Ukraine: Kharkiv, Kiev, Odessa

Today makes day 3 in Odessa and day 6 in the Ukraine.  Tomorrow I will head out of the Ukraine and into Moldova.  Ukraine is a beautiful country with rolling hills, vast plains of sunflowers and wheat, cheap beer, very pretty women (who are excellent picture posers), and a national identity problem.

Welcome to Ukraine

Russia: Southern Belle (Astrakhan, Volgograd, Shakhty)

It has been 1 week since I departed Almaty.  It definitely seems much longer; since I have traveled about 4100km.  I must admit that I do not like having to travel every day.  At least for this many days and kilometers in a row.  I am looking forward to being able to rest a bit once I get into Kiev and beyond.

Early morning fishing in Astrakhan...oh, and getting a tan.

Kazakhstan: Almaty - Astrakhan (Russia)

I stayed in Almaty for 5 nights with my gracious hostess, Gulshat (thanks again Gulshat!).  I needed to a minor tune up on the bike and change the rear tire.  After all complete, it was time to hit the road back to Europe.  In the last 6 days I have covered about 3400km.  It is a huge distance, but then again, Kazakhstan is a huge country, the majority of it seeming to be a desert-steppe landscape.

Thanks Dimas for the Red Bull hook up!  It has come in handy!!