Sunday, 27 August 2012 Irkutsk, Russia to Krasnoyarsk, Russia (708 miles) Total Trip Miles – 8103. 15 hours riding

Weather Temperature for the first part of day in the upper 40’s changing to mostly sunny in the upper 60’s later changing to cold rain & wind with temps in the 50’s approaching Krasnoyarsk

Wow…what a long and challenging day on this journey around the world…the day started off as usual with an alarm at 5 am allowing me time to prepare for the days ride – book a hotel in Krasnoyarsk, write my blog and prepare my gear for the day.  Most recently the days have been long and grueling with 4-5 hours sleep…arriving in each city late in the evening and up early to do it all over again in a city near you.

This day started out like all others and for the most of the day, the weather was sunny & warm – perfect riding conditions.  Around 6 pm as I was just outside of Kansk, I pulled over to tighten up my gear for the weather clouds I saw ahead in the northwestern skies – additionally, my brother Tye had updated the weather forecast on Facebook and I was prepared for a wet last few hours on the road.

The highways are oftern confusing and the M 53 through Kansk didn’t let me down – typically as this main road passes through a city, it winds right through the town seemingly on every little backstreet, back yards and you name it making very little sense given the volume of traffic including huge over-the-road trucks.  Today’s trip though Kansk weaved me along a 4.5 mile road of mud, pot holes & rocks that seemed like an eternity to navigate.  But I made it and continued towards Krasnoyarsk in a drving rain & wind for the next 5 hours with temps in the mid 50’s.

Folks, there is no such thing as weather-proof gear under these types of conditions and slowly rain begain to creep into every corner of my gear – first my sleeves, riding boots and eventually a bit of dampness in just about every spot.  As darkness fell, visibility became difficutl with the rain, fog and glare from oncoming traffic.  Found myself a rabbit, in this case a large dump truck, and just focused in on his talilights  I also was reminded by my clock I keep from my home time zone that during these final hours of my rided I reminded myself that most of my family and friends were having coffee & breakfast and starting their days…it can certainly be tuuuuuf out here in Siberia for this poor fella from North Carolina!

Anyhow, fortunately I have a GPS and I made my way through the streets of Krasnoyarsk eventually arriving at the hotel – I absolutely must have looked like one of those fishermen on the seas around Alaska after long day onboard ship working the crab boxes.   The Dom Hotel is extremely nice with secure parking in their courtyard and I had a 12:15 am dinner at their restaurant – meatballs, mash potatoes and a Coke – a perfect ending to my day!

Earlier in the day, I passed several, what I beleive to be, canola fields that expanded well off to the horizon and I snapped a picture for you of the typical bathroom accomodations at my gas stops.  That’s right, every fuel stop I’ve made comes complete with an outhouse that has a carefully constructed hole in the wooden floor with two blocks to postion you feet…ladies – welcome to Siberia!

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