Before starting off with the day wise details, let me introduce you to the crew :
Satish - He is only guy who showed immense interest in travelling to Leh this year. He was the reason behind pulling the other two guys. The most ishtylish of the lot and loves photography. He likes it so much that he bought a Sigma 10-22 wide angle lens just for this trip.
Badari - He lives in the next lane and know him through Satish. The first day I met him, he dint know much about Leh but a week before the trip, he knew pretty much everythging about the names of the places & routes. Super photographer and keeps everything organgized.
Deeraj (DJ) - Just blessed with a baby boy and he celebrated that in style by driving to Leh. His son sure will be proud of him. Super cool guy, gadget freak, Techsavvy and a workaholic. He was actually working, from a dhaba somewhere near Udaipur. Loves photography and has a wide range of lenses.
Pandu : Known him for 6 years now. The most chillax guy and a super tech. Loves movies and especially the movie 'Rocky'. He likes it so much that, he plays it every night. My navigator for 3 weeks.
Shilpa : Poor soul that had to agree for all my plans. I once made fun of her that she doesnt know much about cars/driving and she immediately applied for a t-bhp membership. I said, she would never get it but to my disbelief, she got it in a couple of days. She missed it last year but had a blast during this trip.
She managed to get 16 days of leaves. Hence, we booked a flight to Srinagar and she would join us on the 24th. Flight was booked around May/June and the flight cost was 5.5K.
So, bags packed and with our cars ready, we left Bangalore around 6AM and the day's target was to meet the 'Boss'.
Day 1 : 18th Aug, 2012
Route : Bangalore - Tumkur - Davangere - Belgaum - Pune - Thane
The red beauty getting a pooja done
All set!
Long way to go but NH4 is a bliss to drive.
Lunch break in the middle of a highway. Our breakfast was something similar too.
Probably the only day he was gleaming!
Red hot beauty.
The weather was just perfect for the first day. No sun, cloudy and super breeze.
Wonder how he would replace a flat tyre?
IFO - Identified Flying object
Belgaum's Vidhana Soudha
Hottie!
I have done NH4 thrice before and this is the first time I was driving in the day time. It was just awesome.
Rajini wouldn't like this!
Sunset somewhere near Pune.
We got held up in a traffic jam and we were running late to meet the Boss. However, the only 'Boss' in the world who would patiently wait and give directions. The moment I stepped out, I just hugged him. I just couldn't help. I was just delighted to see him.
We had plans to meet for dinner but we reached Thane around 10. He waited for us for more than two hours and took us to a super restaurant. The best part was, it was on the highway to Surat, so we dont get lost in the city.
As always, helping out someone.
The most humble, simple and kind HVK.
We left around 12:30 AM. We crossed Ghodbunder and must have gone about 30Kms, when it started raining like crazy. The worst part was the muddy water splashing the windscreen from those massive trucks. I was just straining myself too much and told DJ, who was driving the Dzire to pull over. We stopped at a petrol bunk for the night and slept in the car for a few hours.
Will shortly resume the 2nd days run.