I love road trips, I love getting in the car and going there is nothing like it. I love adventures and finding new things.  This one is going to be a bit different since I will be going alone, something I have not done in a long time…before 2000 I think. This will also be my first road trip that I have not had Harley or someone else with me…doing it without Harley is something that is weighing on my heart. However, she will be with me in other ways. Anyone who reads this blogs knows the story with that so I will not rehash it.

I will be seeing great things in West Virginia and North Carolina as I am writing this blog I am sitting in town in West Virginia called Nitro. I will also be seeing a part of the Atlantic coast I never have while I drive through South Carolina, Georgia and the east coast of Florida and seeing places like Savannah and Charleston. Then I will be in Sarasota Florida for a week or so hanging out with my mom and doing as much writing as I can while adventuring about. I may see if I can “run into” Stephen King so he can sign my book he wrote. On my way home, I will be cruising through Asheville NC and Gatlinburg where I have not been since I was 12 or so and seeing the Smokey Mountains. I may even make a stop in hell (Ohio) and see a friend on the way home. I’ll be gone until the 16^th of may.  This trip is going to be one where I do my best to clear my mind and heart since the last few months have not been easy on me. I am also hoping to see and experiences some new things that will add to my writing, things that may end up in future stories.

So if you enjoy traveling and road trips keep up with my blog for the next few weeks and I’ll be posting picture and maybe some short stories I write along the way. Ill probably be posting a few VLOGS and blogs along the way on my Facebook page.If you do not already follow me, LIKE me up on my Facebook page for my writing and books and see what I’m up to. If anyone has any great suggestions of places to stop along the way shoot me a message.

On a quick note, so far the people West Virginia are as wonderful as what i have been told they are

Hope you enjoy the ride….

Lancaster has many covered bridges, 25 to be exact unfortunately we only found one.

Driving through Terre Hill, the delicate iron work at this cemetery caught my eye, had to stop and take a picture –  the clouds rolled in, in time for a dramatic shot.

A stop in Litiz. Chocolate!  Enough said…….

Fancy teapot display at Wilbur Chocolate Factory.

Couldn’t pass this up, had to check out the store. 

More information on Lancaster PA:

City of Lancaster, PA

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Things to do in Lancaster

Lancaster Arts

Far though all wheelchairs are most likely going to give you mobility, Full Report wheelchairs are designed specifically to make it worse sure you can travel and comfort and ease. From course there were several challenges that weren’t on my anticipation list but they should will need been, places like Finland in addition to the South Beach, Florida that is going to have been on that put up and return visits Alaska also New Mexico. You will discover the beautiful beach and marine from this place.

These unique lodging and huge villas are created to perfection with elegant interiors along with totally restored with all luxurious home market facilities you call for in order to your trip a lot added joyous along with soothing. But, salmon needs to be put all Alaska fishing simply click the next web page. They will in order to give you a fight and also the terrain will be part of your match.

Primary points to a city features more than one sky bar council from which you can consider the world go by however chilling with a cocktail at their fingertips. Via arrival at their hotel, where their rooms are not ready, you will find friendly bell staffs that are willing if you want to keep their bags for the entire group until check in time. The perfect ones give you three.

The idea cheap, Times Square hotel came complaints of bedbugs, broken windows, a lobby bathroom with graffiti reading “If you want every STD, stay here,” black mildew… Families (including children aged four years along with up), active seniors and organizations all enjoy rafting on all calmer portions of the Denver River during these one-day visits. All you will need to should is keep in mind the entire following suggestions for being involving harm’s way while traveling only to some strange destination.

Photo Credit: darkroastedblend.com

Contrails etched in the newborn sky

burst into flames at dawn.

Diamond-studded acres of frozen snow

bristle at sun’s caress.

Photo: listofimages.com

We descend the mountain road

into a bowl of milky fog,

creep forward through thick mist

then emerge beneath its weighty layer.

Photo: Alex Boywer
Mono Lake Fog

There lies Mono Lake, still and peaceful

as light breaks through in the East

illuminating her surface into

a pool of liquid silver.

A gilded strip on the horizon beckons.

We rise again through the miasma,

We arise to crisp blue that shimmers,

shivers, surrenders its secrets.

In the desert, Joshua trees, tipped

in gold leaf, bow at our passage.

Photo: tripadviser

Contrails etched in evening skies

burst into flames at sunset.

Photo credit: joabess.com

We’re arrived in the desert after a two-day drive. This stunning trip never ceases to amaze me but this winter topped them all. I wanted to pull over and take photos every few miles but because of the conditions, it took longer than usual. Wish I could find the words to describe the PEACE and beauty that this dip into nature brought to me…and Peace in the theme Mary has invited us to consider over at dVerse Poetics!

-Candace

Happy New Year!

Usually you have a buffer zone between you, the center divider, and oncoming traffic. It’s a nice cushy shoulder, perhaps about five feet. But it is the most desperately needed five feet on earth. Now I’ve been driving for a while now, and I’m usually a little give or take on the miles per hour on the highway. But when it comes to The Wall of Death, I am barely at the speed limit. This thing freaks me out. And it makes no sense because no matter what, the lanes are always the same width, right?

The Wall of Death

Well, maybe. Driving alongside The Wall of Death makes you think twice about that. Inches count here. Realistically, I know the lanes stay the same. They have to make them wide enough for gass-guzzling Exaggerators and semi-trailers. But without that shoulder as a buffer? Without those five feet?

Dude.

This weekend those precious five feet were taken away as I was driving back from a friend’s house. Construction. Damn construction. I don’t know what they were fixing, or why it needed to be fixed, but from the looks of those concrete barriers and the tire skid marks adorning the side walls, this freeway makeover was taking longer than expected. But when it comes to construction, when does it actually finish on time? I mean they could use the Extreme Homemaker guy for these things. It would help my blood pressure.

But they don’t. So there I was … driving about ten miles alongside the Wall of Death. I was trapped, bounded by those double yellow lines that separate the carpool lane from regular traffic.

My heart was pounding, my anxiety shot up, and I got tense all over. I was holding onto that steering wheel for dear life. I tried raising the volume and singing along to some of my favorite tunes, but that wasn’t working. I tried some Lamaze breathing, but that didn’t seem to work. I mean it didn’t work during labor, so I don’t know why it would work then. But I was trying anything. Nothing was working. The only thing that helped, was getting the hell out of that lane.

But those damn double-double yellow lines were screaming … don’t do it, don’t do it! Big ticket, lady. So seeing how I didn’t need an encounter with the lovely highway patrol, I decided to cowboy up and do my best to try to stay centered, but the fear kept driving me toward the white dash lines, the ones with the reflectors that gave the car the bump-bump-bumpity-bump rhythm as I drove over them.

I don’t know it must be the chick in me. I don’t know any guys that sweat the Wall of Death lane, but it is what it is. After about ten miles, I saw the opening and I took it. I had survived the Wall of Death once again. I had to deal with an extra twenty minutes of traffic, but I was fine with it. My blood pressure thanked me.

I’ve never been to Bavaria before, except of Munich. Making a stop by the Chiemsee was a good idea! After spending the night at the Gasthof Prinzregent Superior in Marquartstein, enjoying Bavarian sausages, ham and speck and asparagus with sauce hollandaise and sleeping in a comfortable four bed apartment, we headed for Chieming. A beautiful sunny day. No rush, no hurry. This blue lake framed by woods and mountains overwhelmed me. Before I could say a word the kids were naked jumping into the water.

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Alongside the lake a track allows to make the tour of the whole lake offering different spots where to restore. We discovered a play ground nearby the water and also a sort of spa. It should help circulation walking for and back in a creek. The water is so cold as ice! I didn’t finish the walk (my wife did!). Video coming soon. Of course we found also a Biergarten with Weisswurst, Brezel and (non-alcoholic) beer from a local brewery.

That was the first time we travelled by car for so many hours with the kids. I doubt we could have done more than 5 hours at once. However it’s good to be prepared with anything that keeps the kids busy. My preferred solution is hours of cartoons on the iPad fixed with a front seat mount so that the kids can watch.

What is coming up next? I’m in Southern Moravia, more precisely in Ivancice. So that’s our new home. For how long, I don’t know yet.

Before you hit the road, be honest with yourself about what you and your children can handle in the way of a road trip(china tour). While older children might be capable of dealing with 10+ hours in the family van, chances are your 4-year-old isn’t. Generally speaking, young children should not be subjected to confinement in a car for more than six hours a day. This is just as much for your sanity as it is for theirs.

If your family car is better suited to in-town trips rather than long hauls, think about renting a van. A van will, at minimum, leave everyone enough room to create their own personal space. If your 8-year-old doesn’t share his toys, chances are he isn’t going to want to share elbow room either. If you decide to rent, make your reservation well in advance, especially during peak travel times. See our article on car rental tips for more information.

Start packing, at least mentally, a few days before you leave. Let the kids help pack their own bags if they are old enough, and discuss the trip with them — kids are much better behaved when they know what to expect. Packed bags mean less confusion, less standing around and less frustration on departure day. This translates into a pleasant start to your road trip.

A great way to avoid the inevitable question (are we there yet?) is to give kids a map, or, even more fun, help them create their own. You can trace the route together and point out interesting landmarks so that they will have a sense of where they are going.

In the end, we wish you have a pleasant and warm travel. and can feel the fun of family traveling by car, give the children a wonderful memory.

туры в китай    Тур в Китай    отдых в Китае

Dingle Peninsula. Charles Rassaert All rights reserved

Argo was born in Cork, Ireland, in August 2010. He was a present: a Jack Russel breeder wanted to thank us for our help in taking care of another Jack Russel, lost, until her owners came to pick her up.

So, even though we wished to have a dog one day, Argo arrived like a surprise, a Christmas present. A great responsibility and a great fun as well. No way we could really separate our nomad life and our life with Argo.

First short travel: from Cork to Dublin. Irish Rail allows small pets to travel in their own cage. Globally extremely friendly, none asked to see Argo’s passport. We didn’t have to pay anything for his “place” in the train.

by Charles Rassaert. All rights reserved.

It has been harder to find a place to stay for one night in Dublin. We called almost all low cost hotels in Dublin until we found “The AbbotLodge“. They don’t have a real pet-friendly policy but they do accept small dogs if required. No extra fee needed.

Second long travel: Ireland West Coast. Irish buses and trains don’t serve the whole island so renting a car seemed to be the only way to have a nice holiday in Ireland.

by Charles Rassaert. All rights reserved

First stop in Killarney: we found a very nice accommodation at Glenn Fia Country House. They are pet friendly so it was no need to bag them. Great location, not really central but beautiful, Argo could run happily in the big park that surrounds the B&B.

We continued traveling to Dingle Peninsula where we booked a lovely B&B at Inch. Inch Beach Guesthouse is not pet-friendly. BUT they are friendly in general! So, after had explained that Argo was a small home trained Jack Russel, they allowed us to spend a night in their beautiful b&b. We had also a very lovely surprise. We discovered that the mother-in-law of the owner loved Jack Russels and was an owner as well. But, becoming older, she decided not to own anymore yet she was still extremely curious about these lively dogs! Hence, we spend some time with her, making her happy with our common love, Argo! Inch peninsula is also a great place to see your dog enjoying. The long white sand beach, in front of the ocean, is the ideal place where your dog can run and meet friends. Just you, your dog and the ocean. What else?

Next stop: Galway. That has been a nightmare! I have called all b&b, hotels and hostels I found indicated in the French guide “Le Guide du Routard” but everybody was hanging the phone when they heard “I have a pet”. Really awful experience: friendly people becoming extremely unfriendly when hearing about a dog! My very last attempt was fine: a guesthouse at only 5 minutes walk from Galway city centre and 2 minutes from a small park where pets are allowed. Unfortunately, they don’t have any website. As soon as I will found their address I will post here. Wonderful people, they has a small Yorkshire. Argo could play wherever he wanted without restrictions.

by Charles Rassaert. All rights reserved.

Last stop: The Aran Islands. Argo was allowed to travel in the small ferry connecting Ireland island to Inis More Island. He was allowed in the only one hostel existing on the island as well, the Kilronan Hostel. Cheap dorms and cheap service. Luckily I had my dog sleeping with me to get some warm comfort. It was March and heating was off! BTW, we enjoyed with Argo beautiful Aran Cliffs. But be careful, pets are allowed but no protection is in place. We kept Argo in our arms all the time: the wind was so strong that he could fall from the cliff.

Gas prices expected to keep many off holiday roads

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, July 1, 2011

Still-high gas prices and lingering concerns about the economy will keep many would-be travelers home – or closer to home – this Fourth of July weekend.

An annual travel forecast from AAA Northern California found that about 4.6 million Californians will travel more than 50 miles from home over the three-day weekend – a 2.3 percent decrease compared with last Independence Day.

Despite the fall in gas prices over the past month, “they’re still affecting people’s decisions,” said Cynthia Harris, an AAA spokeswoman. “Last year, if you filled your tank for $40, it’s $50 to $55 this year.”

Denton Cinquegrana, a senior editor at the Oil Price Information Service, said drivers definitely cut back on their driving as gas prices rose, and many are continuing those efforts, even though the cost of gas has dropped as much as 60 cents per gallon since May.

“Some people are still apprehensive to drive,” he said. “I think you’ll see more staycation things and fewer of the road trips where people drive up and down the state on the Pacific Coast Highway.”

via Gas prices expected to keep many off holiday roads.

I’ve loved road trips ever since I was young.  As a child, my family drove back and forth from the East Coast to the Midwest several times. That was in the years before interstates. You had to drive through every little town. Gas station bathrooms-no rest stops. Diners for dinner. My father wanted to Make Time. We didn’t stop unless we had to. Little girls’ potty stops were not a reason to stop. During one quite memorable trip, we had a coffee can in the car to use as a potty. On the fly. Other times, we stopped along the roadside, and used the two car doors to shield us from view as the ditch grass tickled our bottoms.

Now I stop at restaurants, rest stops and gas stations at regular intervals. I imagine that even the most remote roadside would not be safe for a grown woman’s bottom to be tickled.

Right now, I don’t care where I’d go. The idea is to just to somewhere. Anywhere. In any direction, just away from here.

The weather is part of it. We still have snow on the ground. It is “unseasonably cold”. Even though the sun is shining, it is still winter. No grass, no flowers, no buds, no leaves,  no color.

Almost anywhere else (except to the north-I won’t go north) would be better.

I suppose I would take my husband along. And the little dog. But I wouldn’t mind going alone. We have a GPS in the car. I would also bring along the Rand McNally. Maybe I would make some hotel reservations. But I won’t know where I will be until I get there. Maybe I will want to stay someplace for several nights, maybe I will want to take off the next morning.

Or maybe I would sleep in the car! We have done that a few times, mostly in a rest stop, with the whole family, when my husband just couldn’t drive any longer. We are infamous for taking long trips of 20 hours driving straight through, with no overnight stops.

If only I didn’t have work commitments, doctor appointments for my mom, physical therapy appointments, a babysitting date (which I don’t want to miss), a wedding shower I am hosting.

Never mind.

I was somewhat reluctant and at first, the 16 hour days in the car wore on me terribly. But part-way into our travels, my perspective began to shift…

We started in the very northeast of the USA and then made our way out to Colorado. Notable sites on the way were the Sears Tower, Mount Rushmore and the world's largest prairie dog. We went down, by way of New Mexico and then stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

One of the most breathtaking parts of our drive was cruising along Florida's panhandle coast. We holed up for one night in the charming town of Apalachicola and hit the road again, bright and early the next morning.

On the way back home, we took a respite in Roanoke, Virginia and then New Bedford, Massachusetts, of Moby Dick fame.

I think everyone should take the time to see our amazing country!

If you would like to take a look at more photos from our trip, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96154&id=574486735&l=3b758690f3

My GPS and I have a love/hate relationship. I’m sometimes ashamed of the way I speak to her. But she starts it!
That terse tone. That stilted cadence. I’m sick of her condescending attitude!

I’ve learned the best thing to do is mute her when I’m first leaving my neighborhood. Hearing her give me directions from my house to the Mass Pike makes me feel like a student driver.

“Take the… third…exit at the roundabout.”
Her uneven tone and strange pauses are unnerving. And the way she calls a rotary a roundabout makes me cringe. Why couldn’t they make a Massachusetts version of this machine?
“Step on it. The light is yellow.”
“Hey, the guy to your right is trying to cut in. Squeeze forward.”
“Calculating appropriate gesture.”

I get most frustrated when she gets confused. You’d think I would relish these moments.
“Oh what’s the matter? Having trouble “calculating route?” Gee, I guess we don’t know as much as we think we do!”
In reality this is a most frightening experience. If the GPS doesn’t know where we are what hope do we have of arriving safely at our destination?

When she gets completely baffled she just blurts out, “When possible make a legal U-turn.” Sometimes I make it quickly and before she can register that the car has made a legal U-turn she says it again. Then I make another legal U-turn. This is how I ended up going up and down the same street in a nearby town about thirty times. A woman with a teenage daughter took out a restraining order on me.

For all my griping I am grateful to have the GPS. Years ago as a young comic driving all over New England to one nighters I could have really used her. I’d have a crumpled paper with directions in the car with me and if they were incorrect or I missed a turn and got lost my only recourse was to find  a payphone and call the place.
No GPS. No cell phone. The olden days.

“I’m one of the comedians and I’m looking for the Elk’s Club in Hanover, NH.”

Even though the GPS is bossy, short, and sometimes confusing, she is by and large a useful tool. And she knows who is in charge. Every now and then the display map is replaced by a list and she’ll blurt out, “Say a command!” Now you’re talkin’.

Thanks for reading. Tell your pals.
Chris Zito

1 Day. 15 May – Lipetsk (Russia) to Bryansk (Russia). Roughly 450 km and about 4-5 hours drive. Driving through Orel on the way was very misleading; there were no signs to Bryansk. So I intuitively picked the wrong road, and then have to ask bypassers to show me way to Bryansk thus loosing half an hour.
The bit between Orel and Bryansk was pretty nasty, with huge holes in various parts of the road. Then Bryansk was ok, although few huge artificial holes were still left on the main roads. Russian government ordered for each big town / city to repair main roads for 65th Anniversary of World War 2 Victory. So the road-workers ripped parts of the bad road bits, cut a lot of square holes of various sizes (some potentially dangerous) in the concrete, and got on working. However, after the 9th of May Victory parade the road works stopped, as the deadline had come to an end therefore road-workers left whatever amounts of holes that they didn’t manage to fill, and its up to individual driving skills to avoid those holes. I did my best!
We stayed at the friend’s flat, and left Braynsk next morning.

2 Day. 16 May – Bryansk (Russia) to Minsk (Belarus), apprx 650 km. I took the road to Roslavl’ (Smolensk region), and decided to cross the border at a small custom point.
It was all good, until about 50 km till Belarusian border I was stopped by GBDD (Russian Road Police), who stood just outside the petrol station in the middle of the field road with the speed detector. He saw my foreign plates, took my license and had guts to try and take advantage of me saying: “I have power to seize your driving license ’cause your speed was 40km/h higher of the one permitted.” I was puzzled, and asked: “How come? There were no signs on special speed restriction and no sign for speed control check, and we were in the middle of the field.” He replied: “You are mistaken. There was a sign 500m away stating that this IS an inhabited area, therefore you had to reduce your speed immediately to 60km/h.” I could not believe my ears and eyes… There were NO single house in the surrounding area and until the point my eyes could see!!! I argued with him about this being a mischievous lie or a bad joke, but he was reluctant and even tried to scare me with administrative charge for arguing with the Police. So I had to use the best and only option of dealing with Russian Road police is ‘to give a call to a friend’. My friend was high-profile lawyer, and worked for the government. He confirmed to me that Policeman actions were illegal and aimed to just take advantage of my lack of knowledge of Russian law. He said Police had no right to take my license, but could actually fine me for such speed up to 1500 rub (30GBP) if the sign of the village did exist. However my friend kindly recommended me not to argue, but bribe the Policeman, otherwise I may loose an hour or two. So I gave them 20 euros and drove off. Later locals at the border told me it was too much, but that time I cared less.
I still wonder that this inhabited area sign was deliberately put by Road Police so they could catch people unexpectedly and fine them?! I could not find any village on the map and on Google Earth.
Russian custom at Belarusian border was easy. They even didn’t try to stop me to check my documents. So I stopped myself, came out of the car and presented them my temporary car entry permit, they laughed at such honesty, and waved me ‘good bye’. I reached Minsk pretty easy, and around 7pm local time we were at my friend’s flat in the centre of Minsk.

3 Day. 17 May. Minsk (Belarus) -Brest (Polish border)- Konin (Poland), apprx 790 km. I reached Brest quicky, but was stopped by Belarusian police for speeding (10km/h higher then permitted!). I thought it was a joke, and a true rip off but Belarusian guys were twice as rude then Russian police and very apprehensive so I thought I’d be better off just to pay a fine, which I did and it cost me 2 GBP.
Then we had to spend over 4 hours at the Polish border, queuing… The Polish customs had changed the rules, and travelers were not allowed to bring to the country more then 2 packets of cigarettes and 2 liters of vodka, so custom officers thoroughly check each car for these goods. After loosing a good 4 hours, I had to try really hard to reach Konin, where we chose (pre-planned) to stay in the hotel. There were some patches of extreme rain throughout the way, at times I hardly could see, so I prayed to angels to help me and to clear out the sky for me next morning…
While driving through Warsaw, we saw a oung guy crashing in his car in front of us. He drove from the other side of the road into the lamp post at an enormous speed; the lamp post fell right in front of my car. I made an emergency stop. The scene was sickening… Other people stopped and called the ambulance, police and so on, but the driver was dead. Shaking and stressed I managed to reach Konin only by 11pm. I was totally exhausted.

4 Day. 18 May. Konin (Poland) – Essen (Germany), 890 km. The first thing that upset me in the morning was rain. The second thing was that I lost 50 dollars, which I wanted to use in order to pay for the hotel. I had to pay with my credit card, then to pick myself up and force into driving, as I hate driving fast in the rain. I guess this time I was tested on my water-resistance… The route from Konin and almost till the end of Polish border was a toll-road, where cars normally drive fast. Otherwise, why would you pay? Toll-road costs 12 zloty per a bit of road, and there were 3 such bits on my rout, which was annoying. Why couldn’t they have one pay point for the each way out? Why would you have to stop every 10-20 km in order to pay for it?! All that time I was on the motorway it poured heavily, and it was horrible…
Straight after the toll-road finished, the rain had stopped… But… we got stuck in the traffic jam, and that was almost at the same place where we got stuck last winter! Place called Torzym, which co-sounds to Russian word ‘tormoz’, which means ‘brake, obstacle’. I wonder whether it actually means same in Polish.
Roads in Germany were good, but traffic was as usual very fast, and there was nasty side wind all the way through to Essen. My 3-door Honda Civic is only little and with ‘zero’ baggage it was very light, so I had to hold the wheel firmly.

5 Day. 19 May. Essen (Germany) – Peterborough (UK), only 648km. It was as easy as piece of cake! The weather was great, we crossed the rest of the Europe fairly quickly, and even stopped in the small Belgium town Lille for some rest. Our ferry was at 4pm French time, and we were at the dock around 2pm. When we finally drove on British soil I didn’t feel much of the discomfort. In fact quite on the contrary, I felt that English roads were the best. By around 8pm UK time we were having a dinner at home – happy, relieved and proud we made it again!

PS: I don’t consider myself as British patriot but I must admit that, to my personal experience, UK roads are better placed (no huge patches of side wind) and a lot safer then anywhere in Europe. I like the idea of automatic speed cameras, and subsequent sign that forewarns you about them, rather then hidden in the bushes Road Police. I even prefer UK traffic rules as it is a lot more consistent and easier. There is a lot of confusion in Europe (including Russia) with e.g. main round-abouts, and ‘not main round-abouts’. Apparently if the round-about is ‘not main’, then those on it had to stop, and this is so confusing and useless. Why just not to make all round-abouts ‘main’?

PSS: For those who are still not convinced that driving is cheaper and more reliable. Think about Icelandic volcano eruption and what havoc it caused with the air flights recently?! I guess you are not that skeptical now… The car journey is surely longer but definite and more adventurous.

We have an old proverb in Russian: “If you go slow but sturdy you have chance of arriving first!” LOL

I will place some pictures later on when manage to connect my camera to pc.

I went down to reception and demanded from the stuff to get my money back. They were reluctant to accept responsibilities, and only when I threw few threats about complaining on them to Consumer Rights Department, motel’s administrator returned money, saying that ‘as a mother she had a lot of respect for me braving to drive alone with kids in this horrible weather’. I vowed not to stop there again. These returned roubles played crucial role later.
On the 5th day of our trip, we were in Russia but about 700-800 km to Lipetsk, which was quite a hike. I was extremely tired and worn out due to the bad night sleep, i seriously doubted that I would make it in one day. So I decided to drive to Moscow (slightly farther root in almost opposite direction, about 400km towards north) but we could visit our close friends, and have proper rest and sleep before finally driving to Lipetsk, making it ‘6 days – 6 nights’ journey.

Russian roads were noticeably cleaner and better then Belarusians. I finally could push on a pedal with stronger pressure, but screen washer was still frozen. Passing-by Viazma – old historic town, I popped into the local car service place and asked guys to sort out my water tank. The ‘big boss’ – old man wearing traditional Russian working outfit ‘fufaika & valenki’ replied ‘ that it would be too much hustle to do, and the only way was to park at the warm garage over night and wait when the water in tank would melt.’ How very disappointing. I would not imagine staying somewhere like Viazma over night, just to unfreeze my water-tank, so I insisted. I brought my children from the car and sat at their office. When my screaming female battalion appeared before car-service men, tough guys warmed up, and took my car for the trial. Old grumpy guy used so called ‘hot-air dryer’, which looked like a normal hair dryer but tougher and hotter to melt my tank and connective wires. The method worked, 40 minutes later I filled my tank with special nasty alcoholic liquid (for under -30 winter conditions).

While waiting I was told bizarre fact from Russian auto-life reality, if you constantly use this ‘alcoholic fluids’ for screen wipers while driving, the contained alcohol slowly vapors and fills saloon with distinctive aromas, creating illusion of a drunk smelly driver.
Anyway, when car was ready, we quickly left Viazma. I tuned to Russian radio, and could not stop smiling while driving at 100-120 km/h for the first time after we left Germany!

Approaching Moscow, driving conditions worsened once again, I had slight if no visibility; it took me a while to realize that my headlights were covered in dust, therefore I was literally driving with no lights on. I made emergency stop and cleaned the headlights.

Driving through Moscow was somewhat surreal, if it could be called so after everything I went through. MKAD (equivalent of the London ring road) was busy and drivers used any opportunity to overtake. Thankfully my friends lived not far from the ring road; nonetheless I managed to get lost. It took me few stressful telephone conversations and wrong turns to reach our Moscow destination at last. Description of Moscow parking would require a separate chapter, to be short its extremely close, so close that I would feel much safer with inbuilt parking sensors, unfortunately I had none.

It will be impolite not to mention my friends – the most hospitable lovely people I ever met in my life. Denis and Irina were incredibly helpful and kind. Nice champagne and wonderful dinner waited us on arrival. We had great evening and restful night.

Next morning, I drove to the nearest car washing place, which was just around the corner from the friends block. Then I decided to brave it to the petrol station without guides. That was rather silly bravado. On my way back I got confused with traffic signs, and turned left when not allowed thus paralyzing other side of the road. I broke serious rule, within a second I was stopped by Russian Traffic Police, enquiring for the documents. The official procedure required me driving to their office and filling in the paper work, which then would have to be sent to the UK, in order to fine me for the driving offence. I was nervous and very pressurized, and refused to follow him to the Police station.

Policeman took my driving license insisting that according to Russian rules I had to be banned from driving for 6 months. I only had 1500 roubles (50 dollars) left, the sum that was refunded by the motel administrator. I tried to bribe him with this money. He laughed at me pointing that this was ridiculously small amount for the committed road offense. However I had nothing else to offer, and deep inside I still hoped he would let me go for free. However after couple of minutes of hesitation he gave me license back and took the money. I was relieved and upset at the same time; it felt sick to pay money for this minor confusion. But I was tired and very pity of myself.

It was flattering and pleasant to meet so many nice and helpful people all the way down my route but this time it misfired, although I smiled nicely at him.

I came back to the friends’ flat, quickly packed the bags and kids into our clean and shiny Honda, and we left Moscow with the sigh of relief. It was roughly 500 km from Moscow to Lipetsk, and road was good. There were some nasty places of heavy snow, and lack of visibility but by then I was so adjusted to driving through the storms and severe weather conditions, that it felt almost normal.
We reached Lipetsk around 10pm Sunday evening. We were cheered by group of relatives. My family and friends were all dead worried as I had no chance to inform them during the trip, so they expected us every day starting from Friday. It was 6 days trip in total.
Summary
I lost 4 kg of ‘pregnancy’ weight, which was probably a good thing. I ate and slept a lot during the next week – not bad either. I now hardly believe that we made it unharmed and unscratched. My human mind cant comprehend the experience, and it simply let it happenned. The whole journey through the snow storms was perceived like a bad catastrophe-movie. I could only hope that transition or so called 12-21-2012 will be much easier or somewhat similar to what we went through but no worse.
If one could say that we drove through hell, and survived, he would be spot on.

I believe that life is great adventure! The main life challenge is to pass unharmed the hurdles and the stormy nights while holding focus on the light from within the heart. If you manage, you will certainly feel delighted, happy and enchanted like I am now!

Driving through Poland after series of heavy snow storms was not the easy task. The roads that generally were in poor condition (significantly worse then in the UK or Germany), this time became almost unmanageable. There was a bliss of short bit of newly built toll motorway – A2 (or E30), which was directed through the capital. The fees in Zloty are much cheaper then in euros, so I would recommend anyone planning to drive through Poland exchange enough euros into Zloty. Food, toll fees, petrol and so on are a lot cheaper in Zloty then in euros. The best exchange rates were at the exchange offices near German border, further in land the rate was not that attractive, so I didn’t bother stopping to exchange.

I decided to avoid Warsaw, as was dead worried to get stuck in the heavy traffic jams once again, and chose smaller local roads round the capital, which unfortunately were hardly cleaned after the storm. Of course that precautious thought didn’t come to my mind, I was too naïve to assume that all roads in Poland are regularly cleaned. However, one should not fool himself considering Poland as civilized as the Western European countries of EU.

Anyway, we drove through Grojec to Minsk Mazowiecki, and then back on E30 to Terespol (Polish border with Belarus). Most of the times the roads were dangerously slippery, and were covered by mushy mix of dirt and wet snow. Our average speed was 50-60 km/hour, demolishing the chance to reach Minsk by the midnight. But we had no intention to waste one more night in Poland, so in order to save us extra time I agreed with children to drive non-stop. We had crisps, biscuits, jar baby food and bottled water in the car, so we ate while driving, stopping only once for the petrol and the loo. The task was rather stressful for Amalia – my older daughter, as she had to feed and deal with Victoria on her own without my interference. Amalia had to take full responsibility for looking after the baby while I was driving, that included calming her down, if the baby cried. Amalia was pretty unsuccessful in drying Victoria’s tears out, and usually ended up crying herself. So occasionally the car was turning into screeming crying mobile hell. At these moments i was drawing as much energies of my Higher Self as I could, so simply not to get mad, or start crying myself.

Some bits of the rout were particularly nasty, especially those flat parts where road surface had not been cleaned or driven on a day and was virgin white and leveled with the surrounding fields thus creating illusion of untouched snowy field with no man-made road. One could only intuitively guess in which direction the road might lay ahead, and so through these bits I drove praying and trusting my heart.

Last couple of hours towards Belarusian border had been as hard as one could imagine. Palms were sweating constantly, making the wheel slippery, so I had to frequently wipe the hands off the jeans. Neck was in agony, and the vision was getting blurred. We passed through series of nasty car collisions. In the mean time the road surface worsened, as by night time the temperature dropped below zero, and turned melted snow into the icy crust. Time was quickly approaching midnight. I finally saw sign to Belarus border. 40 minutes later, we arrived at the custom post.

The officer approached me with the smile and asked to open the bonnet and present the documents. While getting out of the car I hardly could feel my body. Legs were rubbery and bended chaotically, head was spinning, hands were shaking, floor was quickly getting closer, I realized I was falling down out of my car. Officer rushed to catch me and helped to get up. As soon as I finally stood up sudden aggravated pain screwed me again, I felt incredible urgency to empty my bladder. So I run to the loo. While at the toilet, I could not stop being amazed by the ability of the body to adjust to extreme conditions. In normal situation considering amount of fluids I drank I would pee at least 3-5 times a day. However while being in the car, my body mobilized itself in the way that I had no physical sense or need to pee until my mind relaxed and got satisfied with us finally reaching the point of planned destination. Similar adjustments happened to the kids.

Victoria was almost all the time in lethargic, semi-dreaming state, hardly demanding attention, she even didn’t protest when older sister fed her in the car like so she understood that mummy was too busy and could not pay attention to her. Thankfully Amalia was mature enough to manage on her own. But she too didn’t even ask for a wee!

My physical state was slowly improving, and the ‘normal’ perception of physical reality emerged from the back of unconscious mind. At Belarusian post I was as fresh as one could be after 12 hours non-stop driving. Although my life could not get much easier then that as it started snowing heavily in Belarus. Custom registration process was more complicated; I had to buy transit papers and Belarusian insurance (17 euros for 2 weeks) because European car-insurance was invalid over there. It was already 30 minutes passed midnight, and there were no suggestion to try and drive through just-started severe snowy storm to Minsk.

Minsk is situated about 350 km away from the Polish border. We initially planned to stay there over night at our friend’s flat. Instead we had to stay at the hotel in Brest, which was the city straight on the border with Poland. So far by the end of our third day we appeared to be around 350-400 km behind, intuition suggested that this gap would be growing. Snow didn’t stop until the next day. In the morning, the whole country was covered by snowy slush paralyzing local traffic. Local people assured me that the main motorway to Minsk and then to Russian border towards Moscow was strategic governmental route and should be cleared by the lunch time. Later it was proved to be terribly optimistic suggestion.

Motorway was only partly cleaned (one line of the 2 lines). It seemed to be highly depended on reliability of the local councils, some were efficient to clear their bit of the motorway, and some seemingly didn’t bother. Occasionally we drove through zones of very thick fog. How bizarre it felt to drive in a deep snow with almost no visibility. The worst part of the driving through Belarus was the high percentage of the crazy lorries and trucks that rushed to overtake me. I was driving very carefully and my average speed was again no more then 70 km/h. The right lane of the motorway had not been cleaned at all, making it difficult to use this lane for overtaking. However truck drivers cared less, and at times they slipped so close to my Honda or pushed me towards the edge, thus putting a lot of pressure on me and my nerves. I honestly believe that we miraculously avoided quite a few horrible collisions. At times I saw some of those hurried cars and trucks that overtook us on certain parts crashed further down the motorway.

Additionally I had problems with the car fluids. The liquid in the screen washer tank had been dead frozen. I unsuccessfully tried to revive it pouring hot water on the bonnet and tank. This problem significantly slowed our movement, and I had to stop ever so often to clean the windscreen with snow. In order to save time from often stops I invented and applied dangerous technique to creep very closely under the lorries so the wet slush from underneath their wheels would bombard my windscreen giving the screen wipers great chance to clean the dirt off.

This was the 4th day of our trip, and we were drastically behind the schedule. Russian border appeared on the horizon at around 11pm. Custom post was friendlier then Belarusian, and the officers were very helpful and polite. However, it was almost midnight, and there were no chances for us to reach Lipetsk (about 700 km south inland) or even Moscow (about 400 km from the border towards the north).

One is not afraid to suggest that the main difficulty of the transition / relocation process is to manage different things in at least two fairly distant places. Unfortunately physically we (in our human bodies) are still yet to achieve a state of simultaneous presence at various places at once. I have a feeling that the transition / ascension process is somewhat similar. As New Reality will be / is overlapping Old Reality and for some time we have no choice but to deal with energies of both.

So it was middle of January and the weather kept playing extreme games with us, we had only one week to adapt the car to sever snowy icy conditions. It appeared to be the most unrealistic goal I ever tried to achieve. England as country with relatively mild climate is very unlikely place for buying new winter tires, synthetic engine oil, and screen washer for -30c temperatures. Everything had to be pre-ordered well in advance.

However, I armored my car to the best possible level. All-weather tires had been replaced with second hand German winter tires, 5.5 tread left, water tank was filled with -5c screen washer, semi-synthetic oil had not been changed due to the scarcity of more appropriate one. I just hoped for the best.

As you will learn from the story later that only blind hope and stubborn faith pulled us through this hell trip alive. Our friends and relatives all were worried and terrified about me driving such a long way with kids during winter times. But I was firm in my decision and deep inside new that we somehow would manage it.

It will be trivial to say but in order to leave England we boarded ferry. Ferry or Euro Tunnel are the only options to escape from the Island if you are driving. Our ferry sailed to Dunkerque, France, from where there is about 30 to 45 minutes drive to Belgium border. That was probably first and the last most relaxed and pleasant part of our journey.

We left ferry around 4.30 pm UK time, changed the clock to one hour forward. All of sudden it became dark, but we only had to drive about 350 miles to Essen (Germany), where we would stay at my classmate flat over night. On a good road it would take 3.30-4 hours drive, which seemed to be piece of cake. I quickly adjusted to left-side driving, although signs were a bit of a struggle at times. As they were placed differently from the way they placed in the UK. We passed Belgium and Holland with no hustle, girls behaved nicely. I didn’t even notice German border sign, but instantly felt a cold drift from the radiator. It took me a while to realize that the temperature significantly dropped. We entered Essen – rather small and dull town, around 10pm local time. In 30 minutes we were sitting on my friend’s sofa, boasting how easy and quickly we made it.

Next day we woke up around 9am, had breakfast, i was not in a rush, as assumed that i would reach our next destination Konin in Poland within 8-10 hours including stops. We finally left Essen around 11.30am. Thankfully roads in Germany were still good, regardless the crisis, although i felt rather nervy because of the manner of German drivers. Some drive really fast. According to their traffic rules, if there are no speed restrictions then you are allowed to drive as fast as you possibly can or wish. Therefore most of Mercedes, Audi, BMW owners were driving at least at 180 km/hour speed on a left drive-way, thus creating a constant side wind for my little write-sided Honda Civic.

We stopped at McCafé near Berlin around 5pm, and satellite showed 9pm as our arrival time at Konin (Poland). We were a bit tired, but determined to reach our destination in time. Amalia had in-car dvd, and nintendo DS at hands, and Victoria (little one) developed a great regime of almost constant sleep while on the road, she rarely woke up just to puzzle around, and fell back to sleep again. Only hunger could keep her loud and awake.

Approaching Frankfurt (Order) – German town bordering Poland, I noticed that the traffic was slowing down. It became dark and snowy. The car in front of me suddenly stopped, I pressed the break and… kept moving, luckily the car in front moved forward as well, so I managed to avoid the collision. My tires had no grip, and it hit me suddenly that for the last 30 minutes I was driving on pure ice.
I was shaking but picked myself up, concentrated and kept driving, calling upon angels and guides to protect us through these uneasy conditions. The traffic was drastically slowing down. When we passed Polish border, our average speed was no more then 15-20 km/hour. We stopped, and then moved a bit and so on. The motorway was down to one lane, with no outside lightning. Arrival time catastrophically increased, and based on last calculation we would arrive at our destination point by the early morning instead of previously planned 9-10pm.

I suggested that we pop into the nearest hotel or motel; it was already almost 9pm local time. I was getting conscious, hungry and tired. Amalia protested, as she was very keen on staying at the hotel in Konin. However I already knew that if we would not turn to the next hotel, we would have to spend our night in the car. It started snowing heavily. And our traffic speed dropped to 5-10 km/hour.

We stopped once again, and stayed still for over 15 minutes, lorry in front turned the engine off, deep pine forest and heavy snow restricted observation. I could only see the bright lightning around our car created by car lights reflected in snowdrops, making it look like illuminating aura 2-3 meters in diameters, and deep scary darkness around it. The panic started crippling in. Suddenly the traffic jerked, and I prayed and called the guides to help us to make it to the next passing-by village before the traffic stops again.

My prayers were heard instantly. Hurray! 500 yards away I saw turn on my right side to the motel at Torzym. Motel was almost empty and we booked into double room at 40 euros per night. I parked the car, picked up the girls, the wind and snow was getting stronger. It was rather fatalistic to suggest that we might have to stay in the hotel for longer then a day, maybe days or even a week. However the possibilities of such scenario were rather high if the snow storm would not stop the next day.

Later at the hotel I was told that the place is only 30 km away from German border. How very disappointing instead of planned 180 km in land! Second day of out long trip we ended 150 km behind the schedule. I was hopeful to catch up. How very naïve I was… The hotel had been quickly filled with passing-by motorists, who sought shelter in these extreme weather conditions. One guy said that 10 km further down the road was a steep hill, which heavy trucks could not conquer, thus paralyzing the traffic.

A bit later I saw from the hotel window that the traffic completely stopped. My heart was at peace, watching my children running and crawling in the warm place this evening, while I was sipping on cold Polish bear, instead of being stuck in the car sits in our tiny 3-door Honda between the lorries just few yards away from the hotel… So that was the lucky end of our second day.
To be continued….

I’ve been on the road in Eastern Europe for about a month and a half now and I’m kinda tired. Perhaps it’s the road, perhaps it’s the fact that there has been relatively little photography or maybe it’s the bad weather, which has contributed to the lack of photography.

Perhaps it’s the stupid decisions I’ve made before leaving – like taking a 25 year old car on a 5000 + km journey. In Asia transport trouble often led me to make new friends and gave me a glimpse into their worlds. Believe it or not, leaving yourself vulnerable in a difficult situation can really show you what a certain culture/people is like and that can make any transport trouble pretty bearable. In the places I’ve traveled in Asia there’s always a positive aspect that emerged, sometimes something as profound as the affirmation of the great potential of human kindness. When a stern looking desert man who speaks no word of English sees you’re in trouble, goes 10 km one way and back to bring some tools to fix your motorbike and then, after all that invites you for tea and chapattis with his family, insisting that you come back for lunch, well that makes any human being with emotions almost teary eyed.

My experiences in Eastern Europe (not including Belarus) have been pretty far from anything like that. They’ve mostly been all about paying, and paying lots. The mechanic doesn’t invite you for lunch either, and doesn’t introduce you to his  family, which is obviously totally understandable, but it sure puts things into perspective. Why do people in India and Indonesia do that? Are they so much more hospitable and open to human interaction than Europeans? I guess in general, the answer is “yes” and I guess that’s why I love being there so much.

The sole exception of a sort happened in Maramures, Romania. My car’s exhaust pipe fell apart after I hit a pot-hole, there was no equipped garage nearby and the only mechanic was one with a very simple set-up. We couldn’t drive too far with the exhaust dragging on the ground and so we had to act on the spot. The mechanic had enough sympathy to understand that and came up with a solution. It was decided that everyone who was there – me, two guys I traveled with, the mechanic and his friend were gonna push the car on its’ side, so the exhaust pipe could be welded together. The four of us were slightly short of muscle power and a passing-by neighbor was asked to help. Without any hesitation he did.

We managed to sort everything out and I was back on the road, thanks to the resourcefulness of these villagers from Maramures. That was about as close as I’ve come to an Indian experience in Europe.

Why does any of this matter? It doesn’t really, if I don’t think about it, but as mentioned, I feel these situations help me put things into perspective, to appreciate the countless amazing moments that have filled my life while I’ve been traveling. They help me gain some sort of an understanding of this crazy world we live in and that in turn can’t be all that bad for my photography.

I don’t advise anyone to do what I’ve been doing – driving in a 25 year old car, I mean. But when I think about it, I got myself the best thing I could can afford at the time, the other option would be not to go at all. I’ve been my own guinea-pig, seeing how far I can go and what adventures and experiences will come my way. I did all the main things I wanted and I can’t complain about that.

Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by the kindness of the amazing strangers who have come my way in the past. Typing this in an overpriced hotel room and paying for a crappy internet connection somewhere on the Slovenian border in Italy, I’m thinking that perhaps it’s time to get back to “reality”.

Tomorrow I will see if my car is fixable. It was a little unnerving to see smoke come out from under the bonnet, you don’t need to be a mechanic to know that’s not the best sign.

My little adventure is almost over, I originally planned to return to Belarus around the middle of December, I still hope that I can drive back and not have to fly there.

The top image is from Bled, Slovenia – an unbelievably beautiful place. I was lucky enough to have a sunny day when I arrived, it was all rain and fog later. The next image is me with my car flipped on the side, while the exhaust pipe was getting welded.