Manali to Rhotang.....TWICE!

Ok….....been awhile..........since we have been basically cruising around on Mars, off the grid and zero connectivity with the outside world…….so let’s get back on track!!!!!!

Over the first step…….Manali to Keylong

Ride along here!     Manali to Keylong

Outa dodge at 5:15am this morning in hopes of beating the rush up Rhotang Pass and definitely ahead of the dreaded TATA trucks.  Hit the road and in standard SchlepRock fashion took a wrong damn turn and wasted 15 precious minutes beating the rush out of town.  Headed north on the steepest climb in or on a vehicle I have ever seen.  The Indians are efficient to say the least, steep switch backs with tons of altitude gain in a quick amount of time.  Followed the valley north and we could see our first obstacle, Rhotang Pass.  Only bad part, they seem to have an aversion to making roads wider than one lane and dealing with the TATA trucks is serious work.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of big TATA’s, but you every think of trying to motorboat one of these things, life as you know it will never be the same.

You wanna piece of me sweetheart?

 

The traffic is insane.  It took over four hours to go 40km and then we experienced a MAJOR setback.  16km from the summit there was a check point the Indian Po Po had set up requiring “permissions” to go to Leh……WTF, are you kidding me?  I try to sweet talk em, bribe them with a little white skin tax….they say no, go back 10 km and pay 50 rupees……..then come back.  I did see the checkpoint back there, but…….nothing applies to motorcycles here, no tolls, no nothing.  So we head back down, through the same absolute madness we had just fought our way through coming up.  No choice, has to be done.

See them snow caps in the background......yep that's where we need to get to.......

Why me....why me....why me?

Crocket and Tubbs and his two bro's ruining my morning.  They did it with a smile on their faces too.  So you mean you're gonna turn us around, burn 5 bucks in gas and 1.5 hours of our time to pay 90 cents "Murrican to ride my bike 475 KM's to Leh?  Yes Mr David, but first, can you take our picture please?

 

Approaching the summit Dub Ya received an urgent request via satellite feed  from the NTSB.  After crunching the data from his previous collision, they wanted data on say maybe………..his Enfield broadsiding the driver's door of a small sub-compact car the size of a Yugo with six generations of one family inside.  No problem, with the precision  of a Ginsu  Knife, Winston T-bones the side of this white car…….F^%$  ME!!!!!……….I’m in front of the dude this time with my mother scratching helmet  cam on…….I can’t buy a break…….ROTFLMAO…….OBTW, I couldn’t script or make this shit up in a million years.  So.... I hop off and walk back and holy guacamole (I would give my left nut for some Mexican Food right now) the freaking door of this reproduced Yugo is caved in like you read about.  If we were in any other country, you would see a family  packed in this car with all the air bags having gone off.   The Mob forms……There are 30 Indians in a circle snapping pictures with their cell phones, talking a million miles per hour, shit you see in a movie, and the negotiations start.  In India, if you are in a wreck you negotiate on the spot, come to an agreement, pay up and things are settled.  Winston’s like, shit, I do million dollar real estate deals in my wiener dudes with a Jack and water in my hand.  Ten minutes later we are on our way……..Winston’s wallet is 4K lighter…….about 80 bucks.  After further inspection Dub Ya’s Himalayan Demolition Wagon only has a crooked from fender and some damage around the head light and scuffs on the Mad Max style front knee and leg protection bars.

Dub Ya's headlight and crash bar 1-Yugo Clown Car Motha Scratch'n ZERO!

Made it up over the pass and stopped for a quick photo shoot of the summit.  There are prayer flags and little shrines at all the summits, I am told……..we shall see.  All the way up we are looking at 12-14 feet of snow pack next to the road.  It actually just opened up a few weeks ago so the roads are in horrible condition.

W posing next to the ice pack.....about 14 feet high and just cleared two weeks ago!

13K not bad for our first one.

Sup people, how's your cubicle treating ya today?

Victory!

Back side of the pass was BRUTAL.  The worst road I have ever been on in my life in a car or on bike.  Most of it due to the archaic yet tough bikes we decided to use on this endeavor.  We had some Triumph Tigers go by us like we were parked, definitely imported or some guys doing a big continent ride or something.  Uneventful, Winston did a really nice job riding in the dirt considering he has almost no experience off road.  Kept a good pace and we made it to Keylong and found some digs…..nice views, Chicken Tandoori was pretty damn good, and we look forward to pressing on towards Leh in the following days.