Reilly Traveling Circus

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again -Willie Nelson

Well, the boys are back in business. I write this from Tbilisi, Georgia. One of the downsides of being back in the rally is that the days are long and the opportunity to post is markedly curtailed.

A brief summary of the past few days. The cars were ferried across the Caspian Sea from south of Aktau, Kazakhstan to the port south of Baku, while the rally group flew. We picked up our cars at the port on Saturday afternoon. Our car, of course, had to ride on a flat bed truck to the shop in Baku, a distance of about 60 km. Jeff and I rode in the cab of the truck. We almost died about 14 times during the ride. Our driver spent more time looking at his phone than at the road. We came close to rear ending cars in front of us countless times. When he wasn’t trying to kill us or catching up on his phone, he and his fellow driver took turns passing each other and taking videos of both our car and the Ransco Porsche. We got to the shop around 5:30 pm.

All told, we were in the shop for ~3 hours on Saturday and from 8:30 am to about 6 pm on Sunday. The Tuthill Porsche team of Simon and Jeremy were outstanding, their choice of 80’s music notwithstanding. They installed a new engine, which required some rewiring and replumbing on their part. They also replaced the front shocks (dampers to the Brits) which turned into a much bigger job than initially planned. It was a really nice moment when that engine fired up after loading it with almost 10 liters of really expensive oil. Back to the hotel and a nice dinner on the patio at the hotel. Baku is an amazing city that probably merits a separate post.

Keith and Harry were also successful: new ball joint, reinstalled the front shock tower brace, a trip to the alignment machine and back on the road.

On Monday, we set out from Baku to Qakh, arriving just before a massive rainstorm. Earlier in the day, we had a competition on a really fun dirt road. Unfortunately, accessing the really fun dirt road required an exit route that included 10 km of miserable rough road that consumed the better park of an hour to traverse. The car ran well and the inner air filters remained blessedly clean. The next day, we set out for Tbilisi (according to the bartender at the Sheraton, the “T” is silent). Crossing the border was an ordeal that occupied several hours. It was immediately clear that Georgia is poorer than Azerbaijan. Once again, beautiful scenery, good roads and fun driving. The mid-day check in was in a town renowned for weddings; like Vegas, you can take the important step into wedded bliss 24 hours/day. A little spin around a race track and into rush hour traffic. We got rear ended at low speed by a Georgian who speared his front bumper on our rear tow hooks. Fortunately, no damage to our car. A frustrating 45 minutes to the hotel but alls well that ends well.