Round the Country in My Manza. 5000+ Kms in 7 Days, 9 States

[anisghos]

Car related items..

-Tubeless Tyre repair kit
-Torches/Emergency light
-Tow rope(both nylon as well as steel wire rope tow ropes)
-D-shackles(It should be present in the car kit)
-Electronic pump with calibrated meter and a foot pump
-Extension Cord
-Garbage bag
-Car shampoo(optional)
-Car Cigg lighter
-Car mobile charger
-Car laptop charger
-Rescue hammer
-Yellow insulation tape/yellow coloured double sided stickers(For GJ,RJ,PB)
-Steel/Iron Rod(To be kept in your rear and not in your boot)
-System D(IFTEX). This is an add-on for engine. Cleans your injectors and have other good reasons as well.
-Flat Spanner and box spanner tool kit
-2 to 3 different types of screw drivers
-10 lts extra can for carrying fuel
-Spare Coolant
-Spare Clutch Plate(Very helpful if you are going for a mountain expedition. Saves you the menace of a burnt clutch plate)

Continued..

 

[anisghos]

Very important..

Passport Photos
Photo ID
Mediclaim ID Card
Mediclaim Latest Policy Paper
Car Service Book
Car Owners Manual
Updated PUC Certificate
Original Car RC Book
Original Car Insurance
Original Driving License
Spare Car Keys with partner
Spare Gear Lock Keys
Photocopies of ID Card, Car documents, credit cards
Addresses/Phone numbers of people you know en route(In case you need)
Maps and created route logs
Hotel Directory( I created myself by inquiring from many people, website etc)
Yellow Sticker for car head lamp for GJ, RJ & PB
Phone number of service centers en route
NHAI phone numbers(I kept it, in case i needed)

 

[anisghos]

Daily Morning checklist:

Engine- Checked
Drive train - Checked
Brakes - Checked
Tyres - Checked
Underbody- Checked


These are the most crucial pre-requisites in a long drive i feel.
I also did it particularly every day, and often during the day too. It takes 5 minutes to open the hood and check oil, coolant, water levels and wire and hose connections. Visually look for oil leaks and stains. Helps detect impending trouble and keeps your car running without any hassles.

 

[anisghos]

@Tarak :

Thanks for your encouragement. Such comments do keep me going

 

[anisghos]

Lets first have the log book in between Bhillai and Dhule :

 

[rahul4640]

Nice travelogue, Anis! Enjoying the photos and every line of your writings! Please keep them coming......

 

[anisghos]

Thanks for appreciating rahul. I am trying my best to take out some time in between work to update the TL.

Thanks everybody for bearing with me..

 

[anisghos]

Here is the logbook between Dhule and Mumbai :

 

[anisghos]

Hello Everybody, thanks for bearing with me. It was really a hectic week at work. Lets move on from Bhillai...

In-spite of putting so many alarms we were not able to wake up at 5 the next day. No point cursing ourselves as our bodies also needed some rest and it was natural for our anatomy to be sluggish. All the alarms failed to wake us up, except the living ones at home who constantly kept calling us till we woke up. We woke up at 7.15 in disgust that we are late and each hour of delay added up to the truck traffic later on which eventually we faced.

We are supposed to travel around 1200 kms today if we had to stay as per plan which will be really challenging. Within 45 mins we were ready to go. Paid our bills and checked out. Routine car checkup completed and we went out searching for the next pump for fillup. Roads were not that busy and we eased our way into NH 6 towards Nagpur. Diesel fillup took 20 mins of time. Once we crossed the city limits the roads were pretty empty and we picked up some speed in a pursuit to make up lost time.

 

[mukeshus]

Ha ha Anish, the list you had maintained was endless.

Swiss knife you mentioned i read it as Swiss Wife in tandem.

After reading so much, i want to know the reason for your travel, because we are seeing roads, roads & roads.

Show us some places of interest.

Regarding the sleep after long drive, i can still remember my drive to Shirdi in 21 hours and 1100 kms on single day.

Still i could drive, but once i reached room, I slept for a good 8 hours, if you feel sleepy don't deprive it.

As you feel recharged for the next drive.

You mentioned so much in the list, did you carry them in the boot.

But you missed torch in that Important list.

 

[anisghos]

Ha ha Anish, the list you had maintained was endless.

Swiss knife you mentioned i read it as Swiss Wife in tandem.

After reading so much, i want to know the reason for your travel, because we are seeing roads, roads & roads.

Show us some places of interest.

Regarding the sleep after long drive, i can still remember my drive to Shirdi in 21 hours and 1100 kms on single day.

Still i could drive, but once i reached room, I slept for a good 8 hours, if you feel sleepy don't deprive it.

As you feel recharged for the next drive.

You mentioned so much in the list, did you carry them in the boot.

But you missed torch in that Important list.

@mukesh : This trip was mostly about roads, roads and roads only. This trip was only for driving pleasure and something i wanted to do(that's the biggest reason) which i enjoy and no other specific reason, no competitions with anybody as such with the kms or the hours driven, it was all about sticking to the plan. We had very limited time in hand and our goal was to complete the drive within that stipulated time and if we get time in between we would have a look into the places of interest on those locations as discussed with Kumar Sir as well and we did have a look at those places but that will come after Mumbai which i guess you have to bear with me till i reach that place. There is lot more in the queue which is still be put down in paper.

The list i mentioned according to me was necessary to be on the safer side. It is just that i was sharing my experience with everybody and none of them are mandatory for anybody to carry with them on any drives. I still think there are few things which could have been included or excluded. BTW, torches/emergency light was mentioned in the car related items section.

 

[Tarak]

anish i believe a lot more is yet to come.I too believe the pleasure of driving can be THE most important reason to make such a trip..

Post more pics when u proceed.

 

[anisghos]

Once we were done with the diesel fillup we continued with our journey. We knew that it would take around 17-18 hrs minimum to reach Mumbai and the traffic would be pretty huge in the roads to come and moreover those would be 2 laned roads. We started late so we were already running late and we had to cut down on any unnecessary stoppages where ever we could. So for a starter we did not waste time taking a break for breakfast as we had enough backup of misc food items which would fill our empty stomach till lunch.

After crossing the city limits there is a big stretch which is 2 laned and and 4 laning was in progress till we reached the toll booth, but the roads were free from traffic and one can easily do good speeds as well. Lets have a look into those pictures..

 

[anisghos]

For achieving the milestone we had to be fast and we should be rolling with least number of stoppages. Once we crossed the toll we were into the 4 laned Durg-Bhandara expressway and it was a real joy driving. The roads were as smooth as it can be and we were expressing over 100-120 kmph almost throughout. The scenic beauty was awesome and i would recommend friends to drive by in the day time just to enjoy that stretch. At some stretches i felt as if i was reliving the days of driving through the Toronto - Montreal highway which i experienced almost 4 years back. It was awesome experience.

We crossed by RajNandgaon, Deori, Sondad within a blink of an eye and kilometers were passing by in a whisker.

The only spoilers were erratic vans, bikers, trucks and jeeps coming down the wrong lane in high speeds and basically they did not bother. Their attitude was such as if we were doing some mistake driving through that lane. We faced the same thing in a greater number in UP, JH and BH which we will come later. Lets have couple of pictures of the spoilers first :





What can you say...

 

[anisghos]

Lets have a look into the better part of the journey. Once we were into this expressway we were ecstatic about the fact that we would somehow be able to make up lost time for the late start.

We were pushing pushing and pushing our speed limits as much as we could as the roads were in excellent condition added with very less traffic as well and we were constantly hovering around 120 kmph. The maximum was around 150 kmph.

Point to be noted, i pushed up the speed limit as in that circumstance it was possible to do so taking into consideration the quality of the tarmac and the amount of traffic. In some another day might be i would not have accelerated so much as i believe in better driving practices moreover i have seen highway patrol cars regularly in those stretches, so it better to be within the marked speed limits. Lets the pictures guide us through...





Crossing Raj Nandgaon flyover



Crossing Raj Nandgaon flyover












Continued..