A few "firsts" today. Elena met us at the hotel this morning and offered to guide us out of the city. Assistance we were more than willing to accept as Vladivostok is not exactly a city that is easy to navigate. We stopped for a visit with Yuriy (Tatiana's father) and a breakfast of Russian crab (one "first") and a top up of our water tank before hitting the road (called the M60 or M58) north.

Our first encounter with Russian police came just after leaving Yuriy and Elena, and a second about 20 kms later. In both cases we showed our documents and were on our way within minutes. At the second stop one of the officers spoke some English and asked a few friendly questions.

Also our first encounter with a gas station. Fortunately Vladimir had prepared us for this. So I approached the "office" (really a security booth where the customers stand outside and talk to the attendant through a speaker and where money is passed through a security drawer) with the pump number and the number of liters of fuel I needed on a piece of paper, plus of course some money. With the transaction done I returned to the truck and started pumping the fuel. All worked as expected.

Along the highway we have noticed many gas stations and road side "cafes" where trucks (and in the future we will) park for the night.

The highway today was generally in good condition except for a 10 km section of road work. On this section we drove slowly like the many cargo trucks while the smaller vehicles jockeyed to get around us "slow pokes". It seems that Russian traffic is a bit like that in South America; road rules are advisory but cooperation and "making room" is the order of the day.

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.

As the night wore on additional people arrived including a local teacher of English, that at least meant we could have somewhat of a conversation. Later in the evening Sergei (the house owner and Vladimir's friend) arrived home from a business trip.