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July 28,
1998
Kazan, Siberia,
Russia! Time to head east, towards Ekaterinburg. Natassia took off first, then
Costanza in the support plane (Nikki didn't fly with him today) then the Maule. This
works better. I'm telling you,m the land here is beautiful. Do you know the
difference in an Ag-Pilots heaven and his Hell? When he dies, he goes to a field 100
feet by 5 miles. In heaven, he flies it where he has 5 mile runs. In Hell, he
flies it cross-ways with 100 foot runs. Well, western Siberia is an Ag-Pilots
heaven. Huge fields, no obstacles, beautiful farm land. We were told that
farming is just now starting to progress. Slowly but surely. Nikki and
Natassia have a plane full of people. Khalide and I are alone. But Rafael
makes sure we have everything we need before we leave. Sweets, mineral water, cokes,
toilet? He calls us from the AN-2 and offers coffee. 4 1/2 hours after
Kazan, we land at Ekaterinburg, to another band, flowers, and TV crews. Another bus
picks us up and takes us to a building that we thought was our hotel. When we picked
our stuff up, Valery said "down, down, no hotel". We never know where we
are going. We walked into the Ekaterinburg Friendship House. About 20 people
were lined up waiting. When we stepped into the door, a woman started playing an
accordion and everyone was singing. Of course then there was dancing. Nikki
was dancing with a 4 1/2 foot tall red headed 70 year old woman. You should have
seen Natassia and I. We looked pretty pitiful. Then up 2 flights of stairs for
a reception. We received gifts from the women and I'm telling you now, I have never
never had so much lipstick on my face. Not even from those old family reunions my
Mother made me go to when I was young. Pretty amazing, the reception we have been
getting across Russia. When we finally got through all the translated speeches, we
got on the bus for a sightseeing ride. Well, it was cut short when a woman opened
the door of her Hyundai, and the bus took it off. The translator was saying
"very very expensive automobile". They stuck us on another bus and whisked
us off to our hotel. Another day in paradise.....
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