NARNI

Took this right before we were leaving a house in Narni, Italy.....we knocked on the door and asked in 3rd Grade Spanish, "Casa di Mary?" Come to find out Mary passed away two years ago, but we ended up getting to know the rest of her family who took us in and didn't stop with the hospitality for two straight days. After stealing as much sunshine as we could on the Mediterranean we headed north through Italy, a little strip of Austria and into far southern Germany to say hello to our friend Rachel......before we arrived we coasted back down into this place after one of our rear axel rods broke.......Some more low grade photography by Jon, arrived in southern Germany to hang out with our friend Rachel.............

ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Drove through the night from Thessoliniki in northern Greece up through ΟΛΥΜΠΟΣ, OLYMPUS for those that don't know Greek....ended up finding a place to park....woke up in the morning to these rock formations clearing through the fog.......like a good song that can't be turned up loud enough, there is not a camera lens wide enough to capture this landscape... ...sometimes you just run into sweet stuff......

Drove around looking at homes to buy today. Thinking we could get a steal in the current world market we offered the monk 1000 €uro. The offer was rejected so we went on our way and are still sleeping in our car.
Whenever your ready, we'll just try sneak past ya here, a little road leading up to I don't know where, I thought the road would just loop back, we were a little turned around.
Coming into the place a couple ladies started asking me questions about the Monastery....so I tried the best I could to describe the place, soon they realized I wasn't the monk they thought I was and they went on their way.

The Streets of Laodicea and a Library in Ephesus

From Patara we headed north through the Western interior of Turkey. The route took us through Laodicea, west to Ephesus, North to Smyrna, out to Sardis, Philadelphia, and up to Bergama, which is Pergamum. Thats where we are now. If you don't know much about these places, then look em up yourself....you could probably start in Acts.....We try not to show too many ruins shots, their kind of boring, but thought this library in Ephesus was pretty impressive...........the history in here is thick and the ruins show how the different empires came through here and just raked it back and forth.....A tour of our house........................... I heard there was an election....I heard the market is not doin so hot.....I heard the economy is, what? There's still a lot of nice things in this world you know.....

A Taste of Turkey

After finishing the day in the orchard, Robbie, the dad in the robe gave us directions: "Go left, (pointing right) I....am....house. Its all we needed. We headed down where we met the Grandmother and their other son Ahmet. The daughter Minnie was our little translator, but it doesn't take very many words to communicate hospitality......Still some sun left out here on the Mediterranean on the southern coast of Turkey.........
You can put a booth by it and charge admission. You can build on it or around it, but no Emperor or Empire can ever claim it's origin. There is One, and He is Three............

Through to the Medıterranean

I wouldnt say the ferry from Aktau, Kazakhstan to Baku, Azerbaıjan was a cruıse shıp, but after a couple long stops ın each port we arrıved ın Baku at thıs nıce lıttle spot where Chrıstına enjoyed another great day................Even though some people have been turned away and not allowed to drıve through Azerbaıjan wıth a rıght hand drıve vehıcle, we were granted at fırst 20 days, then 15, and then 3.......we stayed ın Baku then headed out........we knew there was an ıssue between the Turkey, Armenıa border, but we dıdnt know there has been a closed border between Azerbaıjan and Armenıa for twenty years. Thıs led us north through Georgıa where we headed west through Tbılısı the capıtal and to the Black Sea........From Georgıa and the Black Sea we headed south through northeast Turkey towards the Ararat Mountaıns........thıs took us back towards Armenıa and the Iran and Iraq border past Lake Van and fınally to Antakya, whıch ıs Antıoch.....the hıstory ın here ıs thıck and the regıon ıs lıttered wıth the remnants of the past empıres and theır ınfluence...Gettıng through Azerbaıjan, makıng a lıttle stop at thıs fruıt stand, even though ıt looks nıce, they stıll see a foreıgner and "money, money"........Some kıds outsıde of Ararat.............................

Outsıde of Antıoch headıng for the Medıterranean we were ınvıted to thıs famılıes olıve farm. We ended up workıng the rest of the day, goıng to a weddıng that nıght, stayıng at theır home, workıng ın the mornıng the next day and eventually we were on our way out of Antıoch towards Tarsus, then along the Medıterranean.......
We just hıt 10,000 mıles sınce Mongolıa today and have had thıs pıcture ın mınd for a long tıme....I cant say I was super stressed out today.................

DESERTS, CAMELS, and the CASPIAN SEA

For all the camel lovers. Like the horse in Central Asia, the camel makes the perfect pet. You can ride it, milk it, shoot it, skin it, and eat it....it really is the complete pet. Stopped in here along the way to the Caspian Sea for some Coke and a candy bar, came out with a water, two new hats and some new friends...................
Please car don't break down.................We left Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Sunday morning and drove for five and half days back up through Kazakhstan trying to get to the Caspian Sea to the town of Aktau where we can cross over headed for the Mediterranean and Antakya, Turkey....
We made it to the Caspian with almost no complications, we praise God for his guidance and perfection.......
Bam................................

Russianized, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz for a Month

Are you Russianized? Even though there are some very nice stretches of highway, their not afraid to drop a BUMPY ROAD next 200 km sign on ya. This is part of the Transiberia Highway outside of Irkutsk. The rule while driving is you can go anywhere on either side at anytime. You can do it, and expect them to do it. It's not that bad after you loosen up your grip a little and quit white knuckling the steering wheel. After driving all day in the dust, you can still find sweet spots along the way..........
Made it through the Russia-Kazakhstan border and headed south through Kazakhstan to a country I didn't even realize existed..... Kyrgyz Republic. Before we got there, we found out just how big Kazakhstan is....in fact we found out later it's the seventh biggest country in the world...the point is you don't just zip through these countries. Besides the size of the country we were an absolute traffic police target. Pulled over probably ten times within the first two hours driving in Kazakhstan.
Keepin it simple, build with what your given............
Our friends Tim and Barbie above and Ramil and Naku below........We thought we would swing through Kyrgyzstan real quick and keep headin west to the Caspian Sea, we ended up staying a month and just about decided to stay there for a lot longer......