We are currently in Dalanzadgad Mongolia, about 530km south of Ulan Batar (or UB as the locals say) on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert. Dalanzadgad is where the main road ends, and from here itâ??s only a confusing network of jeep and animal trails to other villages. This is where we start biking.

We woke yesterday at about 5am, and began (semi) final gear sort and prep to load our gear into our truck for the drive between UB and Dalanzadgad. We stored unneeded luggage, ate breakfast and waited for our driver. With a little time to spare, Tim set off for a short walk around the main square in UB for some photos.

Our vehicle arrived, a Russian UAZ 452 4x4 van painted sky blue. While a solid truck, it feels and rides like a spartan Soviet-designed utility vehicle. There is very little for extra comforts inside - some padding on the walls is about it. However, it is very reliable in place that a breakdown could be disastrous, and it has an awesome heater. We got loaded in short order, made a stop for gas and we were on the way.

Leaving UB in the cold morning light, we headed into the small mountains that frame the city. Here there was old crusty snow around, maybe a foot in drifted places, but generally less. With the snow on the hills and lack of any vegetation and only the rare dwelling, the landscape could only be described as Lunar (or Martian). It bore a strong resemblance to the photos from the Apollo missions, except for the lack of a black sky. That said, like the Moon, there was an amazing beauty to the place. We were continually taking photos and shooting timelapse and video with our Garmin VIRBs out the windows as we drove south.

As the day went on we settled into kind of a van routine of taking photos with various cameras and discussing plans for the next dayâ??s riding. The driver and guide were chatting in Mongolian and listening to some modern Mongolian music and singing along. Even though we couldnâ??t understand the words it was still nice to listen to and seemed to fit perfectly with the adventure.

Our drive took us through a lot of herds of animals, we saw pretty much the full suite of livestock that are raised by the nomadic rural population: Horses, goats, camels, gazelles. The guides we laughing at us tourists with our cameraâ??s clacking away at the camels by the side of the road. To them, they are as common as squirrels are to us back home.

After 9 hours and an amazing sunset over the Mongolian Steppe, we arrived in Dalanzadgad and were delivered to our last hotel for more than a week. From here, itâ??s bikes and sleeping outside.

Image: Camel crossing