On the way to Central Asia.
A few lines, although I’m totally exhausted
The journey started in the morning with a spontaneous wheel change. I was ready to go. Then I had the decision to make to take an extra tire or not.
I got two new tires. I mounted one on a rim and wanted to take the other one with me. But carrying around a tire for at least 1 month is tedious. My previous tire still has enough profile for 3000-4000 km. Far enough to take me almost to Uzbekistan. There I put on the new one, when I start to go off-road.
So I took off the luggage and got the tools out. Luckily I just had to change the whole wheel, because the old tire was still on a second rim. It just took half an hour.
I headed east through Slovakia. It would have been less kilometres through Hungary, but in Slovakia motorcycles do not need to pay toll on the highway and you can pay with EUR (fuel, food, ..).
I did a bit more than 600km today. With a 1-cylinder, 50hp, in average 100km/h on the highway and with temperatures over 30 degrees C it was exhausting.
At first I have to stop every 50km and take a break. The heat and the monotonous riding makes me tired. Further in the east of Slovakia, the route is a bit more varied, so it’s a bit easier.
I decide to drive across the border to Ukraine to Ushgorod. As long as I still have internet, I’ll book a hotel in the next town. I do not know if I had the strength to search for something.
The formalities at the border are OK. There are a few cars waiting, but things are progressing relatively quickly. I do not care about anything. I just want to keep going. To the hotel. Getting out of the clothes.
As I do not understand a word anyway, I just walk from A to B as I’m told.
Passport control, customs. Everything takes about an hour. I have experienced worse.
I change some currency and then I head of to the hotel to take a cold shower.