Nukus, Uzbekistan

I am now officially on the Silk Road, and the road was not very silky nor was it much of a road.  The "road" from Beyneu, Kazakhstan to Nukus, Uzbekistan has no gas stations, no hotels, no food, little pavement, plenty of cavernous potholes, wash boarding, and ruts.  The road is in such bad shape that the cars had carved out an alternative parallel road through the desert, and in some places when alternative road got too bad, a second alternative road was carved out.  As such, the traveling was slow, tedious, and I am sure damaging to poor Greta. A trip that should of taken 5 hours, took in excess of 10 hours, factor in the border crossing, and if I had not stopped, the trip would have extended well into the night.  Due to the deteriorated state of the road, night riding was just not an option if I wanted to stay upright.  As such, I ended up camping in the middle of the desert.  This marked the first time during the trip that I used the tent and emergency provisions in an impromptu situation. With regards to gasoline, I ended up having to pack gasoline in empty water bottles.  I have learned that planning in this part of the world requires flexibility and adjustments to personal riding codes.

With regards to the border crossing, the Kazakh exit, like the entrance, was discombobulated.  The Uzbeks seem to have a much better grasp on things and all went smoothly on their side.  On both sides, I did have priority handling due to tourist status (as opposed to truck driver, or local national).  In total, the border crossing took 4 hours (3.5 of them on the Kazakh side). The Uzbeks, like the Kazakhs, take customs quite seriously.  They went through everything, to include my medication, and wanted to know everything about each drug. Since I am a kidney transplant patient, I have quite a bit of it.  I had to show them prescriptions and a letter from my doctor detailing my transplant before they would allow me to pass.  On this 45 country trip (so far), no one has taken that much interest in my belongings.  As a matter of fact, the Kazakhs were the first to even look through my things, the Uzbeks were the first to look though my meds.  The one thing that amazed me was that neither country seemed to care about my unorthodox way of carrying gasoline.  I am guessing that they understood the situation and looked the other way.

From my reading, the challenging part is now behind me, and the splendor that is Uzbekistan lays ahead.  Next stop, Khiva, Uzbekistan.

Kazakh Road Section

Uzbek Road Section

800,000 Uzbek S'om, approximately 100 US Dollars

*******

Leg Distance: 321 mi (469 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 24,415 mi (39,263 km) 

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan