Can a Harley make it to Magadan?

[SavannahCapt]

Originally Posted by TimberWolf

I got to meet meet Doug and Poly this weekend at the Charlotte IMS show. Very good people

Eagerly looking forward to web-riding along on your next adventure

Same here. I agree.

[tramparifas]

nice!! ! !

[tramparifas]

Very nice adventure I wanted to be together.

[birds]

Great report so far. Would have been good to read it before the IMS.

[rtwdoug]

Anyhow…. Where was I…Oh yeah, Magadan. So I made it to Magadan, and now all I have to do is get the bike to Vladivostok, and ride back to Bulgaria. I’ve come to the conclusion that this was not my smartest idea. It’s the end of August, and it’s a LOOOOONG way back to Europe.
But first, I have to get to Vladi.
Max & I were at the monument at the entrance to Magadan, when a local guy on a bike showed up. Tom was already at the hotel, so the guy (who’s name I forget) took us there, I’d heard of the VM hotel before, so off we went. Well, when we got there, it was a bit crazy. The prices were really high, and on top of that, they wanted to charge us for parking outside. I don’t mind paying for inside parking, but for the prices they were charging, paying for using the lot seemed a bit greedy. We went to a couple other places, but they were either full, had no parking, or cost even more. So we stayed at the VM. They finally decided they had a double room they would rent us, which was the same as a single, so that helped us save some $. The next day, they called me to the office as I had ruined a towel (so they claimed) They thought I had used it on the bike, I laughed & said no, all that dirt came from me! Well, they wanted to charge me 20 bucks for the towel! The lazy assed cleaning lady hadn’t even tried to wash it, she was just sure it was ruined. I got in an argument, & told em why don’t you try washing the damn thing, & then we will see.
The next day, I’m called back down. The towel is ruined. They showed me some sort of light shadow left on the towel that the old bitch couldn’t get out. She & the rest of the people there were very unfriendly. So they want 20.00. I told em to give me the towel, & I took it up to my room. 1 minute later after some soap, the mark was gone, and I gave it back. I told em next time try some soap. I just got nasty looks from everyone.
Overall, I’d say the VM hotel sucked, & I’d suggest no one else stay there.
OK, so we had to ship the bikes. The 1^st place we went to had a new rule, bikes had to be crated. This is the company that Walter & others had used in the past, but it was a new rule. Tom & I found a place called Dispatch, which is a shipper right at the port, & bikes don’t need to be crated, and they were loading a ship the next day. Finally, something good! Tom had to leave that afternoon, so Max & I were left getting 3 bikes to the port. Wasn’t hard tho, just had to take a taxi a couple times, which is the only thing in Magadan that’s not crazy expensive. The guys at Dispatch were helpful & friendly. Their office is easy to find, go to the sea port, theres the big main building in front, but go behind it to the white building, & they are on the top floor. We got the bikes there at noon, but as all things in Russia, then there is much waiting involved. The boat is docked, but there is no ramp, so they had a sling & a crane to lift the bikes up with (which was a bit unnerving to watch) and I made sure to be the one doing the sling so nothing would get damaged. Max was onboard, unhooking them. Then we tied em down on the bow, to the railing.
Now that the bikes are on the way (ship is set to sail that nite, & arrive in Vladi in 4-5 days) Max & I want to see some of the town before flying south. We went around to a few travel agents shopping for tickets, and bought them for a couple days later, as it saved us some $, plus gave us some time to sightsee.
Theres a display of old military vehicles near downtown, so of course I wanted to see them. They are old & rusty, but you can crawl around in & on them. Max told me that it was a display for a military club, and the building was there, so we went inside to see the place. Its sort of a local boy scouts type organization, and we met the general in charge. He seemed happy to have an American visitor, so he took us around, showed us all their collections of stuff, let me play with the guns in the school part of it (no ammo tho….) and basically gave us the grand tour, with some lady that was there taking a lot of pictures. We had a great time, and they gave me a couple medals & a book.

[rtwdoug]

Anyhow, heres some pictures.

The bike was a bit dirty









The ‘paid parking’ at the VM hotel (VM in Russian is written as BM, which makes sense, as it was a shitty place)


This is Luis, who was riding Hansjorg’s bike back to Austria

[rtwdoug]

At the port……

The dispatch office


US truck with rebel flag at the port

[rtwdoug]

Don’t fall in the water! (those are jellyfish, there was a gazillion of them)





So I made sure the other bikes went first, as Suzuki’s & BMW’s are easy to replace, in case something went wrong. Then I loaded mine.




Then we tied em down. The sailors brought us rope, & I did my best to use all of it. I am sure they we cussing me when they untied em in Vladi, as they were probably unfamiliar with an Alabama ‘Go to hell’ knot.




I also showed them this knot, just in case the bikes got damaged or anything was missing off of them

[rtwdoug]

Pics at the military place.

[rtwdoug]

So then we went inside, & met the general. As he was showing us around, he was impressed that I have many of the same guns at home, that they had there, & even gave me a holster for my Nagant pistol. Very nice guy!


And he took us around to see the collections & play in the classrooms

[rtwdoug]

[rtwdoug]

Around town…..

[rtwdoug]

And we went to the fun filled Gulag Museum!

[rtwdoug]

Many giftshops around, selling ‘authentic’ carved mammoth tusks. Sorry for being a cynic, but theres thousands of these for sale all over. How many friggin mammoths were there, & that they have dug up the tusks & carved them? And they were NOT cheap. But it was nice looking work.

[rtwdoug]

After a couple days of not seeing the sun (its always foggy here) and Poly (who is waiting for me in Vladi) constantly asking if I left yet, we headed for the airport. I was glad to get out of the shitty overpriced hotel.
We took a taxi to the airport, & got on one of those fine Russian jets.


It seems the cabin pressure is not regulated as well as most jets I travel on, & it caused the bag of chips I brought along to swell up a bit



Before I could open it & relieve the pressure, it blew up, sending chips everywhere, and scaring several people around us.

Yep! Dougs here!