phtotographer: seth beck

detailed post: 130

words by: dominic frank

I've approached most mountain ranges that I've seen in the same manner...behind the wheel of a car after driving for hours across a great flatness. The smallest foothills loom in the distance and you get excited. You stop, take out the camera, and snap a few photos. Eventually you get into the real stuff, steep slopes and snowcapped peaks, and you kick yourself for taking pictures of those boring hills so many miles back. Happens the same way every time. Cant be helped though. After days of desert, to see green valleys and a zigzaggy horizon was a thrill.
Ps. Don’t know why, but I like standing on cars.

photographer: andy wallace

detailed post: 130, 156

words: dominic frank

In a few hours the convoy would split up for the first time. James and Andy would hole up in Shymkent waiting for Andy’s Kyrgyz visa to become valid. Their radiator hose would suffer. Not to mention the accommodation they would find was somewhat less than top notch. The Dukes, beginning to feel the pressure of time, would try to push on to Bishkek through the night. They would fall asleep at the wheel 50 miles on and end up in a ditch (no harm done). The next day their suspension would suffer…well, maybe there was some harm done. The bad colonies cars would weather this split well. Not so the next time.

photographer: dominic frank

detailed post: 140, 159

words by: dominic frank

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. If one thing took me by surprise during our month on the road it was the children we met along the way. Ever curious, it was only minutes after we'd stop the cars before they appeared out of nowhere. They played Wiffle ball with us at a garage outside of Astrakhan while the Scamp was being fixed. Children led us to food and helped work on the cars in Aral. They would swarm us outside of a mall in Rodvorosk, RU. And then there was this guy… In the photo is a street kid named Batbold. He's feeding the pigeons at the Gandan Monastery in UB after he followed a group of us in to see the Dalai Lama. He hung around Dave's Place in UB and befriended every carload of ralliers that pulled in. We'd swing him around by the arms, buy him fruit, carry him around on shoulders, and just watch him run about entertaining himself. He's got a new home now and I'm sure I'm not the only one set at ease knowing that.

photographer: seth beck

detailed posts: 143

words by: seth beck

This is one of my favorite shots from the trip. Its of Patrick sitting on the business end of the Russian border fence. To the right, you can see the Russian border office which was decorated in four eras of linoleum. At this point, Patrick had been caught at the border for a little over 24 hours. The guards were being pretty lenient, letting him hang with us just over the fence. The Russians generally frown upon any photos of the border. I shot this sitting back inside the Fiestavus. Notice two things, Patrick is wearing a BCMC shirt, which is generally credited with ensuring his safe passage back into Kaz and there Subaru Outback in the background, effectively blowing the crediblity of my assertion that all we saw were Ladas.

photographer: andy wallace

detailed post: 126, 127

photographer: dominic frank

detailed post: 124

words: dominic frank

Almost everyone I’ve talked to pre- or post-rally has asked whether we had a GPS. No, we didn’t. And we didn’t always have maps, and the ones we did have weren’t always very helpful. Small towns like this one might appear on one version of a map and not on another. If it was on both, they might not be in quite the same place or have the same road leading to them. Often we would stop to have rational, intelligent, constructive conversations about where we were headed. The end result being along the lines of “It’s decent road, and the compass says it’s going mostly east.” Here we’re somewhere between Astrakhan, RU and Atyrau, KZ. We’d just crossed the border on a very sketchy floating bridge followed by a short ride on a ferry. And notice it didn’t take the wanderer very long to get restless and depart the Fiesta.

photographer: seth beck

detailed post: 143

words by: seth beck

I shot this the morning that we headed for the Kaz / Rus border. When we woke up, I thought that it may be my last day camping with the team as my vacation time was running out. In reality, this was the last time that Patrick would be with us. This is basically a small side road a couple of miles from the border and we slept right where you see the car parked.

photograper: seth beck

detailed post: 128

words by: seth beck

This is from the day after we had left the Scamp boys off in Aktobe. This is just after the Dukes got buried and the Seat pulled them out. The Fiat's radiator hose was leaking profusely. I can't remember whether or not this was when the condom was put to use. We ended up spending a bit of time here. The thing that sticks out in my mind was the tarmac indenting from the pressure of walking on it. It was that hot and the Kazaks are that bad with road building.

photographer: seth beck

detailed post: 128

words by: seth beck

At some point, you are going to get sick of seeing sunsets in Kazakhstan. We never reached that point. This was the low point of the trip for me, we had just dropped off the Scamp boys, the roads had gone back to crap, and we were running seriously behind schedule. To top it off, this is as desolate as it got on the trip. We had no beer. I slept under the stars, it was as out there as I have ever felt and the cloudless sky was spectacular.

photographer: andy wallace

detailed post: 127

photographer: andy wallace

detailed post: 124

words by: seth beck

I grew up on a farm in Vermont, spending my summers stacking hay and slacking off, mostly the latter. Now I know a few farmers that definitely push the envelope when it comes to loading a wagon, but nothing in comparison to the rolling mountains of hay the Russians and Kazaks create. This photo is in the no man's land between Russia and Kazakhstan near Astrakhan. There was an extremely sketchy ferry across this border to the passport control for Kaz that you can see in the distance. As if the ferry was not frightening enough, this rolling mountain of hay parked right next to the fiestavus. It was literally hanging over the roof of the car.

photographer: jennifer beck

detailed post: 98

words by: Seth Beck

This is Hyde Park at the lauch of the rally. It took forever to get registered and boredom started to set in. Dominic is pulled to the hoods of cars where he practices his latest Cirque du Soleil routine. Honestly its really spectacular, after this he goes into a crazy devil stick session while he plays hacky sack with a stray dog. I have no such talents so I take the opportunity to stretch in anticipation of the vigors of driving a car for 30 days.

photographer: dominic frank

detailed post: 104

words: dominic frank

Here we see James and Neil motoring along in the Mini Scamp. We’re in the Ukraine and slowly learning that it’s a much larger country than anyone had previously thought. Atop the scamp sits Master Yoda. A few days more into the trip Yoda would be called away to tend to important affairs for the Rebel Alliance. Upstaging Superman’s single bound abilities, Yoda would leap from the Scamp, fly over the next car, and come hurtling at the Fiesta. Then Yoda vanished and all the magic that held the Scamp together would begin to fade.

Note from Seth: I was following the Scamp when Yoda threw in the towel. We were in the midst of the typical Ukrainian "Pass or die" road and I was following the Scamp. All of sudden, I see an object fly off the front of the Scamp and then in slow motion Yoda flew over the Fiesta. I swear he was carrying a light saber and laughing at me.

photographer: seth beck

detailed post: 142

words by: seth beck

I took this photo holding the camera out of the window of the Fiesta in Northern Kazakhstan. This was the last day that we spent with the convoy and the day it would end with all the BCMC guys more than a little bit down. We had spent over two weeks in the desert with blue skies and 100F+ heat. All of sudden it got cold and these ominious clouds rolled in. The contrast and richness of the colors really caught my eye. It difficult to fully appreciate unless you have sat in Kazakhstan for awhile, it seems the dullest colors become more vibrant.

photographer: dominic frank

detailed post: 141

words by: dominic frank

While Andy was hard at work on the Fiat’s head gasket in the desert Patrick uncovered this creature a short ways from where we’d been hanging out. Unfortunately we didn’t have anything handy to illustrate the size of the critter, but I’d wager it could’ve balanced itself on the rim of your average coffee mug quite easily.

There’s a good article on Solifugae at Wikipedia. Though agile and menacing in appearance in short they are nocturnal, non-venomous, and harmless to humans…unless you pick it up and piss it off. Then it may bite. I would probably do the same.