Sunday, October 7, 2001: Out of the city and into the villages -- Hyderabad - A rock quarry near the main road (75kms)

Today is ride day.

Finally it is here...no more typing...at least for a few days. Well, I guess I will type a bit on my Zeek personal organizer but that doesn't quite count. First mission was a hardy breakfast of one vada (a rice and dahl doughnut, with curry) and two chapatis (a flat whole wheat bread) with some yummilishious curry at Ambis Cafe nearby. The blessing of the meal was that I met a classical Indian singer named Gurudas (literally teacher-student), as he sat down across from me for his idli and vada. I am making a tape of "India sounds" for a friend of mine in the US and so I asked this fellow if he wanted to sing a bit for my friend. He said that he would love to. I told him that my friend had an illness and couldn't walk or speak and that listening to him sing would be really special. He replied that music was the "food of the soul" and I agreed. He sang, and so beautifully.

Back at the hotel, I said goodbye to Ahmed, Aakash, Shiva, Nagaraj, and the others working at City Lodge and then pedaled away. A quick stop at my second home of Webodrome to give the group a PeaceBike postcard, and then I headed off to find the Bombay Highway.

Penny and I had taken this road before at the end of July, beginning of August. It was really enjoyable passing by slightly familiar sites as I moved out of the city. Many waved, asked me where I was from, and shouted hellos. Two guys came up on a motorcycle and softly said, "Keep on going and best of luck." That was good to hear.

I made fairly good time and at noon had done almost 50 kms, passing ICRISAT. A rice and mix-veg curry lunch at an open-air trucker stop was a good break. I had hoped to type in my journals and work on zeek but found it tough to focus on something like that with ten men wanting to talk with me and curious about this ride. I decided that something of mutual benefit might be a Hindi lesson and conversation so I asked them questions out of my phrasebook and attempted to answer theirs about me and my trip.

At Sangareddi I bought 6 bananas and by the time the transaction was finished, I had to work my way out of a crowd of between 100-150 onlookers.

Once I got through Sangareddi and out onto the smaller roads things felt more peaceful. I stopped at a small brick plant to get out of the rain and then continued on. I passed a few villages in the late afternoon and was trying to get a sense of how far away I was from Bidar. I had my old list of towns from the previous ride with Penny and was finding, with that list, and a vague recall of the right path, that I was making quick progress. At each town...a small following of kids would run behind me for a while and shouts would erupt to tell their friends to come and see.

After being with so many people and knowing that there were no lodges in the vicinity I started thinking about wild camping. I hadn't wild camped since...was it Japan?...and alone since Australia! I could really use some alone time as both my riding and break times all day seemed to always be surrounded with people. At about 5:50 pm I spotted a bunch of boulders off the side of the road and knew that the other side of the boulders would not be very visible from the road. It would be dark in about 45 minutes so I pulled off the road, put my bike behind a large stone and searched for a smooth, flat place for the tent. I was also aware of the likelihood of rain, as it had rained on and off throughout the day, and I made sure I put the tent on a bit of a mound and not a possible puddle zone. On this trip, through some wet nights, I have refined my tent set-up procedures. But, I am sure, there is more to learn.

After setting up the tent and putting all of my gear inside I decided to break into one of my bonus Powerbars. Penny had brought me some for my survival rations but had also brought a few extra. So a dinner of bananas and a Powerbar was perfect after such a large lunch. I read a bit, and then dreamland...

Tad