11 June 2009 Rivne, Ukraine

I got up, showered, and packed my bike. I was putting the finishing touches on it when Yuri and his entourage arrived. I got my clothes on and we headed out. I showed Natalie, her boyfriend, and Edita what was in the refrigerator under my desk. I don’t know who opened it and said there’s vadka in there. I said, oh I didn’t know. I think the younger people where pretty surprised by that. We left the room; Yuri and his entourage by the front door and I out the back door. When I showed up with my bike we left for the main highway out of town heading toward L’viv, Ukraine. Yuri pulls over, we say our goodbyes and take a few pictures. Yuri warns me to be careful and use the eyes in the back of my head. I get on my bike and leave. This is another traveling day. The highway is good all the way to L’viv and getting thru L’viv was fairly easy. It was mostly mountainous on the way with good scenery and small villages. I continued up E40 M06 to Brody and on to Rivne and stopped for night. I purchased a hotel room in Rivne where a lot of truckers hang out or rest. I had to go upstairs to get to the reception desk. It seems that the stairs in Europe and surrounding countries do not concern themselves about first step and last step height. I stepped on the first step and went to step on the second step, tripped and did a face plant right into the stairs. I slammed my helmet into the stairs putting a nice beauty mark into it. The guard asked if I was all right and said yes. I tried to recover with grace but it didn’t quite work. Not a bad hotel but a lot of door banging all night. I asked security if my motorcycle could be kept safely somewhere. They said yes, and locked it in a garage. I never worried about it. I was beat up from the ride and went to bed. One of the guards asked what my final destination is going to be. I said, Vladivostock, Russia and he slapped himself in the face saying, oh my god, oh my god.