The first order of business is finding fuel. Last night, we put all of our jerry can fuel in the car

We get up early to a windy, driving rain. It had been raining heavily all night and the wind makes it feel like winter is an hour away. This is going to be a long, ugly day if these conditions continue.
Fortunately, we have a stove, enough butane for the rest of the trip (probably through South America), water and coffee. Unfortunately, this "hotel" is pretty weak on toilets. The only inside one is in the restaurant under lock and key. And that means a trek through the mud and rain. Brush teeth on the deck, bio-break behind the cottage, brew coffee and pufo. On the road again.
The first order of business is finding fuel. Last night, we put all of our jerry can fuel in the car and we re seriously in danger of running dry. We were told that the next reliable fuel stop was at km marker 307 and we re at about km marker 180. We have to get some fuel pretty soon or we ll run out on the road.
Not many miles after we start, we find a gas station but it s not open yet. The attendant says that there s another just a couple of km up the road. We drive off with one eye on the gas gauge and the other on the km markers. A few kilometers and there s a brand new station on the right.
We pull in and pull up to an empty pump. There are cars at the other pumps and there are people at the outside pay window milling about. I s 8AM and the station should travel trailer nc rental be open. It s not. I gather that it ll open in another 30 minutes. Back in the car and out of the wind-driven rain.
At just about 8:30, the windows opens and the drivers rush to pay for the fuel and get filled up. Inside the building there are 3 women working the counter and a security guard. I have no idea why they couldn t open early but rules are rules (and Russians are, if nothing else, all about rules, even out here in Siberia where rules seem rather pointless.) We fill up the car and the jerry cans and we re moving again.
The rain seems to be picking up and the wind is howling right in our faces. The road surface is some of the best we ve seen since Austria and we re making good speed but the wind is killing our mileage. Plus, we re climbing steadily. We round a bend and see that the hills in the distance are have snow on them. On August 1st.
We continue climbing and reach the snow line in a few miles. Then a few miles later and a few higher elevation, travel trailer nc rental there s snow on the road. Slush, actually. There s a rain/snow mixture coming down and as we get higher in elevation, we get only snow. The road has a good covering of slush with each lane having a couple of clear tire track lanes. The driving isn t bad in the tire tracks travel trailer nc rental but trying to change lanes is tricky. The slush is heavy and slippery and every time we have to leave the tire tracks, the car slips just enough to keep us on our toes.
Up one incline we come up behind a road plow clearing the lane of slush. He s moving a good deal slower than we are so we pass and try to stay in the tire tracks. Occasionally, an oncoming truck makes life interesting but we summit and start the descent to warmer climes. The lower elevations are free of slush and the precip is only rain.
We had decided that since gas stations are few and far between out here in the Amur that we would stop whenever the gas gauge hit one half tank. That would give us over 100 miles (160 km) to find gas. We re back down out of the hills and see a gas station with a car repair shop right next to it. Get gas and in to the repair shop.
We re having trouble with our left rear shock (and probably soon to have problems with our right rear shock, too) so we stop and ask if we can use his car ramp to check and/or repair the shock. He lets us use the ramp for 50 rubles and we get the car up to take a look. It s what we suspected: the bushings are shot on both of the rear shocks.
I had brought some rubber tape to use for electrical repairs and we think that we can probably rig a temporary repair with the tape. This shop only does tires so we want a temp fix until we find a shop that can repair the bushings Meanwhile, we fight the shock mount and finally get it off. Wrap the mount in rubber tape and put the shock back on the car. My fingers had gotten so cold that I couldn t get the last mounting bolt started. John climbs under the car and finishes the mount.
Along the way, he checks the right rear shock. Its mounts are shot, too. I climb under the car and start removing the shock but one of the mounting travel trailer nc rental bolts is seized and I m afraid to break it or round off the bolt head trying to get it off. John gives it a try but no joy. We end up tying off the shock with a big zip tie so that it won t get damaged any more while traveling to the next repair shop.
Back on the road, it starts raining in earnest. The wind is more a crosswind now which makes driving in the rain somewhat more interesting. But there s not much traffic and the road surface is great. We just keep putting down the miles to Skovorodino.
The plan is to stop in Skovorodino, travel trailer nc rental get fuel, hopefully find a repair shop and spend the night. It s where the M58 that were following to Habarovsk crosses the M56, the Lena Highway. The Lena Highway is the road to the Road of Bones, travel trailer nc rental the road to Magadan, made famous by Ewan MacGregor travel trailer nc rental in his documentary, The Long Way Round, but that s another trip for another day. We re continuing on on to M58 but first we have to get the shock mounts repaired.
We leave the M58 and head south on the M56 toward Skovorodino but the only fuel stop doesn t have gasoline, only diesel. We push a bit farther south but then turn around and start back to the M58. John had noticed a repair shop on the way down so we turn into it on the way back to the M58.
We sk a mechanic who s trying without much success to seat the bead on a huge truck tire by filling the tire with propane and igniting the butane so that the explosion mounts the bead. He hasn t killed himself, yet, and only started small fire in the huge truck tire so he s happy to take a break and look at the car. One look at the shock and he says, yesy, he can fix it. He gets out his mobile and calls someone who arrives in a few minutes.
The mechanic arrives like one of the Pros from Dover from the movie Mash in what looks like a Carhartt winter overall. He immediately crawls under the car, looks at andf shakes the shocks, comes back out from under the car and motions to drive the car up on a concrete car stand. There s a trucker hotel next to the repair shop so I go off to find a room.
The woman who runs the hotel says she has a room, shows it to me ("Yes, I ll take it.") and we head to the registration desk. "Passport." Which I ve left in the car. I tell her I ve left it in the car and I ll be right back. Back to the car just in time to see the "Pro from Dover" walking back to his shop with the right rear shock in his hand. I think that John and I must be the 2 slowest mechanics in the world.
Back to register for the room, get the key, get towels, back to the sop. Where the "Pro-from-Dover" is just finishing up installing new bushings in the shock and is about to reinstall the shock. All in about 15 minutes.
He climbs back under the car and 5 minutes later the shock is in. He immediately looks at the other shock, the left rear that we had tried to fix with the rubber tape. The repair travel trailer nc rental isn t working travel trailer nc rental and the "Pro-from-Dover" asks if we want that one fixed, also? "Da." Out it comes. travel trailer nc rental Back into the shop. Ten minutes later, he s back under the car reinstalling the shock. (He seems to be getting much faster with experience.)
He climbs out. He and the original mechanic discuss how much to charge us. They come up with 3,000 rubles (about travel trailer nc rental $90). We agree and pay them. Jon gives them each a small cigar which really lights up their faces. The he gives them some London-Bishkek pins which really gets them friendly. "Where have you come from? Where are you going? travel trailer nc rental How many kilometers have you driven?" "California. Vladivostok and then Australia. About 18,000 km." Each answer has them shaking their heads even more. They wish us good luck and send us off to the highway about 2 kilometers to get fuel.
The only remaining problem is the oil pressure gauge. It reading very high and that doesn t make much sense. It was fine earlier and appears to have suddenly started acting up. Hopefully, it s the sending unit or the wiring. Another thing on the to-do list.
We find the gas station. Fill up. And stop in the cafe next to the gas station that also has a trucker hotel, one that looks a lot better than the one I ve already checked us into. Whatever. Time for food a few beers. (It s only about a km back to the hotel.)
We order shashlik which we joke about but haven t had in quite a while now. With buttered, boiled potatoes. And some very good Russian beers. While we re eating a German moto rider hears us speaking English and stops to chat.
He is a German hotel operator named Andreas Becker who is riding a BMW. He s traveling with another German who is riding a KTM 990 Adventure. They are also headed to Vladivostok and were on the same road in the same snow, ice rain and slush that we were in. Only they were on motorcycles.
Andreas was cold but dry on the ride. The KTM rider, however, was miserable. The water went right through his supposedly water-proof Goretex jack and soaked him to the skin. He was still up in his room at the hotel trying to recover from his ordeal.
We ended up chatting for a few beers with Andreas. First, about motorcyles. Then about the trip through Russia. Lastly, about Berlin, his home base. During the conversation we find out that our export shipping agent is also his Russian "fixer", the person that makews things happen for foreign visitors to Russia. Small world.
Andreas also tells us that the upcoming APEC conference travel trailer nc rental in Vladivostok is happening at exactly the time when we are arriving. The APEC conference is a high level economic gathering of the national leaders in the Asia/Pacific area. That means that the leaders of Russia, China, Japan and the US a