Destination Unknown; Tokat

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The Conclusion of the 1st Day

We started our journey at 3pm Turkish time. We ventured down desolate roads. Just two lanes of road heading into oblivion. We continued for a few hours until we came to a stop and my manager pulled out a map. This was not right, even I could tell there was something wrong without a translation... WE WERE LOST!!! So the decision was made we turned around and headed back til we intersected a road and we turned down it. Hopefully that was the end of getting lost and it wasn't a sign of bad things to come.

We kept driving now that we already wasted a few hours going the wrong direction, but no worries, it was all an experience. The road started to become very full of twists and turns as we head through a mountain pass. Then all of a sudden we could see in front of us it was a massive storm that seemed to just attack our car. It surrounded us from all around and lightning striking all around the car and thunder so loud it shook the earth, the car, and made my heart skip beats. Our speed drastically reduced as this storm decided to follow us, at some points we had to stop in our tracks cause we couldn't see anything at all. This was not off to a great start... being lost, and having one of the craziest storms hit our car!

We finally made it through our own personal storm and the weather was clear, but it was getting dark now. As the sun was setting my mind got set on finding food, of course that is always on my mind, but I was getting really hungry. It seemed like we would never be able to find food along the roads we traveled, I mean we couldn't just pull over at the next McDonalds or Carl's. All of a sudden out of no where like an oasis there was a beautiful restaurant along the road, nothing else around just this restaurant... I couldn't believe it so I rubbed my eyes, but it was still there, man I got excited! We pulled off and it was an amazing lil restaurant it had a little stream that flowed around it with a very nice architecture setup almost like a log cabin. We entered and sat down and they brought down the normal accompaniments to any Turkish meal a family style plate with some salad, bread, and some special Turkish dip... Amazing!

The waiter came and I just sat there and smiled, I told my agent that I didn't mind what I got I would try anything since this was a pretty authentic Turkish restaurant. So my agent just doubled his order. Soon after we order out came some steaming dishes. It was the best meal that I had in the past two days. It consisted of yogurt kebab meat and pieces of bread about crouton size but soft. with Turkish sauce over it. Yummy now I am ready to pass out.

Finally! LIGHTS are spotted we are coming up to some lights in the distant.. YES I believe it is Tokat. It is not many lights but there is definitely signs of life!! Hey yo! we are almost there. It is now getting close to 11pm only a short 3 hours longer than was expected. Well I am getting closer to the place I will be staying, I will meet all my new friends, teammates, and family for the time being. We finally arrive to gate guarded area, it was the police station that had a hotel on it. So we are staying at the police station we get let in and we pull up to a building and there are two gentlemen waiting for us. We get introduced to them one is our coach and one is one of our many managers for our team. We step inside to the reception desk and immediately take a seat and then are asked just like anywhere else if we would like some cay ( Turkish tea pronounced chay). Well why not lets start adapting so I toss in a couple cubes of sugar and I am ready to drink it. Well my first day is coming to a close and we say our farewells and I get my room key and head to my room. Time to sleep!!!

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