March 16, 2015 
DHARWAD to HAMPI 195km  
Pushpa Guesthouse 1200Rp ($19.35) double with AC, without breakfast
 
Hubli Rush Hour

Rush hour was just beginning by the time we got out of Dharwad. Dave wanted to avoid the congestion he knew would be worst in the center of Hubli city (population 1.8M). Google showed a straight forward ring road and we took that one. It quickly degraded into discontinuous paved and unpaved roads, small lanes into cul de sacs, and brick covered footpaths. We were spending more time path-finding than actually driving. We gave up on our 'short cut' and took a spoke road to the central train station. It was crowded but after getting on the road back out from the center, we had smooth sailing.
 

Sparsely Populated
 
The roads crossing the broad flat valley north of the Tungabhadra River were in excellent condition and had very little traffic, save for the odd ox cart now and then. We made great time. 

The massive Tungabhadra dam project brought in a zillion people and boom city blight around the dam to support them. Once we got though that mess, it became a pleasant ride through Hosapete City. We were now on familiar turf having been here in January of 2013.
 

Bedrock

The complete Flintstones transformation of scenery doesn't reveal itself until the last 20 km. Suddenly, mounds of immense boulders, seemingly haphazardly stacked and strewn, appeared. Lush rice paddies and wispy palms gave us a small taste of the magic we'd find in Hampi. 
 
Nearing Hampi Bazaar, we crested the hill and looked down over the majestic Virupaksha Temple. We knew our way around and skirted the hotel touts in the narrow dirt lanes in Hampi Bazaar.
 
We knew our favorite little river view huts called Garden Paradise had been torn down shortly after our last visit 2 years ago. The 2012 master plan resulted in many primo river view establishments getting bulldozed. Still, we wanted to check for ourselves and hoped that the shaded restaurant still would be there. But sadly, no! A chain blocked the dirt path to Garden Paradise and we could see several mounds of weed covered rubble. So much for restoring natural beauty. 

So the next order of the day was to check if Pushpa across from Chillout restaurant had a room available. We lucked out and scored the only working AC room. We b-lined to Chillout and found a comfortable spot under a fan on the pillows and grubbed out on hummus and veg sizzler. After we had recharged and recouped it was 5 pm. Then we showered, did some laundry and kicked back. 
  
That night, there was a complete power outage and we were awake drenched in sweat for the better part of the night. So much for paying extra for AC.