Friday, September 19, 2014

Kazan to Nizhniy Novgorod

19SEP - After a grest breakfast at the Safar Hotel, a European hotel spread, and goodbye to Ross & Jean and Steve & RuthAnn, at 09:15 Dave and I headed North for Nizhniy Novgorod.

The closer we get to Moscow the better the rosds become but the truck traffic increases. A lot of chatter on the Adventure blogs about how terrible the Russian truck drivers are. I don't find that to be the case at all. And they're not just Russian trucks, there are trucks from the EU and even the U.K. The trick is understanding that if there is a pothole that'll take out a wheel on a truck, the driver will take the lane. They all seem to have a keen spatial awareness and will always let you in on a pass if you run out of room. Understand, sometimes there are fifteen or twenty trucks working up a long grade at 25 or 30mph. You just have to 'go native' and pick them off a few at a time. They understand and are helpful. Hey, we're not in Iowa.

Stopped for lunch at a truckstop cafe. They get have a large selection of food to chose from and the cost is minimal. I had a porkchop and potatoe meal, with a small coke for $7.15 U.S.

We got to the hotel at 15:15 with the last ten miles through city rush hour traffic. The traffic seems hectic at first but there is a rhythm to it and after awhile it makes sense. Actually I'd much rather ride through this rush hour traffic (Mexico too) than New York or God forbid Boston.

It was a 244 mile day, blue sky and warming up to 63 degrees.

Note, they had us park the bikes at the front door of the hotel. Right next to the guard station.

1 comment:

  1. Unfortunately none of the photos show up in this post.

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