A VERY LONG TRIP.......................

We left Thusday night about 5:oo p.m. deciding to drive straight through. We had to get the papers changed and notarized on Friday or we would have to wait until Monday, delaying our trip home three more days. We had hoped to get their by 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. However, as often happens in Ukraine, expect the unexpected. Somewhere close to morning Vladimir hit a major pothole that damaged both of his rims on his tires. We couldn't find a place to fix them so we kept driving. When we got a couple of hours away we were stopped by the police who had set up a roadblock because the highway ahead had been damaged by a major flood. They said the only way to get to our destination was through the back mountains and weave through the villages. This detour added about 5 hours to our journey. We went through tiny villages that were half way submerged under water and washed out roads, all with the worry over whether our tires would make it.Vladimir ended up driving 18 hours straight with one15 minute break. We got to the village where Misha was born and they changed his birth certificate to put mine and Kent's names as his parents. They destroyed his original birth certificate which made me sick. We then had to travel an additional two hours to get it notarized in the regional city. We barely got everything signed by 5:00, but we got it done. We finally ate a meal after a 25 hour stretch. This has got to be a non eating record for Kent!! We stayed the night in a cute hotel and got up early and started back. I 'm sure that I'm making this sound bad, but it was also fascinating. The Carpathian mountains are very beautiful and the area has a fascinating history. We passed a village founded in 1085, saw several castles and saw some of the most beautiful country in Ukraine. The hotel we stayed at was right next to the border station of Slavakia and we we were also close to Romania, Poland, Hungary and the Check republic on our trip. This side of Ukraine has a very European feel to it. We were so glad to get back to Sumy though, and get out of the car!!