Back in Russia...

We found a decent guesthouse last night not too far over the boarder just before it began to get really dark.  It had the biggest pool table I've ever seen - maybe it wasn't even a pool table because the balls were all white an seemed a bit larger than normal pool or billiard size.  Anyway it was 12'x6' - but they wouldn't let us play because it was too late and would disturb sleeping guests upstairs.  

The ride today was a bit strenuous due to irregular roads and a strong cross wind.  Traffic was very heavy with quite a lot of trucks - so this meant a lot of passing.  This part of Russia is very flat and open so there isn't much to stop the wind.  It was also the coldest weather we have ridden in on the trip.  It was in the high 30's and raining when we left and never got much warmer than 50 during the day.  Adding in the wind made it down right chilly while riding.  My grip warmers stopped working somewhere in Mongolia - which I could have used today.  

There really was nothing to see so we just tried to bang out some distance.  We made it to Chelyabinsk which was our goal for the day.  We did see a WWII tank and stopped to take a pictures - but only farmland and swamps to see from the road.

Giant pool table at the guesthouse last night.

The tank and my bike.