Hitchhiking to the Caucasus and back. Spring 2007. Part 2.
This is a continuation of my story about how I hitchhiked to the Caucasus. Start here: Hitchhiking to the Caucasus and back. Part 1.
Day eight. Tuapse-Anastasievka.
The Commander was waiting for half a day while he was fixing the car. He has a blue, not even a blue penny. And he drives it, like a real Schumacher, along mountain serpentines. Just manage to hold on. However, this is how everyone travels here, this is a peculiarity of these places. Hot mountain guys with boiling blood in their veins can't resist the adrenaline rush.
He fulfilled one of the points of his plan - he drank the Kuban cows. If a person loves fermented baked milk, he should try this simple mega-baked milk. After it, all the others will no longer climb into their mouths. In search of a store, we walked through the back streets of Tuapse - completely different vegetation, cypresses, Pitsunda pines, already flowering cherries and plums, streets at an angle of almost 45 degrees, and a very dense population, a house on a house. Friends of the Commander, with whom we had dinner yesterday, have three houses on 6 acres, where all their relatives live. For those who are accustomed to the Russian expanses of fields and steppes, it will be difficult to live in the coastal zone. From the elevation of the city of Tuapse, a magnificent view of the turquoise sea opens. It's good here in April when the holiday season hasn't started yet.
Hooray! I swam in the sea. Clear, cold and pleasantly salty. It was the Commander who took us to Kiselev rock, where he spent all his childhood. How beautiful there, and the view from the cliff, and the cliff itself, and the seashore.
Kiselev rock. About Tuapse.
When I was little, my mother and I went to Lazarevskoye several times. Where I had to be caught every evening from the sea. And although I spent all day in the water, it was quite difficult to catch me. I have been waiting for these trips all year round, sitting in snowy Moscow. I even considered this small town my second homeland, and was going to move there when I grow up..
And we got to the village of Anastasievka only in the evening. Commander, showed extra class on his penny, moving through the fords. It turns out that our Russian cars, developments of the 60s are capable of a lot..
We stopped for the night at the temple of the sun, a mound dolmen. A place of power, and even fabulous. Imagine a mountain valley, in the center of it is a large old oak tree, night, a starry sky, and clouds smeared over it. Near the oak mound - a mound of stones, overgrown with young trees, a river flows nearby.
The three of us spent the night in a 2-bed tent. Close, but warm. It turned out strange, at first everyone was going to sleep on the street, and in the end they squeezed into one tent, although it was put up just in case.
Day nine. Anastasievka-Apsheronsk.
They moved to an ecovillage near Apsheronsk. First, we drove into the city itself and picked up Fedya, another friend of ours. He flew by plane to the Caucasus today. Here is a bourgeois, however! Having merrily huddled into a penny after a friendly hug, we continued on our way.
In the ecovillage we were well greeted, fed with sour cream pie. I made a note of myself, somehow I will have to try to make bread and sour cream cakes. Unfortunately, the owners were supposed to show the glades of the foothills tomorrow, since we arrived late. And I would have to leave tomorrow for the Tula region, on the river Beautiful Sword. There, some of my friends are organizing their little hike. I would like to be in time. I decided to go! Long live hitchhiking! At the same time and again I will overpower fear!
Day ten. Hitchhiking: Apsheronsk-Millerovo.
Early in the morning, quickly getting ready and saying goodbye to the owners, I moved to the bus stop. There is such a dead place in terms of hitchhiking that at first I had to go to the city by bus, and at the same time try to wake up to the end. Snow-capped mountain peaks floated outside the bus window - Fisht, it seemed like it was him. How will I miss the mountains ...
Leaving the city, I quickly stopped a cargo gazelle and rode in it next to a passenger already sitting. Wow, even in this case, they picked it up. There are good people on the roads! Then there was Kamaz to Krasnodar. And again my favorite Krasnodar bypass, where I spent half a day. But a guy drove me a couple of kilometers in a BMW, it's a pity that he turned into the city. Then the summer resident took me out of town, and for a long time there I waited for a passing hitchhiking.
The warmth of the sun, almost the heat that warmed my bones, delighted me. Long standing on the track was rewarded by a good driver in the ChevyNiva, who treated me to cashews and coffee. And he rode well too, quickly. Drove me instantly to Rostov. There is again a summer resident on the classics and a short distance. Then a military man on a nine, having heard about hitchhiking. He said that his friend was a hitchhiker, and he himself was going to hitchhike to Europe. It turns out there are good military men. Hooray! And then after the military department, I was completely disappointed in this category of people. Then, quite a bit, a tourist in heels gave me a lift, such a good person, it's a pity that only 10 km was on the way.
In the meantime, it was already getting dark, and I thought with horror about the night, where I would have to spend the night, and how long I would travel. I got the idea to hitchhike all night. It’s a very good idea, only it’s almost dark, and I’ve been standing near the gas station for half an hour. And why don't people want to give a good guy with a backpack a ride? Okay, I'll think about it later, when I go somewhere behind the wheel myself..
As a result, two guys stopped, it was the worst thing to go with them. It turns out that the 14th, reystalingovaya nine, can go about 190 km / h, and I did not know ... The guy who was a passenger, before my eyes, was getting drunker and more drunk, asking me some tricky questions, talking about bad Muscovites. It's great that I didn't tell where I came from. They took me to Millerovo (Rostov region). And it was already 12 at night. And I stood under the lamp next to the post, which interested the police in my person. And was searched. And banished from the lantern zone. These are the repressions. But I was picked up by a man who was driving home with his children after a traffic cop stopped him. Perhaps even the policeman himself told him to take me out of sight.
The driver said that he once stood on the highway in winter, the car broke down, and no one stopped, now he always gives a lift in winter. Although it was far from winter outside, he still gave me a lift. On the way, I managed to give him some advice about computers and software. Hmm ... For people from the regions, I seem to be a guru in such matters.
Then I post again and stand again. Eyes stick together, hours 2 am in the yard. Having decided that my night hitchhiking was a success, I went with a clear conscience to look for a place to sleep. I lay down under a tree 50 meters from the track. At first I shuddered from every car, but sleep still overcame me, hallelujah!
Day eleven. Hitchhiking: Millerovo-Efremov.
Ahh! It's cold again! I got up at 7 o'clock, probably, if not earlier, sleepy and frozen. Apparently something happened to the weather overnight. I put on everything that was in my backpack and went to continue hitchhiking. There weren't a lot of cars - everyone was still asleep. After an hour of downtime, I was picked up by Kamaz, which was being driven somewhere near Nizhny Novgorod. It is a pity that he turned off soon. So a new day began, a day of new communication, and a day of a new hitchhiker..
In Boguchar I was picked up by the next Kamaz. There are no other cars besides Kamaz? But he treated me to tea. Have you ever had tea in Kamaz? I advise! I ended up drinking it with my pants, seat, floor. Only a few drops got into the mouth. I could not bring a cup to my mouth in any way. It will be necessary to have some tea on the horse for comparison. Having said thank you for the tea, smeared on the cabin and on me, I got out in some village. And there I was picked up again, who do you think? Yeah, he's the most ... Kamaz. This time I am lucky for them. Can I buy one for myself, in memory of the hitchhiker? And I already knew the driver by sight. He drove past me three times when I was standing on the side of the road. I remembered him too, by the expression on his face: «not a fig, I won't stop». He explained to me why he didn't want to take it - like there were only bad people around, you never know what. I, of course, do not argue that there are such people, but it’s too bad for him, and everything is bad. And he took me because he became familiar.
Maybe because he looked at life that way, the car soon broke down. And I went to catch the next one. Now I was picked up by an old Audi, and a taxi, but the taxi driver had a day off. So I got to Voronezh.
Advice! If you are hitchhiking, you better take your time. During my downtime, I was very annoyed with life, and even 20 minutes turned into a huge pause. Later I realized that I was moving fast. And sometimes after standing for several hours, I made up for a very fast car.
Here small runs began, literally 10-20 km. Near Voronezh, I sat down again on Kamaz ... Well, surely this is some kind of sign! The guy was from Orel and came here to work in his car. Then take a minibus on a gazelle for about 10 minutes, then on a bulkovo truck (a gazelle that carries bread), on some foreign Oka. All drove very little.
The day was already drawing to a close and I was stuck again. Strongly so. Friends sent me an SMS that they had already reached Efremov and were pitching tents near the Beautiful Sword River. And I looked at the sun, how it was approaching the horizon, and thought how I would like to be in time for them today. Another overnight stay near the track was not part of my plans. I stood for at least two hours. Cracked drying and freezing. The wind just pierced right through. So many cars passed by, but for some reason they did not like me, although I was kind of cute. And then the uncle stops at nine and asks for help with gasoline. By that time, by the way, I was already ready to go for money. But that was not a lot of money, I said that there were 200 rubles. He picked me up and warmed me, so to speak, with a machine stove. And then we drove up to Yelets and there ... a cork ... no, not even a hole! There is no end to the end, the cops blocked the road. The driver, not embarrassed, to the side of the road, then to some kind of dirt road, and after 15 minutes we drove everything. And people stood there for several hours. Just all those who did not want to take me. I know it's not good, but I gloated. And then it dawned on me! Why did I stand for so long? I was exactly this car and was waiting to pass the fastest. He took me to the turn to Efremov. And he didn't take the money, he said that I just wish him good luck. Apparently we had a sincere conversation with him. By the way, he was traveling to Moscow, so I could have reached Moscow, and in the end it would have turned out that I would have traveled from the Caucasus to Moscow in 2 days and one night, almost like by train.
Managed! Although the sun went down and the camp is still 30 km away, I made it! The road was not at all popular and there were no cars, so I decided that I would go on foot. I go and think, I have to guess the car, well, at least just try. I made a guess, and then a car with Oryol numbers looms, which picks me up. Immediately relief that there is less to go. And then, in a conversation, it turns out that these people are going to the village to visit their parents, and this village is located a couple of kilometers from our camp. Well, this is such a coincidence. It was at this time, on this day, that they decided to go to a village where they had not been for six months, to a village where only 3 people live.
From the village, I, one might say, flew across the field, all fatigue and sleepiness disappeared. I was looking forward to meeting my friends!
River Beautiful Sword. Near the town of Efremov.
And then we sat by the fire, fried bread, I talked about my hitchhiking trip, and the next day we were covered with snow ... But that's a completely different story ...