Just a quick but noteworthy note from the (rail)road.  On Tuesday night, I boarded the train in Nevinnomyssk for a trip of a little over 3 days duration.  I like train travel!  I had the 4-bed compartment to myself for the first night and all of the next day until evening, when a man hobbled in to join me.  His stop will be in a few hours, while I will continue eastward until Saturday morning.

We communicate mostly through google translate.  I’d like very much to ask him a million questions, but as you’ll see it’s not appropriate for me to ask any more than what he freely offers.  Here’s all I know about him:  The man is 40 years old and on his way back to his military headquarters now, after having been wounded in Avdeevka, near Donetsk.  Anyone who is paying any attention to the Ukraine situation will recognize these names.  He was with the ‘rifle ground force’.  He doesn’t yet know his fate, as it will depend on his recovery.

Last year, I posted another message about getting closer to this stuff than I care to ( https://goldtadise.com/?p=577664 ) but as everyone knows, it’s really everywhere anyway, in one way or another.

You might imagine the broad range of interesting conversations I have with people while traveling.  Something I’m surprised by in conversations with Russians is there’s no animosity whatsoever towards America, specifically as a result of the Ukraine situation, sanctions or anything else.  Of course, I wouldn’t be in Russia now if Russians weren’t so incredibly welcoming to Americans in general and to me specifically.  It was the same during my travels in Russia last year, only friendliness.  This is something I will ask friends about as my travels continue.

Peace out,

Bill