Aug. 13: The bus never makes it there and we are happy we have bikes
Wednesday August 13, 2008, 62 miles (100 km) - Total so far: 250 miles (402 km)
Bus trip from Taldyqorghan to near Semipalatansk (Semey)
The bus trip was going well - I was watching Walk Hard on the iPod with several Kazakhstani teenagers watching over my shoulder. We were cramped in the small seats but everyone was orderly and quiet, rest stops were frequent since the driver needed a regular cigarette, and the scenery was nice. I fell asleep and woke at 12:30 to find the bus had stopped and nothing was happening. All was quiet except for a muffled banging coming from underneath the bus. Suddenly, the bus driver was charging down the isle pointing at me and crying, "resinko! resinko!" My mind panicked at the thought of what resinko might be, and wondering why he was asking us and no one else. He motioned for me to follow him outside, me worried that something had happened. Something had indeed happened, the bus shock absorber had gone out and he thought that being cyclists carrying everything, we might have a rubber patch and 'resinko' - some resin, to fix the cracks in the shock.
Sam came to the rescue! We had the resin, rubber cement, tons of patches, anything that might fix a bicycle tire. Whether it would fix a bus shock absorber was another question.
Bus drivers attempting to fix the shock by the glare of the bus headlight.
Here is a picture of the shock - it is a thick, large rubber affair. This particular one had cracks in it and it wouldn't hold air, so that the bus body would bounce on the axle and that wasn't good. The bus driver seemed convinced that a band-aid sized rubber patch would fix a bus shock.
The repair took nearly 3 hours from start to finish. We were back on the road by 2:30am, bouncing along merrily thanks to the crazy American tourists and their rubber cement and patch.
Unsurprisingly, the band-aid didn't hold up long. At 9:30am, a loud pop came out from under the bus. The patched shock had blown apart, beyond all hope of further repair.