Georgian Military Highway Adventure

Well, we had a big day today. Instead of sitting in a room watching unintelligble PowerPoints we be headed to the Russian Federation (North Ossetia) border about 100 miles north of Tbilisi.

Some of the presenters at our little meeting have a different perspective on oral presentations. Instead of preparing actual PowerPoints, they just project the Word version of the paper and scroll up and down to the tables, figures, etc.

That's why a trip to the North Ossetian border through the Caucasus Mountains via the Georgian Military Highway looked even better than it normally would have. Here's a second link to the Wikipedia article.

Yeah, we actually ran into several scenes like this!

Here's some more scenery. It was really quite breathtaking. We actually crossed the drainage divide at about 2500 meters above sea level, going from the Caspian Sea drainage basin (Kura River basin) to the Black Sea drainage basin.

The road got pretty bad just over the divide. We turned around about 20 miles from the North Ossetian border, which is closed now since Georgia and Russia are on the "outs". You cannot travel via land to the Russian Federation unless you are a Russian citizen and there is a manned border crossing. Not that we wanted to venture into Russia.

On the drive north the GMH skirts the eastern boundary of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, which longs to join its northern portion. Although it is in Georgia, South Ossetia is recognized by the Russians, who have granted Russian passports to its citizens and obviously support South Ossetia in its secession effort. This is but one of a number of sore spots between the Russian Federation and Georgia.

We were lucky today that the South Ossetians did not see fit to lob howitzer shells into Georgia, which they are wont to do occasionally. Georgia sometimes responds in kind, which annoys the Russians since its territory is being attacked.

It's all very tiring.

How about a nifty poster like this from AllPosters.com?

By the way, there are few guardrails, especially as you get higher up and the road starts to deteriorate.  But the vistas are spectacular!

After auguring for a suitable location, Eric and I attempt to auger through solid rock.

Lover's Leap, where Stalin executed his first Chechen.

An old church? Here? In Georgia?

"So, I see you're still a whore." -- Joseph Stalin (aka Joseph Dzhugashvili) to his mother, upon returning to his home town of Gori, Georgia.