As he approaches the next town, he finally has some social interaction. A couple of fellows in front of a humble home invite him to come play some music for them. These are some pretty rugged looking fellows--the difficult life they live etched on their faces. The wife of one brings us coffee and they try to converse the best we can, as a couple of small children run around. Now Yerevan and even Vanadzor seem like the "land of opportunity" compared to life in the gorge.
 
he continues on to Tumamian, which unlike the mountain villages he's passed through, is a full size town . Only problem is he's on the wrong side of the river. Soon that is solved--with the most rickety, sloppy bridge he's seen in a while--bascially just a couple of broken railway tiers and random sticks tossed on a couple of metal bars suspended by two cables... A lot of fun to cross...
 
On the other side he reaches Tumamian, and he's quite taken aback by what he sees. Clearly someone put a lot of care into building this town at the bottom of a gorge, with gardens, grand government buildings and industrial structures--now it feels all but forgotten and abandoned. It looks Soviet style--but with beauty and a flair of class... and now it's just a shadow of its previous self.
 
What happened? What inspired them to create such a grand little town in the middle of nowhere? And why did it die? There are a couple of young people milling about--I can just imagine what it must be like to grown up in a dying town at the bottom of a gorge...
 
It's getting late as he continues on. After another 2 kilometers or so he figures he'd better stop pushing his luck and start looking for transportation back to Vanadzor . he meets a couple of farmers heading home and asks.
 
"Bus... Vanadzor?"
 
They shake their heads. No more buses or collective taxis back to Vandzor at this hour. No problem, he tells himself, People have been offering me rides all day, surely in my hour of need, I'll easily be able to hitch a ride back!
 
But no. Nobody stops. He figures he needs a better location where people can pull over. He heads back to the Tumamian turnoff. Nope. Nothing. Now it's pitch dark. He quickly try to stop a car that's leaving the village, but the driver isn't going very far.
 
What's going on? he wonders. Maybe it's too dark and people don't see me in time. Maybe people just don't pick up hitchhikers at night. Whatever it is, it's becoming clear that he's going to need to start thinking of other options. I suppose I could just go to a house and ask if I could stay the night there... or I could just keep walking all night--I'd miss seeing the beauty of the Debed Canyon--which was kind of the whole point of doing this Superhike--And the worst part about it? I already paid for my hotel room in Vanadzor!
 
Then, just as he's about to give up . A hulking tractor trailer rumbles to a stop 50 meters ahead. he runs over... and sure enough, the driver tells him to get in. He heaves a sigh of relief.  
 
It's a very rickety old truck that bounces like crazy. In fact, he feels more exhausted after 90 minutes of bouncing than he did after 12 hours of walking! And they inch along at about 15 kilometers an hour--definitely being a truck driver in America is a glamour job compared to this!
 
Finally (after a long tea break by the river as well) they finally reach Vanadzor, where he tries to pay his good Samaritan... but the fellow refuses... And the Traveler heads back to the hotel for some very well deserved rest.