Travel in the Five Stans

Ahahahaaa yes, Uzbekistan brings out the worst and the best.

Since I crossed over the day after the visa-free thing started, it was still unclear whether I needed to register or not. The office in Shymkent said no, but I wound up registering in Astana just in case. They only registered me for a few days, and only for Astana, and when I went in Almaty they told me it was fine. No problems at the border. So... I would suggest to someone to register just in case, for the entire time period. Perhaps the issue has been cleared up since then...

I hope so

I have a USA passport too, and have traveled and lived in the region. It's really not hard to do it on your own if you have a little patience, time and a sense of humor, other than the Turkmenistan. Just get a decent, up-to-date guidebook and supplement that with information from the web including this site.

Agree with #12. My recommendation is two fold
1. Guidebooks - Lonely planet and Bradt Guides are both fine guidebooks that will help you with the basics. I particularly like the city maps in LP (last edition not the most recent one).
2. Internet - Guidebooks need time to publish. By the time they're on the market, things have changed especially for this region. This is where this website and others like caravanistan.com (for really up-to-date visa information and embassy report this is a gold mine) and endless blog sites come in and fill in the gap. Check these sites while you are on the road for up-to-date information, and talk to other travellers whom you are likely to meet more than once on the trail.

I can't stress enough the importance of internet in planning.

For guidebooks, you have also Odyssey.

Michel