The plan was to do a transit day today of 688 miles and a border crossing. Crazy!

So we set off at 550 with no breakfast and make good time. Heading east into the sun but there were some lovely clouds in the way which made the going easier. We had travelled about 250 miles on good roads, avoiding any stops by the police, when we hit the last 50 miles to the Uzbekistan border. My goodness what a bad road. Full of lorries, dust, potholes and occasionally sand. It was hot at this stage as well so very exhausting. The worsecase scenario or so we thought - read on! Just before the border we stopped in this little cafe and had very welcome fried eggs and a cold drink. The first thing we had eaten all day and it was now about 1pm and we were all exhausted. We got through the border in about two hours.

At this point, we were all short on fuel, so we enquired where the next fuel was in Uzbekistan - about 170 miles was the reply! What the he'll are going to do now everybody said scratching their heads. There was a few expletives and cries of why didn't we get any fuel in the last town in Kazakhstan.

Luckily there was a truckers cafe and hotel on the Uzbekistan side of the border and we managed to bag a six bed dorm for the night. It was actually just matresses on the floor. Not to worry at least somewhere to sleep and we knew that we could get food in the cafe. But what about that liquid gold - petrol or benzene as they call it over here? One of guys which seems to have a lot to do with the running of the cafe and hotel could speak English and he said that he would get petrol to us by the morning. A big price to pay for not filling up earlier however. A tankful cost us $70 each, normally in Uzbekistan you would pay $6 for a tankful - about 20 litres. We reluctantly paid him to go and fetch the fuel - no choice really.

So an unscheduled stop but at we only did a more sensible 300 miles today.