Day 2: Davangere – Chennai

The restaurant was great. We had got 2 rooms for 2600 bucks which were fully AC. I would definitely recommend this one for travelers and families who happen to visit this city. The staff is also friendly.

We had decided to start by 7 am the night before and we were well within our limits. Last night, it had drizzled and so all our bikes had become wet and had water droplets all around. I had not removed my saddle bags and kept along with the bike itself as nothing was there which was of importance to me. It contained food packets, a special ‘namkeen’ which I had stocked in huge qty and intended to share it along with my friends along the way.

We left around 7:30 am after packing our remaining stuff on the bike. We decided to skip the breakfast and decided to have along the way itself.

The start of the my Odometer reading from Davangere…

Davengere is famous for its typical Sponge Dosa and we were some kind of lucky to have halted in this city. Had we stretched to Chitradurga, we would have missed on this heavenly item. We took the help of Google to locate us the best serving hotel for this Dosa and we landed at ‘Sri Guru Kotteshwara Butter Dosa Hotel”.

This place was seriously dope. It was an early morning and a holiday and so not much rush was there. Seeing the ratings of this hotel on Google Maps, we had thought quite the opposite. It was a hotel with not much of a space but the Dosa preparation process was a head turner. Dosa was done on wood fire and made only with 100% butter, which was being made fresh in front of our eyes. The smell of the melting butter on the fire was just drooling. There were other items too but we ordered the same item for all three of us.

The Dosa came along with Cocunut ‘Chutney’ and a special mashed mixture of Potato and other stuff. After having such a heavy dish, we were back on the roads again towards Chennai.

The roads were under construction till Chitradurga, the same like we encountered the previous day. The cloud cover was still there and so we had accordingly packed. I was still not wearing my rainy suits as I was not much convinced about there being a probability of rain.

From Chitradurga, the roads were really smooth and from here on Bangalore was just 200 kms to go. We were going to meet Rakshit, friend of CSK sir. He was coming there to meet and escort us in Bangalore and also rectify a small minor problem occurring on CSK Sir’s bike. A faulty sensor signal on the dash which was to be deleted. This would only be possible with the ‘Unit’ which Rakshit was bringing along.

Apart from meeting Rakshit, we were also greeted by some Bangalore Mahindra Mojo Tribe owners. They escorted us till NICE ring road where we all took photos and then headed towards Chennai.

Kartik’s relatives were also going to meet us along the way and so we waited after NICE road toll plaza for them. It took quite some time for them to arrive and till then we feasted on some dry fruits which Kartik gave. After some time, they arrived in a car.

The meet happened for a short period of time and then we bid goodbye to his relatives and then it was a Non-Stop journey till Chennai.

The stay was not planned in Chennai but we were going to stay near my ex-Ford friends who were staying near Medavakkam. And so, we booked a hotel via OYO rooms when we took our last break right immediately after sunset.

From our tea break location, we still had to cover 200 kms. The time was around 6 pm. It was going to be a long ride in the dark. But luckily, the roads were good which made our ride comfortable. The only issue was with the oncoming heavy lights of the truck traffic. But we had got used to it and were not giving much notice and using the ‘White’ lines on the road to get our bearings right.

We did take another break after 100 kms but did not have tea this time. It was just relaxing break to stretch our arms and legs. We had already crossed the 12+ hr riding mark and still had some kms left before we could end our day.

We reached the hotel around 10:45 pm in the night. The last few kms was tough as we were into city now and at this time too, there was heavy traffic and also the roads were very narrow. Mental agony had started to rise as humidity had started to increase as we’d approached Chennai plus it was pitch dark and we were still riding!

We had some trouble finding the hotel in the dark as the main entrance was on the right side to the road and not on front side. We crashed into the hotel ASAP after paying the hotel bill in advance. We had taken a large room this time for 1600 bucks with an attached extra bed and with AC. AC was much needed in this sweltering humidity.

After, we moved our all luggage into the room and got fresh. Soon afterwards, we were greeted once again by Mahindra Mojo Chennai Tribe people. It was good to be chatting with new people and listening to their stories. The tiredness from the face somehow just evaporated.

They bid us goodbye and then, we were now looking options for our dinner. The Dinner served in the hotel had finished by now as it was 11:30. Our only option was to look outside and see if we could find any hotel open at this moment of the hour.

We went walking on the streets and searched for quite a few time. Many of them had closed but we found one which was open but it was only take-away and so we refused. Moreover, we were not convinced with the menu being offered. While returning back in the same direction of the hotel, we found a person selling Dosas on a hand held kart. It was quite a odd time for him to serve this menu at this moment of the hour but, our condition was such that, we could eat whatever was being offered.

And hence, we ordered Dosas for all three of us and also made an omelette which also, he was making.

We slept around 12:30am.

Our next leg was from Chennai to Vijaywada.