The alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Yep, you’re right, it was a short night. I rolled around in bed until 5:30 a.m. then got up. I shaved off my 10-day beard. I was going to keep growing it then said no and shaved it off. I started loading my motorcycle by loading the top box first. Then I carried the rest of my bags down and finished loading my bike. I went for breakfast, had housekeeping check out my room, dressed in my riding clothes and gave the key to reception. It was 7:30 a.m. and I needed to get going. I may run into road construction which will really slow down progress to Vladivostock. Security opened the door and I started my bike. It was idling fine and then it just stalled. I went to restart it and it wouldn’t start. I spun the engine two or three times and it wouldn’t start. I said to myself, what’s going on here? I reached under the gas tank and pulled off the spark plug wire. I tested it for spark and it had spark. I went to the other side of the bike and pulled off the gas line to check for gas flow. It had gas. It was now 8:00 a.m. and I’m ticked off. I won’t be making it to Vladivostock today at this rate. I put the spark plug wire back on and hooked up the fuel line. I made one other check. I checked to make sure no fuses were blown. None were. I switched on the key and pushed the starter button. It started right up. I was mystified. It idled for a few moments and then stalled again. I scratched my head and thought about this for a moment. I pushed the starter button again and turned the engine over for a while and it didn’t start. I walked away even more mad. I came back in few minutes later and pushed the starter button and it started. Damn…………I turned on the throttle till it was running 2000 rpms. It kept running at that rpm for a couple of minutes and then slowly let off the gas and it idled like always. I looked at the security guy and gave him the universal darned if I know what going on. I backed out of the garage, pulled in front of the hotel and got Matilda on track and looking for Highway M60 to Vladivostock. I then pulled out of the parking lot taking a right turn and followed the route out of town which Inna and the hotel driver showed me. Matilda plotted the same route. As I was driving farther away from Khabarovsk I just wanted to say thanks to all the great people who helped me out in the Hotel Molly. Spahseebah, Spahseebah, Spahseebah. Inna you’re my third hero on my 2009 round the world travels. I still left Khabarovsk early enough so the traffic was light and my drive out of town was uneventful. I came up on the police checkpoint where they were supposed to stop and inspect my motorcycle and me. I slowed down to the posted speed and drove thru the checkpoint. The police were too busy with other customers to bother with me. I slowly sped up and got out of there. One car passed me and indicated I should drive faster and then pointed to her head that I was stupid. I don’t think she was the only one that ever said or thought that. I can’t read signs, follow my GPS, dodge potholes in the road and watch out for traffic when I don’t know where I’m going in these large cities. I continued driving 50 to 62 Mph/80 to 100 Kms all day. Remember me talking about road construction? Yep, I found it. Actually there were three areas where I encountered road construction. Another thing that became very obvious was the high presence of police on the highway. They were like sharks hiding out in secret out of the way places using their radar guns to ticket people who were speeding. Guess who got stopped for speeding. I was driving 56 mph/90 kms in a 37 Mph/60 Kms zone. The officer showed me my speed on the radar gun and then showed me that it was a 37 Mph/60 Kms zone. He pulled out the regulation book and showed me how much the fine was. It was 300 rubles. I reached into my pocket and pulled out 500 rubles to pay the fine. He told me he wasn’t going to fine me just let me go with a warning. He said it was a Russian present and said Russia and the United States were friends. Or that’s what I interpreted his hand gesture to mean. I got on my motorcycle and rode out of there nice and easy. I think the speed limit through the small villages is 37 Mph/60 Kms, at least that’s what I think. That’s where I got stopped for speeding, while exiting out of small village. So from that time on I drove the speed limit through villages and towns and kept my eyes open for police speed traps. I’m telling you that Highway M60 is a highly patrolled highway. I had no further problems with the police for the rest of the day. About 5:00 p.m. I started looking for a hotel. I stopped at a large roadside café thinking it might be a hotel. I asked several people and they said it wasn’t. They said the nearest hotel was at Kilometer 47. I stopped in one of the villages about where I thought Kilometer 47 was and asked two young guys walking with white shirts and ties on if they knew where a hotel was. They said not in this town, but in the city of Ussurijsk, fifteen minutes down the road. They then told me they were Jehovah Witnesses and had brothers and sisters in America. I believe they were talking about members of their faith in the U.S. I think they were going from door to door spreading the word of their faith. I said goodbye and continued driving to Ussurijsk when Matilda went offline. It’s something I knew she would do. It had something to do with not having the correct maps or no available satellites. I stopped and asked several people about a hotel. They were of no help: they kind of indicated they didn’t know what hotels were. I asked another guy and he said to keep going until you come to a roundabout and there will be a hotel. On the way to the roundabout I saw a hotel and pulled into the parking lot. I walked into the Hotel Entourist and up to reception. I pulled out my hotel sheet and asked for a room. The hotel receptionist had no problem understanding what I had written and I had a room in about ten minutes, a nice room. This was one of those old concrete hotels that was renovated. It was very nice and the hotel staff was very helpful and courteous. They had secure parking for my motorcycle, which I liked. I unloaded my motorcycle and the security staff was all over that motorcycle telling me what a great motorcycle it was. I finally parked my bike for the night, put a lock in the front disk rotor and covered it. The security guys were real funny. Another guy that was looking at my motorcycle was a waiter of a restaurant next door the hotel. He gave me some gum and the restaurant business card. He invited me to come over and eat after I got settled. I thanked him and he left. About a half hour later I walked over to the restaurant where he works. He met me at the door and I said that if he wants me to eat there he will have to help me with the menu. He said, no problem they had an English menu and one of the girls spoke excellent English. I looked at the menu and saw several dishes I liked. I ordered them and had a complete meal in 15 minutes. It tasted really great and the service was good. It was the first nice restaurant I walked into in months where I was able to read a menu and order in English. I paid the bill and left a nice tip and walked back to the hotel. I took a shower and went to bed.
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