Russia	Ussurisk	N 43.79742°	E 132.00755°	The end of our journey tonight was the town of Ussurisk about 100km from Vladivostok. Vladimir had arranged for some of his off-road friends to meet us at the approach to the city and escort us to their large family house and compound. It felt a bit strange sitting in someones house using their facilities and barely being able to talk to them. But we really appreciated the hospitality.
Russia	Spassk	N 44.60546°	E 132.90650°	After our return to the highway from Gayveron, Andrey and his family led us to a cafe and truck stop just north of town where we shared a meal and where after many goodbyes they departed and left us to spend the night. We expect to spend many nights in Russia parked at a cafe amid cargo trucks.
Russia	Lushegorsk	N 46.44765°	E 134.29079°	Throughout the afternoon we saw only a few places we deemed suitable as over night stops and with the day coming to an end and towns becoming fewer we determined that we would find somewhere to stop in Lushegorsk (I apologize for my perhaps poor anglisization of this towns name - I have not yet worked out how to put Cyrillic script into my pages). Inside the town we passed a couple of unlikely fuel stations before stopping in front of a large lot occupied by a number of 6x6 buses (that's right, buses - its a statement about the quality of the minor roads in the area). Again with Russian note in hand (this time, "can we park here for the night") I approached a couple of locals and was told "No" (and a lot of other stuff I could not hope to understand) and was pointed back down the road in the direction of a large blue building that I think was some form of low budget hotel. After a discussion with the gate keeper and an exchange of 100 rubbles we had a place for the night among the trucks again. But hey -- better than by ourselves on the side of the road.
Russia	M60 km 151	N 47.33547°	E 134.51392°	We decided on an early stop today at yet another one of those signposted parking places. Throughout the afternoon various trucks have stopped and then proceeded. But the place seems busy enough to be safe.
Russia	Khabarovsk	N 48.51427°	E 135.06618°	While the navigation might have been without a problem the checkin at the hotel was not. To cut a long story short it turns out that we had neglected to finalize the registration of our visas when we left the hotel in Vladivostok and as a result the Guru could not allow us to register as guests. Fortunately they directed us to a near by hotel (the Abrikol) that does not require visa registration. While we have no idea why some hotels require registration and some do not we were pleased to have a place to shower and connect. It is worth noting that we would not have managed our way through this complex situation without the help of Sergey a contact name we had been given by Sallie in La Junta, CO. as no one at either hotel spoke any English. There is more to come on this topic as while we might have a hotel for a night or two we are now technically illegal and may have problems exiting Russia.
Russia	Khabarovsk	N 48.51427°	E 135.06618°	Our hotel is called the Abrikol and is actually a lot more than a hotel, with a restaurant, bar, ten pin bowling alley, sauna, and an outside play/entertainment area built in a rustic time style. There is an ample parking lot out front (which is where we are parked), good hot water for showering and very fast wifi internet. We did not attempt to negotiate a price for just parking and using facilities but paid full price for a room, 2500 rubbles per night. The ladies at the front desk have been very helpful calling taxis and generally helping us weird foreigners.
Russia	Birobidzhan	N 48.89202°	E 132.84739°	We continued west after Birobidzhan along the bypass until it rejoined the highway and then (a little east of the junction) found a кафе (and truck stop) across the road from a gas station to spend the night.
Russia	Near Novobureyskiy	N 50.02794°	E 129.73836°	We chose one of these new generation rest stops for our nights camp. It is somewhat west of the town of Novobureyskiy
Russia	Blagoveshchensk	N 50.25648°	E 127.53637°	Michael and Anton turned up a little later in a Nissan Patrol all decked our for off road adventuring and then led us into town and parked us beside a nice large hotel, right next to Lenin Square on the water front. Andrey joined us, Anton departed and the 4 of us spent the next hour or so walking the river front. The river front has been renovated in recent years (and large construction is still underway) and made for a very pleasant and interesting stroll in the nice sunshine. The river is still frozen and no boat traffic is operating. There is however a pontoon bridge across the river that is carrying- heavy commercial traffic between China and Russia.
Russia	Svobodni	N 51.35978°	E 128.15208°	Back at Alexander's house Michael left for his return drive to Blagoveshchensk and we went to bed.
Russia	Ushumun	N 53.18381°	E 126.42212°	We picked one of the road side rest areas near the town of Ushumun for our nights stop. When we pulled in there were two small trucks parked there, one with 3 fuel barrels in the tray and another was a small fuel tanker and the drivers where sitting in the sun talking. We wondered what was going on. It did not take long to find our as vehicles pulled up to take on fuel from these guys. Small vehicles (like cars, vans and small trucks) were sold fuel from one of the drums and large trucks got fuel from the tanker. Now fuel stops are relatively scarce on this section of the highway but not so scarce as to be a problem for most vehicles. We guessed it was some kind of black market operation.
Russia	Near Chul'man	N 57.05402°	E 124.85832°	Late in the afternoon we found a road side parking area and gratefully stopped weary but satisfied with the days progress.
Russia	Nth of Aldan, M56	N 59.23203°	E 126.68635°	It had been a long and tiring day so we were pleased to find a road side cafe just passed the Amga crossing where we pulled in and spent the night. This was a relief as we had not seen a suitable place for many miles. When we arrived we were the only vehicle in the parking area but other trucks arrived during the evening.
Russia	Yakutsk	N 62.03430°	E 129.74209°	This morning we continued north to the village of Haptagay where we met Alexander and parked the truck at the house of his mother-in-law. Here we were treated to a wonderful Yakutia breakfast and an opportunity to see inside one of the more traditional Yakutia houses made of squared logs. While having a rustic feel the house was cosy and comfortable with all the mod-cons.
Russia	M56 - km 130	N 60.95060°	E 128.75801°	We drove about 60 kms down the road and parked in a rck pull-out beside the "highway".
Russia	M56 – 1340km	N 54.10573°	E 121.63263°	A very large roadside parking area on the southern side of the road. It had the usual pit toilet that most visitors had decided against using (preferring the surrounding ground) and as a special treat the area was right next to a large radio tower and had its own religious shrine.
Russia	M56 – 1738km	N 53.10520°	E 118.07590°	We stopped for the night at one of the now familiar parking area/picnic areas at the turn off to Uryum (Урюм) about 470 km east of Chita.
Russia	M55 Road Side Parking	N 51.31112°	E 112.34986°	From Chita the highway changes its name from M58 to the M55 (don't ask me why) and we traveled west in warm weather and bright sunshine until we found a flat patch of ground beside the highway for our nights stop.
Russia	Lake Baikal	N 52.82122°	E 107.98045°	We spent an hour or so at a local up market hotel getting internet before departing north out of town towards the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. A generally good, but unexpectedly hilly road (our first switch back of the journey so far) eventually brought us to the town of Gremyatsinsk on the lake shore; although at that point the lake was not visible. A couple of kilometers farther down the road and we found a large informal campground in a pine and birch forest right on the lake shore. What a beautiful sight it was, a nice grassy flat area backed by trees to the east and the still (largely) ice covered surface of Lake Baikal to the West.
Russia	Angosolka	N 51.75469°	E 103.73517°	Good places to pull off the road were scarce today so at the end of the day we chose a small parking area that had anough space for us and maybe two other vehicles. While we were having dinner a German overland vehicle came past and stopped for a short chat. It was an older Mercedes truck carrying a pair of adults, 3 children and a dog. They were on a 4 month round trip from Germany through Russia to Mongolia and home. This is the first group of overlanders we have so far seen.
Russia	Irkutsk	N 52.28276°	E 104.27366°	With Yuri's help we talked to reception at the Inturist hotel and organzed to park the truck in their parking lot behind the hotel building. Nice and secure and out of sight of the general public. There were two other overland vehicles there, both German. A Toyotal Landcruiser and a small pickup truck with a slide in camper.
Russia	Listvyanka	N 51.87022°	E 103.69562°	At the point where the lake merges with the Angara River (the only river that flows out of the lake), maybe 3 km from Listvyanka, there is a small pullout, a large sign for the Baikal Hotel, and a spectacular view across and down the lake. That is where we parked for the night.
Russia	Sludyanka	N 51.71934°	E 103.69562°	We camped for the night at a cafe/Truck stop in the town of Sludyanka. This town is situated on lake Baikal where the M55 first joins the lake.
Russia	Cafe M55	N 51.26859°	E 107.55134°	We camperd at the second of the M55 right near the town of Llinka.
Russia	Road to Kyakhta	N 50.81698°	E 106.54119°	We picked another roadside pullout in a pine forest for the nights stopping spot. Throughout the night a number of trucks stopped to check on tires, lights or other things, and many passing vehicles sounded their horn (we don't know why) but these things only put a small dent in what was otherwise a good night.
Russia	Altai region	N 50.24051°	E 87.81741°	Around 4:00 we found a small meadow below the highway, negotiated the steep rocky track down to it and made that our camp for the night. We are visible only from a short section of the highway, have good views of the nearby snow capped mountains and are surrounded by a larch forest.
Russia	Kurata	N 50.80671°	E 85.99264°	Just before (east of) the village of Kurata we found a picnic sign in a small stand of trees beside a small river and decided that it would make a good campsite. Insects were a slight problem but not enough to move us on. Late in the afternoon a German family (the ones we met near Irkutsk) arrived and parked for the night also. A bit later a couple of Russia guys turned up in a small Chevy SUV; so it was a nice little group of campers who occupied the site.
Russia	Katun River near Manzherok	N 51.81242°	E 85.76400°	By mid afternoon we were traveling along the banks of the now very wide and fast flowing Katun River and the traffic and vacation activity was quite hectic, campgrounds, hotels, rafting outfits and even a small water park. We found an informal campground squeezed between the road and the river and spent the afternoon talking to our neighbours, cooking and watching the rafters flash by on the fast river.
Russia	A Field M52	N 52.68065°	E 85.06043°	Towards the end of the day we started looking for a place to stop for the night and eventually selected a side road and parked on the edge of a cultivated field containing some kind of crop with pink flowers.
Russia	Barbaul	N 53.34682°	E 83.77539°	After our chores were done we found a better place to park (across the road in a large paved parking lot, right behind the Lenin statue). The police lady who seemed to be in charge of the lot told us (via iPhone translation) that it would be ok for us to park in the lot all night. So we settled in and then went for a walk to check the place out, and for Nina to take photos of the many wedding parties that seemed to be over-running the town.
Russia	A349	N 51.39050°	E 81.13898°	Camping the last 3 days has simply been, find a nice patch of grass/forest beside the road and pull in.