This morning we packed, said our goodbyes and were in the truck trying to navigate our way along the rough and busy Penjikent road towards the Samarkand ring route by 8:30. The first of our "on the road" chores was to try and find some diesel fuel. Fuel of any description is scarce in Uzbekistan as they have no oil supplies of their own and diesel and petrol/gasoline/benzene is all imported. Most local vehicles are running on compressed gas of some form which is much cheaper and more readily available as Uz has ample domestic supplies of natural gas. Fuel stations are an interesting sight, there are many derelict stations along the highway and also many new stations under construction. Of the ones that are established and appear working, many are actually closed as they either have no fuel to sell or are only selling it to locals. Thus we felt very fortunate this morning when we managed to buy 50 liters of diesel at 2800 soms per litre (US$1.07 per litre or just a little over $4 / gal).

Our schedule did not call for us to arrive at our hotel in Bukhara until tomorrow so we had the time for a relaxed drive and an over night camp somewhere. The day was warm to hot getting to a maximum of 95°F and the countryside not very interesting. Entirely flat, mostly rural with miles and miles of cotton fields. Throughout the day we found a few big stands of trees to hide under and take a break.


Just past the largish town of Navoiy which is the home of an international airport that can handle 747s and seems to be a major base for a cargo operation Korean Air we found a designated roadside parking area. That was our home for the night. As the sun went down the temperature dropped below 90°F and we settled in for a relaxed comfortable night.