Three more days driving since Omsk and we are planning to stop for a day in Moscow, already covering enough ground to have a days rest from behind the wheel.

Just as we are about pass through Cemara, a large city 600km from the countries capital, both back wheels of the truck lock up and bring us to a sudden halt. Two long and defined skid marks map our dramatic course to the side of the road and we are left once again with another mechanical problem to overcome.

A couple of local Babushkas who were selling vegetables at the side of the road give us some directions to a mechanic 5 km down the road. Upon finding the mechanics premesis it is already the end of the working day and we have to spend the night parked at the garage gates until the following morning where we are met by ‘Ivan’, the head mechanic of a road haulage company.

It takes a whole day of swinging hammers and spanners and still only one wheel is able to be successfully removed. By the second morning a special tool is fabricated to remove the second back wheel where they find a series of smashed bearings and cogs upon doing so.

New bearings are amazingly found, the cogs machined into working order, and late in the afternoon the truck wheels are turning once again and we resume our drive to the Latvian border.

Yet again we are amazed at the Russian hospitality and generosity as the mechanics refuse to give us a bill and just tell us that we can now go home. We now only have 36 hours to drive 1500 km in order to make it on time without violating our transit visa. After many years of abstenance I am now appreciating the wonderous effects of strong black coffee…

Ramsay.