Miles driven: 325
Time in Car: 7 hours
Borders crossed: 0
We slept in till a lovely 8:00 a.m. and started our errands. After getting groceries (taco night!) and a new mattress pad (who knew that they could develop giant bulges randomly in the middle of the night), we grabbed another excellent Russian meal for lunch. It’s kind of a shame that people don’t appreciate the Russian cuisine. After the previous night’s KFC and the Papa John’s lunch, we’re excited to see what other great culinary delights we can find in this country. All joking aside, we fully plan on trying Russian food in Ulan Ude, but after weeks eating the same three Central Asian dishes and surviving minor bouts of food poisoning, we desperately needed a quick blast of home cookin. We left Barnaul and civilization and drove into the Altai Mountains and toward Mongolia. The drive was scenic and complete with several spectacular lookouts over the green Altai Mountains in the near distance. We camped on a grassy plateau above the confluence of the Chuya and Katun rivers, feasted on our last taco meal, enjoyed some beers around a improvised fire pit, and prepared for Mongolia.
The homestretch. We still might have over a thousand miles to go, but the end is in site. One more major mountain range, one vast endless steppe, and probably two small stretches of actual roads separating us from the end (and a ton of off-roading). Can Stevie make it? Will we finally snap? Am I going to regret eating half a day old pizza for breakfast tomorrow? Only time will tell, but until then -FWY
Wild camping spot