Day two of our journey is complete! We were up for an early start and continued across the Rajasthani desert from Nagaur on to Jaipur, passing through tiny hamlets and giving Hillary her first hill-climbing workout. Mind you, the top speed we have managed is about 37mph downhill — today’s gentle uphill grades half that. She performed well, but we now have some idea of what we’re in for when the going gets really uphill toward the tea country of Eastern India. We stopped for chai a couple of times so we could open up her boot and let her engine cool down.

I’m finding it interesting that in a country such as India where the completely unexpected happens every day that two white guys driving an auto-rickshaw is such a novelty… but it is, as we draw a crowd wherever we stop. To be honest, we haven’t been in a situation yet where we felt the least bit threatened or uncomfortable… there are many places in the US that I would feel less comfortable.

Google maps has been a godsend. Only rarely have we been without cell coverage, so we’ve been able to navigate the most illogical of routes pretty

easily. By far the most complicated thing that we’ve done has been driving into Jaipur — the 10th largest city in India. Jason was cool as a cucumber, bobbing and weaving through traffic that simply cannot be described as I navigated him through at least a dozen six-lane roundabouts.

Tonight we are at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Jaipur. In contrast to last night’s “palace”, it is an international-class hotel. One of the highlights of the day was seeing the look on the doorman’s face as we drove up. We get lots of strange looks, but I think we were the most absurd thing he had seen for a while. Other highlights include a bar and non-vegetarian food (last night was completely dry and food throughout has been almost strictly vegetarian).

So, we are alive and well and hope to be on the road to Agra by 5:30am… we are hoping that the streets are a little calmer at that hour as Jaipur traffic quickly takes a toll on one’s underwear supply.

Cheers, Jason and Brian