Day 38: Ishim to Tyumen

Number of tie wraps: 23 (holding steady)

Countdown: 4859 miles down, 3726 to go

It took us about 5.5 hours to drive to Tyumen today, but we spent almost an hour of that just trying to get out of Ishim. We tried to reverse the route we took into town yesterday, but missed a turn and, after winding up in an alleyway, got directions that sent us back to our hotel again. From there, we still took a wrong turn, but managed to head out of town on a different road than the one we arrived on. However, the road we were on wasn’t the main highway, and we soon found ourselves battling rough roads in a construction area. The convoy of cars we were in scattered all over the road, using the left lane, the middle of the road, the right lane, and the right shoulder, and sometimes coming to a complete stop to allow oncoming traffic to go by.

 

Off-roading it between Ishim and Tyumen

Off-roading it between Ishim and Tyumen (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

After about an hour or so, we made it back to the main highway, but the road conditions didn’t improve much and when we stopped for gas at about noon, we had only managed to go about 90 miles in three hours.

 

The main highway to Tyumen, about half way from Ishim to Tyumen

The main highway to Tyumen, about half way from Ishim to Tyumen (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

But from that point, the roads improved and we made it to our very nice hotel in Tyumen by 2:30.

Tyumen, founded in the 16th century, is the oldest city in Siberia, but as a center for the Russian petroleum industry, it is also very modern, as can be seen from the picture below of the square that was built to celebrate the city’s 400th anniversary.

 

Square built in Tyumen to celebrate its 400th anniversary

Square built in Tyumen to celebrate its 400th anniversary (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Tonight will be our last night in Siberia and Asia. Tomorrow we will drive 326 km to Yekaterinburg, located at the edge of the eastern part of the Ural mountain range, which divides Europe and Asia. Yekaterinburg is also where John will be able to get a new passport and visa!

Day 37: Omsk to Ishim

Number of tie wraps: 23 (holding steady)

Countdown: 4668 miles down, 3917 to go

Quote of the Day: “Can I have your driver’s license, please?”

We arrived in Ishim about 4:30 this afternoon (after gaining another hour) to a surprise – WiFi!

Before we left Omsk, we took a short walking tour of the city center, where we saw the city’s Lenin Square and World War II Memorial with an eternal flame, along with the city’s oldest cathedral.

 

World War II Memorial in Omsk

World War II Memorial in Omsk (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Oldest cathedral in Omsk

Oldest cathedral in Omsk (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

We left the hotel about 11:15 to head to Ishim, but between a fuel stop and traffic, it took us quite a while to get out of the city. I saw the IKEA store below when we stopped for gas. I wanted to go shopping, but, alas, there was no time. Note the Cyrillic spelling of IKEA on the left had side of the photo.

IKEA in Omsk

IKEA in Omsk (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

As we left Omsk, the police waved Leo’s Envoy over at two checkpoints about five minutes apart. The Envoy attracts a lot of attention from the police over here because it has no front license plate (Leo is from Florida). However, in both cases, Ksenia handed over the necessary documents and we were on our way in just a few minutes. A few days ago, Ksenia translated all our driver’s licenses into Russian, and then “certified” the translations via an official-looking stamp from the Sport Hotel where we stayed in Tomsk.

The roads today weren’t as good as yesterday and construction delayed us in several places. But the springs on the Roadster are working great, and Luke reported that the Doctor Tire fix is holding steady at 120 pounds of air as well. Given that we went over some pretty rough roads today, it looks like the Roadster will now make it to Moscow with no further shock problems. Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be other problems, so stay tuned!

I’ll leave you with this billboard I saw as we were waiting at a construction site this afternoon just outside the town of Tyukalisnk. The billboard is about preventing forest fires and it has a picture of a cute bear cub. I thought the cub might be similar to our Smokey Bear in the U.S., but Ksenia says it doesn’t have a name.

 

Forest fire prevention sign outside Tyukalisnk during the drive to Ishim

Forest fire prevention sign outside Tyukalisnk during the drive to Ishim (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Tomorrow we drive 307 km to Tyumen.