Kars to Çildir Gölü

Sumptuous breakfast followed by a cruise through town and the castle, built in the 1100s. Kars is all about cheese and honey. Tractors too, especially tractors. Tractors line the streets and are shown in shops. Personally I really liked the candy apple red Solis. It's sunny the air is cool it's perfect so I leave late at noon. Kids yell hello, adults honk and three motos from the hotel beep as they fly by. The shepherder yells and it's thumbs up all around. It feels good to be back on the road.

Thunder and lightning starts up as I ride out of town and I have to ride hard to outpace the clouds. It worked. More thunder cells develop all around me. I chose the slower harder route midway by a river running in a small canyon. It feels primordial with this cool dark weather and the storms all around, a hawk busts out from next to me, birds eat a carcass, farmers are piling up wheat for the winter. Cattle is brought in for the night. It's an early dark feel.

I end up in a small town where the sun heats the hot water and paradoxically the stove is fired with dung bricks that lay drying in piles everywhere. It's 100% agricultural, ducks, geese, sheep and cattle roam freely.

In the end I miss all the storms, find a great spot by the lake and get settled in my cozy abode.Read more