TERRANOVA Expedition 2009

Announcing Terranova Expedition 2010...

2010-09-26T14:26:00.000-06:00

Welcome back to www.TERRANOVAEXPEDITION.ca!

We now have just 18 days to go before we leave on the trip of a lifetime. Again.

In July of 2009, Tim Dzaman and Cory Hanson embarked on an around the world motorcycle adventure through 18 countries, including Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan over 118 days.

After returning to Calgary in November of 2009, we realized our lives had been forever altered, and the planning for another expedition began before we even made it home.

In October 2010, we will embark on another epic journey starting in Canada and riding through 22 countries spanning North, Central and South America. Our ultimate goal is the southern most tip of South America... Tierra Del Fuego.

This will be the first of many blog posts which will allow you to follow our adventure online.

To get the latest updates before and during the trip, check back often here on the main page.

The best place to follow our trip once it's started, will be on Map link on the main page. It will take you to our SPOT Tracker, which will record our position automatically. You will be able to click our position and view it on Google Maps.

So you will be able to follow our route.... live.

So, for all our friends, family, and people who are following the trip on the web...

Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of any Update entry.

Welcome to the TERRANOVA Expedition 2010. We can hardly wait to get started.

Tim and Cory.

Trailer II

2010-08-02T02:42:00.001-06:00

Terranova Map

2010-06-26T12:57:00.009-06:00

Terranova is pleased to provide a full Digital GPS map of our trip for download.

The map is an Ultra Hi-Resolution JPG file (9152x6101) which contains the complete GPS route we traveled around the world in 2009.

Right Click the link below and "Save as Target..." or "Save Linked file as..." to download to your computer.

Terranova Ultra Hi-Res Digital GPS Map (5.9MB)

Calgary Motorcycle Show: January 8-10, 2010

2010-01-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Cory and Tim will be at the Calgary Motorcycle Show in Calgary.

Friday, January 8th	12:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday, January 9th	10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sunday, January 10th	10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Please come down to meet the guys and see the bikes.

Booth# 726

UPI Story

2009-11-11T14:09:00.005-07:00

UPI Story (Click here for full story)

CBC RADIO Interview

2009-11-10T18:11:00.003-07:00

CBC Radio Link

Calgary Herald Article

2009-11-10T18:02:00.004-07:00

Calgary Herald Article (CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE)

The expedition is complete.

2009-11-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

On November 6, 2009, 118 days after departing Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Tim Dzaman and Cory Hanson returned home.

They travelled to Japan, South Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, the USA and Canada on Motorcycles.

Thank you to everyone who supported us on this incredible journey - Cory and Tim

Day 118: Home.

2009-11-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

The journey is the reward.

Day 116-118: Crossing into Canada

2009-11-09T18:59:00.003-07:00

Rode through Washington State and crossed back home to Canada at the BC border.

Drove to Hope BC where we met up with our friend Jarrod, who had driven out from Calgary with his truck and trailer.

We knew that this late in the year, we would not be able to drive across the Rogers pass, as it would be snowed in. We had hoped to be able to drive as far as possible, but if it got snowy on the road, or dipped below 0 degrees C, then we would have to load the bikes on the trailer.

After staying the night in Hope, BC, we rode all day in the rain (cold) to Revelstoke. It got pretty sketchy at the end, when we were mere kilometers from Revelstoke, and the temperature was dropping close to 0. We kept stopping and testing the road, but it stayed clear all the way.

The next morning, after looking at the highway camera's, it was apparant we would be unable to continue riding, so we loaded up the bikes, and set off for the Rogers pass. Not 20 minutes after we left, the roads became slushy and the snow was piled up on the sides of the roads. There was no way to safely ride this section.

.

The snow and freezing rain continued from the time we cleared the pass, right up until Canmore, Alberta, where we pulled over, unloaded the bikes, and prepared to ride into Calgary.

Day 114-115: Portland

2009-11-04T00:35:00.004-07:00

We made it to Portland, where we met up with our friends Jason and Don. It's always great to see these guys and their families, and they always treat us with such generosity. We had a great time telling stories of our adventures while we sat around the table looking at photos

Day 112 and 113: California Highway 1

2009-11-04T00:30:00.002-07:00

We spent a couple days leisurely riding up California via Hwy 1. It's a bikers paradise of twisty turns and beautiful scenery.

We've ran into some unbelievable fog at night, that just rolled in out of nowhere, and we had to quickly find a camp, since we couldn't see much, and it got much colder. We have been camping a lot in the last couple weeks (aside from Vegas), which has been very nice. It's much colder now at night, with a couple being below freezing. But we have good equipment, tents and sleeping bags, so we're very warm. I am starting to think I may have trouble adjusting back to sleeping in my house, after 4 months in hotels and my tent.

It's becoming a common thing in the morning now to try and guess how warm or cold it's going to be that day. We either gear up fully with thermal underwear, and all the inserts in our jackets, or just the basics, with all the liners out. After about 20 minutes on the road, we know if we have guessed right or not. It's no fun riding in full gear when it's 25 degrees out. And it's also no fun riding in our shells when it drops below 10 degrees. The weather now can change now in a day by up to 15 degrees, and it makes it challenging for us.

Once we got to northern California, we entered the land of the giant Redwoods. It is a truly amazing and magical to be riding amongst these giant trees. Some are over 2000 years old, with the largest being upwards of 300 feet tall, and up to 25 feet across.

Day 111: Oakland

2009-10-31T21:35:00.002-06:00

Drove in to Oakland, picked up new a new Camera head for Corys bike-cam. As we were sitting outside the Fed Ex building a guy came up and asked about the bike. Turns out he had met Ted Simon on the road in 1974.

For people who don't know, Ted Simon is one of the Fathers of motorcycle adventuring and is one of our inspirations for this trip. Small world.

Another nice fellow came up, saw our license plates, and asked where we were from. He was also from Calgary, so we had a nice chat with him as well.

Day 110: Yosemite National Park

2009-10-31T21:34:00.004-06:00

We drove through Yosemite, but not without some trepidation. It's the end of October, and it was below zero last night, and we saw a sign saying the Tioga Pass (the route through Yosemite) was closed with about 100 km to go. When we arrived at the turn off, the sign indicated the pass was now "open" so we talked to some locals.

The pass had opened 2 hours prior for vehicular traffic. We asked them if they meant motorcycles too, and this began a discussion as to whether it would be safe for bikes to try. The consensus was... maybe.

So off we went. As we climbed past 6000 feet, the snow started to appear. At 7000 feet, it was more snow than dirt covering the ground. The temperature, which had been around 10 degrees C, was now 9, then 8. At 8000 feet, the temperature was 6.5 degrees, and the snow was all around. At 9000 feet, it was 5 degrees, and the sky was grey.

We topped the pass at 9945 feet, and the road remained dry. The sun peeked through the trees, and we were cautious in the shadows. We spent the next couple hours riding through some beautiful country, always cautious in the corners, but it was a great day, and a great ride.

Day 107-109: Las Vegas

2009-10-31T19:43:00.000-06:00

We spent three days in Vegas with Becky, going to shows and walking the strip. Vegas was the same as it always is, a souless cotton candy city that sucks the goodness out of every being who enters. In other words, it was a lot of fun.

We booked our stay at the Excalibur, which is a fairly decent hotel. To give you an idea how bad Vegas is hurting, the rooms were $36.00 each night. The casino's were very uncrowded, and the entire strip, while not lifeless, was not the usual bustle that you expect.

As we were leaving on Wednesday, we were walking across the lobby when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my friend Jeff. What a great surprise! We had lunch with him and his girlfriend, they were just getting to Vegas as we were leaving.

Day 106: Drive to Vegas

2009-10-29T21:51:00.004-06:00

We rode to Vegas in an absolute terrible headwind. Cory's gas mileage went form 4 l/100 km to 11 L/100 km. It was a big wind.

Day 105: UFC: Machida Vrs Shogun

2009-10-29T21:51:00.000-06:00

We went to the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) in LA on Saturday night. Cory and I are big fans and have been to a few in the past. This was Becky's first UFC event live, and she had a great time. Some of the fights were great, but the main event was boring.

When we arrived, they were doing a Michael Jackson tribute out front of the Staples Center, and they were doing a giant Thriller dance, with everyone in ghoulish costume.

Day 104: Disneyland

2009-10-29T21:50:00.000-06:00

I hadn't been to Disneyland for over 20 years, so I was looking forward to some of the new rides. We spent the day going on tons of rides and had a blast. Disneyland still rocks, no matter how old you are.

No pictures, as I didn't want to lug my giant camera around all day. Sorry. Google "Disneyland" and imagine us in the pictures. :)

Day 103: LA

2009-10-29T21:48:00.000-06:00

We rode into LA to pick up Cory's friend Becky at the airport. Becky had come with us at the outset of the journey from Calgary to Vancouver, and had flown into LA to spend a couple days with us here.

After picking her up, we came back to camp, and then spent the evening at Downtown Disneyland.

Day 102: Phoenix to LA

2009-10-25T00:26:00.001-06:00

We left Phoenix early, and got a good start. It's incredibly hot on the bikes right now, as we dumped our hot weather gear in Toronto, and all we have with us are the cold weather suits. So we have all the liners out of them, and it's still too hot. We hit 36 degrees coming into Californiam and boy were we sweating.

We came across another bad accident today. Two guys lost control of their Van, and ended up spilling themselves, and the contents of the Van all over the highway and the ditch.

We ran over, and provided minimal first aid, but things were pretty under control, and the Ambulance got there quickly. One guy had multiple cuts and abrasions, and the other guy had two broken legs, but neither had any head injuries, and they were both lucid and aware, so they will likely heal up fine.

We left as soon as the ambulance arrived, and made it to LA, where we found a campsite about 400 meters from Disneyland.

We watched the fireworks that night from our tents.

Update: Daily American Republic

2009-10-21T10:55:00.000-06:00

We were interviewed by the local newspaper in Poplar Bluff, Missouri a week or so ago. This was the cover of the paper. :)

Day 101: Airplane Boneyard, Tucson, Arizona

2009-10-21T10:44:00.001-06:00

I had always wanted to see this place. It contains over 4000 airplanes, stored at the 309th AMARC by the US Government for parts, or until needed. The dry, hard desert is perfect, as the planes don't corrode, and can be left for years at a time until needed.

In addition, they have the Pima Air and Space museum which is fascinating.

Roughly 60 percent of the planes in the Boneyard can be made flyable again. Some are there for parts usages. It's a massive 2600 acre facility beside Davis-Monthan Air Base.

Day 100: Tombstone, Arizona

2009-10-21T10:31:00.001-06:00

We marked our 100th day on the road in Tombstone.

In 1881, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, gunned down 3 Cowboys in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.

This began the legend of Wyatt Earp and the story of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

To get there, we cut through the Coronado National Forest, which was a wonderful drive over gravel roads that reminded us of the weeks we spent in Mongolia.

The funny thing is, the back roads through the Forest, with signs everywhere stating they are unmaintained, and to "travel at your own risk", are 100 times better than the main "highway" through Monglia.

Day 99: Carlsbad Caverns

2009-10-18T01:21:00.001-06:00

We visited the world famous Carlsbad Caverns. They are one of the largest and most beautiful cave systems in all the world. We hiked in through the natural opening and did the entire tour, which is fascinating.

They were first brought to the publics attention and explored by Jim White in 1898, when he was just 16 years old. He then spent the better part of his life, exploring and promoting the cave system. In the beginning, he was the only one who could guide people in the cave, as there was no map. He had memorized his way through the cave from his many visits.

If you ever come this way, we highly recommend you see it. It is now a World Heritage Site.

Make sure you click on the pictures to expand them.

Day 98: Fort Stockton

2009-10-18T00:34:00.002-06:00

We spent most of the day doing some work on Cory's bike. His engine was leaking a ton of oil out of the top, so we got a new gasket and he pulled the top off the bike, and replaced it.

We didn't leave Matt's place in San Angelo Texas, until after 4:00 pm, so we only had time to drive to Fort Stockton, a couple hundred KM away. We took the back route, so the views were spectacular.

Day 92-97: Michigan to Texas

2009-10-16T20:48:00.003-06:00

We rode through Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.

Wanting to get South as quickly as possible, we've rode most of the way on the Interstates, which is the fastest way to travel, but also the most boring.

Hour after hour dodging big rigs and stopping for gas, has led us to be a little bored sometimes about this section of the trip.

We're tired of Gas station food, as we've eaten enough chips and drank enough pop for 10 trips. It's hard to eat well, when you have no place to cook, and are only stopping long enough to grab something quick. When you do this, you end up eating crap.

So, starting today, we've made a point of taking the "back" roads through Texas, and we did a wonderful ride this afternoon through some gorgeous country.

We are going to continue to try wherever possible to stay off the interstates.

Some highlights:

Camping in Missouri along the bank of a beautiful lake, we had the campground mostly to ourselves. I guess everyone thinks it's winter now, so they've stopped camping. It was beautiful

We were interviewed by the Daily American Republic, a newspaper in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

We road through Hope, Arkansas, home of President Clinton (there were signs) :)

We stopped in San Angelo, Texas to visit our friend Matt from West Texas Offroad. Matt and his family put us up in their home for the night, and took us out for some awesome Texas steaks. We know Matt from competing with him at offroad events over the years.

nce into Texas, we rode on the President George Bush Highway, then took the President George Bush offramp, to the President George Bush interchange

Cale David Readwin: Born October 12, 2009

2009-10-13T20:49:00.001-06:00

Our good friends Zack and Krystal Readwin just let us know that they had a baby boy named Cale David.

We were so happy to hear the news.

Congratulations!

Day 91: KOA Campground Halloween

2009-10-13T20:32:00.003-06:00

We had a good day of riding, and booked into a packed KOA campground. It was almost full, and there were 350 or so kids, all dressed for Halloween. Seems down here, they celebrate Helloween for about three weekends before the actual holiday.

So the kids were all set to come trick-or-treating from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and we had just arrived. So we quickly put our tents up, and went to the store and bought some candy to hand out.

We got up the next morning, hung out a bit with our neighbors and their adorable daughter and her friend, who we made sing for their candy the night before :)

Then we took off, heading south.

Also, I stood in a corn field. It's a little like Where's Waldo, but I'm in there.

Day 89-90: Sarnia, Ontario

2009-10-13T20:02:00.002-06:00

After landing in Toronto, we drove to Sarnia, where we stayed with our friend Ryan and his wife Jenny and their three boys.

We spent some time working on the bikes, and Cory installed the new Prototype adjustable windshield from Madstad.

We also picked up some new Helmet and Bike cams to replace the ones that were lost or damaged in Russia and Mongolia.

Update: Petar Rikik completes Round the World trip

2009-10-08T23:18:00.002-06:00

We got word today that Petar has arrived safely back in Croatia and, at 19 years of age, has succeeded in riding his motorcycle around the world.

Cory and I feel very fortunate to have gotten to know Petar, and to have shared a portion of his adventure.

We were honored to travel with him through Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

From both of us, well done Petar, and Congratulations.

We are very proud of you.

Tim Dzaman

Cory Hanson

Terranova Expedition

Day 88: Toronto

2009-10-08T05:29:00.004-06:00

We spent our last day in Heidelber, Germany, washing and prepping the bikes for the journey back to North America

We took a train from Heidelberg to Franfurt, and then a plane from Frankfurt to Belgium, and then Belgium to Toronto.

We got in to Toronto at about 1:00 pm, then spent till about 6:00 getting all the customs and shipping paperwork done, and breaking down the bikes from the shipping pallet and getting them ready to ride.

Our first stop after getting the bikes, was Swiss Chalet. :)

Then we met up with our friend Tom Kelly, who was flying in to Toronto as well. Tom brought some gear for Cory from home, which was great.

We then went and got a massage. We sure wished we could have had one in Mongolia!

Day 85-87: Germany and Knopf Tours

2009-10-08T05:27:00.001-06:00

We left Amsterdam after hooking up with Knopf Tours in Heidelberg, Germany. We got Stefan Knopf to ship our bikes back to North America. Stefan shipped the bikes out Tuesday Morning, and we went out on Wednesday.

Update: Route Change Number 2

2009-10-06T01:29:00.001-06:00

After working all day packing the bikes, filling out forms and talking on the phone, it has become apparent that US customs regulations are beyond ridiculous.

We have been told by the customs office, that our bikes could clear from between 1 week (best case) and 20 days (worst case).

So we could be sitting in Orlando for up to 20 days, waiting to get our bikes.

These are the same bikes that we could drive across the Canada-US border at any time in 5 minutes. So why does it take from 7 to 20 days to clear by plane... no one could tell us.

So.... Orlando is out, we will NOT be shipping the bikes to Florida.

Instead, we will ship the bikes to Canada... Toronto to be exact, where we will make the trip south as quickly as we can to escape the weather, and then come up the coast to Vancouver as originally planned.

Will likely update the site again when we are in Toronto.

Tim - October 5th, 11:00 pm (Germany)

Update: Route Change

2009-10-04T14:40:00.005-06:00

Cory and I have been discussing various routes we could take once we got back to North America, and we have, in the last month or so settled on one.

We knew going into this trip that we would be running really late in the season, and would likely not be able to drive back across Canada. We even discussed leaving the bikes in Europe, if we were too late, and not doing the North American section of the trip.

But, after making it through Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, we both realized that we needed to finish this journey by riding/carrying/dragging the bikes back to Calgary.

So, with the days ticking away, and us taking the scenic route, we've run into the end of Summer, and it's getting colder.

So, we decided a while ago to adjust our North American landing point south, to Florida, and from there we will ride across the bottom part of the US to California.

From California, we will ride up the coast, to Vancouver, which would complete our journey around the world... plus a little bit.

We have a friend meeting us in Vancouver with a truck and trailer, and will ride as much as we can back to Calgary. The Rogers pass and any areas with snow, we will load the bikes into the trailer.

We REALLY hope to be able to ride the bikes into Calgary and finish in the same park where we started some 115 plus days ago, but either way, the bikes and us will be back in Calgary, sometime around the first week of November.

Day 82-84: Amsterdam

2009-10-04T14:39:00.005-06:00

In late Autumn, on Friday, October 2, 2009, on a cold, windy afternoon, we pulled into Amsterdam, our final destination in Europe.

In 82 days, we have ridden over 20,000 km from Calgary to Vancouver, South Korea to Vladivostok, through Siberia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

When we passed the sign for Amsterdam, we high-fived, then tried not to run into any of the hundreds of bicycles riding everywhere. Amsterdam is one cool city. People on old style bikes where everywhere. Beautiful buildings. Canals. Boats. Our first impression was that it was a fantastic city, and we hadn't even been to the Red Light District yet. :)

So we got the cheapest hotel we could find, which for 2 nights, was more than we spent in Mongolia in 10 days, including hotels, meals, fuel and food. Amsterdam is one expensive city.

We did the tourist thing first, and went on a boat cruise through the city. That night, we went to the Red Light District, which is a crazy place. Not just the prostitutes in the windows and the sex shops, but for all the people, we didn't see any garbage, or bottles thrown about. The people were respectful and happy. No drunken idiots. It was an interesting dichotomy from the absolute nuttiness you would expect.

Day 79-81 France

2009-10-03T18:54:00.006-06:00

We entered France, after spending the morning riding out of Austria, about 15 minutes riding through Liechtenstein, and then through Switzerland. We would have loved to spend a month in each country, as they are some of the most beautiful regions we have ridden through so far, but winter is fast approaching, and we need to keep moving.

We made our way to Dijon, to visit Suze, a good friend of mine, who has lived in France for the last 4 years.

Suze, from the balcony of her apartment in France.

It was so nice to see Suze and her boyfriend David (who I have met before several times), after 80 some days without seeing a friendly face.

Suze and David

We went for supper in the town square in Dijon It's now full of wonderful outdoor restaurants, but it used to be the place they hung people.

We met up aqain with them the next day, and shared a wonderful walking tour of Dijon, and were treated to some tasty Baguettes and Croissant.

I would soon weigh 400 lbs if I lived in France.

This is THE mustard store. It's full of mustard. I never knew there was that many types of Mustard.

David and Suze accompanied us for a bit on our journey north on David's Harley. It was nice to ride with them as we took to the wonderful curvy back roads of France, instead of the main, straight highways. We rode through picturesque villages and fields, past tractors and combines, and saw more cows than we have since Russia.

We continued for a couple hundred kilometers after we left Suze and David on the back roads. Sadly, we finally had to end up back on the main highway, where we went back to dodging trucks and turned our bikes toward Luxembourg, Beigium and our final destination in Europe... Amsterdam.

Day 78: Camping in the Alps

2009-09-28T06:03:00.005-06:00

Another spectacular day in Austria.

The road we are on runs straight through the middle of the Western part of Austria, and when they build a road here, they don't fool around. We went through a succession of tunnels that got longer and longer, with the longest being 13.5 km long, right through the mountains. When you come out of the end, you are treated to some of the most spectacular scenery we have had on the trip.

The mountains here are truly beautiful.

We had a late night last night, helping some nice girls celebrate their staggette till 4:30 am, so we got a late (very) start today, and only did about 150 km. I got my third ticket of the trip, failing to slow down from 100-80-60 at the proper interval (I was doing 95 km/h at the 80 km/h sign) and passing someone while doing it. Once they had me pulled over, we were informed that in Austria, you require a Toll Sticker for your vehicle, which you can get at any gas station. We didn't know this. So I had to pay the Toll sticker fine, along with the speeding fine, and the passing in the no speeding zone... €25 plus €35 plus €65. €130 total. Cory got off with a warning and was told to buy the sticker at the next gas station, which he did.

We camped that night in the Alps.

Day 77: Munich

2009-09-26T13:38:00.004-06:00

Trying to get out of Munich early, but the new rear tire I put on yesterday, has a ripped sidewall (factory defect) so we had to go back to the big dealer and get it fixed. Luckily we took a wrong turn, and ended up driving by BMW headquarters.

Now, don't think we're dumb or anything, but we had no idea it was there.

Not that we didn't research this trip, but there is only so much you can plan in advance, and I must say that Munich never got so much as a glance.

So we had a great afternoon touring the BMW museum and BMW Welt, which is the most immense, beautiful, over the top building full of brand new BMW's you can possibly imagine

Left Munich for Austria, got across the border, and into the Alps, which are spectacular. Stopped just over the border at an old Motorcycle/Bicycle shop.

Stayed at this beautiful little hotel, nestled in the Alps, and listened to a live marching band play in the lobby of the hotel.

They had this amazing sculpture that was a MASSIVE Marble ball suspended in a block of marble only by the thinnest of water pressure. You could set the ball spinning with one finger.

Day 76: Oktoberfest

2009-09-26T13:36:00.001-06:00

We left our fantastic camping spot, with Munich only about 60 km away and the intent to get there quickly, until we realized that hey, October... Munich... don't they have some kind of Festival here... oh yah..... OKTOBERFEST!

What a great coincidence. We found a camp with a bunch of RV'ers from Italy, and went to Oktoberfest that night, where we rode every roller coaster at least twice, and had an absolute blast. We even found our way there and back on the Munich Underground, which we rode with hundreds of wonderfully funny, drunk Germans.

Earlier in the day, we had found the largest BMW motorcycle dealer in Europe, so we got some parts for Cory's bike (new instrument cluster) and some new tires for mine, which we also had mounted.

Our bikes got tons of attention from the customers there like always, only this time they couldn't believe that they either

a) still ran
b) was only 6 months old, for Cory's bike.

Our dirty, scraggly, beat up bikes look hilarious in the parking lot full of the shiny, brand new BMW's parked there.

Day 73-75: Prague

2009-09-26T13:22:00.003-06:00

We got into Prague late, as usual, and we had our GPS set to take us directly to the first BMW dealership we would find. Our bikes were in dire need of some work.

My rear Brakes were gone, and had been gone since Volgograd. The engine had been 17,000 km since the last valve adjustment, so it was ticking pretty loudly. We ended up finding a Penzion (a kind of private Hostel), which was a 1/2 block from the BMW dealership. So we booked our bikes in for service, and set up in the hostel.

The dealership did a great job on short notice of servicing our bikes, so we took the opportunity to drive into Prague that night and see the sights. We only wish we could have spent more time touring Prague, but we are always limited in what we can see in the time we have. Prague was no exception. It is a spectacular city, and very beautiful.

We left mid-day with the intent to drive most of the way to Munich, so when we got close, we started to look for a Camp for the night.

This began one of the most beautiful, twisty drives we have been on. I think the GPS was trying it's best, but we ran into a road closure, so about an hour after we started looking, we were still driving the "last" 10 km to our camp. We finally came over the hill and turned into the most idyllic looking campground we have seen. We drove up, and set up camp beside a young german guy named Matthius who was so excited to see us pull up. Turns out, he just completed a 15 month round the world motorcycle trip of his own, so we compared notes for a while, he even KNEW some of the same people we had met!

We had a great time talking the trip with him.

Day 72: Riding to Prague

2009-09-23T01:52:00.002-06:00

We left our camp in Poland heading for Prague.

It was a two day swing, so we knew we wouldn't make it all the way. We ended up taking our first real wrong turn on an overpass/traffic circle, and had to back track 21 km till we could turn around. It was a toll road so there was no way to get on or off it for a while.

The towns along the way are becoming very beautiful, old, european style architecture, which is in stark contrast to the poor, 1960's style towns they have in Russia and the former Soviet areas.

Day 71: Poland

2009-09-23T01:42:00.003-06:00

Left Ukraine for Poland today, which means we have entered the European Union. However, we found out that Poland doesn't take Euro's, so we had to change money again.

Ended up in a huge traffic jam in the middle of the day, where we learned that Polish drivers are some of the most generous and courteous we have met. We lane split (went between the traffic) in the jam, and a lot of the cars were moving out of the way to allow us to pass. Big trucks would move aside for us and wave. So we ended up making good time through about 10 km of bumper to bumper traffic.

The roads here are beautiful. We are back in civilization, you see more road signs in 1 km here than we saw in all of Mongolia.

Welcome to Poland, we are now officially in the EU.

Looking back at the Ukraine/Poland Border

Day 70: Riding to Poland

2009-09-23T01:38:00.005-06:00

Riding was good today, didn't leave the hotel till after 11:00, only got in about 350 km. Roads are very good. Cory's bike has a bent front wheel so we are limited to about 100 km/h, which is starting to be noticeable now that we are in Europe and roads are excellent, we are slower than traffic, which is now much heavier than we are used to.

The mornings are getting crisp, and the leaves are starting to fall. It's Autumn in Europe. We bought some thermals yesterday as well. Getting ready for some colder riding days.

Update: Equipment Status

2009-09-22T13:37:00.006-06:00

Equipment Destroyed or Lost

1 helmet cam
2 Bike cams
1 Sony handheld Camcorder
4 pair of sunglasses (Tim)
1 Leatherman (Cory)

Cory's Bike:

1. Repaired pannier bracket
2. Broken Battery
3. Handle bar risers twisted
4. Kickstand broke
5. Tank Bag ripped off
6. Peg packer bolt broke
7. Hula girl broke off :(
8. Waterpoof bags split
9. Cut rear tire (from pannier bracket)
10. Front Tire badly bent (Mongolia)
11. Top of Engine weeping oil
12. Instrument Cluster Ripped off
13. Beak, side cover cracked
14. Bash plate torn
15. Center Stand Bent
16. Chain Broke
17. Pannier Bracket Lock broke

Tim's Bike

1. Rear tire leaked (pump up twice a day - Replaced)
2. Cracked windscreen
3. Main bolt holding windscreen rattled off
4. Main air intake rattled loose (fixed)
5. Pannier rack broke
6. Rear Brakes pads worn out
7. Rear Brake rotor damaged
8. Front Tire bent
9. Front Fender Broke (Mongolia)
10. Valves in need of adjustment
11. Pannier Bolt rattle out (lost)
12. Main Air intake rattled loose (fixed)
13. Windscreen bracket bent (bike Vandalized)

The bikes are getting a partial service tomorrow in Prague, so they will get an Oil change (both), Valve adjustment (Tim), rear Brakes (Tim), Air Filter (Cory).

Day 69 Continued...: Pripyat

2009-09-20T12:51:00.016-06:00

Pripyat was founded in 1970 to house the workers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It is located 3 km from the Reactors.

In 1986, when Reactor 4 blew up, Pripyat was home to 45,000 people.

There is no one there now.

After the disaster, the entire town was evacuated. The people were given 2 hours to gather what they could. Everything else remained behind.

Now, 23 years later, the contaminated town is slowly being reclaimed by the forest. But it sits, frozen in time, a snapshot into life at the end of the Soviet Union.

Sadly, in spite of the radiation risk, the town has been looted and stripped of almost everything. What remains is debris, and the buildings. The contaminated trees are slowly reclaiming the buildings and roads.. The main road into town is now barely wide enough for our Van, the trees and leaves scraping the sides.

We come out into the parking lot in front of the town Hotel. Moss and grass and small trees dot the cracked pavement. The radioactive contamination here is quite low among the buildings. We go into the Hotel and climb the steps to the top overlooking the city. There is a tree growing out of the floor on the top balcony.

From the top we gaze out over the city. Reactor 4 with the ugly Sarcophagus is easily visible 3 km away on the horizon. The Cultural Center is straight down below us. We spend some time on each floor walking down the hallways littered with debris. We poke our heads into the tiny apartments, now stripped of everything. We are careful not to disturb anything. We are aware that each one was someone's home, and we want to respect that.

We walk over to the Cultural center, walk up the steps, and gaze at the crumbling, colorful mural on the wall. It seems out of place. We walk through the remains of the theater. All the seats have been stripped out, but the stage and some of the lighting is still there. We walk down hallways full of debris. Our dosimeter is almost silent. The radiation here is barely above background.

Outside we walk around a corner, and into view comes the famous Pripyat Ferris Wheel and the Bumper Cars. Abandoned and rusting, they are images I have stared at many times in the last 20 years. And now I am standing in front of them.

Cory and I are both as excited as kids, as we take pictures of the cars and then walk over to the Ferris Wheel. Cory climbs up on one of the smaller ones, and I snap a picture.

We are careful to run the dosimeter over everything before we touch it. The radiation is NOT consistent, and there are pockets of highly radioactive areas beside relatively safe areas. We are safe here, and I snap a quick pic of Cory.

We walk over to the giant Ferris Wheel. At it's base is a teddy bear laying on the ground, slowly being reclaimed by the earth. It was likely a child's toy, maybe dropped in the frantic time after the order to evacuate came. We imagine the children playing and riding the wheel, and laughing. It is quiet now except for the wind, and the beeping of our dosimeter measuring the radiation, which never stops.

We take more pictures. Cory and I sit on the Ferris wheel.

Afterwards, we walk over to the Super market, stripped of everything, except the aisle signs.

Finally, we venture down a path to the Pool. It is the cleanest building in Pripyat, with the dosimeter showing almost normal levels. We walk through the pool and the basketball court. There is a hockey net and a gymnastics springboard on the floor.

Cory bounces a few times up and down.

We exit the pool, and walk back to the Van, careful not to step on the moss (we were told not to).

We pile into the Van. On the way out, our guide takes the Dosimeter and holds it out the window. As we drive down the road, it starts to climb.. .300.. .400.. 0500.. 0700.. 1.00... 1.30... 1.700... 1.900.... then it changes to a steady 1.

"Off the Scale" intones our guide.

It then drops down as suddenly as it rose. We ask why, and he explains that this is where they buried all the radioactive trees, 2 meters down.

Cory and I wonder why they would build the road out over it, and whether we will be glowing for the rest of the trip.

We leave the Zone after having our Van checked by a technician, and being personally scanned by a machine that measures our radioactivity.

We pass.

I can say without reservation, visiting Pripyat was one of the most memorable experiences of my lifetime.

Day 69: Chernobyl

2009-09-17T01:35:00.011-06:00

Today was a different day than any other on this trip. Visiting Chernobyl and Pripyat is a powerful experience. I was 19 when Reactor 4 blew up, and remember well the resulting fear and mystery, as it played out in the following weeks. This event helped shape the worlds attitude toward Nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

Coming here in person, you realize this is an ongoing disaster. The Radiation in the air, and the soil is ever present. Like a monster that you can't see, but you know it's there. It makes the hairs on the back of your head stand up.

As we approached the gates, we were watching a documentary on the history of the disaster, and the scenes on the TV mimicked what was going by outside our window. We were actually driving toward the Zone of Exclusion. It was an ominous feeling.

We reached the gates, where a guard checked our passports, against the pre-approved list. You have to get permission to visit. We were pre-cleared, so there were no problems, and the gate lifted and we entered the Zone.

We came first to the administrative town, which was built after, to sign our waivers and get a briefing on what to expect.

As we drove forward, abandoned buildings began to appear. There were many villages in the Zone that were evacuated, besides the city of Pripyat. Some were bulldozed after, most were left. The forest has started to reclaim them.

We got our first look at our dosimeter, which measures the level of radioactivity in the air.

Dosimeter. This picture was taken on the road about 2 km from the damaged reactor. The reading is .120.

Normal background radiation is 0.015 or less. Kiev is 0.020, which indicates that 20 years after the blast, it is still more radioactive than normal. The administrative center at Chernobyl is 0.030. We left the center, and slowly, in the distance, the first reactors came into view.

We stopped here, to see first the unfinished No. 5 and 6 reactors, with their construction cranes still hanging in the air. They want to dismantle them, but everything has been sitting for 20 years, and they are afraid they will collapse. So it just sits there.

Unfinished Reactor No. 5, with derelict construction cranes.

The massive cooling pond is highly contaminated. It sits about 40 feet from the road, which is safe. They dug down 1 meter here, and removed all the soil, before repaving the road. The readings here were over .100. Our guide walked 10 feet over the guard rail, put the detector close to the ground, we heard it start to buzz. He turned around and said "off the scale". Then calmly walked back to the road and handed me the detector. Cory and I exchanged horrified looks.

The cooling pond and grass is all highly contaminated

We asked at this point, what amounts of radiation were we absorbing on this trip. The limit for our guides is 2 million parts per year. When we were standing looking at the Sarcophagus, the reading was .500-.600, 500 parts per hour. Our guide had been (for not long) to an area that was 800,000 parts per hour. We felt a bit better after hearing this, and seeing the many technicians walking around us. There are over 4000 people working in the area all the time. They all wear personal dosimeters.

Next up was the damaged reactor itself. The Sarcophagus was built to last 30 years, and we are 23 years into that now. It is in dire need of repair and replacement. There is great concern it may collapse.

Damaged Reactor No 4. and Sarcophagus.

Reactor No. 4. and Dosimeter. Readings here were .500 to .700

There are plans for a "New Safe Confinement", that was originally to be completed by 2005. It has been pushed back to 2012 at least.

What most people don't realize is that after the first explosion, there was an immediate threat of another, much larger explosion. This 2nd explosion, if it happened, would have rendered Europe un-inhabitable. It was only because of the original firefighters bravery (they all died), that stopped it.

Memorial in Chernobyl to the firefighters. The plaque reads "They saved the world".

Next up... The Ghost town of Pripyat...

Day 67 and 68: Kiev, Ukraine

2009-09-17T01:32:00.007-06:00

Another great weather day, about 25 degrees. This won't last long, as we are getting late in the season.

About 480 km from Karkov to Kiev.

We noticed for the first time that the trees are starting to turn colors, signifying the end of summer.

Kiev is beautiful, and huge. We got here late at night, and will be here for 3 days. Dodged all the cops again today, mostly by driving r e a l l y s l o w l y all day.

We found the best internet we have had so far in the trip, so we will try and upload some more pictures, and maybe a bit more video.

We are spending today in Kiev with a day off, our butts are sore.

We spent the day at the The National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War (of 1941-1945) (Ukrainian: Національний музей історії Великої Вітчизняної Війни 1941-1945 років, Russian: Национальный музей истории Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 годов) is a memorial complex commemorating the Great Patriotic War located in the southern outskirts of the Pechersk district of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, on the picturesque hills on the right-bank of the Dnieper River.

Visiting these memorials here and in Volgograd makes you realize the unbelievable sacrifice that the Russians suffered in WWII (Great Patriotic War). The loss of life is staggering. We just wish we could read more of the inscriptions in the Museum so we could understand more of what we are seeing.

Day 65 Lugansk, Ukraine

2009-09-17T01:08:00.006-06:00

The roads in this part of Russia are very good, so the driving has become easier, and the mileage we cover better.

We made it in pretty good time to the Russia/Ukraine border, or at least within 5 km of it, this is when we got lost 3 times. Cory has the only working Russia Map in his GPS, and according to it, we were in the middle of the main road. The only problem was we were driving down a back alley past a dump.

After back tracking and asking 4 or 5 people, all who pointed in different directions, we got pointed in the right direction (although the GPS kept telling us to turn), and finally made it to the Border. This particular border, was actually pretty good, and the guards were friendly and helpful. We made it through in about an hour and a half, with no real issues, and were through to Ukraine.

We spent a few minutes at the border, speaking with a couple guys whose company is contracted by the US Department of Energy, who were at the border, installing US supplied radiation detectors. They are in the process of installing them at all the former borders to Russia to try and stop the proliferation of nuclear materials.

We call this the "MIG on a stick" monument. It's about the 5th or 6th one we've seen. I guess when the Cold War ended and you had all these extra Airplane parts, it made sense to make monuments out of them.

Day 64 - The Motherland Calls

2009-09-16T14:14:00.017-06:00

Before leaving Volgograd, we wanted to visit the huge, famous statue that is in the City. So we asked around a bit, and got basic directions, most of them ending with "...don't worry, you'll see it".

When she came into view, we realized what they meant. The statue is immense and very, very impressive.

It is part of the massive WWII memorial built on Mamayev Kurgan (the main hill overlooking the city), dedicated to the Battle of Volgograd, arguably the bloodiest battle in human history.

Estimates put the dead or wounded as high as 2,000,000.

The battle took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943, lasting a little over 6 Months.

The name of the Statue translates to "The Motherland Calls", and at the time is was built (1967), it was the largest statue in the world. It is 85 meters from the feet to the tip of the sword. To give you some perspective, this is a little under twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. It was recently reported that it is starting to lean, and they are concerned it could topple over. It is not fixed to it's foundation in any way, but is held solely in place by it's incredible weight.

You have to stand next to it to truly understand how huge it is.

We left Volgograd around 4:00, and made it out of the city, heading towards Ukraine, but since it was late in the day, we only did a a hundred and a bit KM, found a plowed farmers field, and made camp for the night.

We noted that this was the first night we camped on the trip just Cory and I. (all previous camps had been with Petar in Asia and Europe, and Becky in Canada)

Day 63: Volgograd

2009-09-16T13:59:00.008-06:00

Petar met us at the hotel this morning, and we said our final goodbye's.

The parts for his bike won't be in Astrakan for another 7-10 days, so he is staying, and we must continue on.

Petar had become such a big part of the trip, that we both felt of him as a member of Terranova.

We were sad he was not continuing with us for the remainder of the trip as planned.

After leaving Petar, we drove from Astrakan to Volgograd in one day, but got there late, which meant we were driving through an unfamiliar (and very large) city, in the dark. This is something we had promised ourselves we wouldn't do. We also both had on dark view-screens on our helmets, so we had to ride with them up, which is not fun with all the bugs.

After driving by the standard 60's era Soviet Nuclear Power Plant on the way in to town, we still hadn't seen a hotel, so we used our trick of hiring a cab for a few hundred rubles and have him drive us to a hotel.

We found a cabby who seemed friendly, and he quickly agreed to drive us to a good hotel, so he jumped in the cab, and this is when we realized it was full of girls. So off we went, the cab full of girls, which we realized were all hookers, and the two of us, following behind.

We've gotten quite used to just following people in the dark, who we have just met, through winding side roads, down dark alleys to finally emerge at some hotel. It always seems to work out. Still, the thought that they may be taking us somewhere to harvest our organs does cross one's mind... from time to time.

The cab full of hookers took us to an interesting "hotel" which was a not too bad looking series of chalets and buildings, full of cars and people having dinner. Looked like a good place. So we pulled in and looked over at the cafe, and the table at the front was full of about 10 more hookers. So we had stumbled upon a "businessman hotel" for traveling men from Moscow.

We didn't care, as long as the room was ok, and it had a shower. In fact the hookers spoke the best English, so they ended up helping us get the room organized.

In the time it took to set up the room, record our passports and get the bikes unloaded, we had been asked if we wanted "sexy girls" about 15 times by various people. We kept politly answering... "Actually no, we would just like a shower and some food please".

After getting settled in our room, we had supper with some guys from Moscow who were on a Fishing road trip. After they went to bed we stayed up till 2:00 or 3:00 am talking to Nataly (23), her husband, and Natasha (14) and her father, the husband and step-daughter of our waitress. No one seemed to even acknowledge that there were hookers everywhere, but we had a great time talking to Natasha's dad about politics, our trip, Russia and Canada, with Natasha providing some basic translation, as she had the best English.

We woke up the next morning, and the bikes were exactly as we had left them. We concluded the hookers were probably very honest. :)

Day 62: Astrakan

2009-09-16T13:58:00.002-06:00

Day 2 in Astrakan, same hotel, which didn't turn out as nice as we had hoped.

The "nice" General Manager from the night before took our passports to "register" them, and ended up keeping them all day.

Then we got charged 1000 rubles for the registration (it should be free).

That's when we realized the "discount" he supposedly gave us the night before for the second night, was the 1000 rubles to "register" our visa's, and that the second night was the same as the first. We also realized that nothing was included. The pool was 200 rubles, the weight room was 200 rubles.

We got woken up at 3:30 am by the night clerk to tell us that the bikes had been vandalized. We ran out, and someone had pushed over my bike, which pushed it into Cory's causing some damage to the windscreen. We propped it back up, and asked about the security guard and video camera's that were supposedly on our bikes at all times. He shrugged his shoulders. So much for security.

We spent the rest of the night in fitful sleep, worried about the bikes.

Day 61, The Road to Astrakan

2009-09-16T13:22:00.006-06:00

Wake up early to go meet Petar, can't leave the hotel because we are locked in. Spend 10 minutes yelling for someone, till cleaning lady finally shows up, wait 10 minutes while she finds keys. Now we need to wait again while she finds keys for the garage area where we left bikes.

Open the door to the garage area to find a huge Dog. Good thing he's nice.

Go and meet Petar, find out the truck he slept in last night is NOT going to Astrakan after all, even though 5 minutes before it was. Now we have to negotiate a new truck, and now the price goes up to $300.00, which is still not a bad deal for taking the bike across an international border. We split with Petar for a day, as Cory and I had planned to see more thing here before leaving for Astrakan.

Spent the next hour looking for an internet Cafe, finally found one, only to find out the thing we wanted to see, was about 1500 km back the way we had come. We likely passed it within 20 km of the road. D'oh!

End up driving to Astrakan anyway, an easy 350 km on good road.

Halfway to the border, we see a truck flashing it's lights on and off. It's the Kamaz and our guys from the night before, who saved us in the desert, and transported Petar's bike. We stop and say hi.

No issues with the border, other than having our luggage searched by drug dog for the first time. Book into cool hotel complex, that is pool, hotel, Banya, Snooker, and Cinema all in one. $60 for the first night, only $15.00 for the next night, and we didn't have to pay for supper, as the General Manager was a really nice guy.

Day 60: The Road to Atyrau

2009-09-15T09:18:00.008-06:00

September 9, 2009

Long day, terrible road. Took off early, on awful road. Would ride for 10 minutes then stop for 10 minutes to wait for Petar and the Kamaz.

20 km/hour on the bike is minimum, Kamaz was doing 15 km. 70 km took 5 hours. Then the Kamaz broke down, needed to change tire. 1.5 hours sitting in the dirt. Continue. Pull into Atyrau at 9:00 pm. Make arrangements to put bike on different truck, unload/load,

Petar stays with bike, Cory and Tim go into Atyrau to find a Hotel. Check into worst hotel of the trip. No sheets, no Toilet Paper, No hot water, $100 per night.

This was a long, hot, dusty, crappy day, topped off by a terrible, crappy hotel. Blah.

I didn't take any pictures of the hotel because it sucked so bad.

During the long drive to Atyrau driving for a bit, then waiting for the truck, Cory and I played a game called, "Guess when the Kamaz will Arrive", mostly because it beat the other games, like "Count the Rocks" or "See if you can hit that Goat with a stick"

The first time, Cory guessed about 45 minutes from when we stopped, and I guessed about 32. The Kamaz pulled up in exactly 32 minutes. We were all suitably amazed that I guessed it exactly.

The second time we played, he asked for my time, and I said "7:33". He laughed, and said "my guess was "7:32". So, about 45 minutes later, at about 7:32, the Kamaz comes into view, and rolls up to our bikes at exactly 7:33.

Bang on, twice in a row. To the minute.

If there was a way to turn my talent into profit, I would.

:)

Day 59: Kazakhstan Crash

2009-09-14T12:12:00.003-06:00

September 8, 2009

We left Actobe with the sun shining and the road stretching ahead, smooth and new. It didn't last long. The road quickly fell apart to the worst we have seen so far. Potholes 6 feet across and 3 feet deep in the middle of the road.

Then disaster struck.

Before we go any further, everyone is OK. No one hurt.

But Petar had a very bad fall, and destroyed the front end of his bike. I was in the lead, and Cory and Petar were following. They both came over the hill behind me, and my bike kicked up some dust, which caused Petar to miss a series of potholes. He barely made it through the first two while slowing down, but got bounced into the ditch on his head by the huge third one. After insuring he was not hurt after sliding at 60km on his head, we assessed the damage to his bike, and it was not good. The front wheel was destroyed, and the front forks were bent beyond repair.

This was major damage that was not repairable without many new parts. We were now stuck in a very remote section of Kazakhstan with the light fading fast on the horizon.

But like most of the trip, we only had to wait a short time, till the friendly locals came by, helped us lift the bike from the ditch, and loaded the broken bike into the back of a passing truck, where they took us to the next town.

When we got there, they said, "Money", and as we were diggining into our pockets to gratefully pay them for the ride, we realized they were offering us money, to buy water or supplies, since they were not going any further on this road.

We gratefully declined their touching offer, and unloaded the bike onto the side of the road, and settled down for a long night.

We couldn't set up camp and go to sleep, as the bike was right on the side of the road, and we didn't want to leave it (or ours) unattended during the night, so we sat down under our bikes to wait. At about 3:30 am, a truck came by and stopped in the darkness. It sat there for about 20 minutes before we realized they hadn't seen us, but had just stopped to have a bite to eat in the night. So we turned on our lights, and the driver and his helper came over. After a short conversation, with much gesturing, we were able to communicate that we were stuck, so they offered to load the bike into their truck, and take us all the way to the next large town, which was our destination.

The only issue was that they had a full load of box after box of Vodka. They opened the door of the trailer and started moving boxes around to find room for the bike. We jury rigged a ramp, and lifted the dead bike into the truck, then set out with Cory and Tim following on the bikes, behind the truck, broken Yamaha and boxes of Vodka, into the dead of the Kazakhstan night.

We made about 10 km when the truck driver indicated he was tired and wanted to sleep. We didn't want to leave the bikes unsupervised, so instead of setting up the tents, we (all 3) slept in back of the Kamaz truck on 100's of bottles of Vodka. It was a mostly miserable sleep.

When we woke in the morning, we were faced with the reality that the Kamaz, with the load of Vodka, could travel at approximately 10-15 km per hour on these roads, so barring any kind of problem, the 300 km we had left to the next town, would be from dawn till dusk at this rate.

Video: Road to Aktobe

2009-09-14T11:27:00.003-06:00

Terranova on The Road to Aktobe, Kazakhstan...

Day 58 Aktobe, Kazakhstan

2009-09-07T09:24:00.006-06:00

September 7, 2009.

Cory and I were bored and hairy, so we decided to shave. Let me rephrase that... Crafty Cory convinced gullible Tim to shave.

Cory chose a "Mohawk and Fu Manchu" mustache, and for me, "The Wolverine". We both ended up looking dorky, which made it all the funnier. This might be the point in the trip where everything becomes context specific to the people on the trip, and to everyone reading and watching at home, you think we may have gone a little crackers...

Day 57: Camp Drumheller to Aktobe

2009-09-07T09:05:00.005-06:00

September 6, 2009

We started the day with not much hope of reaching Aktobe, as we ran into the worst roads in Kazakhstan. Up to this point, the roads have been ok, paved, with just a few potholes. So we average a good speed of 80-90 km per hour when we are moving. But the road fell apart after our camp, and it was as bad or worse as anything in the Russian Far east. They do the same thing here that they do in Mongolia, which is to branch off into the desert if the road gets bad.

Which turned out to be a problem this time.

Cory branched to the left, Petar to the right, and I stayed in the middle on the main road. So I could see them both, but the main road was the worst, so I started to fall behind. It just happened that the road went Petars way, so I ended up on the same side as him for a bit. After about 10 or 15 minutes keeping Cory in sight, we ended up stopping, as Petar got stuck a bit in some mud. After pushing him out without much problem, we couldn't see Cory. So we drove and drove, but couldn't find him. We made the decision to stop, and since Petar was running low on fuel, I turned back, since we both agreed that Cory would stop, or come back if he was ahead and didn't see us. My worry was that he had a mechanical problem or had fallen. So I went back at least 20 minutes over the terrain we had just covered, but couldn't see him.

Returning to the point I had left Petar, I turned off the main route and took the route Cory would have taken (it runs parallel to the main road, but there were some large bushes, and I was concerned I may have missed him if he had fallen). This route went almost all the way back to the point I had left Petar, so when I saw him alone, with no Cory, I started to get worried. This likely meant that Cory was still somewhere behind us, and it had been at least 45 minutes to an hour since we had seen him. The problem was I couldn't get back to the main road, but I could see Petar. So I said "Stay There", and again retraced my route back to the main road. This again, took about 20 minutes till I could get back on it, and by the time I had returned to the point I left Petar, he was gone.

So now, I am sitting on a bridge in the middle of Kazakhstan, with neither of my riding partners, and no idea where they are.

Flagging down a car, I inquired in broken Russian, "have you seen a motorcycle" and pointed in the direction we had come from. "Nyet" was the answer. They left, and I was preparing to sit there till someone showed up, a truck coming from the other direction slowed down, and they motioned that they had seen a motorcycle over the next hill. "Ad-een, I said..one?". "Nyet", they replied... "Dva....Two!" Great news. So up and over the hill I went, where I saw both bikes parked at a Cafe.

It seems Cory had indeed taken the same route I did, and had the same problem, his section of road didn't join up with the main road for a long way. So he kept driving till it did, which just happened to be over the hill. Not seeing us, he sat down to wait. The problem was, so did we, just on the other side of the hill.

Once we had figured out what had happened, all was well, and we were together again.

The terrible road kept going for at least another 120 km like this, however we started to see signs of construction. We came upon a section of road that was finished... beautiful, freshly paved... and closed. All the access points were blocked off. So we continued on the crap road that was vibrating our bikes apart, all the while driving beside this beautiful, freshly completed road. After about 60 km of this, one of my Panniers bounced off on a particularly deep section, and after we put it back on, and collected my gear which was strewn all over the road, we discreetly circumvented the block, and drove up onto the new road. We didn't know how long we would be able to drive on it, but it had to be better then what we were on. So we did, for about 15 km, waving at the odd road construction guy, who didn't seem too concerned we were on the closed road. They just waved back. We then came to the end of the new construction, which was a huge earthen berm across the road, so we drove down into the ditch, came up on the other side, and continued on, this time on the new open road.

It had taken us from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm to cover slightly more than 200 km, and we had over 250 km left to Actobe, which was our destination when we set out that morning. So, we high tailed it on the now excellent stretch of highway, and with the sun setting on the horizon, pulled into Aktobe that evening.

514 km Today

Day 56 Camp Tremors to Camp Drumheller

2009-09-07T08:58:00.005-06:00

September 5, 2009

Continued the trip to Actobe, which is nothing but scrub desert as far as the eye can see. Not much to report, other than it was again great riding weather, about 24 degrees, lots of wind early on, but no rain. Camped off the highway at a place that looked exactly like Drumheller. No killer egg laying worms either. Good camp.

577 km

Day 55: Symkent to Camp Tremors, Kazakhstan

2009-09-07T08:53:00.003-06:00

September 4th, 2009

Good riding day, nice weather, not too hot, no rain. About 24 degrees was the hottest it got. Camped off the road in the desert, all was great till we noticed the ground was covered in these gross looking worms. We named it Camp Tremors after the movie.

We went through a check stop and Cory and I went through fine, but Petar got pulled over. We went back, then one cop said he told Cory to pull over (which he didn't). So he pulled Cory inside and started hitting him up for money, but he didn't realize his partner outside was busy posing for pictures with Petar and I, (we had his hat on), so when his partner called Cory out to pose in the picture, he realized he likely couldn't get any money and reluctantly waved us on.

We camped that night in the desert, but this section ended up being alive with these weird worms. There were thousands of them, that we didn't notice till after we set up camp. And they ended up crawling over everything. We spend the first 15 minutes in our tents going through all our gear to insure none of them came in on anything, and the next hour trying not to imagine them chewing through the tent at night, and laying eggs in our ears.

I slept with my iPod earphones on just in case.

443 KM today

Day 54: Camp Zombie to Symkent

2009-09-07T08:47:00.002-06:00

September 3, 2009

Good road, long day, got up at about 10:00, rode till 8 or so. Had to drive around a bit to find a hotel.

570 KM

Day 53: Almaty to Camp Zombie

2009-09-07T08:42:00.004-06:00

September 2, 2009

Good road leaving Almaty, road really close to the Kyrgastan border for most of the day. Short day, we didn't get much sleep, so we called it off early, about 5:00, since we left Almaty at 4:00 pm after only a short ride. We stopped at "Car City" on the way out of Almaty to try and find a Rad cap for Petars bike. Couldn't find one, and Cory at a bad meetball from a street vendor which percolated for the rest of the day.

We called it Camp Zombie, because we didn't get any sleep the night before thanks to our friend Fred, who kept us out all night at the club.

We woke up the next day to a local Herdsman and his herd of Cows, he had come by to say hi.

110 KM

Day 52: Almaty, Kazkhstan

2009-09-07T08:35:00.003-06:00

September 1, 2009

After a good night sleep in our expensive hotel, we needed to try and get a Ukraine Visa for Petar (who needs one). This necessitated a trip to the Ukraine Embassy, which was closed when we got there, so we sat on the street and waited till it opened, then found out he needed an invitation letter before they could proceed.

So off we went to our next stop, which was the Immigration Police, to have our Visa's registered.

This turned in to the most ridiculous 2 hours we have yet spent.

The amount of bureaucracy and corruption was laughable. There were about 100 people there, all trying to get the attention of 1 guy, who all he had to do was stamp and initial an immigration slip in our passports. But to do that you had to fill out another piece of paper requesting this. The stamp and the initial were free, but the piece of paper, well that cost you 804 Tenge (about $6 dollars), but it's written in Kazak, so they shuffled us off to a "helper" who needed $20 each to "process" our passports, a bit more for the photocopy fee. So we paid. Then the line standing started. About every 5 or 10 minutes, he would get up, change windows, so the mass of people would move with him, all the while people are elbowing each other (and us) to get closer in line. We'd be next, and about 5 people would just jam their papers in front of us. We tried not to get frustrated, but this was ridiculous. Each time we would get to the window, he would say "15-20 more minutes" then ignore us. This went on and on. We couldn't get mad, since he had our passports. It was now getting close to closing time, and we were sure he was going to go home, leaving us without our passports (and any way to go on). But right at closing, we were about the last 3 people left in the building, we finally got our passports back, stamped and initialed.

We checked out of the expensive hotel, and into a cheaper one down the road a block. It was a dive, but at least had hot showers. Cory and I went out that night with Fred, a friend we had met from France, who had just spent 7 months working in China, and the last 2 months riding home on a 250 cc Japanese motorcycle he had smuggled in part by part to China.

Day 51: Camp Some Field to Almaty

2009-09-07T08:29:00.002-06:00

August 31, 2009

The final section of road into Almaty was some of the best road we have seen yet.

We got in to Almaty pretty late in the day, and ended up once again checking in to the first hotel we could find. Which turned out to be an expensive one.

As we were booking in, they called one of the senior staff down who could speak some english to help us, and as we were arranging the room, Cory asked her (innocently) if there was any place close by where we could go to to meet some "cute local girls like her", she didn't miss a beat before cheerfully replying that the hotel staff would be happy to arrange "girls" to come right to our rooms... there was a moment of stunned silence before Cory blurted out... "...ummm I didn't mean hookers" She didn't seem to think his request was weird, and just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

One of the problems with expensive hotels here, is they still don't seem to get everything right. So you pay North American rates, but get something less. This one didn't have hot water, or internet. Even though it was supposed to have both. We parked our bikes outside the 24 hour carwash out back, it didn't seem to help, as we had our first theft off the bikes.. someone stole Cory's Hula girl. Doesn't sound like much, but we both were pretty upset. The Hula girls mean a lot to us.

585 km today

Day 50: Semipalatinsk to Camp Some Field

2009-09-07T07:23:00.004-06:00

We left "Semi" after working on Petar's cooling system on his bike the night before. After only 10 km out of town, he noticed that coolant was spewing out of his radiator, and realized that his radiator cap was not sealing. Cory and Petar made a rubber washer to shove in, and it seemed to seal the leak. The road was not good, with excellent paved sections broken up with huge potholes. You had to be extra careful riding, as you could suddenly find yourself in a huge hole.

We pulled off the road, and camped in a field, where we thought no one could see us. Within about 20 minutes a Lada drove right up to our camp, and a guy got out and offered us an "arbuse" or watermelon. He was very friendly. We enjoyed the watermelon, had some supper and went to bed. I had cell service in my tent (!) so I texted a few friends who got a kick out of the fact we were having a conversation from the middle of a field in Kazakhstan

572 km today

Day 49: Kazakhstan Border

2009-08-31T21:58:00.005-06:00

August 29th, 2009

We weren't too worried about this border, it's the main one going into this part of Kazakhstan so it should be fairly straight forward. We arrived at about 9:00 am, where, after waiting at the gate for 15 minutes, the guard finally strolled over to tell us the border wouldn't open "again" until 10:00.

Ok, so we laid in the dirt for 45 minutes, till 10:00 where we were ushered in for the now familiar process of:

1. Go to this room, show passport, get paper
2. Fill out paper. Make error. Start over.
3. Present paper to "Passport Control" Get scrutinized, stamp: pass
4. Customs contol. Present paper, stamp, stamp, stamp: Pass
5. Back outside, Vehicle inspection, stamp: pass
6. Final gate. Show them paper, more stamps: pass, now Free from Russia

7. Present passport to Kazakhstan side
8. Fill out paper. Make error. Start over.
9. stamp, paper, stamps, show passport etc. etc. etc.

You get the idea.

When we get asked a question or it looks like they are about to ask something, we shrug our shoulders and look dumb. It's not hard when you don't understand what they are saying. This usually results in them thinking that whatever they were going to ask us isn't likely that important to try, so they just let us go. We learned this one early in our trip. Look dumb, say ":I don't understand" in Russian, and they let you move on.

So after our fastest border crossing yet (1.5 hours, not including the 45 minutes waiting in the dirt), we were through and officially in Kazakhstan!

I've stopped repoting when we get rain, because all the blogs would look the same.

1. Saw cool stuff
2. Got rained on
3. Saw more cool stuff
4. Got rained on.

So, it rained on us again, but this time, we got a nice picture out of it.

We drove a bit more KM's to Semipalatinsk (Semi for short), where we booked into a fairly decent hotel. Cory and Petar worked on Petars bike, which has been having some major cooling issues. I went to bed.

183 km Today

Day 48: Camp Beef Stew

2009-08-31T21:55:00.003-06:00

Left Barnaul, travelling towards the Kazakhstan border. Camped off the highway, in a farmers field, many mosquito's. Petar finally gave in an had some Beef Stew, which for him was a big deal, since he never tires of telling us how much he hates beef.

I think he liked it, so I named it Camp Beef Stew. Which was better than Camp Mosquito, which was the other choice.

286 km

Day 44-47: Barnaul, Russia

2009-08-31T21:45:00.005-06:00

August 25th, 2009: Day 1 in Barnaul

We arrived in Barnaul after a short 300km day. We started to notice as soon as we left the Chalet, that for the first time since we entered Russia, we were beginning to see signs of wealth. Some of the cars were much nicer, and we started to see Chalet's and Cabins that were brand new, and well constructed. We had become so used to coming upon a town, only to find that it looked like something you would see in an apocolyptic movie. Run down, falling apart, drab, dreary and poor.

Barnaul is a wonderful city, full of life, and has a real good feel to it. We had sent a package ahead from Khabarosk, and it was supposed to be in Barnaul, at the Post Office. Problem was, we had no idea where the Post Office was. So we asked the guy at the hotel. He laughed, and pointed across the street. Yes, there was the post office, 50 feet from our hotel. So we walked across the street and claimed our package. Easy. :)

August 26th, 2009: Day 2 in Barnaul

We spent the day working on the bikes, and awaiting parts (which didn't come). Cory and Petar changed tires on their bikes (my tires were still coming). When changing Petars tire, he noticed the the rear sprocket was wobbly, so he disassembled it, and found the bearing was gone, as well as the seal. In trying to removed the damaged bearing, they ended up cracking the housing on the rear tire, which is a major issue. So Cory and Petar sought out the local motorcycle dealer, who took a look at it, and agreed that with some welding and machining, they could get it back in shape enough to continue. It would be another day, and a bit of money (not that much, about $65.00. We found some internet (it's scarcer here than you would think), and were able to update the site a bit, and talk with some friends.

August 27, 2009: Day 3 in Barnaul

Our third day in Barnaul, consisted of running around all day, waiting for Petar's hub to be finished. We also picked up enough oil to change all three bikes, but were still awaiting all our spare parts (including tires) and oil filters (which we needed, since we used up our spare changing oil in my bike from when I swamped the engine in Mongoila.

August 28, 2009: Day 4 in Barnaul

Last night was one of the most crazy so far on the trip. We had gone to an Electronics store to pick up a new Video Camera, as our last hand held one had finally died (the one I dropped from the Turtle rock in Mongolia). As we were leaving the parking lot, a guy stopped and invited us to the local "Biker Bar" and gave us an address. We realized it was only 4 blocks from the Hotel, so we walked over after supper.

It was a really cool Biker themed bar, but it was dead, with only a few people there. Tourism in this part of Russia is still quite rare, so when we speak english, people generally take notice, and tonight was no different. There was a table of two girls and a guy who overheard us, and they started asking questions, so we invited them over to the table. The guy and one of the girls were married, with two children, and the other girl was the guy sister. So we took great fun in teaching them English words, and they taught us a bit more Russian. We then had a couple games of pool. As we were playing I happened to notice that one of the pool cues had a crack in it. So I handed it to the bartender, thinking she would go find me another one. Instead, I got a bill. For 900 rubles (about $30). For the broken pool cue. That I didn't break. So ended our night of fun at the Biker bar, as we got up to leave, the owner asked us to sign something in the bar (they knew we were driving around the world on bikes). We politely declined. If you are going to stiff your customers for a pool cue we didn't break, then you don't get a favor. We also asked for and took the pool cue. (why not, we bought it)

After we left the bar, the nice couple and his sister we met, asked us if we wanted to go for a Russian Sauna. After our awesome chalet in the woods earlier, we thought it would be a great idea. So we piled into a Cab, and off we went, for about 45 minutes, somewhere, to a cabin (very small) in the woods outside of town, where we sat around the fire, and they got the Sauna (Banya in Russian) going. After a couple hours it was ready to go, so we all piled into this tiny cedar room, where the husband immediately took all his clothes off, and the wife and sister followed suit. Now you have to understand, you can't impart North American sensibilities when you are traveling, so with the thought of "when in Rome..." We all took off our clothes and piled into the Banya.

Now a Russian Banya requires a bit of explanation (you can go to the Wiki page here, but I will give a short lession) A Banya is generally three rooms, the steam room (this one was big enough for about 3, there were 7 of us). A Shower room, and the outer room. The fire and water tanks are in the steam room, which is the hottest. So when the room is steaming hot, you throw almost boiling water from the water tank on hot rocks built into the fire tank. This immediately cooks you. Literally. It feels like you are being cooked alive it is so hot. The three Russians were enjoying it greatly. We were trying not to pass out.

So after the throwing of the hot water, the making of the steam, and the boiling of skin, we were instructed to run outside (naked) where they poured freezing cold water on us. Then back into the Banya for more cremation. We had done this three times, when the sister brought out the branches of Oak or some kind of tree, covered with leaves, they instructed us to lay face down on the bench, so they could whip us with the branches and leaves (it's supposed to help with circulation)

When she left, there was just Cory and I in the Banya, and we turned to each other and said: "What series of decisions do you think led us to the point where we are sitting here together, naked, in Siberia, at 5:00 am, having just been whipped with tree branches, in a 150 degree room, by a half naked Russian women we met 4 hours ago". Neither one of us has the answer, but it an interesting experience, to say the least.

We're still trying to process that night. We got back to the hotel at about 7 am, after a morning Russian Bus ride from somewhere, to catch a couple hours of sleep before we had to leave for the Kazakhstan border. (oh, and we got Petar's bike back together, changed my tire, and changed oil, so the bikes were working well when we left)

Day 41-43: Banya Chalet

2009-08-31T21:11:00.008-06:00

After leavng Monglia, we were do for a bit of break, and we found it at this wonderful Chalet in the woods. It was run by a Russian couple, and he had built all the Chalet's by hand. They were very nice, with a main room, kitchen, couches, deck, fire pit, and sleeping areas upstairs.

We ended up staying 3 days. Part of the reason was that we had some much needed parts for the bikes (tires, electrical, tubes, etc) and they had been delayed, so we decided to stay here, instead of driving to Barnaul right away, where we would have to stay in an expensive hotel.

The other reason was the Russian Banya.

Now a Russian Banya requires a bit of explanation (you can go to the Wiki page here, but I will give a short lession) A Banya is generally three rooms, the steam room, a Shower room, and the outer room. The fire and water tanks are in the steam room, which is the hottest. So when the room is steaming hot, you throw almost boiling water from the water tank on hot rocks built into the fire tank. This immediately cooks you. Literally. It feels like you are being cooked alive it is so hot.

But the shower part is glorious. It has two spouts, one from the hot water tank (heated by the fire) and one cold. The hot water is boiling hot, so you only need a little. So you mix up a nice washing tub full of hot water, and proceed to have a shower/bath/steam. Every once in a while, if you get too hot, you turn on the overhead (cold) shower to cool off.

I sat down with the innkeeper, and he drew me up the plans for it. I have every intention of building one someday. They are fantastic.

We would walk into town (it was a small resort style community with a couple stores), buy some chicken, pototato's, rice, corn etc. every night, then have a nice charcoal or Wood BBQ.

We didn't want to leave, but the journey must continue, so we took off for Barnaul.

Mongolian-Russian Border

2009-08-31T20:54:00.005-06:00

This border we had heard could be a problem and we had been hurrying to get there, as it closes for the weekend. We arrived Friday at about 11:00 am. We got through the Mongolian side with little problem. Changed some money at the border, bought some water, and went through. It's interesting in that the Mongolian side, and the Russian side are about 30 km apart.

Where you are when you have gone through Mongolian Customs, but are driving to the Russian side, I have no idea. What if broke down there? Or had an off, and needed help? I have no clue who would have jurisdiction. We ended up stopping for lunch in the middle, as one of the checkpoint guards told us the Russian side all went for lunch at the same time. Which they did. Closed the border, and all went in to town.

We waited about an hour at the border, but it was smooth after that. Only cost us about $2 to have our tires washed off. Guess the Russians don't want any Mongolian mud in their country.

We drove to the next town, couldn't find a hotel, so we rented a GER for the night, from a drunk Russian. We slept on the floor.

177 km Today (because of the border crossing)

2551 km in Mongolia

Mongolian Stories Continued...

2009-08-31T20:12:00.006-06:00

I am writing this about 8 days removed from the days we are blogging about, so things are getting a little fuzzy... the consequence of too much time on the road, no internet, and not writing things down as they happen, so my days may be a little off.

We camped mostly in Mongolia, but did stay in a couple hotels along the way, just to shower and wash clothes. The hotel in Hovd was interesting, as Hovd has central power and water. But the power and water were off. So we paid full price for the hotel, but didn't get lights or water. It didn't seem to change the price though.

We did get in to one town, very late, and there ended up being a Kazak convention of some kind, so we trooped from Hotel to Hotel (there were three) only to be told there was no room. The last hotel said there was a GER camp about 4 km outside the town that would have room, so we drove off into the dark, only to see the GER's, but we were on the wrong side of the river. So we ended up pitching camp, in the dark, in a field of sand. When we started getting set up, I realized that one of my bags, containing my thermarest, tent poles and pegs had fallen off the bike somewhere, so I ended up sleeping in my tent, on the ground until we got to Barnaul and I was able to buy another tent and cut the poles from it to the right size for mine. We didn't have any water, so we went down to the river with the portable filters we have to get some, and realized it was the only polluted river in Mongolia. So we just went to bed.

Petar took a nail in his tire, and we had to spend a couple hours fixing it in the heat. The spare tube he brought, had two holes in it (brand new), so we had to patch it first.

I fell down at speed for the first time, doing about 60 km per hour in the sand. When you come off in the sand, you don't fall down all at once, it's more like this sick, 20 second flapping, cloud of dust, left, then right, then left again, more flapping till you are down. I wasn't hurt, the panniers took a bit of a beating, and all was well. It happened right in front of a group of Mongolians in a truck, so they likely had a nice laugh. I picked my bike up and fell over again. Did I mention I hate sand.

So now, I am driving with absolute fear every time there is sand, which is about every 50 meters at this point. And the worst thing you can do in sand, is be tense. So it wasn't long before I came off again, this time at about 30 km. Same thing, flapping, dust, etc. Not hurt this time either, but my confidence was shot for the next 4 or 5 hours.

Cory had an off too, coming into a mud hole. Rotko was filming, so we have it on video. It's a good one. He wasn't hurt, but the panniers flew off, and broke one of the mounting locks. He wired it back together with a good bit of Mygyvering, and we were ok.. for about 5 minutes.

Then we came to our second water crossing. The first one, I ended up stalling my bike, and Petar had to wade in and help me push it out. We dried it off, it started right off and we continued. This time, I ended up drawing water into my engine.

So, we pulled the plugs, blew all the water out, changed the filter, and it finally started back up (about 2 hours). We then took off, thinking everything was ok, only to go about 200 feet and the back tire seized completely, the bike stalled, and I skidded to a stop. The bike wouldn't even turn over. So we pulled the drain plug, and out poured a chocolate milk shake. We were going to change the oil at the next town, but it had to be done there. So after an hour or two of scrounging, were were able to come up with enough oil to do a change, which we did, and it started back up again, and was fine.

But for about an hour, we thought that the engine might be finished. Lucky for us, it was ok, and we were off.

Mongolian Stories

2009-08-26T06:56:00.017-06:00

We didn't have internet in Mongolia for 8 days, so we didn't blog daily like usual.

So here is a recap of some stories from each day:

Day 1 from Ulaanbaatar: Camp Sheep Shelter

Our first day on the road to Inner Mongolia was a short one. We left late in the day from Ulaanbaatar, after running around all day getting final stuff for the road, we only did 75km, then Cory's chain broke, and we decided to camp as it was getting rainy. We ended up camping in an abandoned Sheep Shelter (Cory set up his tent there, Petar and I went over the hill). We spent some time that night banging Petar's Panniers back into shape.

75km today

Day 2 from Ulaanbaatar: Camp Snake Hole

Ok, they weren't snake holes, but were mice holes , but we thought it was scarier if they were snakes. We had a decent day driving, 350km today, and saw some incredible scenery. We stopped at a Nature Preserve to try and see some wild horses. Cory and I have seen lots of wild horses in Canada, but Petar and his father Rotko, who has joined us for this section of the trip, had not, so we took a 100km side detour and drove through this beautiful protected area.

350km Today

Day 3 from Ulaanbaatar: Karakoram Monastery

We spent the day at the Karakoram Monastery (Erdene Zuu), which was first built in 1585, but destroyed by the communists in 1939. In 1990, after the fall of communism in Mongolia, it was again turned over to the monks and it became a working Monastery, as well as a tourist attraction. It is the oldest, and largest Monastery in Mongolia.

drawing a crowd in the parking lot as usual. Everywhere we go, the Monglians love our bikes.

When we were at the Monastery, Rotko (Petar's Dad) had met a Mongolian singer 5 years earlier when he was here before. After about 5 minutes, we found him, and he was so happy to see Rotko again (Rotko had brought with him some pictures from their first meeting), that he immediately invited us back to his restaurant, and insisted on putting on a show with his entire band, and back up dancers. So there was the 4 of us (Cory, Tim, Petar and Rotko) and we enjoyed a private 30 minute concert by this incredibly gifted band. He also wasn't just a singer, but a Mongolian throat singer, which, until you have heard it, cannot be described. They sing from their throat, so initially is sounds like a low grumbling. Until you hear the melody coming from him, that sounds like a beuaiful flute. I have no words to describe it, but Cory and I were both blown away, and were looking around for the flute player when he started singing. We video taped the entire concert with two camera's, so we are hoping that the audio picks up this incredible performance.

If that wasn't enough, our waitress from 10 minutes before came out, and proceeded to do the most incredible contortionist routine, where she literally put her butt on the back of her head. To say we were impressed is an understatement.

231 Km Today

Day 4 from Ulaanbaatar: Karakoram to Arvaikheer

After we left Karakoram, we traveled to Arvaikheer, a small town. We stayed in a hotel that night, with some good security for the bikes. We spent most of the day dodging the rain, which we were dreading on the earthern Mongolian roads. We were successful, and it ended up making for some great pictures, as the sky was black, but we were travelling in the sunshine.

Doris Sharp: 1911-2009

2009-08-25T10:02:00.006-06:00

My grandmother has passed away. She was 98 years old.

I have been thinking about her a lot this trip, and I can't help but think of the things she witnessed in the world since she was a little girl... from the car becoming commonplace, to WWI, WWII, the computer, the internet... a lot has changed since 1911.

When we left for this trip, she came to Calgary to see us off. I was very happy she was able.

My mother had been showing her the Terranova blog, and she was following along, completely baffled at why I would want to do this crazy thing.

She has been a big part of my entire life, and I will miss her terribly. I love you Gran.

Tim.

Mongolia

2009-08-25T06:15:00.009-06:00

It's not very often in life, that you realize, as you are doing something, that you are creating a memory that will stand for the rest of your life.

It's only in hindsight, that you look back and say to yourself... "that was a moment that changed my life"

Mongolia creates memories like this in real time.

It's breathtakingly beautiful in an epic way.

We drove across expanses of desert that stretched as far as the eye could see, for hours and hours and hours.

We drove on roads that had washboard, a foot and a half apart, for 2 days.

We saw sunsets that took our breath away.

We drove through herds of wild camels.

We saw eagles by the hundreds.

We woke up to herdsman and sheep and goats...

We came off the bikes in the sand.

In short, it was glorious, hard, awesome, frustrating, scary, and we can hardly wait to go back and do it again.

Update: Offline for 8-10 days...

2009-08-12T09:50:00.003-06:00

We are leaving tomorrow for Inner Mongolia, and barring some satellite Internet along the way, we will likely be offline for 8-10 days.

So, no updates for a while.

Next time we update, we will likely be back in Russia, somewhere around Barnaul, getting ready to head into Kazakhstan...

Stay tuned...

Day 31: Terelj National Park, Mongolia

2009-08-12T06:54:00.014-06:00

We left Ulaanbaator this morning with a driver and car (4 of us, all 100kg or more, plus the driver) in a little Toyota something to drive out to a Terelj National Protected area. We just about killed this poor guys car on the roads here.

We finally got to see some of the incredible beauty that awaits us when we leave the capital tomorrow for our trek west. Mongolia is truly magnificent, and very untouched and pristine.

As we entered the park, we came face to face with our first Bactrian Camels. These camels are very endangered in the wild, but are domesticated in Mongolia.

We stopped first at a rock formation that looks like a giant turtle. We decided to climb it, when, stupid me, had the video camera in my pocket, and it caught on a rock, and proceeded to fall and smash 3 stories below on the rocks. Great. That was our last Video camera.

We went down, picked up all the pieces, found the memory card that had blown out 1/2 way down, and walked to the car.

After a bit of bending and piecing back, I finally got the battery back in, and...would you believe, it still works. Way to go Sony.

So after a short snack of canned Peaches in the parking lot, we drove further down the road to a wonderful Buddhist Monastery, nestled in the hill.

Then we started to hike. It was uphill for about 1km, then across a suspension bridge built for people at least 80 lbs less than me, followed by about 5 million (ok, I exaggerate) steps to the Monastery itself. Exhausted in the heat, we all got to the top.

The Monastery was interesting, with pictures of great spiritual leaders around the perimeter. They had each story written in both Cyrillic and English.

After we finished there, we went on to a Mongolian settlement, where Rotko (Petar's Dad who has joined us for a portion of the Mongolia leg) had a Mongolian friend he had made 5 years previous when he was here. His name is Bajra.

We ended up walking through this incredible GER camp, asking the local people if they knew a "Bajra". After about 10 minutes, we found him, walking back to camp, and his face lit up when he saw Petar'd Dad, and he yelled out "ROTKO" with a big smile, and they hugged. It was great to see.

Bajra arranged a traditional meal and horsback ride for Cory, Petar and Rotko. I had to decline the ride due to a lack of compatibility with horses, in that they make me stop breathing :) Instead, I made friends with some other travelers who were staying in the village, two hikers from Denmark, and one from Italy. The two guys from Denmark had been hitchhiking the world for 7 months, and they were all great fun to talk to. We went swimming in the local, pristine river, which was FREEZING cold.

Day 28-30: Ulaanbaator

2009-08-10T20:29:00.005-06:00

We've spent a couple days in Ulaanbaator, getting some stuff for the bikes looked after, and being tourists.

You need to be wary in the capital, as most of the people here are very nice and honest, but also VERY poor, so there is an element (as in any big city) that sees us as big walking bags of money. We weren't in town more than 20 minutes, when we stopped to ask for directions, were quickly surrounded by about 5 youths, and before you knew it, one of them was trying to dig into Cory's bag strapped to his bike. Cory smacked him, and we drove away.

We hired a driver and car for the day, since it is way easier to get around than driving the bikes aimlessly in city of 1,000,000 people, all of whom don't obey traffic signals or lanes.

Petar's father Ratko has joined us this morning from Croatia, and will be following us across Mongolia in a rented Russian Jeep.

The weather for Mongolia for the next month calls for rain, and we have been told that driving across the route we want to take is very difficult/impossible in the rain. So...we are going anyway :)

Having the Jeep and Ratko along, will really help us, as we can offload some of the weight on the bikes to the Jeep, and carry more water and supplies than we would have otherwise.

We spent some time yesterday at one of the big markets, looking for some tools and supplies to help Cory fix his bike.

Day 27: The Big Crash.

2009-08-09T01:22:00.007-06:00

First of all... everyone is all right. No one is hurt.

Not a scratch.

Cory crashed his bike while coming around a corner in the rain...

As below, is his accounting of the crash:

Cory:

It poured all morning. We were about 150km south of the border, Tim in front, then me and Petar in the back. I came around a slight left hand turn and the rear tire broke loose and the bike and I hit pavement at 80km per hour or so. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to think. One minute I was singing along with Lily Allen in my helmet and the next I was sliding down the road on my left side. All I remember thinking was keep your feet in front of you. I slid to stop in the ditch and my bike slid about 10ft in front me before hitting the ditch, catching an edge and flipping in the air, landing upside down.

I got up off the road (feeling pretty good actually) and walked over to shut my still running bike off (got to love fuel injection). Petar ran over to see if I was OK, I was. By this time Tim realized that we weren't behind him and he turned around. I think it as worse for him having no idea what was happening but seeing a bike upside down in the ditch. He came running over asking if I was OK. I said yeah, get the video camera!

The bike was in pretty rough shape. Both fairings are cracked, both mirrors are broken off, headlight assembly, gauge cluster, front header bracket all smashed. The worst part is that our last working bike video camera was destroyed :(. It was recording when I crashed but was on loop mode and I wasn't able to tag the loop before it got recorded over (1 min loop time). So close to video of a great crash but not close enough.

We straightened out the handle bars and levers. The Bark-Buster hand guards and the Tourtech-crash bars with the homemade extensions all did their jobs. Pretty minimal damage considering the crash. My body armour-pressure suit did its job too. I slid on my elbow and forearm for about 80ft on the pavement and have no damage (to me). My rain pants and jacket are not looking so good though! That's how slippery the road was, 80ft slide and a 2 inch hole in rain jacket sleeve. Knobby tires and wet pavement, not a good combo!

Yes Mother, I swear I'm fine!

After adjusting a few things I was able to fire the bike up and we rode to Ulan Baatar (about 150km from crash). It rained hard 90% of the way. I was soaked. Petar had a friend of a friend that helped him with his Visas so Petar wanted to stay in her hostel while we were in UB. We had a crude map (UB has a population of one million). We were on the main street through the city but were detoured due to construction. A several block stretch of the main drag was blocked off with concrete blocks for major road construction. We drove a round for what seemed like hours trying to find this hostel. We stopped to ask a woman where we were on the map and where the hostel was a kid in a Toronto Maple Leafs ball cap walked over and started asking me about my bike in broken English. I couple of his friends soon appeared and also seemed to be very interested in the bike. I was getting a bad vibe from the whole situation. I turned around and saw that a punk had one of my bags unzipped and was trying to get my SPOT GPS tracker out of the case. I smashed his hand with my fist and gave him shove and yelled to Tim and Petar that we were leaving RIGHT NOW!

We managed to find an English speaking Mongolian who told us the hostel we needed was only accessible via the main rode that was blocked off. He took us to place where we could see the place but weren't able to get too it due to road blocks and trenches. Time for a little urban offroading with our big fat enduro bikes! Weaving through parking lots, down side walks, up a couple stairs, over some curbs and there we were...on the street that was blocked off but still 150ft from our ultimate goal. A few more curbs alleys, private driveways, across a few playgrounds and the gauntlet was complete! There we were at the hostel entrance.

There were 2 Aussies (mother, daughter) out front. We talked to them for a bit and then to the hostel operator. They own 2 hostels a couple blocks apart. The one we were at had Internet and secure parking for the bikes (the most important thing). Unfortunately they had no more room. The second hostel had room but no Internet or secure parking (and since there are Leafs fans in UB we know secure parking is required). We worked out a deal that our bikes could stay at location one and we would stay at location 2. Zoe and her mom (the Aussies) offered to help us carry our things to the location 2 (couple blocks). Clean room, hot water, a dry bed and the bikes securely locked up. Perfect.

When we were in South Korea Tim misplaced his passport and thought he had dropped it in the airport terminal (we were just outside the terminal doors). He went back to look for it and Petar, Michelle and I were double checking his carry on luggage to make sure it wasn't in a pocket somewhere. I checked his laptop bag and came across an envelope that was addressed to Mr. Cranky Pants.

I asked Tim about it and he basically told me to never mind....hmm OK. Once we got the hostel tonight he handed me the envelope. It was from Becky. It was a talking card and in a cartoony voice it said I miss you. Definite a nice pick me up on a cold wet day. Many times while riding in this rain Ive thought I would rather be sitting on Becky's couch playing Tetris (don't ask)!

Tim: I'd been carrying the card from Becky around for a month, and I figured if you crash your bike at 80k in the rain, you deserve a nice gift.

Day 27: Mongolian Border to Ulaanbaatar

2009-08-09T00:47:00.007-06:00

After we got through the border, we drove about 50 km to the first town, and booked into a hotel for the night.

The hotels in Mongolia are roughly the same as the hotels in Russian, in that they ummmm.. suck.

The nice thing about the Mongolian hotels is that the people are nice, and the prices match the accomodations.

We shared one room, had a shared bathroom with the rest of the floor. There was one shower, and they had to move the washing machine out of it. There was no hot water. There was freezing cold, and slightly less freezing cold.

So I had the quickest shower ever. Oh yah.. no towels.

We ate our "space food" in the room, with our propane powered cook pot. And went to bed. For about 5 minutes till we realized the roof leaked.

So we ended up moving Cory's bed into the middle of the room, far enough away from the leak. After a nice 15 minutes of quiet, the door banging and yelling, and loud talking started, and went on all night. That almost drowned out the sound of the 15 dogs barking outside our window... again all night. Petar slept through it all, Cory and I stared at the roof.

We went to pay in the morning, and realized for the sum of 300 rubles (about $3.00 each) and another $2.00 for the bike storage (in a nice locked garage), we may have gotten our money's worth.

Today: 350 km

Today: 348 km

Day 26: Russia Mongolian Border

2009-08-09T00:36:00.008-06:00

We crossed the border today into Mongolia, once again subjecting our selves to the vague, and bewildering Russian customs procedures.

We once again filled out two customs forms, this time in English! The not to friendly border guard tasked with giving us the forms, could not be bothered for a pen, so we ended up sharing one. There were two cars ahead of us in line, so we had plenty of time... like an hour or so.

They don't move things fast here.

AFter getting to the first booth, we handed our passports to no less than 3 people, who scanned and rescanned them. Once we answered a few questions we were ushered inside to the efficient and not unpleasent Russian Border girl, who proceeded to stamp our customs declarations no less than 6 or 7 times, which we then initialed multitude of times. Why? I have no idea.

After that, we were sent on, 10 more feet to Passport control. Where a guy in a box (everyone here works in a box, and you give whatever to them through on of those slide boxes. So we slide our Passports into the box, one at a time, and he then took the next 5 minutes to scrutinize us, the passports, make calls on the phone, ran our passports under black lights, make us look at him and frown like in the passport photo, and after all that, he passed them back. I guess we passed.

We were now free from Russia, but not yet in Mongolia. We were in no mans land.

So we moved our bikes ahead to Mongolian customs, and were met by a pleasant fellow who spoke some english, and he helped us fill out the Mongolian forms. They were easier and more efficient than their Russian counterparts, and quite a bit more friendly.

The only funny thing on the Mongolian side, was the number of stamps each of our documents got. We got on the merry go round of stamps this time, going from person to person, who would take out their little stamp machine, and dutifully stamp our paper. I think we got 5 of them. Why. Again... no idea.

After that, we were clear, and now officially in Mongolia. With handshakes and congratulations all around, we set off, and after about 50 yards, I blew the rear tire off my bike... then it started to rain.

Did I mention the Rain... 26 days on the Road, we've had rain 24 days.

Today: 281 km

Day 25: Back in Ulan-Ude

2009-08-06T18:23:00.006-06:00

We are back in Ulan-Ude from Lake Baikal.

We're going to make a push for the Border, and try and get through to Mongolia today. We have various reports about the crossing time, but most of them come in around 4 hours. It is a brand new, modern border.

We hope to get through today, and camp in Mongolia, then drive the rest of the way tomorrow to Ulannbattar. We have a contact there for a GER (tent) hotel we will try and stay at.

Petar's father is flying in from Croatia with some parts for the bikes (a lot of parts), but they won't be there till next Tuesday, so we will be spending 3 days in Ulannbattar (not a bad thing)

My only issue, is I had sent a large percentage of food ahead in Khabarosk to Barnaul, so I am down to about 15 days of food left. It will take us 8-10 days to get across Mongolia, and we will be 5 days before we leave Ulannbattar, so we are getting down to the wire.

Either way, I haven't actually been having to eat as much of my food as I thought, as I can get some stuff at the local markets. Even though everything is in Cryllic, I've found some Pineapple juice and Orange juice, and of course, fruit. I eat a lot of fruit.

Also, the Lays potato chips are the same here. :)

Today: 320 km, Total: 5985 km

UPDATE: Equipment Status

2009-08-06T08:42:00.004-06:00

We've had our share of issues so far, some I've talked about, but most we haven't talked about yet. So here is the status of our equipment and bikes right now:

Equipment: We started with 2 helmet cams, 2 Bike cams and a Sony handheld Camcorder. We have 1 bike cam, and one the Sony left. One helmet Cam got dropped, and broke the battery holdder. The second helmet cam flew off and went bouncing down the road. We are going to try and repair them and get one working again. The one bike cam fell between the forks on the bike, and is somewhere in Russia, we don't know where. So in about 2 weeks on the road, we were down about $1500 in cameras.

Cory's Bike:

1. Repaired pannier bracket
2. Broken Battery
3. Handle bar risers are twisting
4. Kickstand broke
5. Tank Bag ripped off
6. Peg packer bolt broke
7. Hula girl broke off :(
8. Waterpoof bags split
9, Cut rear tire (from pannier bracket)

Tim's Bike

1. Rear tire leaks (pump up twice a day)
2. Cracked windscreen
3. Main bolt holding windscreen rattled off
4. Main air intake rattled loose
5. Pannier rack broke

Petar's Bike

1. Cooling system (Fan doesn't turn on)
2. Using oil
3. Battery cable rattled loose
4. Broken headlight

Day 24: Lake Baikal

2009-08-06T06:57:00.012-06:00

We thought it would be a good idea to take a detour, and instead of heading south into Mongolia, we would go Northwest some more and visit Lake Baikal, the largest lake in the world

To give you some perspective, you could pour all the Great Lakes into Baikal, and it wouldn't overflow it's banks. It contains 1/5 the freshwater in the entire world.

For sure it was something we wanted to see. So we headed out, straight into a massive rainstorm, worse than anything we had seen so far. Every time it started to clear to the east, we would head west, into the darkest part of the storm. What started out as a nice 200k ride to Baikal, turned into 350km of pain.

Once we "got" to the lake, you would think the road would go down by the shore, so you could see it. Nope. This is Russia. The train runs by the lake. The road runs about 100 yards inland behind a nice bunch of bush and trees. So every 10 km or so, if we stood up on our pegs, we could catch a glimpse of the lake.

Overlooking lake Baikal

So, after riding in the rain forever, we finally stopped and asked where the nearest hotel was. 100km away, was the answer. This is Russia, we've come to expect this. So, since it would take us longer to turn around, than keep going, we drove another 100km (actually it was 130km), until we saw what we thought was an access road to the lake (this would be the first one)

It was a vacation complex, complete with a couple old hotel buildings, lots of kids, and tons of people. We got mobbed at the gate. I went in to negotiate security for the bikes, while Cory and Petar stayed behind to fend off the crowds.

She liked the bike. :)

Today: 343 km

Day 22 and 23: Ulan-Ude

2009-08-04T08:45:00.010-06:00

We arrived in Ulan-Ude, another great day on the bikes, good road, no rain.

Ulan-Ude is a fairly decent sized city, about 250,000-300,000. It boasts the largest Lenin head in the world, so we are told (I can't confirm it, but it's a big head)

Big Lenin Head.

The sign for the City on the road.

Cory's tank bag broke off a few days ago, so he needed a new backpack bag. This is the best we could find. There was a pink Hello Kitty one, I thought he should have got, but this was his choice. :)

Cory's battery on his bike stopped working, so we had jury rigged a replacement from a lawnmower/tractor battery we had found in a small town. It was the wrong size, and was not sealed, so it was leaking acid all over the bike. It wouldn't start the bike, but would keep it running if it was started, so Cory had to keep it running each time we stopped, or I had to run over with the jumper cables and jump start it.

We found a cool store in Ulan-Ude that is 4 floors and sells literally everything from electrical parts, to transmissions to camping supplies. We spent about 2 hours there and bought lots of stuff for the bikes.

The cools parts store. Camping supplies to engines.

It was too "complicated" for us to drive the bikes to the store from the hotel, so we took the bus (#37). They are Soviet era, broken down, no suspension, smoke belching buses, and it was great fun.

Today: 420 KM

Day 21: The Road to Ulan-Ude

2009-08-04T08:21:00.007-06:00

We left Chita after 2 days, and headed for Ulan-Ude. The road is good here, mostly pavement, with only a few patches of gravel. Warm, sunny, and just some great riding.

I sang in my helmet a few times... badly.

We had left Chita late in the day, so we had only planned to do a couple hundred KM.

All was well until we decided to camp for the night. We took off down a side road, that got progressively worse, which is when the fun started. We had already decided to turn around (about 2 or 3 km off the road). I then proceeded to fall off my bike a nice total of 5 times. Once we came to a stop, I fell off. We went through a mud puddle. I fell off. Another mud puddle, another off.

Sigh. Mongolia is going to be fun.

Don't worry, we were filming, so there is lots of video of me falling off my motorcycle.

We came across another wedding when we were stopped for gas. They seem to get married a lot here.

Today: 257 km

Update: Bad Internet

2009-08-01T19:25:00.003-06:00

We have really bad internet here, so we are about 6 days behind in the blog..

We are moving on today (as I write this) from Chita to Ulan-Ude, which will take us another two days... and then on to Lake Baikal next. We may or may not get internet again before we cross the border into Mongolia. I will try and post a few more updates before we leave, but they take forever (especially the pictures). We have hours and hours of video but can't upload it (way too slow).

Day 19 and 20: Chita, Russia

2009-08-01T09:07:00.015-06:00

Chita has proven to be another amazing city. It has a population of approximately 300,000 people, and is semi-modern, slightly less than Khabarosk, but more than Vladivostok.

We didn't have any contacts here, so we've been staying at a hotel. We arrived yesterday evening, just as a wedding reception was in progress, so the whole wedding party all came out and gawked at us. We'd left Cory with the bikes while Petar and I went in to register, and by the time we got back, he was surrounded and a bit taken aback by the amount of people. He was trying to keep an eye on all three bikes, while answering 10 questions all being shouted at him at the same time by a crowd of excited Russians.

Hey look, it's the Circus! Nope, just smelly Canadian (and Croatian) bikers!
After we had gotten set up in the rooms, Cory and Petar went down for Dinner, and I spent some time preparing some updates to the Website. When I went down, the Security guard (there are 2 on at all time in the lobby) saw I was looking for my friends, knew what I wanted and escorted me out the building around the corner, and up the elevator, and into the party.

Now, we've been on the road for 5 days without access to any kind of laundry, so I had on a pair of short, my stinky shoes, and a MEC long sleeve base layer, that looks like the top for long underwear. So he brings me through the wedding party, to this side enclave where Cory and Petar, equally dumbfounded are having dinner. So we look like three disheveled street people, sitting at this lone table off to the side, eating dinner, among a bunch of dressed to the nine Russians at a wedding.

Again... bizarre.

We stayed two days here, both at the hotel, which is brand new, very western and obviously built to exacting North American standards. The hot water ran out after 2 minutes in the shower.

The main Square in Chita, with the ubiquitous Lenin statue.

Petar took this picture, I have no idea why.

Tim on a tank

Walking through the main square, Chita.

Today: 608 km (Day 19 to Chita)

Day 18: The Road to Chita, Hotel in the Sticks

2009-07-31T20:54:00.013-06:00

More of the same today, good road, bad road, good road, bad road, rain, bad road, rain, bad road, sun, sun, sun, oh man was it hot... then Cory's chain broke...

We had pulled off the road at a bridge over a river, and had just gotten off, when Cory looked down, and a portion of his chain was shattered.. likely by a thrown rock. It was a 1-1000 that he even noticed.

Se he began the process of removing the chain, and getting the spare one out to replace it... until he realized, to our utter amazement, that the spare chain he had bought from the local dealership (unnamed), was wrong. Now Cory remembers asking the sales rep to DOUBLE CHECK the chain, and MAKE SURE it was the right one, because we didn't want to be 800 miles from nowhere and have a chain break with no spare.

So here we were, 800 miles from the next town (really), in the ABSOLUTE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, with a broken chain.

We were seriously hooped.

So we screwed around with it for 4 hours in the baking sun, till we were all about heatstroked, and with the help of a passing Russian Motorcyclist named MAX (Thanks MAX!), he was able to fashion a replacement chain link out of pieces of the original broken piece, the (wrong) spare links Cory had, with a Russian Hammer, a Canadian Axe handle, and a big block of wood, we were able to patch Cory's chain back together.

We took off in the dwindling daylight, aiming for the closest town about 100km away where Max, our benefactor knew of a "Hotel"

Once you're off the main road in Russia, you are really out of this world. The people have never seen motorcycles like ours, or people dressed like us, so when we drive through town, they stop, wave, honk... clap.. we're like a parade, or the circus. It's quite fun actually.

So we meandered through town, till we got to the "hotel". It was built mid century (pick one from the last 2 or 3) and looked like it might fall over in the night. When we were in the office doing the paperwork (there is always paperwork in Russia), I didn't want all of us to stand on one side of the room, because I thought the whole building might tip over.

They had a Barn like structure, with a door and padlock for our bikes, so we were happy they were safe.

Our "rooms" were two beds (couches with the ends cut off so you could stretch out). The bathroom had a shower that had a knob kind of thingy on it that had two settings.. cremate or ice age.

There was no pressure, so you kind of wacked the handle thing on yourself, till some boiling hot or freezing cold water squirted out.

While Cory was having his Shower, a guy came in, took a pee, and introduced himself to Cory, naked in the shower, in Russian.

Have I mentioned this place can be a bit bizarre?

After we had cleaned up, such as it was, we wandered next door to the local barn/cafe/disco, where more of the most beautiful women you can imagine served us dinner, but there we no lights because the power had been cut off and they were working on the diesel generator. They came on after a while, but they turned them off so people could dance. We ate in the dark, which is likely best, since Cory and Petar ordered beef, but I hadn't seen a cow in days, but there were an awful lot of cats and dogs running around.

The "View" out of our hotel window

Every dog we've seen is either pregnant or just had puppies. These were 3 of the 10 in this litter. :)

A pretty standard house in this part of Russia.

Dinner at the Disco, in the dark.

Today: 417 km 14 hours on the road.

Day 17: The Road to Chita, Camp Rocks

2009-07-31T20:52:00.013-06:00

After leaving Camp Awesome, we hit some really bad road for a short bit. I had my first "off" coming through a muddy section.

Cory had a bit of a rough bit, when his visor fogged, and he rode for a hundred or so miles with just his glasses on...

Cory was having a bit of a problem with his Pannier (bags) bracket hitting his Knobby tires (it cleared the street tires we changed out in Khabarosk). So we drove in to one of the local towns, found the local welder, and had him fashion a crude cross brace that cleared the tire. Total Time: about 1 hour. The guy welding the brace didn't want his picture taken.

Once again, it rained on us for a lot of the day (no fun), but cleared up at the end of the day and we ended up camping at an abandoned rock quarry, that was pretty good because there were less bugs.

Today: 442 km

Day 16: The Road to Chita, Camp Awesome

2009-07-31T20:45:00.010-06:00

We left Camp Awful at first light, but not before we had a little mishap. We couldn't turn the bikes around at camp, so we ended up driving a bit further up the "trail" to turn around. Cory got his bike down a hill, and ended up in a swamp. 950 lbs Motorbike in a swamp is no fun. So we've just had the worst night yet, and we begin the next day by spending 30 minutes extracting his bike from the bug infested swamp.

Blah.

We finally got on the road, such as it was, and did another average day of 392 miles. We had some rain today again (we've had more than our share for this time of year), which makes the unpaved sections not much fun.

Once again, at the end of the day, we started looking for a place to camp, and our luck had changed, we found a lake, with sand, and wonderful warm water we could swim at.

It was 180 degrees from the night before, and it really lifted our spirits (The sand and the lake did) :)

Today: 392 KM

Day 15: The Road to Chita, Camp Awful

2009-07-31T20:42:00.011-06:00

We left Khabarosk, sadly saying goodbye to our new friends the Iron Tigers. As we pulled out, we went through one of the many Police Checkpoints, this time being stopped. They checked our papers, then quickly waved us through. This would be the last Police presence we would see for the next 5 days.

We did 400km our first day out of Khabarosk, before deciding to pull off the road at some random point to Camp for the first time in Russia.

But first a bit about the Road. The road from Khabarosk to Chita is part of the larger main road from Moscow to Vladivostock (Trans-Russian Highway), It is similar to the Trans-Canada Highway, as it links the entire country.

But it's not finished. There will be sections of pavement, as good as anything in North America. Then it will end. And it will just be a dirt track. There are sometimes signs pointing this out, sometimes not.

So you are driving along at 100km/h, and suddenly, you are driving through waterfilled potholes, and rocks.. fun stuff.

We have seen hundreds of road crews, dump trucks, graders and pavers. They are making a huge effort to pave the entire way, and in a few more years, this road will be done, and the trip will take a couple days. As it is now, it's a mess of pavement, dirt, rocks, gravel, and a few more surfaces I couldn't identify, that changes every 20-30 KM.

The first 1000 km is more pavement than not, so it was fairly straightforward. The next 800km was more hard pack than pavement, and we were much slower.

So, after 400km of this, alternating between 100km per hour, and 30km per hour, we decide to start looking for a place to camp. There is no hope of finding lodging out here, there is nothing.

So after a few false starts down some side roads, we picked a dirt trail off the highway, and drove as far as we could into the trees to hide us from anyone who may want to steal our stuff.

This led us to a dirt, grassy trail in the trees and long grass, that was literally the most awful place you could imagine. Hot, humid, 1000's of mosquitos, fly's, Big Fly's, flying things, buzzing things, spiders... you name it, if it crawled or flew, it was trying to get us.

So we were sweating, stinking, covered in bug spray, with mosquito nets on our heads, in our full riding gear, setting up camp, in a field of long grass.

It was awful, and it was hot.

I saved it on my GPS, it you ever come this way, please stop by.. it's lovely. :)

So we crawled into our tents, along with all our gear, sweaty boots, sweaty clothes, and listened to the bugs try and get in, and tried to stop sweating, before we fell asleep.

Today: 400km

Day 13 and 14 :Khabarosk

2009-07-31T19:45:00.012-06:00

We arrived in Khabarosk, two days after leaving Vladivostok, with no idea what to expect. Vladivostok was full of the most gracious, helpful people you could hope to meet, and we already missed our new friends.

We drove down the main street of Khabarosk, and came upon a huge, new Grocery store, very modern, very western. Inside, they had everything we do, and it was new and beautiful and such a huge change from the crumbling Soviet era buildings we were becoming used to.

Our hosts in Khabarosk, Alex and his wife, Elena
We spent a good hour buying up supplies, and marveling (ogling) the Russian women's ability to shop for groceries in 5 inch heals and mini-skirts. They were everywhere.

We had been given a number for an "Alex", a fellow biker in Khabarosk by the Iron Angels, so I called it, but there was no answer.

We got back on the main road, and where just driving along when we say a building with a picture of a Motorcycle on it, and decided to stop and see if they knew a place to change tires.

We approached a friendly lady, named Elena who owned what we now knew to be a "biker" themed bar, to ask, and as we were talking to her, my phone rang, and a voice on the other end started talking to me in Russian. I had no idea what he was saying, but I guessed it might be "Alex" since I had just called him. This went on as Cory was still trying to talk to Elena. The Russian voice and I hung up after a few minutes of frustration.

Elena pulled out her phone and called her husband, who it turned out was a biker. After a quick conversation, she said he would be by with a few of his friends in a bit, to help us out. This was great news!

Her husband's name she said was Alex. Ummm... Alex.. the biker. I showed her the number I called on my phone. "Oh, yah, that's my husband."

In a city of 800,000 we happened to drive by a bar, with a picture of a motorcycle on it, and meet the wife of the guy we were looking for, who I had just been on the phone with while Cory was talking to her.

People we've spoken to who have driven around the world, talk about this kind of thing happening, it you have a problem, just wait a bit, and someone will be along in a while to solve it. This was proving to be more true than I would have thought.

A newly built (5 years old) Russian Orthodox Church.

Large WWII (Great Patriotic War) memorial of all the people from Khabarosk who died.

Alex, pointing to the name of his Grandfather, who was killed in action in WWII.

Day 12: Vladivostok to Khabarosk

2009-07-31T18:55:00.005-06:00

We left Vladivostok in the morning, it was misty and damp, and then it just got worse. And worse. We drove in the rain for hours, and hours and hours... soaked to the bone. This was our first big day riding after leaving Zarubino, and it was a slightly miserable experience.

After a full day of riding, we started looking for a hotel at about 8:00 pm... but we had miscalculated a bit.. which brings me to a litte story about Russia...

The infrastructure in Russia is very different than Canada. There are no "rest stops". The small towns between Vlad and Khabarosk are very, very primitive. Hotels and places catering to tourists are non existant. So we were not having any luck finding a place to stay.

It was getting later and later, when we came around a corner and in the distance were 3 huge stacks, and massive power lines leading off in all directions. It was a monster Soviet-era Nuclear Plant, a huge monolith beside the road. In it's shadow was a small community where the workers lived, so we stopped and asked some locals hanging out if there was a Hotel close by.. they immediately took us on a journey through the community down back roads and alleys, and we all were becoming more and more cautious, as they seemed a bit too eager to help... after a bit, we ended up at some building, where they took us inside to a desk, and yes it did seem to be a place you paid someone to stay at, but there was sadly no security for the bikes, and we had a bad feeling about the whole situation, so we left and got back on the road.

We then did something that we had agreed in advance we would not do, and that was to drive after dark. But we were tired, soaking wet, and had been on the road for over 12 hours. We had made the decision to push on to Khabarosk, still another 250km away, where if we kept going, we would get there at 1:00 to 2:00 am... not the best set of options.

About an hour after we left the Nuclear community, we drove past a building that actually looked like a small "inn" by the road, where lo and behold, they had a couple rooms for rent, including one with three beds (perfect) and a HOT shower, and an area where we could put the bikes securely.

At this point we met Kate, one of our hosts, who had learned English in school, and was very excited to use here basic understanding to try and communicate with us and help us. We very much appreciated the help she provided, and we had a good night, wherever we were.

Kate helping us secure the bikes for the night

Day 11: Vladivostok

2009-07-31T06:25:00.007-06:00

So our second day in Vladivostok was just as interesting. We met up with the local Motorcycle club the "Iron Angels" and after securing the bikes at their clubhouse, in a locked storage container, we were patiently driven around town by Andre, who helped us look for some Russian maps for our GPS units. We can't say enough about the hospitality of our hosts, who all went out of the way to help us in any way they could, taking time out from their day to drive us around, or provide help, or phone numbers... it was amazing, and something we will always remember. Thanks Iron Angels!

Driving in Russian cities is unlike anything you can imagine. There are no lanes, signaling is done after, before, or randomly for a lane change, if at all. Cars zoom past you on the shoulder, or pass you while you are passing someone else. Stop lights.. optional. They drive on the right like us, but all the cars are from Japan, so they are right hand drive, which is again, different. So after about 20 harrowing minutes, weaving and speeding (100km) in the city, we arrive at an electronics shop selling bootleg video's and hacked cell phones. We then hand over our SD (memory) cards from our GPS units, and 1/2 hour later, we have full Russian maps. Cool.

Traffic in Vladivostok.

For the second night in the city, we had arranged to stay with a local couple at their apartment. We met them a couple blocks away, then walked to their apartment, a mid 80's Soviet style apartment block. Once inside their small apartment, Cory, Petar and I realized we were to sleep on the floor in their bedroom. OK, no problem. Except for one thing. The black and white cat they had. Oops. "AllerGHEA" is one of the Russian words I have learned how to say. So this would have to be addressed. So, we made a phone call to Jenya and Pascha, a couple we had met for about 10 minutes, earlier today, and the only one of the Iron Angels (Zhenya) who spoke any kind of English. "What, you need a place to stay, no problem, Pascha will come get you". So about 2 hours later, after Pascha got off work, he shows up at the apartment we were at, picks me up (leaving Cory and Petar), and off I go all the way across Vladivostok (population 800,000) to Pascha and Zhenya's apartment.

So now, Cory and Petar are in one place, I am in another, and the bikes are somewhere else, and none of us could ever hope of finding our way back to them. Oh, and everything is written in Cryllic, and no one speaks much English.

So Pascha and I arrive at his apartment, another Soviet style rectangular thing, where we go up the crumbling steps, past the graffiti riddled hallway (no lights), where Pascha opens the door to the most wonderful small apartment, with a huge jacuzzi tub, beautiful hardwood floor, and my hostess, Zhenya.

Now, by this point in the journey, we have been treated with amazing hospitaility, but Zhenya and Pascha are two of the most lovely people we have met so far. They insisted.. insisted, that I stay in their bedroom, and sleep in their bed. They would be sleeping on the floor, in their Son's room. No amount of arguing on my part would dissuade them, so I spent my second night in Vladivostock, in a wonderful apartment, sleeping in my hosts bed. Not bad for being in town one day.

We spent the night going through photo albums, and with Zhenya translating as best she could, we had a wonderful conversation about the world, Russia and the kind of things any friends would talk about. It was fantastic.

Zhenya and her son

The next day, we all (surprisingly) met up back at the clubhouse, where our bikes were safely removed from storage, and off we went, on our way to next destination... Khabarosk.

Some of our new friends, the "Iron Angels" Motorcycle club, seeing us off to Khabarosk

Day 10: Vladivostok

2009-07-22T07:40:00.007-06:00

We made it to Vladivostok around 9:00 pm, after riding most of the way in the rain. It was a cold, wet, and entirely awesome experience for our first day in Russia.

We already have felt very welcome and supported.. from the many cars honking and waving when they see us, to the Russian Army guys who we shared lunch with, to the people at the Petrol stations who take our picture, to the wonderful desk clerk and security guard at the hotel tonight, who brought us free beer, extra towels, toothbrushes and slippers...

217 km Today, 1240.4 Total

Day 10: Zarubino and Vladivostok

2009-07-22T06:10:00.005-06:00

We did it! We've made it to Russia!

First up, a nice 19 hour ferry ride from Sok Cho to Zarubino. 19 hours. We had about 12 hours of nice water, and then about 4-5 hours of chop. I slept through most of it! Yah. No barfing :)

Once we landed in Zaribin0, the fun begins.... Customs in Russia is literally the most complicated series of steps you could design.. if you were trying to make it as hard, long, and frustrating as possible.

1. We get off the boat, and go into a standard customs entryway where Uniformed (female) Russian Soldiers are directing the passengers to the next available customs agent.

2. You go up to the agent in the cubicle, like normal, but there are no smiles. It's all business. They stare at you, look at your passport, stare at you again.. look down at the passport, then, after a not too long period. They stamp your passport.

Done right? Oh, not by a long shot....

3. From there we are off to a room, where we sit with two ladies and fill out two identical customs forms (standard entry Custom forms), but two of them... and they are written in Cryllic. So they have to help you, and their english is slightly better than my Russian, and I know 8 words.

So after about 1 hour of this, we think we are finished when we are told to follow another guy back to the boat to get the bikes. Once back at the boat, we have to show our Passports to two Russian Army guys who are now guarding our bikes. We pass I guess, and get to drive our bikes for about 20 seconds back to customs. YAAH. I drove my bike in Russia!

4. Once back at Customs, we wait, while the kind lady types in our customs forms, and then checks and re-checks our shipping documents against what we hand wrote on the forms. After about another hour, we're done... we think.

5. So now, we're told to follow one of the ladies to Customs.... whaaa? We thought this was customs. Oh no, sorry, this is the customs brokerage area.. they are just preparing our documents FOR customs... that will be $150 U.S. please. Ok, we pay, and they make change out of their purses... hmmmmm?

6. Now it off on the bikes to follow one of the ladies down a winding path to ... Customs! Which is a small brick building with many doors and two floors. So in one door we go, through a one way turnstile, and out the other side of the building... seriously. Then around and to the left, and downstairs.. where we .. you guessed it... wait. For 1/2 hour in a line, to change our US dollars into Rubles.. seems this part of the process doesn't take Dollars.

7. After we get our Rubles, we go back upstairs and around another corner into another room. Two more ladies. Sit we are told. Wait. We wait. They type officious forms. Sign here. We dutifully sign. I ask if I just joined the Russian Army. No smiles. You pay they say... we now pay $2000 rubles, which is either $1000 dollars or 80 cents, I'm not really sure at this point, since by this time were getting Japanese Yen, Korean Won and Russian Rubles exchange rates all mixed up. I thrust a wad of different types of money at one of them until she stops yelling, and we go back to our seats. They make change out of their purses again.... hmmmm.

8. After waiting another 20 minutes or so, the first lady from... lets call it Pre-customs comes and collects us, and off we go back outside, around the corner again, back into the building, and just as we get to the turnstile, we veer off to the right, and up we go to the second floor, where we are put in a hallway, and told to ... you guessed it.... wait.

9. 5 Minutes... they say. 5 regular minutes we ask? Or 5 Russian Minutes? This gets a snicker out of pre-customs lady, who by now we realize, is kind of on our side. 5 minutes she assures us. 30 minutes later, they call us in to the office, one at a time to provide us with the prize we've all been waiting for... the temporary import document for the Motorcycle. It's a very impressive piece of paper, with all kinds of stamps and flourishes. We are admonished, at least 4 times, to NOT LOSE THIS DOCUMENT. If we do, I am sure they will likely make us stay here forever, going round and round through door after door, until we die.

10. We nod gravely, to show them we fully respect their document, and carefully fold it and put it in our passports. We are then escorted downstairs where we are told to... yes... wait. She has to go all the way back in her car to Pre-customs,.. and get some other piece of paper with writing on it, which she hands to us, and we all promptly shove it into some spare spot on our overloaded bikes, which we then start in, anticipatory glee as we prepare to depart customs for the open road for our first day in Russia.. we go 10 feet to the guard at the closed gate, who promptly asks us for the piece of paper the lady just gave us, which I have shoved ... ummm somewhere. So after another 10 minutes of digging, I triumphantly find the paper, thrust it in his hand.. and we are FREE... in Russia!

Total time: About 4 hours.

... so we've been in Russia for 4 hours, we've driven a total of 45 feet, and we were all out of gas. But we were free, so we drove another 300 yards to the Petrol station, where it took at least another 15 minutes, because none of us could figure out how to get the yelling lady behind the bullet proof glass to unlock the pumps long enough to fill the tank. After shoving untold numbers of Rubles into the box that slid back and forth through the bullet proof glass, I managed to get about 1/2 a tank of gas pumped. Cory got a little more, and Petar some as well. Terry, from Briton, another biker we met on the Boat, didn't even want to try, so off we went, heading for Vladivostok... then it started raining.

... to be continued on the Vladivostok post.

Day 9: Finally leaving Sok Cho ...

2009-07-20T19:00:00.003-06:00

We got our Customs clearance yesterday.. so we should be good to go. Not much to report, we're kind of bored waiting around for the Ferry. Our hotel was right on the beach, which is cool. Not the greatest beach, but, still it's the ocean. :)

Day 8: Foggy day in Sok Cho

2009-07-20T04:08:00.003-06:00

Really foggy today. We spent the day in Sok Cho trying to find a laundromat for our 2 shirts and 2 pants. No luck.

We've noticed something really weird here... all the stores here sell the same things.. We counted 14 stores in a row, all selling the same dried fish and octopus. 14 in a row. An on the other side of the street there were another 14 selling the same thing.

Bizarre.

Day 8: Sok Cho with Petar

2009-07-20T03:56:00.005-06:00

I think I have been remiss in telling everyone about Petar, the third person in our group. Petar stayed with me last month on his way through Calgary, on his around the world motorcycle trip.

He is from Croatia, and was travelling by himself on his Yamaha 660 Tenere. He stayed with me for a couple days when he was in Calgary, when we realized he was doing a very similar route, only about 3 weeks ahead of us. So a couple of weeks before we left, he emailed and asked if it would be OK if he joined up with us for the Russian and Mongolian parts of the trip. We thought it was a great idea, safer for him and for us (3 is better than 2 in Mongolia, in case of a problem)

So instead of flying his bike over to Russia, he drove up to the top of the Dempster Highway, and then back down to Vancouver, where we met up with him. He has travelled with us since then.

We've nicknamed him "Claudio'. :)

Day 7: Sok Cho Port... Again!

2009-07-19T19:11:00.002-06:00

Yes, we are still in South Korea.... there was another huge foulup with Customs. We had already loaded the bikes on the Ferry yesterday, and were standing in line waiting to board, when they pulled us out of line, and told us the Bikes had not cleared customs because the guy who was supposed to be in at the customs office... wasn't. So they had loaded our bikes in the assumption it would be cleared by the time the ferry sailed.

So here we sit, for another two days, until the next ferry on Tuesday. To say we are frustrated after sitting around yesterday for 7 hours waiting for the ferry, only to be told we couldn't go at the very last minute, is an understatement.

Day 6: Sok Cho Port

2009-07-18T23:13:00.008-06:00

The Bikes Arrived!!!! Mosty intact, a little damage to mine (busted light), Cory and Petar's were fine.

We were very excited to see the bikes after travelling without them for the last 5 days.

We're getting on the Ferry in about an hour, and it's off to Russia!

We've met another traveller who will be helping us out in Russia, her name is Maud, and she is from Switzerland, and she luckily for us speaks 4 languages, including Russian and English, so she can help us with Russian Customs.