A long day. We travel the width of Finland, the first few hours with the Bay City Bikers that we bunked with last night. These are easy people to get along with and we stay together as long as our onward journey allows. Attempting to fuel at a tiny filling station was the first indication I had a bank card problem. Since I cannot read Finnish I had no idea why the old card reader spit out my credit card. I've been caught out by old machines that don't do a selection of languages. Press the yellow button and walk away.
These guys are cruising and hanging out, reluctant to finish the outing. Aki and I have the country to cross, so inevitably we say our goodbyes. I honestly hope to see you again one day guys.
Aki has some twisties to have fun on before a pit stop at his family home. That is when I meet Eve and the children for the first time. We are going to end the day at the family summer cabin by a lake, close to the Russian border. Eve is loading the care with food, gear and kids. After lunch and ten minutes on my blog, we head East, sightseeing and bend swinging.
Bright dappled sunlight through the birch trees as we blast through (within the speed limit of course) winding lanes, getting ever closer to the Russian border. After an ice cream at a sleepy harbour on the Baltic, we join the highway for the last 20 kilometres or so. What do you see? No hammer and sickle these days. Just a line of trucks more than a kilometre long, waiting to get their papers stamped to cross into the Federation. Before Christmas it can be days long. There is no where to stand and sight see. No photo opportunity with Russian guards. The best we can do is the filling station on the hill which "almost" overlooks the crossing. Aki fills my tank because there may be a problem with my cards. More on that later.
Russia. Did I finally ride my beloved beemer as far as we want to go? Tonight that feels a possibility, but I am tired and we have a little way still to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment