Intertrek - Departure: 3 September 1976 WB
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Our truck with the guys putting the side flaps up.  We always democratically voted (well…….)  if the group wanted to travel that day with the flaps up or down.  Flaps up meant that you could view the scenery and be covered with dust, soot or whatever by the end of the day; there was no guarantee that you would be somewhere where you could take a shower.

We were two trucks traveling together.  One truck had a driver who had done the trip too many times and probably needed a break and my truck had two drivers who had never before done the trip.  Thus, we needed to travel together.  This photo shows why we named one of the trucks “The Cliffhanger.”  We were nine days on the road when we came to a bridge in Yugoslavia that was impassable due to a crater-size hole in it.  The experienced driver said, “We have 4-wheel drive.  We can go down the embankment to the riverbed and come up the other side.”  Well, then, the wheel started slipping. 

We had to form a human chain to unload everything from the truck.  The next morning after we had camped out by the riverbed, the drivers hunted down some local farmers to tow the truck out with a tractor at some exorbitant fee.  The drivers of the other truck along with two of the passengers had to take an eight-hour detour just to meet us on the other side of the bridge. 

A rest stop in Turkey.  Except for three Turkish guys on the left side of the photo, and the child in the foreground, the rest are all people from my truck (with two people missing from the photo).

Frank Hendriks & Bert Schmitz “assessing the merchandise” in a gun shop in Herat, Afghanistan.

One of the giant Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan – with me lower left.  These Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Crossing from India into Nepal.  We had our doubts as to whether the boat could hold the weight of the truck.
All pictures supplied by Ceely Ackerman.

Passenger List
An overland journey to India following the India overland trail through Belgium, Germany, Austria Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, & Nepal. Visting sites of Dubrovnic, Split, Kotor, Athens, Kerimoti, Istanbul, Galipolli, Troy, Delphi, Efes, Goreme, Nemrut, Tehran, Esphan, Persepolis, Shiraz, Kerman, Bam, Quetta, Kandahar, Kabul, Bamian Valley, Kyhber Pass, Indus river, Lahore, Punjab, Amritsar, Kashmir, Delhi, Agra, Taj Mahal, Vanaris, Patna, Raj Path, Kathmandu, Himalyas. All this undertaken in a 20 year old Asian Greyhound, Swagman Tours, LS Bristol bus. This Indiaoverland company was held together by Norm Harris an expatriate Aussie living in Windsor. With drivers like Bob Ashford, Geoff Lawrence, Clive Parker, Dave Watt, Ronnie Martin, John Witchard, Ken Mcdonald, Derek Amey & couriers Fred Fisher, Jos Livingstone, Peter Swift, Kieren Smith & mechanics Gordon Hammond, Graham Libby, Pomme John & Rastas just to name a few.