Saturday 1 September 2007
We slept in a little because we were so tired but Dick was up early and went off walking. Around 8am he came back to the Earthroamer and banged on the window of the car to wake up Alexey who was sleeping again across the back seats of the Earthroamer’s cabin. I jumped up too and we raced outside to see what Dick had found. There parked at the truck stop café was a low loader which was a little lower in height and the driver was going to Almaty. Alexey spoke to the driver for Dick and he agreed to take the Earthroamer to Almaty for us. Dick got a piece of rope to check the measurement between the ramps and checked it with the width of the Earthroamer’s wheels – it would just fit. In the daylight Dick walked around and found a natural mound on the other side of the road where the truck could back the low loader up to it and lower the ramps so the grade was only slight and the Earthroamer’s winch could manage to pull the vehicle onto the low loader.
Alexey found a truck driver who was willing to pull the Earthroamer across the road to the mound. We have been amazed how friendly and helpful the truckies are.

They positioned the Earthroamer at the top of the mound on the edge of the ramps and fixed the winch onto the head of the low loader. Slowly the winch managed to pull the Earthroamer onto the back of the low loader with the wheels just sitting on the inside edges of the ramps. This was because the ramps are designed for wide bulldozer tracks, not vehicle tyres.

We found an old tyre and Alexey rolled it from across the road and they fitted it between the front of the Earthroamer’s bumper bar and the low loader. The ramps were swung up with the right hand ramp resting on our spare tyre on the back of the Earthroamer. It was 9.15am when Dick climbed into the front cabin of the truck with the driver and his companion for the slow, hot trip back to Almaty.

Alexey raced into the little store at the truckies stop and bought us a small bottle of water each because it was already very hot and I started hitch hiking. Now I have never hitch hiked in my life before but here in Kazakhstan it seemed natural to do so – also it was the only way Alexey and I were going to get to Almaty!! I had noticed many people in Kazakhstan hitch hiking, the cars stop and they negotiate a price – it’s a common way of traveling over here, a bit like using private cars as a taxi.
I then had a bit of a fright when I looked up the hill. I expected Dick and the truck to be well out of sight but at first it looked as if they had stopped near the top of the hill. However when I looked more carefully I realized they were actually moving at a snails pace – it looked like they would take a week to get to Almaty at that rate!
At 9.30am a car stopped and Alexey spoke to the driver. A price of 2000T or $20Aus was agreed and we climbed in. Alexey sat in the front beside the driver, a young Kazakh man and I sat in the back next to the driver’s wife and young son and off we went. The car had seat belts fitted but no one wore them and I tried to put mine on but found the fitting on the seat was stuck under the seat so I couldn’t plug my seat belt into it.
We travelled quickly passing Dick and the Earthroamer soon after we left the truck stop. Our driver drove sometimes at 130kph with no air conditioning and the windows opened a little. The little boy and his mother fell asleep beside me as we travelled the 227 kilometers back to Almaty. We rang Dick every now and then to check on his progress and were relieved to hear he was going ok especially when we heard that they had fitted under the first bridge. I will leave Dick to tell his story of being a truckie in Kazakhstan.
Alexey and I arrived in Almaty at 11.45am and were dropped off at the major intersection. We then walked for an hour in the hot sun along the main road to the Dan Ko truck storage place where we had left the Earthroamer while we returned to Australia last month. Alexey went to their office and arranged permission for us to bring the Earthroamer back into the truck yard. We also found an area with a loading bay where we thought the low loader could back into and we could pull the Earthroamer off onto. I wasn’t sure how we were going to do this because of course the Earthroamer’s engine would not start!
At 1.50pm Dick rang to say they had reached Almaty so Alexey and I walked down to the main road to wave so they would know where to turn in. They drove into Dan Ko and backed the loader up to the loading bay. Unfortunately the loading bay was a little higher than the low loader but Dick managed to convince the driver to maneuver the low loader so it was square onto the loading dock. They lowered the ramps so just the ends touched the concrete. Alexey asked another truckie to bring his truck round to the loading bay and pull the Earthroamer. They attached the tow strap to the back of the Earthroamer and onto the tow bar of the truck but it was not powerful enough and only managed to pull the Earthroamer onto the edge of the ramps where they dipped down. They tried again by gunning the little truck but that just seemed to bounce the Earthroamer around a bit and I noticed the left hand rear wheel was only a quarter on the ramp – the rest was in space about a meter above the ground. I felt so nervous and stressed watching that I didn’t think to take a close up photo of the wheel.
Dick and I were concerned that the Earthroamer would fall off the ramp if it was pulled anymore so Dick got the winch out and with Alexey’s help managed to move the Earthroamer back onto the low loader. I have to say I was so relieved – we were still in one piece!! Alexey went off and found another bigger truck, a huge 4WD Russian Kamov. I assume that he just asked the drivers of the trucks that were making deliveries to the Dan Ko dairy organization, this huge yard where we now were.

This time it worked much to my huge relief. The bigger truck, in low range was able to pull the Earthroamer onto the ramps with Dick moving the front wheels to guide the back wheels so they fitted a little better. I had to watch his right front wheel and tell him when it was on the edge of the low loader and then tell him when to straighten it – again no photos of pulling the vehicle off the ramps because I was too busy watching the wheels and feeling very stressed…sorry.
However here is a photo of the driver and Dick after the successful delivery of the Earthroamer onto the loading dock in Almaty.

We gave the driver an extra $100US for his waiting time making it a total of $500US for his services and we waved him a thankful goodbye. The Dan Ko Kamov delivery truck pulled the Earthroamer a little more away from the area on the loading dock which was in use and we parked the Earthroamer safely in a corner. We thanked the truck driver and he drove off with a smile and a wave. It is wonderful to see how friendly the drivers of small trucks are and how they are happy to help us without expecting any payment – we were towed by five trucks during this saga.
By now it was 4.30pm and the three of us were hot, filthy and exhausted but happy and relieved to have the Earthroamer back in Almaty. Alexey rang a taxi and after throwing a few things into a bag we locked the Earthroamer and drove into the city to the Ambassador Hotel and Alexey travelled on in the taxi to his home.
Click here for the next entry showing where we were broken down.
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