Day 5

We were treated to a bit of a sleep in this morning. We left Tikka with the mechanic last night and he worked on her all morning. He gave her a full body check and cleaned her up and changed the air filter. She worked like a dream today! We got back on the road from Bellary after 1 and have been full steam ahead. Drove thru some serious wind and rain, were preparing to lay in a ditch if needed! Batteries went out on speakers so we kept spirits high with a serious sing along marathon. Then we took a ride along the Oregon Trail with about 10 Ox Wagons and some seriously bumpy dirt roads. River forging and dysentry optional. Pulled into town tonight after dark only to see a woman sitting cross legged in the iddle of the pitch black road...suicide mission?!?!
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A List Continued...

19. Warthogs
20. A tree frog (on our windshield!)
21. A peacock
22. Sheep
23. Sacrificial goat
24. Ducks
25. Shetland ponies
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Day 4

another unpredictable day. Had a great early morning start, high hopes of covering lots of ground. Made it a couple of hours and then she chugged to a stop. No hopes of restarting. A rickshaw driver/ guardian angel named Vinay pulled over and towed us 9km into town on a rope. Spent the next 4 hours at 3 different mechanics. Had new clutch rebuilt engine and cleaned carborator still with issues. Vinay drove us the next 40km to make sure we were okay, such a sweetheart! Still had some issues, annie contacted a colleague in Hyderbad who found us a licensed mechanic for our brand of rickshaw in the next big town which is where we are now. More scary night driving to reach the town. Hopefully she'll be a happy ellie in the morning!
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Tikka

Our baby girl is named Tikka, short for Hathi ka bache...baby elephant in Hindi. She needs lots of love and attention on the road to keep her going. We have to speaking to her in soothing voices, give her love pats, scratch behind her ears and even blow into her rear (carborator) so naturally we have come up with a few pet names for her...

Teeks
Teekaboo
Tikka masala
Chiquitikka
Chicka tikka
Baby girl
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Day 3

what a day! Finally made some good progress but got drenched in a storm and tried out night driving for the first time. Discovered the horn doesn't work with the lights on, not ideal. Got run off the road by a bus and saw a goat getting sacrificed on the side of the road...blood rushing out of its neck..we all shrieked and had to pull over to regroup! We also had a stowaway for a while when a tree frog hopped on our windshield and rode along for a bit...more screaming obviously. Never caught up with the boys hoping to in the AM.
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Day 2

game time decision decided to ditch Goa plans early in the day since we weren't making enough progress. Decided to start heading inland towards Mysore. We were greatly rewarded, loved the scenery of the lush mountains and tea plantations, much better than boring coast hwy. We got to practice our gears on steep winding mountain roads, we're old pro's now! Touched base with our new friends Keep Karma and Curry On meeting up with them in the morning maybe. Got stuck in terrible rain storm in Pandalur but found the nicest people...just got room and dinner for less than £5 total for all three of us :)
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Day 1

epic fail today! Flat tire at the start line, drove around in circles all day, ran out of gas, had a block in fuel line...this is going the be a long 14 days! Managed to find a decent hotel even though this town isn't even on the map...another adventure awaits tomorrow!
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