Mum's
Birthday.
We realised that we were only 40km from a Turkish border
crossing so headed for that. The sun does not get up till around 0700hrs and
sets about 1700hrs We normally leave around lunchtime.
Today
was a bit more like 13:30. Such a nice spot and although we are camped
right on the road verge only 3 cars passed us.
Sadly because of the smoke visibility is very poor.
We
drove down through the Borjomi-Kharagauli national park. Again what
started out as a nice little road was soon 3 cars wide with a lot of
widening being done. It was lunch time and the guys were all eating
so was easy to pass all the diggers and trucks.
Just
before Benara we filled with fuel putting 40lts in top tank and
filling lower still didn’t finish the cash.. A guy walking past
pointed out a nail in our tire we pulled it out without losing any
air..
Our last church for a while.
Next
we took a short cut on a very rough white road and stopped on a hill
for lunch.
At
Vale we stopped at a little shop to spend the rest of our cash. A 13
year old girl chatted to John in English. She was doing very well.
She liked the tourist map of Australia so gave her our last one.
Bought
another Georgain red wine and another cognac, raisins, cocoa, can of toms and left the
change with the shop lady.
Off
to the border checkpoint Vale.
An
easy exit although the passport lady was a bit grumpy I think she had
just woken up…
Not
a busy crossing , half a dozen trucks but we could go in front.
A
cursory look and out of Georgia into turkey.
Turkey
was also easy and they accepted both the insurance and the visa on
the phone.
Both
check points in under an hour.
Now
for a camp. John directed me 30km’s then up through a small town and
up to the comms towers. The aerials had a fence and locked gate so went back
down to the switchback and camped on the side of the road.
Filled
the pressure cooker with water so we’d have some for tea in the
morning.
