The rest of the day was spent in numerous craft shops where Mark fed the local economy by loading up on souvenirs. We said our goodbyes and left Kiev at 5 a.m. the next morning. 

It was still dark when we left and the state of the road signs to Moscow had Igor confused. Every road seemed to lead to Moscow, but changed its mind when we drove further on. Igor asked directions many times and eventually, after 70 minutes of going nowhere, we got on the right road and were on our way. We continued on, finally reaching the Russian border later in the morning. This was negotiated almost effortlessly, they were just a bit curious as it's not everyday the guards get two Americans crossing their border.

The journey between Kiev and Moscow seemed forever, nearly 600 miles of lifeless landscape. But the day didn't go by uneventful. Later in the afternoon I was driving through the bland landscape at speeds of 50-60 mph, but normally less than 50, because of the killer potholes. But I guess it was a good stretch of road when we came rolling over a gentle hill into another non-descript village. I saw the waving policeman a bit too late. 

Pulling over, the policeman looked at my passport and license and told me and Igor to come up to his elevated office. We found out when we went in that this policeman knew his business. We saw he had a radar gun aimed at the top of the hill coming into town, and realized that we were dealing with a rare bit of technology here. He told Igor that I wasn't just speeding, but excessively speeding! He said it might warrant a jail sentence for a local, and at a minimum he was going to take my license away, plus give a hefty fine. 

Igor pleaded with him, telling him some cock & bull story about how it would ruin the trip because he couldn't drive and we were a long way from Moscow and that I'd have to fly back.

 They argued back and forth and finally agreed on a settlement. Igor took out a three one Dollar bills (!) and gave it to the policeman. He calmly took it, looked at it and then as if nothing had happened gave back my license and passport and told us to be on our way and pay attention to the speed limit! We continued on, keeping our eyes peeled for potholes and the "Guyee." 

The last 70 miles or so into Moscow was on an almost proper highway. There was no civilized buildup in any other way, just endless forests of birch trees on either side of the road. 

At around 6:30 p.m., out 
of nowhere, Moscow appeared. We made it! 

It took us another half 
an hour to get to Red Square where we set up my tripod in the dwindling light and took a souvenir self-portrait of ourselves and the car in front of St. Basil's Cathedral (no worry of border guards here). 

No better place to end a 2,000 mile drive to Russia.