From our view on the hillside we watched the big semi tractor-trailers inching along the side of the cliff above the river and wondered how they passed each other. The bridge over the silt-laden Vanj had definitely seen better days, but we figured since these monsters could go over it we could too—like there was […]

After airing down our tires a little we made an early start, not to draw more attention to the Afghan border patrol. Since leaving California our Michelin XZLs had not had even a single leak, but potholes in deteriorating asphalt were bone jarring. Unlike a hole on a dirt road that you can roll through, […]

Following a relaxing two days at beautiful Lake Iskandar, and having survived our exciting drive through the Tunnel of Death, we truly felt we had arrived in the magical country of Tajikistan, the most remote and poorest country in Central Asia, but also one of the most beautiful. We blitzed Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, […]

The 2017 SEMA Show has come to its usual dramatic end. For those of you who are automotive fans, it was another extravaganza of everything that rolls and a few things that don’t. The numbers are not in yet, but if the attendance of the 2016 SEMA was 160,000, you can bet this year topped […]

Just to give you a break between the Tunnel of Death in Tajikistan and our continued travels along the Silk Road, here is a little current information about the amazing SEMA Show in Las Vegas. This is probably the largest automotive aftermarket parts display in the world and many of our sponsors are here. With […]

Tajikistan! Certainly, this was one of the most magical and beautiful countries along our Silk Road path, literally following in the steps of Marco Polo. We had gotten our visas and our special permit to enter the Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO) region and the city of Khorog, the entry point for the Wakhan Corridor. This mountainous region […]

If you had been herding a string of stinky smelly ornery camels over the desolate nearly impossible high passes of the Pamir Mountains through Tajikistan, or the Qurama Mountains out of Kyrgyzstan, the fertile Ferghana Valley would have been a welcome sight. Silk Road caravans would find ample grazing for their animals across the flood […]

While we had been fascinated by the temples, minarets, mausoleums and madrassahs in Samarkand, back in the 8th century the area that is today’s central market was the center of activity. Merchants from China, India and Iran congregated here to buy and exchange goods. There were craft workshops, trading stalls, warehouses and caravanserais, chai-khanas, (pavilions […]

Samarqand, Mirror of the World, the Garden of the Soul, the Jewel of Islam, the Pearl of the East, the Center of the Universe. Lying in the river valley of the Zerafshan, and flanked by spurs of the Pamir-Alai mountains, this fabled oasis at the fringes of the Kyzyl Kum desert has never failed to […]

Finally, we are back on track. We apologize for the delay in our blogs, but a three-and-a-half-month trip to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Singapore, places where we may not want to drive our expedition truck, in combination with a problem with the plug-in that was transferring our blogs to Facebook and Twitter, well —let’s just […]