Sasha Spetsnaz was the chief organizer of this event and through him, I was able to attend it.
First, I want to present you with some brief background information about the trip itself, which took place in my own car, well in a car belonging to my wife (which turned out to create some problems - not the wife, but her ownership of the car). It all started when I was about to enter Belarus.
Everything went great until the people woking in the duty asked me if the car was mine. I said yes, but I also mentioned that it belongs to my wife. This was not a good answer, since the car was not mine. I needed the owner, ie. my wife. I needed her authority to bring the car to Belarus.
After a long discussion, they came to the conclusion that they could accept a fax with her authority.I expected this to be very expensive, since I would need to call my wife and explain to her in detail what she needed to do. I decided to call my friend in Gothenburg and ask him to write a letter and then sign with "my wife's" signature. It worked out perfectly fine until the duty discovered that the chassis number was missing. I called and asked my friend to send this but then the fax machine stopped working.
The girls in the office of the customs house then told me to write the number by hand and then we would run this "new" fax copy one more time. It worked! And who says they are not innovative across the Baltic Sea?
After some time, I arrived in Moscow around 4.30 am in the morning. I fell asleep and then I met up with Sasha and all the participants in a large square in the city where the presentation took place. Most participants drove UAZ. You certainly know what I mean, these are the jeeps individuals in the military drove around with in the Former Soviet Union. There were also some western cars, one Niva and some other unknown vehicles to us Westerners.
The competition went on for 2 days. The first day we went out to the countryside to watch the start. It turned out that it was prepared for the communal living in tents with grills, lots of fruit and drinks (I think you know what kind of drinks I am talking about). I was not prepared for this, but it was solved elegantly with a separate tent for me and I borrowed a sleeping bag. It was a very enjoyable evening / night with a lot of talking and not much rally watching. The day after the contestants were far away so we had a day to relax and recover.
On the very last day, lots of people were there watching. We travelled to the Baltijsk-side in order to watch the Jeeps. Since the Kaliningrad region had been declared a "disaster area" a few days earlier due to the heavy rain and wind, it was enough water and mud for the crews to have fun in. I must say that it is very spectacular to watch these cars with drivers and co -driver steer through a course designed to provide as many problems as possible. The most interesting for the spectators was when the cars should drive through a small shallow marsh.
When these exercises were completed, the final part of the race should take place at the Baltic coast. We drove past the fenced areas with guard towers that reminded us of the the Cold War. When we got closer to the coast, I suddenly saw a sign where it said "Poligon Baltiskogo Flota", which means the Baltic Navy training area. We decided to enter the area. It was quite clear to me that I was in a place I was not supposed to be. The conscripts that were out strolling in the area were surprised when a Swedish registered car drove past. Out at sea, it was a beautiful view.
Eventually, the day came to and end and a winner was elected. I had been asked to award a prize too, which went to a car with a steering wheel in the middle and where the driver had the legs on either side. I got a lot of experience during this time, and I went back home through the city Sovietsk. An issue that went smoothly in comparison with the first time (when I was about to enter Belarus). It cost 160 rubles to get past the queue at the customs station, but I was prepared to sacrifice these money in order to avoid the same experience.
Finally, it was an interesting experience to drive in these countries. The driving itself is no big problem because the rules are followed, especially speed limits actually. The problem is the border crossing, which requires a great deal of patience and confidence about how to join the queue, but we're talking about financial solutions.
- What did I learn from this? Well, the following:
- You can solve many problem with ideas
- Do not accept NO as an answer – at least not immediately
- Do not underestimate the crafting of the population in the Former Soviet Union
- Always remember the value of language skills
- You may have to experience unexpected incidents- Expect the unexpected