Happy 4th of July! The mosquitoes are at least as plentiful as Canada Day three days ago. We left the hills and trees and are in flatter agricultural areas with wheat and rapeseed.

It is interesting to see the types of life that creeps under the rainfly. Typically four sizes of flies: large biting horseflies, medium buzzing flies, small flies that bite and small flies that don’t bite. There are occasionally butterflies, moths and centipedes. Last night had many slugs and ants. A large bumble bee kept trying to probe the tent. Spiders occasionally cross as well as caterpillars. Each morning I try my best to shake them off before packing things up.

This morning started with more hills to climb. Fortunately there were flat spots in between and I was fresh and ready for hills. A motorcyclist passed me and stopped. Valentin was a Russian motorcyclist traveling from Magadan, Russia to Lisbon, Portugal. He planned to sell his motorcycle there and hoped for enough for fare home. He warned of bad roads ahead.

At 36km I came to outskirts of Красныи Яр (any Russian speakers know meaning of «Яр» we’ve had a few of these places so far). The first cafe I came to looked run down and had remains of a burnt bus outside. Most of the menu items were crossed off. I waited at the window, but no one came to take my order. I gave up and continued on to a better place in town.

After breakfast the hills became smaller and the trees fewer. There was a slight headwind. The road was in good condition, so still made good time. We passed more wheat fields. At turn off to Верх Чебула, at 84km, was a gas station and small cafe.

The road became busier after lunch as we heading into and through Мариинск. Signs led us through town, past the center and over a bridge. The villages on other side had water and soon thereafter we found a place to camp next to a wheat field. There are more horse flies than I’ve seen, but luckily they are on other side of the mesh.

118km today, 7290km across Eurasia. [Photo: 908, 909, 910, 915]