Yalta on the Black Sea was a beautiful old city before communism and in spite of some of the most horrible examples of monolithic concrete hotels and apartments both finished and unfinished (and probably will never be finished if Yalta is lucky) the city continues to have great charm. There is a long bay side promenade with restaurants, bars, places to pause and people watch and the beach itself worth close examination. We toured some of the "summer palaces" which are really beautifully kept up and spent an hour in Anton Chekhov's summer home and museum. Nicholas II built the Livadia Palace and we photographed each other on the porch where Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt divided up the world at the end of WW 2, 1945.

This town is a vacation retreat for wealthy Russians and wealthy others for that matter. Good restaurants, plenty of nightclubs and all the shops that your wallet or purse can bear. We are really glad to be on motorcycles and be at full weight and space capacity. That way we cannot buy gifts and trinkets, no room!  Our MIR tour manager Kirill Takhtamyshev arrived from Rostov on Don where he had remained until all of the medical logistic problems had been solved. At dinner he gave us an update on our riding companions.

They had all been airlifted out of the Rostov on Don, Mike to a Seattle hospital, Pawel to a hospital in New Jersey and Dennis - first to Ireland where they could reassess the situation. It was decided that he should return to the USA for treatment but on the way home, we lost our good friend to his massive injuries. He was returned to Auburn, Alabama. Just after the accident, Dennis' mother had died but neither could have known of the fate of the other. The funerals were combined.

Dennis had a true southern wit, was as calm and collected as any of us, was a fine rider and enjoyed his beer and was just an all around good guy. He is badly missed. I took the liberty of sending to all of you a letter composed by Helge Pedersen's partner, Karen. She did a wonderful job of bringing everyone in the world touring sport up to date.

The ride from Yalta to Odessa was a riot of color. What appeared to be timothy hay was sprinkled with brilliant red poppies and neon blue lupines. And then there would be an adjacent 100 acres of rape with it's yellow blooms, yellow as only rape can be.

Odessa on the Black Sea is another history-filled city with great architecture that is in need of upkeep. We stayed two nights at the Mozart Hotel which turned out to be one of the best, intimate, clean, and well run overnights we had on the trip. Our tourguide had been raised in Odessa so was very knowledgeable about the area. Again Odessa was a horror story of World War 2 fatalities with the Nazis occupying and then being defeated in a massive battle. Both sides losses were heartbreaking and German tourists come each year to commemorate the losses on both sides.

We had a good city tour except that their beautiful opera house just opposite our Hotel Mozart was closed for renovation. We all seemed to enjoy Odessa more than we did Yalta but both are outstanding to we gringo Cossacks. On to Vinnitza for a brief overnight and L'viv where we made our last stand in the Ukraine, changed the last of our tires, had our farewell dinner with our Russian support crew and made ready for our sprint to the Poland border the following morning, Wed. June 23.

Hard to believe but the Ukraine border exit took less than an hour and the Poland entry was a piece of very sweet cake, a mere 15 minutes. We were on our way to Krakow, Poland. Reality began to set in, - "Where did all the cars and traffic come from", but Krakow, one time the capitol of all Poland delivered.  It's beautiful.

58 days and 8,930 miles behind us and we are on the home stretch. Conversations are starting to contain more home, hearth, wife and girlfriend paragraphs as we begin the refocus process. Life goes on.            

Regards,  Norm

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