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17.May
MAY 16. ACROSS RUSSIAN BORDER
16 May
- 2014 -
Author
Andis Pikāns
2014-05-16
The first day is behind us. We left Riga at noon. A lot of time passed until everything was finally in its place and the motorcycles were ready. The clouds are in front of us as we make way to Terehov border crossing, through which we plan to get into Russia. The weather is cold. The road conditions are poor, and its hard to keep hold of the motorcycles because the road is wet and there are ridges caused by trucks.
Czech tires ”Mitas” are not suited for these conditions, they are made for off-road and dry asphalt. Before the border, we notice a rainbow in the cloudy sky. We reached the border at 8 pm. Trucks are standing in the queue for a day already but there are no queues for cars. Checking the formalities for bringing our motorcycles into Russia takes 2 hours. The guards are very objective. While forming documents, we find out from other drivers that there are restrictions that forbid you to bring any dairy or meat over the border. Janis has taken 55 cans of boar meat with him, which to our great delight are not identified and taken away.
The night settles fast and it gets colder. We enter Russia at 10 pm. We had to find accommodation fast, because soon wild animals would start roaming around roads. There are no available rooms in any of the 2 motels that we find. It is not until driving 10 more km to Putoshtok when we find a cafe for truck drivers where there are some rooms available. The room costs 800 roubles. While we move our belongings and equipment to the sleeping place (which could hardly be called a hotel room), we are being watched and questioned by locals and driver. The vibe is friendly. 430 km covered today.
