With barely four hours of sleep after yesterday's adventure with Sheru, Team XPD Beyond Asia left Samara with Mechanic John. With the conditions continuing to be rainy and cold, traffic was terrible as usual.
With barely four hours of sleep after yesterday's adventure with Sheru, Team XPD Beyond Asia left Samara with Mechanic John. With the conditions continuing to be rainy and cold, traffic was terrible as usual.
The team did not want to push Sheru too much and hence maintained an average speed of 80. Apart from watching the speed, the construction on the M5 (Ural Highway) E30 slowed them down, too.
Meenakshi noted that nothing had changed since her last visit in 2017, including the construction work.
The team had stopped for a lunch break a few km distances from Penza.
The team had stopped for a lunch break a few km away from Penza and the truck traffic only got heavier. "Two nights of late-night driving has left my eyes tired, and Red Bull helped for the serious concentration," said Meenakshi who was driving from 6.45 pm. They reached the hotel in Moscow at about 1.45 am.
"John, the Mechanic (don't even know his last name), needs to go back to Ufa and his family from where we kidnapped him. He was so king to leave them behind with eight strangers who came out of nowhere and showed up at the workshop, just last morning.
He travelled with us in our car for nearly 2000 km, quietly. Just having him around gave us a lot of confidence after Sheru's breakdown yesterday. God bless his soul.
We just booked him a morning flight ticket to get back home to his family. He is just the sweetest person we met on this trip. I am not able to get over the kindness that some people have showered on us," says Meenakshi.
The team reached Moscow about six hours late, looking forward to the fact the last leg of this long tour would be to St. Petersburg, on September 27, 2019.