Russia… The Trans-Siberian Railway! May Be?

Well… I’ll bet the header might get a few people’s attention. Actually, the subject has come up a couple of times. Just tonight, as I was checking my stats and audience on the blog, I have noticed that I’m getting a small following from Russia.


Map Showing Military Installation with
RV Campgrounds

Russia, our cold war enemy. Now that the cold war is over, I often think of traveling from Vladivostok to Moscow by train. I met a fellow camper in Key West who did this trip. He gave me a lot of information about the train accommodations and what to expect. It is a far fetched idea, but it is doable. Once in the mid 80’s, on trip to Alaska, on a KC 135 Air Force Tanker, I had another long discussion with some people who were in the process of flying around the world. They would fly a good part of this trip on USAF “Space A “ flights. They had made connections to fly from Japan to Vladivostok , Siberia and board the Trans Siberian Railway all the way to Moscow. From Moscow, they intended to fly (commercial Russian Airline) to Germany and resume their “Space  A” flights back to the States. It is not a big money issue, but an issue of patience and time to catch the right flight. One needs a lot of time to accomplish this adventure. Time on the Trans Siberian Railway took this guy in (Key West) a month. He said to try  and get a top berth, apparently someone on the lower berths always seem to have a bottle of Vodka and no one leaves until its empty!  I know there is a “Space A” flight that goes to Europe four times a week and it is not full  most of the time.
Oh well, enough of that wild dream for now. I need to get back to America and explore around here. I am thinking of going back where we left off and continue the Civil War trail. One of the biggest things on the Civil War, this summer, is the 150th Anniversary. I’ve been told that there will be some major reenactments. Some truck campers are getting together for a jamboree centered on these reenactments. It might be very busy with tourist, but that only means that we would make new friends and hear more great adventure stories.
Today,

This "Live Oak" was about 150 years old
when the Civi War Started. It was 300 years old when cut down

I upgraded the camper. I now have a permanent TV cable connection on the outside. That means that I don’t have to snake the cable in anymore. It isn’t that we watch a lot of TV, but more and more campgrounds offer Cable TV with their full hookup sites. My next upgrade will be a new “front of the truck” generator mount. I want the mount to be closes to the truck grill. The two mountain bikes will be further outbound and the bike carrier will be removable without interfering with the generator mount. It sounds complicated, but I can tell you I’ve slept on the idea for a few nights and its coming together. The Honda EU2000i generator will make us more independent in the dry camp environment. The Solar panel will recharge the camper battery, but the computers are power hungry and unless I’m running the truck they won’t last more than a day. We are on them several hours a day. (Checking emails, blogging, searching sites to visit the following day and so on).
That is what we plan to do and see!