See My Videos Here
 

Gretchen cutting vegetables to cook in a soup. Red carrots, cauliflower, spring onions, garlic and ginger with Maggi (Ramen) noodles.

One of the best place in India we have camped in the Sub Continent - an unknown lake in Rajasthan, India. Our free camping places are bound to only get better because we are heading out to the long empty stretches of the western desert specifically looking for some nice riding and great places to camp.

Winter nights in the desert can be cold.

You can see a little dam in the distance. We slipped behind a rock wall to camp on the shore of this little reservoir.

We were visited by coyotes in the night and cows in the morning.

A rare patch of shade in the desert brush.

This is sandy, flat, thorny desert. Later we will see sand dunes.

Camels are a common sight in Rajasthan.

Camping in an abandoned home site.  All this camping has caused me to drag out a lot of bicycle camping gear from the bottom of my pannier.  The empty buildings are "way too gross" to sleep in but setting up the tent in the old yard was nice.  Unfortunately Gretchen's rear wheel and sleeping mattress sprung leaks, probably from thorn sticks.

Got the tire fixed. It was the rear wheel, of course.

Shelling peas for the night's soup.

This is the most uninhabited stretch of land I've seen yet in India.

We came across a little donkey.

I would have loved to have camped in this stretch of desert forest scrub, but it was still midday when we took a break here.

Hero bicycle ad.

We had a tailwind and the road was smoothly paved. Made for some speedy riding!

Indian roads can be rough going. Sometimes the pavement is patches atop more bumpy patches.

We stopped to collect water for camping at a small pump and holding tank. I have a ten liter bag to carry water to the campsite. I fill it towards the end of the day so we'll have sufficient water for cleaning up and cooking.

Most families own a few dairy cows.

Stopping in the country still attracts small crowds. These sweet shy kids were a little nervous about posing for a picture.

The ladies make hay while the men supervise.

We rode through this interesting rock formation. Looks like a big lava flow.

It's hard to complain about carrying a heavy load on a bicycle when the local ladies are walking miles in the hot sun carrying bundles of sticks on their heads.

Gretchen buys vegetables for tonight's soup.  The veggies available vary as we travel and the seasons change. What we eat here is generally grown near by. 

My favorite brand of matches.

We found this neat little campsite in an old quarry.

Blowing up Gretchen's camping mattress to see if her patch job will hold - it did not.  Always being the gentleman, I slept on her flat pad while she kept warm on mine.
 

Camping is so much easier than staying in hotels. You can leave the bags on the bikes and there is no need to carry bikes up stairs.

We see camels more frequently as we head west into the Rajasthan desert. It is also getting dryer and a little cooler but a January high of 70F and low of 45F is okay with me. 

Gretchen passing a bunch of goats and herders on her loaded touring bicycle.