16 July 2009 East of Chita, Eastern Russia

I got up, packed up, and was on the road at 10:00 a.m. I was watching the roads today looking for more open holes like I dropped into yesterday. Good thing; there were more of them. They varied from 2-4 inches/5-10cm deep. Bridges are suspect for having the blacktop dug out right next to the concrete the full width of the bridge. No signs announce the road hazard, just a 4-6 inch/10-15 cm deep trench. I definitely must be more alert for those road hazards. I’ve been driving by a lot of picture opportunities and saying to myself I should have taken a picture of that. Now I’m doing it. I’m taking pictures of graves, signs, and anything else that looks interesting. As I was driving along I saw a river with easy access so pulled in there and washed my helmet visor, headlight, taillight, and signal lights. I also flushed dust out of the radiator after driving on gravel roads. Those gravel trucks just cover you with dust and fill the radiator with it. I met Yura at lunch. Actually I was ordering with my sheet of paper I made up some time ago and whenever the waitress would not understand my request he would interpret for me. He was interested in my motorcycle so I shared all the information about my trip. When I told him I was going to Valdivostock he told me how to get around Chita on the city bypass and get on M55 to Khabarovsk. I thanked him for that kind gesture and gave him one of blog cards. With Yura’s directions it was very easy to bypass Chita and get on M55 to Khabarovsk. I’m about 50 miles /80 Kms east of Chita, bush camping. I found an excellent spot totally out of sight. After I got my tent set up I tightened the spokes in the area where the rims are bent. They weren’t really loose but they were not as tight as the rest of the spokes. I also checked the air pressure in the tires. The front tire was ok but the rear tire was about 5 lbs low on air. I got out my trusty million-dollar air compressor and inflated the tires. Just as I started my compressor, a diesel truck with a stuck lifter stopped on top the hill where I was camping. My air compressor is pretty noisy so I shut it off. I didn’t want to be discovered by the truck drivers. I thought for sure the truck was staying the night. After about 15 minutes, the stuck valve worked itself loose and the engine started sounding like a diesel engine and it wasn’t long before the truck pulled out. I imagine the engine was overheating because of all the hills it had to climb. After that I worked on my blog and went to bed.