Thursday August 27, 2009

We got up early so that we can be at the baby house by 0730. Akerka was better today than yesterday. She even let me play with her. Every morning Tasha gives her cheerios and juice. Lately she has really been drinking the juice. I think it is the sugar. At 0830 we drive to Lisa and Mikes house. This is the couple that had us over for dinner on Sunday. They had arranged to have a driver and translator take us to Turkistan. Actually the translator is Lisa's 18 year old housekeeper and the driver is the housekeeper's brother. They are blue eyed Russian and very nice. Sergi, our driver, has a 4 door Fiat with a 5 speed manual transmission. No air conditioning. The ledge over the back seat is missing so the translator is sitting in the trunk. I get a front seat and Tasha and Nancy get the back seat.

Turkistan is about 280 k from Qyzylorda. We are travelling on the major east west highway in Kazakhstan. The road is 2 lane bituminous surfaced and in fair shape. Karen said she drove this road and averaged 40 mph. Sergei drove 130 kph (80 mph). He was a world champion tailgater. No one passed us. I was very impressed by his driving skills. It was a great drive. The area around Qyzylorda is desert but further west we encounter vast grass land areas. There are no fences in Kazakstan. We must slow down for herds of sheep, cattle, goats and of course Camels. Donkeys that are used to pulls carts also have free range. The only road kill we saw was a camel. The truck traffic was intense. All tractor trailer rigs have a pup. Sergei passed them all. About half way Sergei pulls off the road and heads south on a two track mud trail. He is taking us to a old decaying walled city. Most of the walls are gone but we got a good idea of what it looked like. Several worker were making an attempt to reconstruct a living area. We took several pictures. The walled city, built in 200-300 BC, was on the old Silk Road.

Our goal is to visit the Turkish Mosque in Turkistan. Turkistan, the city, looks better maintained than Qyzylorda. The streets are in better condition. I think because Turkistan gets more rain than Qyzylorda we noticed more green areas. The Mosque we are visiting was built by the Turks in the 12th century. I was a little worried going to a Mosque after all the news stories out of Iraq. However, none of the women were wearing the burkas (sp?) and we even had a nice English speaking guide take us through the Mosque. It was very interesting. The grounds surrounding the Mosque were well maintained. A large rose garden lined the walkway to the Mosque. The ride back took 3.5 hours. Sergei should get on the NASCAR circuit.

Ossineke, MI this date in 1938. It was a cool Saturday. GG went to the garden and picked 1 bushel of corn for Laura. Apparently Laura canned some worms for Floyd Moore. GG drove to Alpena in the afternoon to see McNeal (surveyor) for Popperwell.