Ending Point: N48°42 E44°30
Distance Traveled: 294.8 miles
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Our new friends approve of the Panda!
The sunflower field was a perfect place for the night judging by just how late we slept in the following morning. Once we got back on the road, it was a smooth drive until we hit the bumpy, pothole-dotted roads into Volgograd. Based on our arrival, Volgograd appeared the friendliest city to the Mongol Rally that we have passed so far. Driving along the main road into downtown, a man pulled up next to us honking and showing off a shirt that we couldn’t read. We’re assuming it was an old Rally shirt or one from a team because when he got close enough he gave us a thumbs-up and shouted “Mongol Rally!! Yeah!!” A few moments later, another car pulled up alongside and asked “Mongolia? We’re from Uzbekistan! Awesome!” Then, they threw us some beads with a spider carving for good luck on the journey. We knew we were in for a good time in Volgograd. Traffic wasn’t our friend at first though as we cruised around looking for a spot with Internet. Eventually, we made our way slightly out of town to juice bar in a mall. Once online, we saw that two other teams were still in Volgograd, so we turned around and headed towards the hostel where they were staying. Finding the hostel (through an archway, along a garden, ringing up from a steel door, taking the elevator to the fifth floor, and finding a door with an owl on it) was difficult but worth the effort once we met Lorenzo and Emanuele of Team Rougher Dan Khan and James from the Thunderyaks as well as Ting traveling from China. We went out to dinner nearby at a pub the first two found the day before. Though it took us a while to navigate the Russian-only menu, we did so to great success and enjoyed our first hot meal since leaving Moscow.While Lorenzo and Emmanuele worked through some of their issues with their car and its massive engine problems, James joined us out in the park for a beer. That night, however, was no ordinary night in the park. It was an evening of celebrating the Russian Navy! We had seen blue and white flags all over town as we were driving in, and suddenly it all made sense (we had wondered if the flags were for a football match, graduation, or if we’d accidentally found ourselves in Chechnya with an uprising starting). Soon, we were surrounded by a big group of friendly Russian soldiers who explained the holiday and really liked to shout “Russian tradition!!” Once we had all finished our beers, we went for a walk in the park to a café for another round. Conversation was all over the place in a mixture of languages, but the excitement and comradery was unforgettable. Starting Point: N51°47 E41°47
Ending Point: N48°42 E44°30 Distance Traveled: 294.8 miles
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We left the Ganza house after a quick breakfast so that we could meet another Ganza, Alexey, at the Fiat garage. The directions we plotted in our book of Moscow maps were perfect, and we arrived on time (Nikolai is much better than Google Maps, if only we could take him with us to Mongolia!). Only in Russia do you take your car in for an oil change and then have an offer of a suspension check. They were especially keen to check the suspension because we were planning to leave the city going east. While the car was being serviced, we went out for coffee with Alexey. Charla and Alexey had not seen each other in over ten years since Christopher and Olga’s wedding (Charla’s cousin and Alexey’s sister); there was a lot to catch up on! Once we returned to the dealership, all was relatively well with the car, and we set out on the ring road to leave Moscow. The drive out of Moscow was somewhat long, as the city seemed to never end! Eventually, we left the realm of the Moscow city map book and started crossing fields of sunflowers. The road surfaces varied quite a bit in the stretches between small towns, but they were fantastic compared to those in the Ukraine. At one of our stops, Chase befriended a group of gas station attendants who were interested in Alaska and our comically small blue car. Our drive also took us through a surprisingly colorful town called Tambov that we could have certainly spent a little more time in were it not getting late in the evening. Appropriately, the day ended in a sunflower field where fireworks from a wedding nearby provided our evening entertainment. Starting Point: N55°40 E37°19
Ending Point: N51°47 E41°47 Distance Traveled: 446.1 miles |