Riding our way through Turkey, and unfortunately encountering our first ever experience with bedbugs, we were apprehensive to stay in another "cheap" room to say the least. Opting to not shower a few nights before, by the time we arrived in the city of Balikser, we were both quite, well, pretty utterly disgusting. Almost two weeks without a real shower and riding everyday can get a bit overwhelming. Balikser being a fairly big city, we thought we could find a decent place to sleep for the night with a shower. A few hotels later, no luck. Of course we were comfortable staying at the nice hotels, but those were beyond our budget. A quick stop at the grocery store and we were on our way. Surprisingly, the grocery stores in Turkey are enormous, and the selection is quite interesting. They are a one and all store, from shoes to fruit to lawn movers to fresh coffee and restaurants. The bathrooms are spotless and the areas are well kept. It was a nice way to "shower" along our way when we were desperate.
Coming into Balikser, we had patches of tall trees on either sides of the road. Leaving Balikser was an entirely different ballgame. We started pedaling about an hour before sunset, risky for sure but we thought we could make due. Our first turn off from town, and more or less the only option, brought us onto a highway. An 8 lane highway, the biggest we had been on in quite awhile. Where in the world are we goign to sleep? The sun was setting, quite a beautiful pink and orange sky, we pedaled hard, stomachs growling, and all we could see was open farmland for miles. These are times when my stomach turns to knots and I wonder what in the world we are going to do. We don't speak the language, we are too far out past the city to turn back for a room, what do we do? Keep riding. To our luck, there was dirt driveway off to the right with a small patch of trees. Hog farm to our left, train tracks up ahead and a busy highway just below. What a treat. The hog farmers had three small girls who of course saw us as we stood on their driveway wondering how we were going to get ourselves and our bikes into the trees without being seen. First mistake, standing in plan view when we should have just gone directly into the trees without stopping. Oh well we thought, we don't have any other choice. Pushing our bikes over tree stumps, we managed to get back as far as possible to a relatively flat ground to set up camp. Right as we stopped, speakers turned on and the call to prayer started blaring. I'm pretty sure the owner of the farm was the singer, but that I cannot be sure. I was just happy that he wasn't speaking Turkish, telling us to leave his property.
When the darkness creeps up on us, we have a routine down because at these points we are beyond hungry. Riding all day and not eating anything substantial for 8 hours is rough. We set up the tent together, Ryan gets our beds and everything set up inside while I start dinner. It works out well, getting to eat sooner and having our beds ready right when we are done eating because by this time we are absolutely beat. This might have been the most interesting "home" in our lives. Highway racing with trucks below, train tracks 20 feet behind us, the smell of the hogfarm wafting to us with the breeze and the 5:30am Call to Prayer made this one of the more memorable stealth campings of our trip. Living the life I guess:-)
Coming into Balikser, we had patches of tall trees on either sides of the road. Leaving Balikser was an entirely different ballgame. We started pedaling about an hour before sunset, risky for sure but we thought we could make due. Our first turn off from town, and more or less the only option, brought us onto a highway. An 8 lane highway, the biggest we had been on in quite awhile. Where in the world are we goign to sleep? The sun was setting, quite a beautiful pink and orange sky, we pedaled hard, stomachs growling, and all we could see was open farmland for miles. These are times when my stomach turns to knots and I wonder what in the world we are going to do. We don't speak the language, we are too far out past the city to turn back for a room, what do we do? Keep riding. To our luck, there was dirt driveway off to the right with a small patch of trees. Hog farm to our left, train tracks up ahead and a busy highway just below. What a treat. The hog farmers had three small girls who of course saw us as we stood on their driveway wondering how we were going to get ourselves and our bikes into the trees without being seen. First mistake, standing in plan view when we should have just gone directly into the trees without stopping. Oh well we thought, we don't have any other choice. Pushing our bikes over tree stumps, we managed to get back as far as possible to a relatively flat ground to set up camp. Right as we stopped, speakers turned on and the call to prayer started blaring. I'm pretty sure the owner of the farm was the singer, but that I cannot be sure. I was just happy that he wasn't speaking Turkish, telling us to leave his property.
When the darkness creeps up on us, we have a routine down because at these points we are beyond hungry. Riding all day and not eating anything substantial for 8 hours is rough. We set up the tent together, Ryan gets our beds and everything set up inside while I start dinner. It works out well, getting to eat sooner and having our beds ready right when we are done eating because by this time we are absolutely beat. This might have been the most interesting "home" in our lives. Highway racing with trucks below, train tracks 20 feet behind us, the smell of the hogfarm wafting to us with the breeze and the 5:30am Call to Prayer made this one of the more memorable stealth campings of our trip. Living the life I guess:-)
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