After dinner last night we heard a knock on our door. There was a lovely 17 year old girl, Sweta Sheshotova standing there holding a jar of cranberries as a gift from her mother for us. She spoke little English but after smiles and gestures she invited us to go with her for a walk up to the local lookout. We met up with her friends Sasha & Tanya and then other young teenagers arrived.
We looked down on the Volga River with a barge going along.
The teenagers were like any in the world, friendly, holding their mobile phones and smoking. They spoke a little English and were fun to meet.
We were back on highway M7 and travelled through beautiful green countryside. Huge fields with no fences or houses.
We believe the people live in the small villages and travel out to the fields to work.
We saw some mobs of cattle and piles of hay with old tractors at work.
We crossed the Volga River on a huge bridge and then skirted around Kazan.
We prefer to drive in the countryside over the cities.
Just after Kazan we rejoiced with some silky smooth road.
We tended to become obsessed with road conditions as they go in an instant from terrible with a max speed of 20 kms to the best in the world that we sat on 80kph., as we were in no hurry.
We stopped beside the roadside and bought strawberries and raspberries from a little old lady for 30 rubles – about $1.50 Aus.
Just before Naberzcyne Chelney we stopped for the night in a little village of dachas, about one kilometre from the M7.
Once again we were given a friendly reception from everyone.
The couple in the house opposite where we parked invited us to have a sauna with them and gave us a Russian cola drink.
We went for a walk around the town and found the ruins of an old church.
At about 9.30pm once again there was a tap on the door of our Earthroamer. A young lad was standing there holding what looked to be, an old lamp base as a gift for us. Dick took it realizing that the gift must have been of significance.
Today 553 klms 19,513 km Total since Anchorage Alaska
