Day 54, June 20 - Kursanovo - Outskirts of Orenburg

185km - 3655km, very warm 28C, 30km/h tailwind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 0 Lenin, Camping

Woke up at about 830h listening to the direction of the wind. After convincing myself that it was in my favor, I packed up and headed out out the road. Awesome tailwind is all that I can say. I rode along at a (daily) average of 26km/h, with some nice flat stretches where I sustained 40km/h for about 15 minutes. After a while I started to get hungry, so stopped and had some meaty stew with mashed, charged up my mobile phone and computer, and then was the object of fascination of two busloads of Russian tourists. (Mostly because I was pretty filthy by this time after 5 days without bathing or changing my riding clothes ...mmmmm!)

Continued along the road, mostly flat but with some rolling topography over the mostly tree denuded grasslands. Lots of small operator stock yards (though will little fencing and cows occasionally crossing the road to graze). Some small gas wells too, including my first TNK-BP sighting! Stopped at a little cafe on the outskirts of nowhere and chatted with some Armenians who had set up shop. Rode on to the DPC (police/militisia) checkpoint into town, where I had to show my passport, visa, etc for the first time. Mostly out of interest, but when one cop started to bring up money, the junior officers started motioning to me that it was probably a good time for me to head out before I had to hand over what little cash I had remaining...

Eventually found the local road cutoff into Orenburg and the Sakmara River bridge, where I had planned to camp for the evening. Jumped in the river, stripped down, and did a quick wash of my clothes and my person. On the way out of the water, I started chatting with a local who invited me for a picnic dinner with his four friends. We had a good time over the next few hours chatting, using the dictionary and taking photographs of the sun setting over the river. Thanks for the delicious food!! At dusk, I headed into the wood and set up camp. All was good until about 400h, when four teenagers pulled up 50m aaway and started blaring Russian Pop Musak until 730h. Awesome. Thanks.