Crossing 65 North

June 4, 2013

We’re in the Karilia Region of northwestern Russia and it’s lovely. This area is especially popular among Russian tourists during this time of the “White Nights”.  It’s like referring to Alaska as the “Land of the Midnight Sun”. Sunset isn’t until nearly midnight and sunrise is well before 4 am.  It doesn’t really get dark at all this time of year.

Until now I’ve never “checked in” with Facebook and had Google fail to pinpoint my location to within a few feet, but I was able to elude it when I arrived in the very small village of Rabocheostrovsk.  It’s desolate here on the shore of the White Sea.  Even though there is a town of sorts and a hotel, Google apparently hasn’t heard about it yet and could place me no closer than the village of Kem, some 12 kilometers away.

This is the most convenient place to catch a boat for the Solovetsky Islands, which we’ll do in the morning.  I’ve been looking forward to visiting the islands since leaving Moscow last week.  The Solovetsky Transfiguration Monastery, one of Russia’s most famous, is located there.  Picturesque as the island is likely to be, I’m more interested in its less pious past; it’s the location of the Soviet Union’s most celebrated gulag.  It’s the place where Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned and later wrote about in Gulag Archipelago.

We are at about 65 degrees North.  Svetlana thought it interesting when I told her we were at about the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska.  She tried to send Ed McClure, our Fairbanks-based tour leader, a text message telling him that we were in the neighborhood.  She knows Ed well as he’s been on several tours in various parts of the world with our Russian customers.

This will be the northernmost point of the scouting before we select a routs to St. Petersburg that eliminates or minimizes duplication with our recent northbound route. Serge and Svetlana and I will turn back from here after visiting the Solovetsky Islands tomorrow.

We spent the night before last in Petrozavodsk where we boarded a boat for Kizhi, an island in Lake Onega.  The island is a World Heritage Site that is home to one of Russia’s most famous landmarks, the Transfiguration Church.  It’s a wooden structure that was built in 1714 and is probably one of Russia’s most photographed sites. Except for the cupolas, no nails were used in the church’s construction. There are other attractions on this “island museum” as well. We wanted to consider it for possible inclusion in the tour of Russia that we’re scouting.  We’ll decide whether to include it after we’ve completed the scouting and can review all of the options we’ve identified.

The visit to Kizhi and tomorrow’s visit to the Solovetsky Islands prompted Serge to join us for part of our scouting trip.  He lives in Moscow but has never been to this part of Russia and it’s an area that he’s always wanted to see.  I was surprised to see that almost all of the tourists are Russians and all of the information signs are written only in Russian.

It’s been a delightful surprise to see how great the roads are north of Petrozavodsk.  The paved surface is like new and the occasional change in elevation and mild sweepers will make for an interesting ride for motorcyclists.  I can’t help but compare the road and the landscape to northern British Columbia, Alaska or the Yukon.  The road is much better than what we experienced during parts of the ride south of Petrozavodsk.

Serge has been leading the way in his car and Svetlana has been chauffeuring me in hers. I’ve been riding shotgun for the last five days.  That almost never happens.  If I could add up the hours I’ve spent being driven around by someone during the last twenty years or so, I’m sure she has exceeded the total – in miles if not in elapsed time – probably in both.  We’re often clipping along at 130 or 140 kilometers per hour (except when we’re on a particularly bad road, which slows her down just a little) but she’s an excellent driver so I haven’t had any trouble letting my mind wander as we travel.

This aspect of the trip has provided an unexpected benefit.  When we’re not talking business and planning tours, I have “quiet time” to think without interruption.  I’ve already come up with a few ideas for future tours.  One is an Iron Butt tour in Russia for this time next year.  I’ve seen enough to know it would be a suitable and exciting destination for the Iron Butt Association mile eaters.

Most of our tours are leisurely and relaxed and on average we haven’t even offered one Iron Butt ride per year. But I’ve enjoyed it whenever we’ve put together a special ride for the group. We’ve done Iron Butt tours in Africa, the Alps, Scandinavia, and South America. I was without internet for the last few nights, but was so excited about the Russian Iron Butt idea that I began a long texting session with my old friend Mike Kneebone, president of the Iron Butt Association. Barb and I have been texting each other so frequently that she was smart enough to contact the phone company and raise my international texting allocation.  It’s good she did or I’d have paid a small fortune to communicate with Mike.

To my Iron Butt readers: consider this a “pre-announcement” with details to follow as soon as I get back to the USA and can pull the detailed description together and run it by Mike.

With more than half of the scouting trip behind us, I feel confident in saying that we’ll be able to assure riders of good accommodations and meals as well as reasonable roads and riding conditions, wherever we take them.  It’s something that was of concern to Svetlana, as we are going to some places that she hasn’t visited.  We’ve had good cell phone service all of the time and almost all of the places we’ll stay while “on tour” offer WiFi.

I’m new to using the SPOT Tracker, but I seem to have finally figured out how to provide a place where you can see our “track”.

I’ve also added some photos from the last few days to the slideshow.  I hope you enjoy it.

Now on to the “Gulag Archipelago” and then to St. Petersburg. I expect to post this article of the blog before I get to St. Petersburg, and another one shortly thereafter.