All the mud was frozen solid this morning; the truck showed an outside temperature of 25°F (-3°C). We got under way with some trepidation this morning as we have a long way to go to Yakutsk and everything we have heard suggests this will be a rough road. After driving only a short way we got it officially 1075 km to go.

Driving on rough roads is a bit like long distance running one must pick a pace that can be sustained. The down side of this is that one gets into a bit of a trance and the miles (or is it kms) roll by without actually taking much notice of the scenery. However on this road that is less of a problem as the scenery is much the same. Most of the day we traveled through forests made up mostly of larch trees mixed with the white birch and sprinkles of pine.

The road was a mix of gravel/dirt, long stretches pavement, and some extended periods of road under construction. The sections under construction are really rough as there seems to be no effort put into making the active roadway smooth. Indeed sometimes one feels like one is driving on a construction site and must weave around the earth moving equipment. In the US and Australia there would be flagmen and pilot vehicles everywhere. Here it is "look after yourself".

Interestingly (that's one way of saying it) the paved sections of road are not always a relief as often the paved sections are heavily effected by the freeze-thaw cycle and have severe ups and downs like waves. This is hard work in our truck. Yet other sections are paved in concrete, but unfortunately the separate concrete sections have sunk at different rates and so one drives from one slab to the next disconnected slab - worse than rough gravel. But with all of this said we had a good days driving and covered 250 miles (400 kms) and an average speed of 28 mph (45 km/h). That's the average over the period for which we were actually moving and hence does not include stops for fuel and rest.

One of the more interesting and to us novel features of the road today were the make-shift dams built out of timber and piles of gravel to hold back water from the melting snow.

We stopped at the town of Tinda (Тинда) for fuel and groceries. At the fuel station we noticed the fake police car and assumed that its purpose was to trick drivers into slowing down - does not work. We also met a bunch of drunk Russian young men who greeted us enthusiastically and took photos of themselves in front of our truck. While shopping for groceries we met a young couple who wanted to photograph their son on the front of the truck. After taking their photos and a quick tour of the camper they took it upon themselves to guide us out of the town; a process that turned out to be a lot more complicated than the size of the town or our GPS had suggested.

Towards the end of the day we passed the towns of Berkakit and Neryungri where the snow on the sides of the road was covered in coal dust giving an effect of black borders to the roads. Coal was being mined near by and transported by road to the local power stations. It eventually became evident that each of the towns in the area had its own power station and coal had to be transported to each.

Late in the afternoon we found a road side parking area and gratefully stopped weary but satisfied with the days progress.