Volgograd

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A change in the team again. Robert went home and now Willem was promoted to navigator / trip photographer 😀
From Samara we chose the road east of the Volga river. Its less traffic than the main road and not so many cities. Well, snd sometimes really boring 😀
At some point we were stuck at a ferry that goes only 3 times a day. Luckily, we only had to wait one hour. Saved us 150km looking for the next bridge.
The road to Volgograd was some kind of record. We did around 640km this day. Woke up at 6, started at 7, arrived in a small town just before Volgograd at 9pm. And in between just 2 hours breake from driving and 2 stops for getting new gasoline.
Not going to Volgograd directly was a very good choice. We took some incredibly cheap but good 4 stars hotel next to some car factory and 3 power stations. And next to an UAZ, GAZ, KAMAZ dealer. Nice place to look for new spare parts.
Checking prices and getting some small things for me and big things for Willems collection. I am still not sure, if I will buy a new radiator. Mine is leaking and in this weather here the engine gets too hot regularly. If temperatures rise above 27°C, I have to switch on my additional electric cooling fan. Above 33°C I have to reduce speed. Today was above 36°C and we expect it will not be much less in Kazhacstan.

Volgograd itself looks like its still recovering from communism. Its not the most beautiful city on our trip. The history of this city is indicated by a lot of war memorials and museums. As in every city, the street is being repaired in a lot of places, but traffic is ok somehow. We miraculously missed the beautiful city center (or there isnt much of it) and decided to move more east, see the salt lake “Baskuntchak” and stay there for the night.

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