Am fine with pictures taken from cellphone or any other digicam, but the mighty Inruder should be there in each & every pic .

Its absolutely fine. Please dont make me wait at Jodhpur also

Hey, just wanted to check with you on the road conditions. I might have to head out to Rajkot. Is the road work & diversions still in at Vapi? & any other update.

Thanks.

We were at Pali which is 80km from Jodhpur in an hour and 20 minutes. Since the distance to be covered was so less that we had not even decided whether we wanted to go through Udaipur or Abu Road. Just after the Pali bye pass (a toll road with no traffic at all). We went ahead and soon came to a T interesection with a board saying Udaipur and Mount Abu on the left and Palanpur on the right. We had heard amazing things about road from Udaipur to Ahmedabad and we had traveled on the road from Palanpur and had loved it. True punter style we decided to toss, so heads and Palanpur it was. We turned right and sped away. Stopped for breakfast at 9 am. The road was full of signs saying accident prone zone, so we decided to rest for a while. The chicken and beer of last night was also having its impact on the bowels and partially this break was forced upon us. A cup of tea and butter toast was offered along with loads of water.

After the breakfast, we left toward palanpur and after some 50 kilometers in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan we came across a huge temple on our right. The board said Pawapuri, I vaguely remembered that there was a Jain temple by that name. The temple was too beautiful to pass by and we stopped. The guard at the temple assured us that he would look after the bike and our gear and helmets. We visited the beautiful temple dedicated to Parsvanathjee. When we came back to our bike a crowd of 50 greeted us with the usual questions and after patiently answering each one of them. We asked them about the roads ahead and almost unanimously everyone recommended that we go back 10 km and take right to a connecting road which after 30km joins the Udaipur Ahmedabad highway. We still had fond memories of the detour that we had taken in Sanchore through lovely rural roads. This was too tempting.


We turned back and after 6 km only we came across a one lane country road with some big autos parked to ferry people to swaroopganj. Swaroopganj was 30 km on this lovely road and this was the place where this rural road met the 6 laner highway in between Udaipur and Ahmedabad.

We had to cross the hills of what we guessed to be the aravali range to reach the other side. This meant some lovely twisties which the intruder was more than happy to lap up after such straight rides in the last 1600 kilometers. We saw many people dressed in traditional whites of rajasthani people complete with turban and a danda on the side of the road. Many women dressed colorfully on the side of the road walked with ghada balanced on their heads presumably filled with water. It was all surreal and we were riding in a trance. Between 2 small hills we came across a dried river and stopped for some pictures.


It was so quiet n serene with distant sounds of birds, we realised that we had moved out of the desert country and we were in the greens. We just sat there on the small bridge in the middle of now where drinking water and thinking about everything and nothing in particular. Suddenly the silence was broken by the asthamic exhaust of complaining truck. It stopped next to the bike and out came some 15 people. They all wanted pictures with the bike . the one person who did not have a cell phone gave his address to me, asking him to send a copy of this picture. I lost his address with my phone, but I am posting the picture here hoping he might see it some day, but that I doubt.

waiting for the fnal log Mr. biker banker.

Great going Atul. Keep it coming.

awesome stuff buddy. cheers & ride safe

Anyway enough gyan, back to the road. The grooves on the highway were troubling me and at times, the bike was feeling slightly unstable. The trip odo showed that we were at the 2000km mark of our ride on the expressway and just to celebrate, I revved the accelerator, the bike touched 190km mark and rode at that speed with howling wind for a few seconds before reverting to the earlier pace. The first exit was Dakore and it was fast approaching, just then saw a Expressway patrol jeep with Lights flashing coming from the opposite direction right before the exit. Now a quick thought was that the first exit out would not have any booths at the exit point since the toll was already paid, we turned quickly towards Dakore and were out of the expressway leaving behind Jeeps with flashing light, not that it would have caught us in this birth. But at least now we know they have wireless on the expressway or may be it was mobile phone. Who knows and who cares.

We were good to go in half an hour but the ordeal had sapped our enthusiasm and just after a 30km short ride we stopped for breakfast. It was getting hotter by the moment. We ordered the standard fare, dal fry, aloo methi and Rotis. Realised at 10:45 that we were just about 130 kilometers from Ahmedabad despite more than 3 hours of riding and most part on pristine roads.

Now THAT was a hell of an entertaining travelogue, if I have ever read one. After waiting aeons for the last one, I would say it wasnt disappointing :P .
Would have suggested a foot pump for the journey for sure but somehow thought that you might have already planned it. Anyways bro, its moments like these that add the excitement to a journey so incredible. Fantastic stuff man, look forward to the next one soon.
The last line was like the end of a thrilling movie, tempting the readers with a sequel.
BTW, our midway meet is still pending

One of the Best travelogues, hats off to you.. !! It very unfortunate and also fortunate enough about the small incident of the fall because No ride is complete without a small incident to remember. Fortunate because it just happened close to home and was very small. Thank God for all of his blessings that you had that your trip was safe and sound... Hope to see you go on a longer trip and hope to read a similar or a more interesting travelogue from you guys in future !!!

Here it is Rakshit, sorry for the delay
Sorry to have kept you stranded in Ahmedabad, but as the saying goes - Durghatna se der bhali hai

Thanks Rongom, have finally completed the Log. Been too long, lets catch up for lunch some day.
Hey Sammy boy, I am flattered. I thought I wont need the foot pump becuase I had the emergency puncture repair kit, never counted on having multiple punctures. Tubeless tyre leads to witless driver.
Midway meet has to be done as soon as the rain gods give us a breather. Early september?? What say? Lets plan it in advance.

Thanks d-man for the kind words.It was an awesome experience and has left me wanting for more.....

Thanks for posting the last part.

As always good to hear you had safe journey except the last part once you entered Mumbai, never mind it will always be safe. Just relax & enjoy the rains.

Would like to ride/meet with you someday though I ride a very small CC engine. Hope you dont mind

Surprisingly no scratches on the bike despite the fall, so no harm done.

Would be very happy to meet considering we live in the same city, it is not the calibre of piston but that of the rider that is most important. I am sure it would be fun riding together.

was a nice read sir.happy to see that the ride & the rider both are safe.hope to see more trips like this in the future
have fun.ride safe

No Scratches, good to hear that. Lets meet then mate. Just let me know the date & time you are fine & I`ll arrange my calendar. I have weekends off.

Thanks Rakshit. Lets see when rain gods allow me to go on a long one.

Thanks, any time after this weekend. Even I am free on the weekends, PM me your number.

Cool. You have a PM.