Location: Tajikistan
| Lat/Lng: |
38.24694, 71.3745 |
| Kilometers: |
98.88 |
| Time in the Saddle: |
07:10:44 |
Today we continued to travel along the desolate Afghan border. As we creep closer to Dushanbe, the villages on the Afghan seem to be growing in size, although we have not been able to see any signs of electricity or power in the settlements.
As we continued to trend downward in elevation, the temperature is rising, reminding us the heat in the plains of India and Pakistan.
Luckily, it is now almost September and the summer heat has lost its fervor. Nevertheless, the near 100 degree Fahrenheit temperatures are taking sometime to become accustomed to again. In conjunction with the heat, the dry environment paired with a rolling terrain, are making for challenging cycling.
After dreaming about finding a cool place to eat for a few hours, we came upon a Persian Oasis in the form of a restaurant. Waterfalls flowed through the center of outdoor seating of traditional Tajik tables, a large 3 meter by 3 meter structure lined with cushions surrounding a center carpet where the food is placed. We have slept and ate on many of these structures and would love to have one in our home one day.
Unfortunately as the day drew on, Meredith's stomach began acting up again. We rode into the evening, looking for a good place to sleep. Finally we found a questionable truck stop where we asked the owner if we could set up our tent in the fields across the road from the truck stop. As we set up our tent, the moon began to rise stretching high over the massive mountain tops above. In a cool, silver glow, we laid down for the night.
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