Twisty Mountain Roads and a Ski Town...

Today was another day of smooth twisty mountain roads.  The scenery was beautiful with lots of trees, creeks and rivers all along the roadway.  We stopped for a break in a little ski town that reminded my of the Tahoe area of California - only the base of this ski area was only at 1000 ft.  It's probably too cold in the higher elevations of Russia to have a ski area.

About 20 minutes after the stop Ken got a flat - rear tire probably punctured by some glass in the middle of the road that he ran through.  We probably won't make it to our goal of 300 km today as the repair has taken almost an hour so far.  We had hoped to camp in the mountains tonight but the terrain ahead appears to be dropping - we are at 700 ft. here.  It's almost 6pm now so once we get on the road we will e looking for a spot to pull off for the night.  Tomorrow we will have about 400 km to Novosibirsk where we will layover a day to wait for Ken's replacement shock - it is supposed to arrive from Holland on Wednesday or Thursday.  Everyone says Novosibirsk is a good town to sightsee in so I am looking forward to the chance to relax and explore the city.  Hopefully we can find a hostel or cheap hotel.

Kayakers across the road.

Sunshine on the road ahead.

Monument to the road builders - it is a sweet road!

Ski runs on the hillside.

The Katun river.