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Welcome to episode 6 of our biggest adventure ever. In the first 12 days of the rally, we've driven the bus over 2,000 miles through six countries in Europe. Seven if you include the self-declared country of Transnistria. In the last episode, we drove into Turkey and crossed the Bosphorus Strait. Oh, what a good way to wake up. First time ever swimming in the Black Sea, which means Big Bertha is officially in Asia. I'm so happy we're here. We're primarily the OG birthday model. In this episode, we just stumble across one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
I just don't know how there aren't massive tour buses of people here. We explore the famous fairy chimneys of Capidoshia. Rick finds himself starring in a local commercial. The bus continues slowly deteriorating. Then the whole thing could actually fall off. And then Nate gently crashes into a truck while attempting to cross the border into Bertha's 10th country of Georgia. Welcome to Georgia. The team leaves me for five minutes. Just in case this is your first time tuning into the series, every year around 100 teams set off to drive over 5,000 m from Europe to Asia in tiny cars that were never designed to make it that
far. But we needed something a little bigger for our team of nine. Meet Big Bertha. We bought this retired school bus off a government auction website in Colorado. We're just bus owners now. Road tripped it all the way across the US. shipped it across the Atlantic to Germany, then finally drove it to the start line in Prague. Then the real adventure began. This is actually what the Mongol Rally is about. So, there's no official route for the Mongol Rally, and it's not a race, just a massive challenge to make it to the finish line party in 6 weeks and have as much fun as possible along the way.
But it's completely unsupported, which means once you leave the start line, you're on your own to navigate unpredictable border crossings. I cannot believe. So, where do how do we get to Kazakhstan? Fix anything that breaks and whatever else that will definitely go wrong along the way. I think you're getting stopped by the cop. Oh gosh. The crazy people who decided to join us on this adventure are Nate's brother Dusty and his wife Sarah, the whole Notch family, who we've done some of our craziest adventures with, including
riding this ridiculous three-seater bike all the way across the US a couple years ago, and our best friend Charlie from Australia, who we've already traveled to 14 countries with. This is literally like a Mexican. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the Mongol Rally. Good morning. Day 12 of the Mongol Rally. Oh no. Slowly getting better at putting this tent together. Dang it. All right. Today's plan is to make the 2 and 1 half hour drive to Capidosha where we'll get to spend the day exploring, hopefully eat a good meal, and then find an epic place to camp to watch the balloons at sunrise tomorrow morning. Is that latch in the back undone?
It might be the uh the handicap door. Let me just get out and wiggle that. Might be a long drive. Try and get the right turn. Everyone reframe it in your mind. And now harmonize. This is absolutely incredible. So T's Lake, the lake that we camped on last night on the salt flat, is the second largest lake in all of Turkey. And we just driven basically all the way around the lake to the southern side. And there's actually water in this section of the lake. And there's this special algae that loves super salty water. And as this protection mechanism, it forms this pink color. And so the whole lake is just like bright pink. And we will
intentionally not make the colors any better in the video than what we're seeing in real life. Like it is truly bright pink. And somewhere out in this lake are flamingos, but unfortunately we're not seeing any now. Well, it's a commitment to get out here. It's going to be worth it. I love this so much. So much better than it looked from the road even. Like from afar, we're like, "Oh, well, it's pretty pink." And now it doesn't look real. I dipped my hands in the water and they're drying now and I've just got this layer of salt everywhere. Like it's dried on my ring. and everything just looks salty.
Guys, this is so cool. How good is it? I just think it's amazing that we do so much searching online for cool stuff and we're just all on the bus cruising along. We're like, "Look at the big pink lake. Let's go to it." And that's kind of how we ended up here and it's one of the coolest things we've done yet. It is absolutely amazing. Hopefully the camera can pick up on the color. I just don't know how there aren't massive tour buses of people here. Like we're only an hour and a half away from Capidosha, which is like the place you come in Turkey. And there's nobody here in any direction. We can't see a single person.
Rick bought this squirt bottle at the store about a week into the trip and we all kind of laughed at him for it cuz he wanted it to be like a shower bottle. We'd all spray each other off and now it's really coming in handy showering our legs off. That stop would have been epic no matter what, but the fact that we didn't know it existed and we just found it on our own made it feel 10 times cooler. So glad we stopped. And now I get the pleasure of driving everyone to Aphidosia. Hold on. As of today, I'm officially 17 weeks pregnant. And according to my app, our baby is the size of a pomegranate. How crazy is that? And all my shirts are
starting to get a little tight thanks to this little thing. Anyway, real quick, I'll just take a minute of your time. If you've thought about therapy but haven't given it a try, it may be worth another look. I've been partnering with our sponsor BetterHelp for over 5 years, and they've just made a big change. For eligible members, insurance options may now be available with co-pays as low as $15. When I first discovered BetterHelp back in 2021, I was so inspired to use our platform to help normalize conversations about therapy and just mental health in general. And around that time, unfortunately, I was learning the hard way that so many people are struggling with things behind the scenes. And you would just never know,
me included. And it's just so easy to assume that you're the only one going through stuff. But I truly believe after reflecting back at that time, 5 years later, therapy is more normalized today than it was then, which is so exciting. and I want to keep this trend going. And for me personally, I'm just so thankful that I have better awareness of how I'm doing mentally and I have the tools to help prioritize that, which has not always been the case. BetterHel makes starting therapy so much easier because it's 100% online. Over 6 million people to date have gotten help through BetterHelp, earning a 4.8 out of five rating on the app store. To get started, just take a short questionnaire and get
paired with a licensed therapist. And if you have insurance, enter your insurance information to explore insurance options. With insurance, many BetterHelp members pay $15 or less, and some pay $0. Don't live in the US or don't have insurance? You can still get 10% off your first month. Click the link in the description or visit betterhelp.com/kn to explore your options. All right, we made it to Capidoshia. I thought this was going to be the highlight of Turkey, but the pink salt lake is going to be hard to beat. So, our first stop in Capidoshia is Love Valley and it's famous for these fairy
chimneys and they look a little funny. So, I was doing some research online to see why they're shaped that way. And it turns out the rock that's sitting on top is this like hard rock that's resistant to erosion. And so, that's why it sticks out a little bigger, like a mushroom on top. And then that rock sitting on top protects the softer rock that's underneath it. And that's why it forms a pillar and uh looks the way that it does. Having flashbacks during that drone flight. That was the uh the first drone I ever crashed almost 9 years ago when we were here in Turkey. Feel like I need to take a little grave for it.
I'm very happy to be back here because the last time I was in Capidoshia, we got caught in a rainstorm and lost the trail. I'm going to cry. I genuinely thought I was going to die of hypothermia. We couldn't find our way up. We're walking in circles soaking wet. eventually ran into a road and this guy picked us up. So thankfully we made it out alive. But that was my last memory here. So this is lovely. Charlie brought us to the Instagram hotspot. Yeah, this is gorgeous. Kind of wish I was an Instagrammer. It feels like a lost opportunity.
Wow. I totally look Charlie. Nice find. Yeah, good stuff, Charlie. I love this. Your face. Wow. What a spot. Oh, together. Yes. You want picture? Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon pistachio. WOW, HE'S DOWN BEHIND THE TABLE. OH, I don't know if I cheated. Okay, you can't die. One more time. YEAH, you got What time is it? 2:04. What time are we waking up? 5:15. I don't know what happened. We were eating dinner and then we went back to the bus to find a place to camp and then
we got invited in for tea and then that turned into shisha and then all of a sudden we were shooting commercial for the restaurant that we were at. I don't know what's happening right now, but apparently we've ended up in a Turkish film. Car was driving the bus. Rick was the star. And then we drove for an hour trying to find our spot. Yeah. But I do think we have the perfect view for sunrise in the hot air balloons. Let's just say it better be good. We'll find out soon enough. I drove up a one-way dirt road twice cuz there was no way to turn around and we missed this
spot. But it is pretty dope. Huge flat spot overlooking the whole city. Good morning. We found um this epic place to camp last night up on this ridge overlooking the city because this morning the hot air balloons were supposed to take off from right down there and they would raise up and blow over us. But uh I've just been standing here waiting. So I finally got my phone out and apparently they've canled the hot air balloons this morning due to high wind gusts which is a massive bummer. So I guess I'll go back to sleep. I'm actually so sad. It was so beautiful when we were here in 2018. We actually went up in one, but I was so looking forward to the rest of the group getting to experience this because me,
Cara, and Charlie are the only ones that have been here before. Had the balloons gone up this morning, we would have had the best Such a shame cuz I actually got up, which is rare. Um, but sleeping in was nice. Day 14. Crazy. 2 weeks in. Absolutely smashed it. Yes, they are. What an absolutely massive drive day. We really made some good progress, but my butt getting a rash from sitting on that bus seat. The scenery was stunning today. I have never seen cows on a cliff that steep before. That is crazy. There was one moment where we thought the grill was about to fall off the front of the bus because this little plastic piece that holds it on, it broke him.
The bus is mostly held together by duct tape at this point. They write a whole song about it. Not masking tape or painters tape duct tape. A looks as good as new. And then I'm afraid if the other one cracks off from that side, then the whole thing could actually fall off. So we put some duct tape on it and that seemed to do the trick. And then right before we got here, we drove through the longest tunnel in all of Turkey. It was 14.5 km long. And now uh it is 10:15 and we're about to eat some dinner. All right. Uh Rick ordered the most traditional dish at the table. I'm not sure if you're supposed to eat it with
bread and I forget the name of it, but apparently this is like the dish of this region. Yes. Wonderful. It's really good. It's mostly just cheese, but it's really good. First try. Yeah. Second bite. Good morning. Day 8:15 in the Mongol Rally. That might be the first night that I've slept for more than 8 hours. That was much needed. We woke up this morning somewhere in the Pontik Mountains and it is green and beautiful and might be about to rain. So, we're going to get camp packed up. We just pulled into a parking lot and the guy working here made us stop just so he could take the photo. We probably passed 20 people on that one street who
were all holding up their phones as we drove by. It really never gets old. Just bringing smiles all the way across Europe and Asia. Birth of the bus. All right. Uh quick breakfast and Trabz on before we hit the road. We have stumbled upon a Turkish buffet and it is full of vegetables. We've had a lot of bread, cheese, and especially pizza on this trip which has been amazing. But I am so excited to have something healthy. Even though I got fried zucchini, a chocolate brownie, and more fried cheese, but half my plate is vegetables. This random town is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Turkey so far. That restaurant was
lovely. The staff there was so friendly. They kept offering us tea and said that they weren't charging for it. Have more tea. To the point where like I felt bad saying no. And there's so much shopping here. All these walking streets. Such a vibe. All right, from here we have 3 hours to the Georgia border. We've been in Turkey for 4 days and on the Mongol Rally that feels like a lifetime. Wow. Oh my god. That is one of the craziest things I've ever seen in my entire life. There were two massive boulders as big as cars in the middle of the highway that have fallen down from the mountain.
Can you imagine seeing that happening or being hit by one? That would have just killed whoever was there when it was rolling off. 100%. It would have smashed the car to pieces. Wow. Never seen that before. Any idea where I go? It's like the only option. Yeah, we have made it to the border with Georgia. Hopefully leaving is as easy as it was getting in. Hello. Only one person.
One person in the car. only driver. Okay. So, I think everybody has to get out and walk through and then I have to drive the car through. All right. Okay. Wow. Good luck. Just me. You guys, you're welcome. Love you. This feels weird. Yeah. I feel like this has been a team effort up to this point. Bye now. Okay, just straight. Only one person. Yes. School bus. Even the border guards love it. Thank you very much. You have a good mustache. Thanks. on my own with no idea what I'm doing.
Hopefully, this won't be exciting. I will turn it back on if it is. Kind of feels like we're about to go through airport security. This is going to take forever standing in massive. It's okay. Thank you. All right, we're waiting in line to get into Georgia and the bus is right here, which I feel like is a good sign. I think it's left Turkey and now waiting to get in Georgia as well. Welcome to Georgia. And it looks like Nate just got through, too. Oh my gosh, perfect timing. We're in Georgia, man. We had to walk about four miles in there, man. This just went on and on.
Welcome back. did it. Welcome back. Thank you. Boom. Don't congratulate me just yet. I have one story to tell everybody. Oh, they found something. Now, a quick story for everybody. So, I get through Turkey, no problem. There's this line of 18 wheelers and they've all formed on both sides of me and all the little cars are going between the 18-wheelers. I'm like, I'm not waiting behind all the trucks. So, I start squeezing through and I'm like, wo, this is getting really tight. But like I can see on both sides that I have room. So I'm going through and then this guy is just yelling you yelling and I'm like I'm going and I'm
going really slow and I'm like what is this guy's problem? And so I'm just trying to get out of the way and I'm looking in the mirror. I'm making sure I'm not hitting his truck and then all of a sudden I hear a crunch and I'm like no. Oh god. So then he really starts yelling. I just clipped a uh semi-trucks mirror. It folded it back. It's left a tiny scratch. So, I've clipped his mirror because if you look at these mirrors, the way that they're facing, you can't see up high enough to see the truck's mirror. So, I can see that I wasn't hitting his truck, but like you can't bend down far enough to see in like where his mirror was. It knocked it back. It cracked it a little bit like on the edge, the plastic. And
so finally, like I pull over, I get out Google Translate. I think like after 5 minutes of yelling, he had gotten it all out of his system and was like, "All right, we got to figure out." And then he's like, "I'm going to call the police." Like that's what he's translating in the app. Like what do you need? Not much money. Well, that was a very expensive border crossing. So I paid him $400. $400? Had you actually damaged the back? Shut up. No, it was like I pushed it back into place and it had like a crack on the outside of it and he was like, "It's not my truck. They're going to charge me for it." He looked the mirror
up on Google. It cost it $400. I eventually just gave it to him. The team leaves me for 5 minutes. Otherwise, the guys in Georgia loved it. Like they all got in, they were smiling. Like one guy was like, "Very good bus." Very nice bus. Yeah. Thank you. In the best American traditions. Oh, amazing. taking photos of the bus, having so much fun with it that they didn't even want to check anything. Oh my gosh, that's great. Hello. Nice. Thank you. In the grand scheme of things, $400 is not a ton of money. We could have like There's We've kind of got through this relatively unscathed. Like that's the worst thing that's ever happened.
Call it a $50 entry fee into Georgia. I'm going to win it back at the casino tonight. It's okay. Exactly. Let's go. So, finding parking in any city has been an issue. Um, and Georgia is no different. So, we've been driving around in circles as we do. And the hotel where we thought we were going to stay has zero parking. And so, Rick has run to another hotel and is literally standing in a spot trying to hold it and fighting off cars. He said he had to put his hands on a Mustang to keep it from running over him. So, we're in route as fast as we can. Stay strong, Rick. Thank you. Until he came, there were BMWs flying in trying to take my knees out. Guys just like pulling their car up next to me like move. I'm
like, "Nope, my friends are coming." Oh, I was so ready to be done with that. It took an hour to find parking. And every street was so skinny and I was just waiting to take off another mirror. I'm so glad you were driving on me. WAY TO GO. Good job. Let's go. YOU FOUND THE SPOT. BUT YOU GOT THE GEORGIA. WHERE ARE WE? This does not feel like the Mongol Rally. Treating ourselves. This is the first elevator in Europe that we've all been able to fit in with all of our luggage. It was meant to be.
Are we in Asia? Yeah. We aren't welcome to the club. I'm not the only person who's in a curve anymore. Day 15 of the Mongol Rally and today we're driving 5 hours east to Tlisi. Oh my gosh, it's 16. Day 16 of the Mongol Rally. CHARLIE, AN exciting start to today. The streets of Batumi are tight. Wow, Georgia. That drive was spectacular. The views were insane. Like seriously, if you would have blindfolded me and dropped me in the middle of where we were, I would have told you we were in like Uganda. It was so green and mountainous and there were just like cows and goats on the side of the road at intersections under bridges. So that
was pretty funny. And once again, Big Bertha spreading joy everywhere she goes. We got so many honks and waves from people. But the best thing that happened is a guy stuck a Coke out the window of his car and handed it to Charlie while he was driving. Yeah, not the safest thing to do. I don't recommend that, but it was awesome. And now we're back in Blazy for the first time since 2018. Georgie, America, we have an Airbnb in the middle of the city. This is one of the main squares right here and it's going to fit all of us and it's going to be amazing. But I've received 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 videos from our host on how to check in.
Let the scavenger hunt begin. The joys of Airbnb. So, step one was to enter here, which we've done. Now, we got to look for this weird gate thing. Now, we're going in this tiny elevator. coins. Do you have any coins? Push the button to win himself. The benefit of staying here is that there's everywhere. I mean, we can just try. What kind of coin? So, this has a slot for a coin. It doesn't work. Classic George has coins. I want to do the coin. Am I Oh, no. I gave him all that lady was making fun of me with the prices.
Like, look. operated. I've never seen such a thing. Stairs it is. Sorry. Y'all, I don't think we're staying on the third floor. I think that's just where the key is. Yep. And then we shut that. So, you had to push and then do the slot. So, we had Beck pushing the door so we can unsub it. It's a true scavenger. So, now we have this. And now we change buildings and we go to the eighth floor. Dusty's got urine running down his legs.
This is one of the better Airbnb scavenger hunts. This is what the elevator looks like on whatever floor we're on. Oh, that's just one down. That's just But look, this doesn't look like this. This is literally like grab the key. Now we find the floor and then hopefully we get a room. We're exiting the building. We're literally not even in this building. This is just where the key was. What? She's like, "Now get in the car. Start the car. 15 km to east." Yeah, I agree. No, I agree with you.
All right. The key opens the gate. Where's that key? It's the right one. This one. Yeah. Which lock? Go to the bottom and turn right. Which is the bottom one? That was it. Wiggle it. Wiggle that hand a little Oh my gosh. Oh, every time I say in an Airbnb, I say I'm never going to stay in an Airbnb again. We basically got a free escape room. Oh, it's so hot. Smells like smoke. But we made it. How do you eat it? It's full of soup. It's really, really, really, really hot. Despite what you said in the first video, what did I say?
Jeez, it's hot. It is really hot. 8 years later, I honestly think it's really hot. And so, you make a little nibble and then you suck the juice out. Yeah. Yum. juice. And we decided Georgia is one of the most underrated countries in the world. Look at that wrenching. Okay, we just arrived at a pin that this guy sent us and it's just the side of the road. We get in this stranger's Tesla. The floor is falling through. The lady goes, "It's okay. That's fine." I think the logistics have been a bigger challenge than I was expecting.
I think we go on a great run, we get bad news. We have a great deal, we get bad news. We go drive go-karts more bad We go drive go-karts one more time to get back in the hot. The good news is I'm famous in Turkey now. And I can probably get free tea anytime we need free tea. I am hungry today. I was hungry yesterday, too. For the most part. Honestly, smells yesterday were really getting me. Like when you open those chips, I had to roll my window down. And then you were breathing on me with that sesame stick. Honestly, it makes me want to gag just thinking about it.
Yes, it is. 1.5K back to town. I'm a chocolate guy. What is this? Thank you. Hi. You're welcome. Not problem. No problem. This one. Thank you. Bye-bye. Oh, I want this one. One corn. Two corn. Three corn. This one. Thank you. Oh my god. Extra. You're right. Welcome to the like
