Finally crossed into Poland and here in Krakow it looks as though I have an AOL line. Sorry for all of the delays. 

RUSSIA FINAL

       Our second last day in Russia, (6/14) started out cool with threatening rain but what appeared on the maps to be a good road to Anapa. We never even got out of town before we were stopped by the police for the first time of the day.
       Let me dedicate a paragraph on how the police work the roads in all of Russia. There are two types of stops along the roads we traveled. The first is a semi-barricade two or more times per 100 miles. You must slow down to about 5 mph and about half the time they motion you through. We however are kernels of intense interest and curiosity to the police so many times we are stopped and asked where we are going, what we are doing etc. Since it all takes place in Russian there is a lot of pointing to our daily route sheets and speaking English. Once in a while you hear the dreaded word "documenti" and then out comes all of the paper to cover you and the bike. Most of it is a mystery to them so if you keep pointing to your destination for the day they finally wave you on. Once in a while you get a real hardnose and it takes awhile. The point here is that these are stops and interrogations without probable cause and to an American it smacks of being a police state as they have awesome power. Most times they are very curious about the machinery and of good humor. It is however a police state.
       The second stop is for speeding and someone gave them a bargain buy on 100,000 radar guns. This is a fund raising effort if there ever was one. If you watch the posted signs very carefully and take note of the blink of lights from oncoming cars you will stay out of their clutches. Never-the-less the group has gotten a number of tickets and Hans and I have talked our way out of a few. Things got more intense as we got west of Krasnoyarsk.
       On with 6/14.Hans and I teamed up and I think stopped less than the rest and arrived in Anapa about 3:00 PM. The roads were good and Dr. Allen and Bob Love were not very far behind us. Then we started a long wait that ended in a phone call from the support truck,-- there had been a bad accident and Mike Paull, Pawel Chrobok and Dennis Bishop had all hit a car head-on that had pulled out to make a pass. Details were sketchy but the resulting fire had completely destroyed all of the motors and the car.
       All of the riders had serious injuries and were to be air evacuated back to the USA. Mike reportedly had a compound lower leg break, a wrist fracture and a dislocated right shoulder. Pawel had a broken leg and one broken arm but managed to roll in the grass to put out his burning clothes. First reports are that Dennis was the worst off with a spinal injury that left him without feeling from the chest down. He also had broken arms. We were all heartsick and discussed at length what was to be done. Our decision was a difficult one as our visas were to run out in 48 hours. We left it in the hands of the MIR Corp. who was in charge of our reservations, visas etc. and it was decided that we must keep to the schedule, leave Russia on the ferry boat and enter the Ukraine per our visa dates.
        Totally preoccupied with the loss of three riding companions we then encountered 6 hours of useless border crossing paper work on the two ends of the ferry ride. Then, only a mile into the route west to Yalta we had a police stop wherein we were told we did not have the proper credentials. Thank the M/C gods that the support truck came along and our 4 foot 10 inch Armenian hostess marched into the station and somehow got it straightened out.
       In a very disheartened state of being we started west into the narrow and demanding roads of the Caucus Mountains trying to get to Yalta before dark. This part of the Crimean peninsula is a mixture of conifers and hardwoods and where the slopes look south towards the Black Sea, - well kept vineyards. The mountain roads were tight and enjoyable, really the most technical riding that we had had to date. The thought of a good glass of wine drove Hans and I on and we checked into the Hotel Yalta just before dark. Everybody pulled in by 10:00pm and we were thankful for that.
       We had spent 29 days and 5,265 miles crossing through one country in essentially one direction and we collectively agreed that it had been one hell of a great experience. With a total of 7,700 miles behind us and 3,300 to go, let's see what the Ukraine has to offer. 
       One more thought; During our entire ride through wild and desolate territory, through millions of acres of farmland and areas where we did not see a soul for long periods, - not one of us ever saw a wild animal, no deer, no moose no road kill of rabbits or raccoons or anything else but when we asked about wildlife everyone said that it was abundant. In the same mileage through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York we would have counted wildlife by the hundreds. I personally think that it has all been gently cooked and eaten.              

Regards,
Norm  6/15/04

Back to the Beginning of Norm's Adventure

1st Journal Entry - Beijing China
2nd Journal Entry - Shenyang China
3rd Journal Entry - Towards Russia
4th Journal Entry - In Siberia Russia
5th Journal Entry - Continues through Russia
6th Journal Entry - Marches on through Russia
7th Journal Entry - The Great Potato Field of Russia
8th Journal Entry - Russia Final (next Poland)
9th Journal Entry - Motorcycle Accident in Russia
10th Journal Entry - The Crimea - Ukraine
11th Journal Entry - We have Crossed the Finish Line
12th Journal Entry - Update on injuries
13th Journal Entry - Poland, Czech Rep.
14th Journal Entry - Returning Home