Friday July 26

We arrived in Volgograd, Russia around 9pm last night with the  Mother Russia statue‘s  outstretched arms rising in the distance high over the city.  Sunset had fallen and lodging/camping options appeared slim to none.  The collective agreed to make a bee- line for Atyrau, Kazakhstan and the  plush Marriott hotel rooms (Thanks Sarah!!) with wi-fi, showers, and a hot meal and cold beer (ammenities we have truly come to cherish) that awaited our arrival for tonight.

Driving out of town, we passed the miles and miles of oil and natural gas refineries that have come to define Volgograd.  We arrived at a McDonalds in Astrakhan, Russia this morning around 8am catching some zzz’s in our seats, while Don, Pietro, & Sarah  drove us through the night.  Not being much of a fast food aficionado, I must say my Egg McMuffin tasted MIGHTY FINE!!

Our first adventure of the day –
We were all ecstatic to discover that our oversized weighty bus WOULD be allowed to pass onto the floating bridge that we needed to get across in order to easily reach the Kazakhstan border.  I got my turn up on on the roof rack and camped myself up there with camera in hand as we crossed the rickety 1 lane bridge. It was AWESOME!!  Stefano and Pietro walked ahead, and photographed the bus coming across the bridge.  We successfully reached the other side to the many cheers & honks of the cars waiting their turn to go the other way.

 

But the fun did not end there…..we had our first breakdown of the trip!!
As The Adventurists say….”if nothing goes wrong,  everything has gone wrong”.

About 3km(?) from the border, we pass over a small bridge with a guardrail, Don hears a clacky clacky sound from the wheels on the starboard/right side of the bus.  Quickly pulling over,  he and Tommy discover that the bracket holding up the brake calipers has gone missing.  The bus is dead in the water!!

We empty out of the bus and folks spread out and start walking back down the road looking for the bracket, to no avail.  It’s possible some scrap metal Sarah found might work, but now we need a hacksaw.  I work my magic and flag down a Semi (YES!!).

Not just any semi mind you, turns out this guy works for a metal fabrication co. and has an electric hand grinder in his tool chest.  The guys go to work on the scrap metal, cutting and shaping it into what Don needs to make this impropmtu repair. Sarah rewards my NEW “knight in shining armor” (I had no idea they were EVERYWHERE!) with his very own Dixie Chickens T-Shirt!!  With our part now ready for install, the semi disappears on down the road.

A local herdsman has come to check out all the action as well:

Don gets us back up to speed and just for good measure we drive back down the road a bit further than the mile or so folks had walked.  And, NO SHIT! There, in the middle of the road, about 2km back, Don spies the bracket just laying there in the middle of the road. Over an hour later, it is still intact and undamaged from the semis and cars that have driven by it.  And it’s a good thing we found it too, because after we’ve turned around and headed back towards the border, not a mile later we hear the clackety clack again.  Don pulls back over.  The impromptu fix had loosened, so back on the bracket went and we were good to go!

Border Crossings in the Rally are  legendary, and today’s is no different,  but I’m  saving that for another post.  Without TOO much shakedown, and with only minor pilfering (confiscation) of our some of our liquor stash (Sarita’s Jaegermeister among them) , we have arrived in Kazakhstan!

If Don thought the roads in the Ukraine and Russia were something to snark about, Kazakstan has welcomed him with some wild slalom driving on a road that is not unlike what the apollo lunar module must have encountered in the asteroid craters of the moon back in 1969!  YIKES!  Sarita says , with her best efforts of an eastern european accent,  “Here in Kazakhstan, we fix road, every day, best in world,”  We’re  in stitches.  280 km to Atyrau – and GO!

A short while later we encounter our first MAJOR storm of the Rally, as the skies unleash a torrent of rain,  wild winds, blowing sand, and HAIL!  As the sun emerges out of the black clouds above,  it is still raining,  I figure there might be one heckuva rainbow out there on the horizon  – and I”m right!

it takes awhile to really kick in, but when it does, it is one of the most BRILLIANT rainbows I have EVER seen in my life.  It so clear, so intense and seems to last forever.   Don gets so sick of all of us hanging out the windows with photo lust in our eyes and hearts, he relents, stops the bus, and shoos us out the door with the comment of “ok folks go get those damn rainbow photos!!”  YEEHAW!!   The rainbow  is even more spectacular outside the bus – and we are even treated to a magical DOUBLE rainbow! (LOVED the “vivid” setting on the new camera!)

Of course the day is not over, and I get to see my very first – not in a zoo – Camels!   They’re tagged & numbered, and they are right along the side of the road, but I am excited nonetheless. Don stops for another Photo Op!!

This has been a SPECTACULAR day!