Ausgust 22,2015 Tomsk to Krasnoyarsk

I woke up about 3am to the sound of rain outside the hotel.  We've been lucky thus far, only short showers.  That ended today.

We left Tomsk under chilly, overcast skies.  Anyone who doesn't have Klim brand gear put on their rainsuits before the 8am start.  We left earlier than usual, because it's a long way to Krasnoyarsk - 579km (362 miles), with long stretches of travel and dirt road, and lots of potholes.

Traffic was light, probably since it was early on a Saturday morning.  When it did get heavier, we were able to split lanes easily.  Russian drivers are used to this behavior from motorcyclists, and politely make room for us to pass, as Tom Loftus demonstrates above.  

Alain was the only one who did not fill up as he came into Tomsk, so he and Mike (our sweeper superhero) pulled into a station on the way out of town.  

Once out of the city, traffic was light, and we passed at will.  The landscape was changing too...

more trees, hills...

and curves.

We had rain all day.  

Fortunately, it stopped when we made this stop.  We had just made a left hand turn, which gave sweeper Mike a chance to make a head count.  Uh oh.  We were missing two riders.  Apparently,  Mike and Alain didn't see Marilyn and Geoffrey making their own quick pee stop, and passed them by.  The stop gave us time to answer Mother Nature's call - at least for the guys. 

While waiting we took some fun photos.

To avoid 170 additional km of paved road, our route for the day took us over 20 km of dusty gravel road.  There goes Boz.  We wouldn't see him again until dinner at the hotel.  He loves off road riding.

A nice picture of Boz before we got to the gravel.

Svetlana got this picture as we rode by.  That's us in the cloud. The dust makes it hard to see the potholes.  I gave up bouncing around on the seat, and finally mustered the courage to stand up behind David.  Wow! A much better experience, and not as scary as I had thought.  It was pretty easy to keep my balance, and I'm just tall enough to be able to peek over David's shoulder and see what road conditions are coming at us.  Guess I'll be doing this on rough roads in the future.

We had our daily dose of loose animals.  But the question did come up about wild animals.  We've seen no road signage that would indicate that deer or moose are in the area.

Our second stop of the day was at a gas station.  We topped off the bike tanks, and went into the small cafe to top off our own tanks.  A drink and half a sandwich was just what was needed to keep us going in the rain.  The bad news, however, is that our support van suffered additional damage.  Not only is a shock broken on the right rear of the van, but now there is a broken leaf spring on the left side.  That's not an illusion in the picture - the van now has a definite left tilt.  Janis is making call after call to try and get the part so it can be fixed during our rest/ motorcycle service day tomorrow.  The van can no longer make any speed, and it could be damaged further if not repaired.  It is heavily loaded with spare parts, tires, and luggage, so we really need it back on the road with us.  Tomorrow is Sunday, so repair may be difficult at today's destination, Krasnayorsk.

We didn't stop again for another 170km.  We're trying to get the motorcycles into the Krasnoyark BMW for service dealer as early as possible (they are opening tomorrow just for or us to service the bikes) so we grabbed a snack and some water from our side cases and got on with the ride as soon as everyone had caught up.

I don't have many pictutes going ino the city, because I put it away in a waterproof case, and couldn't get it out while riding in pouring by rain - but it was again an adventure getting into the city.  A bad accident had traffic backed up for a couple kilometers.  Not to worry.  We rode up the shoulder of the road until past the problem.  

Good thing.  As we approached the BMW dealership, the wind picked up and we found ourselves in a dust storm.

This picture was taken at 5pm, but it looks more like 11pm.  The air was filled with flying debris and dust.  It hadn't started to rain here yet.  The picture isn't nearly as dramatic as the real experience, with strong winds and blinding dust.

The Krasnoyarsk BMW dealership is quite large and includes automotive as well as motorcycle sales and service.  We dropped off the bikes and took taxis to the nearby Hilton Hotel where we will stay tonight and tomorrow night, while the bikes get serviced and hopefully the van gets fixed.  Not much to do in the city, so we will just veg out in the hotel and wash clothes.