Odessa, Ukraine

Arrived into the City of Odessa.  It is a wonderful little City.  Has all the conveniences of the western world ... at one-third the price.  In my opinion, this is the most livable City that I have encountered on my trip.  Clean, walk-able, and nuzzled up against the Black Sea.  Has about everything to offer.  Most importantly, the people looked genuinely happy.  The only bizarre thing I encountered was that I was stared at pretty much wherever I went.  Not a quick glance, but a turn their head and track me where I went kind of stare.  Men or woman, didn't matter. I asked a local as to why they thought this was, and the answer was, "do they stare more when I have my sunglasses on or off"  Not knowing, I did a little test and took on and off my sunglasses periodically, and I'll be damned, they did only stare with the sunglasses off. The answer as to why, because I do not have the Ukrainian facial structure around my eyes, and when people noticed, they were staring to see if they could figure out as to why I was in their City. After this realization, I looked around, and yes, everyone looked alike.  No Asians, Africans, and thanks to Hitler, no Jews.  I think the staring was more out of curiosity than concern.



Stage Distance: 264mi (425km)
Total Distance Traveled: 19.231mi (30,873km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino. Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine

Ukraine- Lviv and Vinnytisa

I have entered into the former Soviet Union.  Almost thought I wasn't going to make it.  The border crossing took over 7.5 hours.  Longest border crossing of my life (previous one was the Saudi-Qatar border that took 4 hrs).  Not sure why they were so inefficient, only 100 cars or so, with a new car arriving approximately every 5-10 minutes. The problem seemed to be on the Ukraine side.  Poland guards were as bored as we were waiting on them.  I watched the three episodes of Breaking Bad that I had downloaded onto my phone from Netflix, then waited another 5 hours.  C'est La Vi.

Entering into the country, one thing becomes very apparent, the roads SUCK!  I bumped, bounced and surfed my way through L'viv and into Vinnytisa.  In straight up honesty, with the one exception being Afghanistan, the roads here are the worst I have ever come across.  Pot holes, rutted-out tire tracks, wash boarding, spalling, complete sub grade failure, and entire sections of road missing.  It was a challenging and exciting portion of the trip.  Greta handled them with no issues though, she is quite the gal.

Are there nice parts Ukraine? absolutely, actually everything that is not a road, is beautiful.  One thing of note, this is the richest farmland I have ever seen. And there is tons of it.  Farmland, farmland and more farmland.  The soil is the color of dark chocolate. It almost looks fake, or what Microsoft would put on their entrance screen after they had used Photoshop.  Corn and sunflowers seem to be the predominate crops...from what I could see anyway.  I ran into a local rider at the gas station and he told me that during WWII, the Nazis hauled dirt from Ukraine all the way to Germany.  Not sure if the story is true, but ...Further, during the times of the USSR, due to its farming importance, Ukraine was referred to as the Soviet Bread Basket.  It really is a spectacular country.

Somewhere in the middle of Ukraine, if I could read Russian, I could probably figure it out.

Lviv Market Square

Static display outside a former Soviet fighter wing HQ, which is now a theater.

Leg 2 .....so Far

Stage Distance: 434mi (699km)
Total Distance Traveled: 18,967mi (30,448km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino. Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine

Krakow, Poland

My first time visiting Poland and I must admit I had no idea what to expect.  My recollections from world history is that they were a much conquered, resilient nation, and were locked behind the iron curtain for my formative years. I was pleasantly surprised when rolling in. In all accounts, a first world country. Krakow is a very advanced, very attractive City with the worlds major business establishing a foothold. Krakow is growing so fast, that they experience just 3 percent unemployment. The old section of the City is very attractive and a buzz of activity.  

The most somber moment of the trip so far has happened during this visit.  I visited Auschwitz, and the tour was excellent but disturbing.  They have made a concerted effort to keep the buildings intact and have made exhibits of prisoner belongings like shoes, brushes, and hair that was shorn off before extermination.  Not sure if it was the guide I had, or all guides, but it seems as though much of the tour was geared toward making sure that those who deny the Holocaust, gain no traction.  

Auschwitz Entry Gate

Auschwitz

Krakow Castle, apparently they had a tough time deciding an architectural style

Vistula River

Stage Distance: 299mi (339km)
Total Distance Traveled: 18,533mi (29,749km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino. Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland