Since I got my Scorpio on 3rd Sep 2008, wanted to take it for a long drive and at same time wanted it to be fun not just for me but for whole family, I knew the second part was always going to tough, so I have to choose a location where my wife and son would enjoy, and can get ready to a long drive too.
Got up late in the morning by 8 AM and started thinking where to go, with constraint of coming back on the same evening, by the time I decided on the location it was 8.30, told wife to pack some food so we can have breakfast, she thought I was joking, but I again told here we are going to be on road for whole day, better get some food, rather than snacks. She said she needs at least 30 minutes to prepare parathas. I called my brother to find out if he wants to join us for this trip, he is always ready to join me for this type of trip, he even didn't enquired about the destination, the only question he asked was how much time he have to reach home, I said 10 minutes!
Finally after 45 minutes we were ready, it was 9.30AM when we left home, I knew it was going to take some minimum 45 minutes to get fast the Nagpur city, as traffic till Kanhan is quite heavy. By 10.30AM were cruising happily on NH7 toward Jabalpur, the road till Mansar is quite busy, but after Mansar the real fun to this drive starts, now you are in between the buffer zone of Pench national park, both side greenery make you feel like in jungle, the air are fresh and the sceneries are breath taking, in few places you seems to be in deep jungle.
Our first stop cam by 11.30AM, everybody was hungry, including me, the drive enthusiasm was getting a hard beating because of hunger, we stopped at a sunset point in the jungle and used Scorpio bonnet as our breakfast/lunch table. One side of the road hard a hill and the other side had a deep valley, most beautifully place to have a breakfast. Till this time we were able to cover 90kms only, 200 more to go. The next stop after this break was Soaner bypass for toll, and from there we continued till Jabalpur, after Soaner, the road widening, 4 lane road work is going on with good pace, the best part on side of the road are done, so you can cruise at speed in access of 100+ any time, I did speed in access of 150 at some place, I used GPS to record the speed and the highest speed recorded was 148 on GPS.
We reached Bhedaghat
Bhedaghat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia by 2PM, we went for the ropeway trolley and crossed the waterfall to the other side, this side allows you a better visibility and also while you are crossing the river Narmada form above you can see the complete waterfall in all it might, we spent an hour seeing the fall, when we reached the fall and faced the heat, we realized we didn't prepared for the heat and sun, we were not having any caps, or umbrella and direct sun light with the surrounding temperature started taking its toll. Anyway we enjoyed the waterfall, took some snaps and promised to come next with proper planning.
Once we were back to the parking, wife wanted to buy lots of soft marvel stuff, I went to the Scorpio, as it was parked in Sun, parked it in shade and opened all the windows and started waiting, my brother, son and wife took their sweet time to shop and came back in 30 minutes. We started our journey back at 4.30, but stopped at Jabalpur outskirt dabha and had a nice food, 3 adult and 1 child, bill just Rs140, my wife comment, we should do all our food outing at dabha's form now!.
By 5 PM we started to Nagpur from Jabalpur, after 20 kms we saw a road going to Bargi Dam
Bargi Dam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia as our stomach was full, and no other thought we agreed to see this dam, and I believe it was a real good decision, looking at the Dam both side the front where you just see a small stream which is the river and the other side where you see a "Sea", is real experience, you only realize the DAM once you see the water reservoir side, this is quite a big dam, we spent an hour here too and then started our Journey back to Nagpur.
The back journey was quite, as my son was sleeping, this made sure everything is quite in Scorpio apart from engine. We reached back home by 10.45PM.
Attached are few images from the journey, first at the breakfast stop, then Bhedaghat and Bargi Dam.
Some stats
Trip date: Sunday 14th Sep 2008
From: Nagpur - Bhedaghat - Bargi - Nagpur
Total distance covered: 620 kms
Total time: 13.5 hours
Vehicle: Scorpio 2.2 VLX
Max Speed: 148kmph true on GPS
Experience: Nothing else will do
-Pramod