Day 35, June 1 - Tetushi - Kazan'

145km - 2507km, sunny 25C, 30km/h head/sidewind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 1 Lenin, HC

I was met by Marcel and his friend at 800h to go to the town museum. Received a tour from in English(!) from the guide who hadn't had the opportunity to speak English for 10 years. (She did pretty well!) Learned a lot about small town life, and some of the more well-respected personalities. One of my favorite things about these small town museums is that the guide (G) inevitably asks me (J): G: "Do you know the writer X.?"; J: "No. Sadly, not."; G (with a look of horror): "But he's one of the most famous writers in Russia!". (Aside: Russia has a lot of famous writers.)

Headed for a quick breakfast of meat and mashed and then got my bicycle stuff together and headed out on the road. Quickly saw the "Kazan' 160km" sign and was not too pleased with how much work I had left myself for the day. The first 45 kms rolled by pretty quickly and I managed to get out to the main road by noon in moderate side/headwinds. Headed out across the prairie and stopped at a gas station for a quick snack. The two high-school-aged girls working at the station then started to chat in broken English wanting to know about what life was like for teenagers in America.

Stopped at the 90km mark at 1700h for a quick bite of meat and mashed and then started working on the 15km to the ferry across the Volga (which, according to a variety of people, may or may not have been operational) that would knock 35km off my day. Just before the turnoff (1810h), I asked at the gas station about the schedule and was informed that the last ferry was at 1800h and that I would have to ride the 35km across the bridge. Turned directly into the now strong headwind and had to peddle down and then up a steep 3km-wide ravine. Eventually found myself on the bridge and then heading east (with a strong tailwind now) for 14km of superfast riding (35-40km/h!). Met up with my hospitality club hosts and headed to one's uncle's flat where I was to spend the evening. It turned out that the uncle was a former Fullbright Scholar, spoke English fairly well, and liked dry red wine...so it was a pretty enjoyable evening!