDL. on such a long journey, which involved cumulative driving over 20 days, missing the target on just one day (that too towards the fag end), on account of spending extra time at an attraction, hardly counts against missing target at all.

As rightly stated, it becomes a benchmark for First time travellers down south, especially in circuits which involved no conversational hindi at all!
Finally, the purpose of such a trip was enjoying the diversity the country offered and you people had it in plenty and went back with very fond memories.

I'm happy to have helped you, albeit in a very very small way.

Waiting for your stats.

2nd October 2010, 10:46	#376
LongDrive lover BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lucknow Posts: 782 Thanked: 114 Times	Day 20: A long last day's drive On this last day, family was happy to know that tonight they'll be reaching back their sweet home. We enjoyed morning tea in the small lawns of RTDC, Rishabhdeo, had good breakfast of Allo Parathans with curd, and left at around 9am. Road was known as we took this route during Dec 2009 Mumbai trip. I was hopeful to reach home by 11 pm! Today was going to be a 1000 km run and we were fade-up with taking highway pics, so only fuel/pits/food/tea breaks were allowed!. Lunch was decided to be at Kota, if Kota bypass was still incomplete. We reached Kota approx 1.30pm, went, bypass was incomplete indeed, so went inside city, to the same restaurant we visited (and liked) last time - Jain Restaurant. had, good lunch in cool relaxed environment, left around 2.30pm, filled fuel at same hp pump when leaving the city. Also smsd ampere and HVK sir, adjusted expected travel time needed to reach home. I thought it'll be 12 pm now. Drove hard on Kota-Shivpuri-Jhansi stretch - superb 4-lane with hardly any traffic. Approx 325 kms were done in 3.5 hrs. On reaching Jhansi, queried from Locals about complertion of Jhansi by-pass, got mixed/confusing opinions - some said not complete, but traffic goes with some diversions; some suggested to go through the city as diversions passes thru kuchha-village stretch. At that evening hrs (but still daylight was there), we didn't want to brave the peak city traffic, so decided to take risk and check the status of bypass!). A couple of fly-overs over railway track were incomplete, and had to take diversions through local roads, but being day-time, it was no problem, reached the other end of Jhansi, just at the fag end of the daylight, stopped their for a well deserving pits and tea-break. From there on, the famous (or infamous!) Jhansi-Kanpur stretch was left to be braved through, in night again! And, all our hopes of seeing some improvement/progress in road widening work, over our journey on this stretch 6 months back, were floored soon! It lived upto its reputation, no improvement, a nightmare in night. First 150-160 kms of this 220 kms stretch (till you join NH2 GQ at Bhognipur) are still pathetic, the work is ongoing for east-West corridor, but, at a dead slow pace. Finally we reached home at 1.30am. Were tired, but, completely satisfied, having done this dream run which will always remain a benchmark for us and others who dream about a family road trip to down south in their own car alone, driving self (no driver). We could follow the plan drawn on paper for these 20 days ditto, except failing to achieve the days target only one day!! Many many thanks to all those once again who helped in this endeavor (some of the names have figured frequently in these pages, like HVK sir, ampere, MX6, ranjit1p, beejay), and to whole of the T-BHP. Shall post trip stat and info about accommodation details..shortly..
	() Thanks

2nd October 2010, 10:58	#377
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	LDL. on such a long journey, which involved cumulative driving over 20 days, missing the target on just one day (that too towards the fag end), on account of spending extra time at an attraction, hardly counts against missing target at all. As rightly stated, it becomes a benchmark for First time travellers down south, especially in circuits which involved no conversational hindi at all! Finally, the purpose of such a trip was enjoying the diversity the country offered and you people had it in plenty and went back with very fond memories. I'm happy to have helped you, albeit in a very very small way. Waiting for your stats.
	(1) Thanks