Woke up and headed out quickly! We stopped about a half an hour later and made coffee and washed up at a nice gas station on the main road in Ukraine. With a little caffeine in us we felt much better and hit the road again ready to make it across this big country by nightfall.
The roads in Ukraine are long and straight… and look and feel like a washboard, bump after bump after bump… These types of roads are tiring, especially in a large vehicle with soft suspension… like the BBB… so Bruce and Andrea switched off to keep from fatiguing… The Ukrainians are also working on their roads which is good but without warning or any signage traffic builds up quick and can get very frustrating…
We tried to stop for gas several times but nowhere took credit cards. Finally made it to a small city and got some help from an English speaking boy. We found a bank-o-mat (ATM) and took out some local currency and then got gas at a Shell station and all was well.
Mid-day we came up to a fork in the highway, one way went to Mykolaiv (the city we were shooting for) and the other way went south. We tried to keep on the same road but got stymied by more road construction and had to turn onto the highway that turned south, the one we didn’t want to go on. Our map showed a couple of minor roads that cut cross country back onto the highway we wanted, so off we went looking for a way back. We turned down the first little side road we saw and bumped into a community where everyone came out to see us. We were told (with no English at all) to drive a little further down and we would see the next cut through in a couple of km.
Hey this is an adventure, right?
Off we went again to find the next left turn, which we did a couple of kilometers later. Over the train tracks we went and down a dusty road that did not look like the right way. We asked a man on a bike that happened upon our path if we were on the right track.
Note: When someone doesn’t understand you it isn’t because they are deaf. As we talked (or tried to talk) to the nice bicycle man he kept getting louder and louder, as though by increasing his volume we would understand him better, which of course… we didn’t. I think we all do this, get louder when trying to be understood, but from now on I will be much more considerate of people’s eardrums when trying to communicate trans-language.
So we bid farewell as best we could and kept bumping down the dusty track until we came to an industrial area with guards. Again we asked for directions and finally one of the nice guards drew us a map back to the rail road tracks and up a bit and we found our way back to our intended highway.
And on we went… straight, washboard roads surrounded by flat agricultural land that went on to the horizon. Mostly we saw sunflowers of all sorts and kinds but most of the fields had already been harvested and we brown with tilled earth. Looking across the miles of yellow sunflowers ending in cloudless blue sky, we remarked on how similar the colors were to the Ukrainian flag, a sky blue band on top of a bright yellow band. It may be that we saw the inspiration for the Ukrainian flag while rattling down route M14 on our way to the next city, Kherson.
Our last city of the night was supposed to be Mariopol, where we were going to relax in a hotel for the evening, get a good night’s sleep, do some washing up and in general just make ourselves civilized again. The road condition finally get a lot better and we began making up time and by 6:30 (right on time) we made it to the very nice city of Mariopol. This city was moderately sized and seemed like it could have some tourism (being only 40 km from the border with Russia). We found a nice looking hotel and went in… the BMWs and other nice cars in front should have told us what we were in for but we went in anyway. The lady at the desk spoke English, always good, but then she asked us what level of room we wanted… King, Lux, Ultra-Lux, or Apartment. Well, of course we are on a budget and asked for the most economical option, King, which turned out to be 556 hueverna or $79 American for the night. ARGH!!!
We hemmed and hawed for a bit and asked if there were any less expensive hotels in the area. We were tersely told that there were no other hotels in the city and that this was our best (and only) option. So we decided to take the room since this might be one of the last ones we would come to. Then we were told it was another 15 hueverna ($2 and a bit) for parking… on street parking… where we had already parked… but “with security”… so we paid up and went up to the room to check it out. First, we were on the 4th floor. Second, there was no elevator. Third, when we opened the room door the reek of cigarette smoke came pouring out at us. So, at first we were “okay” with the lack of elevator but the stench of nicotine almost bowled us over. We couldn’t stay in a room that smelled like that. So we went down the stairs again and told the not so nice front desk lady about the smell. We were informed that all of the rooms are smoking rooms but “she would try a couple more rooms” to see if we like those better. We tried and all three rooms she showed us were just as bad… so we asked for our money back. We sat outside of the hotel for a couple of minutes and used the free wifi to see if there were any other hotels in the area, and there weren’t really… So we set off towards the last little town near the border, Novoazovs’k (we called it Novo Nordisk).
We stopped at a gas station to ask about hotels in Novo Nordisk and the attendants said that there were many hotels in that area.
So when we got there… we started looking… no hotels… getting darker…
Asked a couple of ladies on the road where the hotels were and we were told to go down and to the left… no hotels… getting darker…
Told to go to the next town down the coast… we did and found a Ukrainian version of Revere Beach with just as many people and not as nice roads… no hotels…
Asked a shop keeper where the hotels were and we were told to go back to the center and there was a hotel with WELCOME on it… We had seen this one on the way in but it looked deserted… Well, it was deserted and… it was now very dark…
Went back out of town and turned into a little dirt road area we had seen on the way in, found ourselves a wild camp area and in less than 20 minutes we were set up, teeth brushed, and in bed…
This wasn’t ideal but at least it was out of the way…
2:30AM we both woke up to Rave Music and a dj or someone shouting in Ukranian over the music. It was very loud and unnerving because the music/noise was coming from closer than we would have liked and there were dogs barking and we really didn’t know where we were or what that music meant. We were on a little dirt track, the bus was parked mostly off the track and we were camped off the track but still we didn’t know if some cars were going to come bombing down the road. We didn’t know if anyone was aware that we were there or if it would be okay to camp where we were. By 3am we had decided that we were not going to be able to get more sleep and might as well pack up and head to the border. We were only about 10 miles from the border anyway. Luckily we did because right after we put the last bit of stuff in the van and got into the driver and passenger seats a car came down the road we were camped on. Everything was fine. The other car turn off the road right before they reached us and we headed out of the wooded area we were in.
As we drove down the road back through the little town we had been sent to, the left turn we needed to take was blocked by an accident that had just occurred and a police officer. We pulled to the side and parked, since it was dark and we didn’t want to go further out of our way. When we got out of the car we noticed that we were leaking a lot of fluid front the front of the car. Immediately we noticed that the fluid was green… coolant… radiator… this is a problem. We collected the fluid in some cut off water bottles as it dripped out of the BBB. It took about a half an hour for the accident blocking our turn to clear up enough for us to take the turn, so we poured the dripping coolant it back into the coolant reservoir with a little more water to top it up and headed for the border.
More to come… Viva Mongolia!
The roads in Ukraine are long and straight… and look and feel like a washboard, bump after bump after bump… These types of roads are tiring, especially in a large vehicle with soft suspension… like the BBB… so Bruce and Andrea switched off to keep from fatiguing… The Ukrainians are also working on their roads which is good but without warning or any signage traffic builds up quick and can get very frustrating…
We tried to stop for gas several times but nowhere took credit cards. Finally made it to a small city and got some help from an English speaking boy. We found a bank-o-mat (ATM) and took out some local currency and then got gas at a Shell station and all was well.
Mid-day we came up to a fork in the highway, one way went to Mykolaiv (the city we were shooting for) and the other way went south. We tried to keep on the same road but got stymied by more road construction and had to turn onto the highway that turned south, the one we didn’t want to go on. Our map showed a couple of minor roads that cut cross country back onto the highway we wanted, so off we went looking for a way back. We turned down the first little side road we saw and bumped into a community where everyone came out to see us. We were told (with no English at all) to drive a little further down and we would see the next cut through in a couple of km.
Hey this is an adventure, right?
Off we went again to find the next left turn, which we did a couple of kilometers later. Over the train tracks we went and down a dusty road that did not look like the right way. We asked a man on a bike that happened upon our path if we were on the right track.
Note: When someone doesn’t understand you it isn’t because they are deaf. As we talked (or tried to talk) to the nice bicycle man he kept getting louder and louder, as though by increasing his volume we would understand him better, which of course… we didn’t. I think we all do this, get louder when trying to be understood, but from now on I will be much more considerate of people’s eardrums when trying to communicate trans-language.
So we bid farewell as best we could and kept bumping down the dusty track until we came to an industrial area with guards. Again we asked for directions and finally one of the nice guards drew us a map back to the rail road tracks and up a bit and we found our way back to our intended highway.
And on we went… straight, washboard roads surrounded by flat agricultural land that went on to the horizon. Mostly we saw sunflowers of all sorts and kinds but most of the fields had already been harvested and we brown with tilled earth. Looking across the miles of yellow sunflowers ending in cloudless blue sky, we remarked on how similar the colors were to the Ukrainian flag, a sky blue band on top of a bright yellow band. It may be that we saw the inspiration for the Ukrainian flag while rattling down route M14 on our way to the next city, Kherson.
Our last city of the night was supposed to be Mariopol, where we were going to relax in a hotel for the evening, get a good night’s sleep, do some washing up and in general just make ourselves civilized again. The road condition finally get a lot better and we began making up time and by 6:30 (right on time) we made it to the very nice city of Mariopol. This city was moderately sized and seemed like it could have some tourism (being only 40 km from the border with Russia). We found a nice looking hotel and went in… the BMWs and other nice cars in front should have told us what we were in for but we went in anyway. The lady at the desk spoke English, always good, but then she asked us what level of room we wanted… King, Lux, Ultra-Lux, or Apartment. Well, of course we are on a budget and asked for the most economical option, King, which turned out to be 556 hueverna or $79 American for the night. ARGH!!!
We hemmed and hawed for a bit and asked if there were any less expensive hotels in the area. We were tersely told that there were no other hotels in the city and that this was our best (and only) option. So we decided to take the room since this might be one of the last ones we would come to. Then we were told it was another 15 hueverna ($2 and a bit) for parking… on street parking… where we had already parked… but “with security”… so we paid up and went up to the room to check it out. First, we were on the 4th floor. Second, there was no elevator. Third, when we opened the room door the reek of cigarette smoke came pouring out at us. So, at first we were “okay” with the lack of elevator but the stench of nicotine almost bowled us over. We couldn’t stay in a room that smelled like that. So we went down the stairs again and told the not so nice front desk lady about the smell. We were informed that all of the rooms are smoking rooms but “she would try a couple more rooms” to see if we like those better. We tried and all three rooms she showed us were just as bad… so we asked for our money back. We sat outside of the hotel for a couple of minutes and used the free wifi to see if there were any other hotels in the area, and there weren’t really… So we set off towards the last little town near the border, Novoazovs’k (we called it Novo Nordisk).
We stopped at a gas station to ask about hotels in Novo Nordisk and the attendants said that there were many hotels in that area.
So when we got there… we started looking… no hotels… getting darker…
Asked a couple of ladies on the road where the hotels were and we were told to go down and to the left… no hotels… getting darker…
Told to go to the next town down the coast… we did and found a Ukrainian version of Revere Beach with just as many people and not as nice roads… no hotels…
Asked a shop keeper where the hotels were and we were told to go back to the center and there was a hotel with WELCOME on it… We had seen this one on the way in but it looked deserted… Well, it was deserted and… it was now very dark…
Went back out of town and turned into a little dirt road area we had seen on the way in, found ourselves a wild camp area and in less than 20 minutes we were set up, teeth brushed, and in bed…
This wasn’t ideal but at least it was out of the way…
2:30AM we both woke up to Rave Music and a dj or someone shouting in Ukranian over the music. It was very loud and unnerving because the music/noise was coming from closer than we would have liked and there were dogs barking and we really didn’t know where we were or what that music meant. We were on a little dirt track, the bus was parked mostly off the track and we were camped off the track but still we didn’t know if some cars were going to come bombing down the road. We didn’t know if anyone was aware that we were there or if it would be okay to camp where we were. By 3am we had decided that we were not going to be able to get more sleep and might as well pack up and head to the border. We were only about 10 miles from the border anyway. Luckily we did because right after we put the last bit of stuff in the van and got into the driver and passenger seats a car came down the road we were camped on. Everything was fine. The other car turn off the road right before they reached us and we headed out of the wooded area we were in.
As we drove down the road back through the little town we had been sent to, the left turn we needed to take was blocked by an accident that had just occurred and a police officer. We pulled to the side and parked, since it was dark and we didn’t want to go further out of our way. When we got out of the car we noticed that we were leaking a lot of fluid front the front of the car. Immediately we noticed that the fluid was green… coolant… radiator… this is a problem. We collected the fluid in some cut off water bottles as it dripped out of the BBB. It took about a half an hour for the accident blocking our turn to clear up enough for us to take the turn, so we poured the dripping coolant it back into the coolant reservoir with a little more water to top it up and headed for the border.
More to come… Viva Mongolia!