On the 22nd December. Reached suresh’s house. He and his brother were not ready. In fact satish was ironing clothes and packing his bags. Felt frustrated. Finaly hit the road by 7.15 pm. Late by 1hour. Going was slow initially as traffic on nh 17 was heavy. Reached cherkala when had the idea to call my friend sundara. Luckily he was in the hospital celebrating Christmas. Hadn’t seen him for a long time.he suggested to have food at Indian coffee house kasaragode. Decided to have dinner at kasaragode itself as would reach mangalore at odd hours and kids were hungry. Had food at Indian coffee house just by the bus stand, on the highway side. Clean hotel, good food, cheap. would recommend for stops en route to all.( non veg available)
Then it was non stop driving. Road was full of deviations, pot holes etc . reached ankola by 3.27 am. Turned right into nh 68. Turn well marked and wouldn’t miss. road good. No humps on road as I was expecting . Drove around 80 – 90 kmph on average. Made the discovery that the head lights of vento not up to the mark. Not lighting up the roads adequately. Drove all along with fog lights on. Was feeling sleepy. But satish gave me good company and warded off sleep. There was sparse trucks on the road.two fuel pumps presnt in this road. Was nearing hubli when satish had stroke of brilliance. He noted a small road going off to the left on the gps going to dharvad, between Dastikoppa & Ramahalli. I was sceptic initially as it looked like a country road. It was 26 kms to hubli. There were 2 trucks parked at the turn, enquired regarding the road to the drivers who told us that in was patched up . took the road,several humps present, passes through several villages, reached dharvad in no time ( it was 9kms ) saved about 30- 40kms. Entered nh4 ,at 6.15 am gave the first of the tolls. Belgaum was 74 kms away, road good, gunned the engine, reached belgaum by 7.15 am.
Rented a room in belgaum town itself. Freshened up and hit the road by 9 am.
Had brunch at a road side hotel goa ves just before tavadi ghat, food okay and I gave way to my pal suresh the drivers seat.
entered maharashtra by 10.46 am.
pune - mumbai express way reached by 3.05 pm
by passed mumbai in 1.5 hours.
reached godbunder by 7.20 pm
reached vapi by 10.30 pm. stayed at sarvodaya hotel.
total distance covered 1219 kms