Ukraine – We are adventure travelers!

Everyone travels a bit differently than the next person.

Would you like to visit Ukraine this week? Probably not. We tried to go there in 2014 and had to cancel the trip when Russia invaded Ukraine. I know, right. Delta refunded our tickets because of the conflict.

Then in 2017 when things quieted down, we did visit Ukraine. It was a lovely place with lovely people. As you read my travel story, I want you to ask yourself a few questions.

Would you be willing to spend the day in Chernobyl when it wasn’t “likely” that the radiation would affect you?
Would you be willing to hop in a car for eight hours for an all-day trip to a smaller Ukrainian town with one Ukrainian you had just met the day before and two others you had met that morning?
Would you be willing to go to dinner with a small group of Ukrainians, again folks you had only met that day and drink vodka shots at the drop of a hat all night?

We did all of that and more. Carol and I are adventuresome travelers. The more adventure…the better. Enjoy the read.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT UKRAINE – TRACKCHASING COUNTRY #77?

As a service to my readers, I always provide a top-line background of each country I visit. If you’d like to learn a little more about the eastern European nation of Ukraine check out the “background” information I prepared for you. It appears at the bottom of this report. I have condensed this section so you can get a good “feel” for this former Russian satellite state. Ukraine has had a tough history over the years. Most of the material comes from Wikipedia. We can trust them.

PRE-TRIP

Advance Preparation

Editor’s note: We actually purchased our airline tickets to Kyiv, Ukraine, the nation’s capital, nearly four years ago. I know what you’re thinking. Airlines don’t SELL their tickets that far in advance. You are correct.

Yes, we had originally planned to trackchase in Ukraine a few years ago…..right after Russian invaded the country. With tensions running high Delta Airlines allowed a full refund of our unused tickets. At that point, Ukraine was put on the back burner.

THE RACE

I used a combination of websites, social media and Ukrainian residents, past and present to confirm the race date at the Autodrome Chayka. I could never plan and execute these trips without help from all kinds of sources.

The five-round regular racing season had been completed in September at Chayka. The last race of the year was the “Cup of Ukraine”. It was scheduled for Saturday, October 28, 2017. However, that date was not fully confirmed until about two weeks before race time. That meant I couldn’t buy our airline tickets very far in advance.

THE VISA

Foreign country travel visas can be expensive. Getting a travel visa can also be time-consuming. It’s not unusual to have to be without my passport for 7-10 days or longer while awaiting a visa O.K.

I probably have a dozen trips, and sometimes more, out of the country in a given year. Some of those trips pop up on very little notice. I can’t afford to be without my passport for 7-10 days. Luckily, Ukraine does not require a travel visa from Americans.

TIME ZONES

When we arrived in Kyiv their time zone was ten hours ahead of the Pacific time zone in Los Angeles. During the trip, Ukraine’s fall time change occurred. That moved the difference from ten hours to nine. With it being the fall season we “fell back” an hour giving us an extra hour of rest. When we get back to California we will “fall back” a second time when the Pacific time changes to standard time from daylight savings time next weekend.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Local people with knowledge of the Ukraine racing situation made this trip a success. My first contact was Illia Sternichuk (above). I first met him at the Souris Race Park (above) up in Souris, Manitoba, Canada! Illia, now a photographer in Manitoba is originally from Ukraine. Did you know that Canada has the greatest percentage of Ukrainians living there after Ukraine and Russia?

Illia put me in touch with his friend Alex Mochanov. Alex did a good job of helping out. By the way, Alex drives a Lincoln all over his home country of Ukraine. Although a self-described “old motorcycle rider”, his friend was the race organizer at Chayka.

A fellow by the name of Valery Shevelev was instrumental in the early planning stages of this trip. We started talking about this race trip as far back as last April!

My last and most complete Ukrainian aid came from a Chayka race driver. Vadym Evtushenko – (above far left) sent me many many messages over a period of three months. His final confirmation triggered the switch for us to buy our airline tickets. Once on the ground Vadym and his friends would do even more for us.

We are indebted to all of these people and many others who helped. Planning trips where the Cyrillic alphabet is used is the ultimate travel challenge. I’ve done it in several countries including Russia, Georgia and Turkey. It seems as if everywhere we travel people speak enough English to keep us from starving. However, the residents of Ukraine spoke as little English as just about any country I have visited.

THE TRANSPORTATION

Close to half of my international trackchasing trips have included business or first-class airfare. Nevertheless, I don’t think this type of travel is really a good value. Rather than pay $4,000 U.S. for a business class airline trip I would rather pay $800 U.S. for a seat in coach. I don’t have a problem flying coach. I would much rather land in a foreign place with $3,200 U.S. bulging out of my back pocket. For the many times that I have flown “upfront” I have my airline sponsors to thank. For the past few years, we have paid for all of our international travel.

This trip would have us flying for more than 32 hours. This is what the flight travel itinerary looked like.

Los Angeles, California – Barcelona, Spain – 11H45M

Barcelona, Spain – Skopje, Macedonia – 2H45M

Skopje, Macedonia – Budapest, Hungary – 1H30M

Budapest, Hungary – Kiev, Ukraine – 1H40M

Kiev, Ukraine – Stockholm, Sweden – 2H30M

Stockholm, Sweden – Los Angeles, CA – 11H0M

We would be gone from home for twelve days. Fortunately, we were only flying on three of those days. The above flight schedule covers more than 14,000 miles. That might seem like a lot until you consider that my total travel mileage (rental car and airlines) is a bit over 200,000 miles already for 2017.

CURRENCY

Carol is my international currency dealer. I don’t know how she does it. I simply tell her where I’m going and a pile of local currency shows up on my desktop a day or two later. What would I do without her?

This trip was minorly different. Our local bank doesn’t provide currency for Macedonia or Ukraine. However, we were loaded down with euros. We had so many euros we had to offload some of them just to make sure our luggage didn’t weigh too much! O.K., I’m kidding. You all know I’ve never had the financial resources of my fellow competitors, the Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers.

In Kyiv, it was super easy to exchange euros for Ukrainian Hryvnia. There are all kinds of moneychangers in the city centre offering fair exchange rates. Right now one U.S. dollar will buy you $26.87 hryvnia. One U.S. dollar will get you $0.86 euros. The dollar has been generally strong. We found prices for just about everything in Ukraine to be very inexpensive. If you’re looking for an interesting country to visit that won’t deplete your piggy bank I can highly recommend Ukraine.

WEATHER

It’s the fall season in Eastern Europe. About ten days ago the Kyiv city high temperatures were in the 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit range. Sadly, those temps didn’t hold.

Nevertheless, the high temperature each day was 47-54, which wasn’t bad at all. At first, we were disappointed when we saw the temperatures falling from 65 to 70. Then we were pleased the high temperature didn’t decline to 37 degrees, again Fahrenheit, which was the forecast a few days before we arrived. It did rain from time to time but it always seemed to hold off when we needed it too. Yes, life like golf is all about your expectations.

OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS

I have now trackchased in 77 countries. Carol’s total is forty-two. We have visited several more countries. We’ve probably been to Europe well over fifty times. Yes, we’ve done our share of traveling.

I don’t think anyone really travels as we do. We rarely ever use a tour group. We’ve done that twice, first in China and during our first trip to Russia. Both of those trips were guided tours. We enjoyed them very much and kept in touch with people we met on those trips for years. We even stayed in the U.S. homes of people we met in China. However, group travel is not really our “deal”. We like the adventure of traveling on our own schedule.

We are not budget travelers. Hostels are not our “deal” either. Having traveled so much, I know how to buy travel right. We stay in first-class accommodations most of the time at prices most people would be paying for budget hotels.

Let me give you an example. On this trip, we first stayed for five nights in a “ship” style hotel in Skopje, Macedonia. This was a trip highlight. Do not miss the pictures of this most unique hotel.

Then we stayed for five nights in the 11 Mirrors Hotel in Kyiv, Ukraine. This was a boutique hotel. There were only five rooms on each floor. Both of these hotels were located in the city centre. Both included a full breakfast served in luxurious surroundings.

I told you I know how to buy travel right. You can be the judge of whether or not that is true. We stayed ten nights in four and five-star hotels located in the city center of the European capitals of Macedonia and Ukraine. What did we pay for ten nights of this type of accommodation? How does $367 U.S. sound? It sounded pretty good to me. Carol was comfortable too!

THE RENTAL CAR

We didn’t have a rental car in any of our travel plans for this trip. We had local friends giving us rides. In Ukraine, we used Uber as well. They are a great source for getting from point A to point B. You don’t have to worry about having the right currency. The fare is charged electronically to my credit card. There’s no language barrier either. The pickup and drop-off points all emanate from my phone.

It wasn’t until the last day of our trip that a rental car entered our plans. We would need that car for a 400-mile round-trip. This trip didn’t materialize until the next to last day of our 12-day adventure. I’ll tell you all about that as we go along.

NAVIGATION

I wasn’t driving. I didn’t need any navigation help. However, my Uber drivers and the folks who drove our rental car used their phones for GSP help constantly. With the Cyrillic alphabet and no GPS aid, I think it would be nearly impossible for an American tourist to drive himself or herself around.

THE TRAVELING COMPANION

Cinderella got to go on this trip! Believe it or not, Carol actually loves scrubbing floors and doing laundry at home. She’s “old school”.

As you may know, I don’t value “old school” from just about anyone on any subject. Tech lets you work smart and not always hard. I’ll take smart over hard any day. However, the old school people are not going to change their ways. That’s why they are old school. No problem. As my used car salesman friend used to say, “There’s an ass for every seat”.

It was nice to have Carol along on this trip. We would see so much. We would do so much. I was most happy that our accommodations were so luxurious. Carol deserved the comfort.

Carol is in shape. Her nickname is “Trackchasing’s First Mother”. She’s the first and the only female trackchaser in the top 50 or so to have had children. She is easily in the best shape of any female trackchaser. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say she’s in the best shape of any trackchaser, male or female as well! Good on her.

On this trip, we routinely walked more than four miles every day. On one day’s trip out of the city, we walked 5.8 miles (9.3 kilometers) and climbed 18 flights of stairs. Carol never missed a beat.

She helps make sure I don’t overlook anything on these trips. I tend to take a 30,000-foot view of things. Carol works at ground level. We complement each other. It’s always good to have her on the trip. Ukraine would be her 42^nd trackchasing country. No other female chaser comes anywhere close to that total.

THE SUMMARY

My “world map” has filled up surprisingly quickly. However, there are “agents” working as you read this on new trackchasing countries to visit. I appreciate every one of their contributions.

RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Lifetime Trackchasing Countries

# 1 – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Peoria Speedway – Mt. Hawley (oval) – Track #1, Peoria, Illinois – circa 1955

# 2 – CANADA – Cayuga Speedway (oval) – Track #174, Nelles Corner, Ontario – 1988

# 3 – AUSTRALIA – Parramatta City Raceway (oval) – Track #180, Granville, New South Wales – 1989

# 4 – UNITED KINGDOM – Northhampton International Raceway (oval) – Track #378, Northhampton – 1999

# 5 – NETHERLANDS – Driesum Racetrack (oval) – Track #839, Driesum – 2005

# 6 – BELGIUM – Bellekouter oval (oval) – Track #841, Affligem – 2005

# 7 – FRANCE – Circuit de Croix en Ternois (road course) – Track #843, Saint-Pol sur-Ternoise – 2005

# 8 – GERMANY – Nurburgring (road course) – Track #844, Nurburg – 2005

# 9 – NEW ZEALAND – Western Springs Speedway (oval) – Track #1,134, Western Springs – 2006

# 10 – MEXICO – Triovalo Bernardo Obregon (oval) – Track #1,281, Tiajamulco de Zuniga, Jalisco – 2007

# 11 – BARBADOS – Bushy Park Racing Circuit (road course) – Track #1,296, Bushy Park – 2007

# 12 – THAILAND – Bira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,300, Pattaya – 2008

# 13 – SOUTH AFRICA – Durban Grand Prix (road course) – Track #1,315, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – 2008

# 14 – JAMAICA – Dover Raceway (road course) – Track #1,322, Brown’s Town St. Ann – 2008

# 15 – SWEDEN – Sturup Raceway (road course) – Track #1,335, Malmo – 2008

# 16 – DENMARK – Ring Djursland (road course) – Track #1,336, Tirstrup – 2008

# 17 – CZECH REPUBLIC – Automotodrome BRNO (road course) – Track #1,381, Brno – 2008

# 18 – AUSTRIA – Lambrechten Stock Car Track (road course) – Track #1,382, Lambrechten – 2008

# 19 – IRELAND – Tipperary International Raceway (oval) – Track #1,388, Rosegreen – 2008

# 20 – GUYANA – South Dakota Circuit (road course) – Track #1,390, Timehri – 2008

# 21 – CHINA – The Guia Circuit (road course) – Track #1,392, Macau – 2008

# 22 – COSTA RICA – Autodromo La Guacima (road course) – Track #1,398, La Guacima – 2008

# 23 – ANDORRA – Grandvalira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,404, Port d’Envalira – 2009

# 24 – ARGENTINA – Circuito Efren Chemolli (oval) – Track #1,406, Buenos Aires – 2009

# 25 – QATAR – Losail International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,408, Doha – 2009

# 26 – BAHRAIN – Bahrain International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,410, Sakhir – 2009

# 27 – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Dubai Autodrome (road course) – Track #1,411, Dubai – 2009

# 28 – COLOMBIA – Autodromo de Tocancipa (road course) – Track #1,415, Tocancipa – 2009

# 29 – SPAIN – Motorland Aragon (road course) – Track #1,416, Alcaniz – 2009

# 30 – PORTUGAL – Circuto de Murca (road course) – Track #1,417, Murca – 2009

# 31 – ICELAND – Kapelluhraum (road course) – Track #1,420, Hafnafjorour – 2009

# 32 – HUNGARY – Hungaroring (road course) – Track #1,426, Mogyorod – 2009

# 33 – SWITZERLAND – Hock Ybrig (road course) – Track #1,427, Hoch Ybrig – 2009

# 34 – ITALY – Vighizzolo d’Este Stock Car Track (road course) – Track #1,428, Vighizzolo d’Este – 2009

# 35 – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Autodromo Mobil 1 (road course) – Track #1,515, Santo Domingo – 2009

# 36 – MALTA – Ta’Qali Race Track (road course) – Track #1,521, Ta’Qali – 2010

# 37 – FINLAND – Lake Pidisjarvi Ice Track (road course) – Track #1,524, Nivala – 2010

# 38 – JAPAN – Suzuka Circuit (road course) – Track #1,530, Suzuka – 2010

# 39 – CHILE – Autodromo de Interlomas (road course) – Track #1,531, Temuco – 2010

# 40 – MOROCCO – Circuit de Marrakesh (road course) – Track #1,535, Marrakesh – 2010

# 41 – BRAZIL – Circuit de Caruaru – Aryten Senna (road course) – Track #1,540, Caruaru – 2010

# 42 – ESTONIA – Laitse Rally Park (road course) – Track #1,571, Laitse – 2010

# 43 – LATVIA – Bikernieki (road course) – Track #1,572, Riga – 2010

# 44 – GUATEMALA – Autodromo Pedro Cofino (road course) – Track #1,580, Alotenango – 2010

# 45 – EL SALVADOR – El Jabali (road course) – Track #1,582, Quezaltepeque – 2010

# 46 – ROMANIA – Bradu (road course) – Track #1,603, Bradu – 2010

# 47 – BULGARIA – Closed Route – Burgas (road course) – Track #1,604, Burgas – 2010

# 48 – SOUTH KOREA – Korea International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,605, Yeongam, Jeollanam-Do – 2010

# 49 – PHILIPPINES – Batangas Racing Circuit (road course) – Track #1,608, Batangas – 2010

# 50 – NORWAY – Lyngas Motorbane (road course) – Track #1,648, Lier – 2011

# 51 – MALAYSIA – Sepang International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,656, Sepang – 2011

# 52 – INDONESIA – Sentul International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,657, Babakan Madang, Boder – 2011

# 53 – LUXEMBOURG – Alzingen (road course) – Track #1,711, Alzingen – 2011

# 54 – POLAND – Tor Slomczyn (road course) – Track #1,713, Slomczyn – 2011

# 55 – SINGAPORE – Marina Bay (road course) – Track #1,714, Singapore – 2011

# 56 – URUGUAY – Piriapolis Grand Prix (road course) – Track #1,724, Piriapolis – 2011

# 57 – SRI LANKA – Pannala Race Track (road course) – Track #1,732, Pannala – 2012

# 58 – ECUADOR – Autodromo Internacional de Yahuarcocha (road course) – Track #1,736, Ibarra – 2012

# 59 – SLOVAKIA – Slovakia Ring (road course) – Track #1,745, Orechova Poten – 2012

# 60 – MONACO – Circuit de Monaco (road course) – Track #1,747, Monte Carlo – 2012

# 61 – CROATIA – Automotodrom Drobnik (road course) – Track #1,762, Rijeka – 2012

# 62 – PERU – Autodromo La Chutana (road course) – Track #1,802, Lima – 2012

# 63 – GREECE – Serres Circuit (road course) – Track #1,807, Serres – 2012

# 64 –RUSSIA – Moscow Central Hippodrome (oval) – Track #1,824, Moscow – 2013

# 65 –LITHUANIA – Marijampole Autocross Track (road course) – Track #1,842, Marijampole – 2013

# 66 –INDIA – Buddh International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,915, Noida – 2013

# 67 –GEORGIA – Rustavi International Motorpark (road course) – Track #1,916, Rustavi – 2013

# 68 –TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – Larry Gomes Stadium (road course) – Track #1,928, Arima – 2014

# 69 – TURKEY – Istanbul Park (road course) – Track #2,035 Akfirat – 2014

# 70 – AZERBAIJAN – Streets of Baku (road course) – Track #2,037, Baku – 2014

# 71 – SERBIA – Usce (road course) – Track #2,224, Belgrade – 2016

# 72 – BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVNIA – Zaluzani (road course) – Track #2,235, Banja Luka – 2016

# 73 – PANAMA – Circuito Internacional de Panama (road course) – Track #2,290, La Chorrera – 2016

# 74 – ZIMBABWE – Bulawayo Motorsports Park (road course) – Track #2,291, Bulawayo – 2016

# 75 – NAMIBIA – Desert Raceway (oval) – Track #2,369, Walvis Bay – 2017

# 76 – MACEDONIA – Skopje Street Circuit (road course) – Track #2,386, Skopje – 2017

# 77 – UKRAINE – Autodrome Chayka (road course) – Track #2,387, Kiev – 2017

One might think I am running out of countries for that next trackchasing trip. It is getting harder….but I’m not done yet! Plans are currently in the works for trackchasing country #78 and beyond.

So how did this trip really come down?

Wednesday – October 25, 2017

Today was a relocation day. We had just stayed for five nights in the country of Macedonia. We had a great time there. Now it was time to go from Macedonia to Ukraine.

The staff at the Randy Lewis Racing research department had burned the midnight oil on many occasions to make this trip just perfect for Trackchasing’s First Mother. She seemed to be having a good time. Good job RLR research department!

We began the day with our breakfast at the Hotel Senigallia in the city centre of Skopje, Macedonia. This has been a great place to stay. Their morning breakfast was a solid trip highlight.

It would require a little soft negotiating to get our taxi driver to take us to the airport for €20. That’s the going rate. I would not have hopped in a cab without an agreement on the price, to begin with.

It was a good 20-30 minute drive out to the airport. We were plenty early. We were checking one very large bag that weighed in the neighborhood of 55 pounds (about 25 kilograms).

Carol and I each had a carry-on bag. Carol’s current carry-on bag was purchased in a Skopje luggage shop after her original back fell apart on the first part of this trip. The luggage salesperson was quick to point out that the luggage she was buying met all budget airlines’ requirements for carry-on baggage.

We had some angst back at home wondering whether or not our checked bag would weigh too much or if our hand-carried luggage would be too large. We were flying on several different airlines including Iberia, Wizz Air, Ukraine International and Norwegian Airlines. That’s a pretty eclectic group of air carriers.

It turned out that no one had any major heartburn over the weight of our big bag (so far). Additionally, our handbag carry-ons had been acceptable. We had incurred no additional or extra baggage charges. I grew up in an era where there were no baggage charges. I try to avoid them at great lengths.

Because we were so early in Macedonia I could power walk outside the Skopje airport for more than 30 minutes. With a temperature in the low 50s, it was great for a little bit of exercise. I collected about 2 1/2 miles during that walk. By the end of the day, my iPhone pedometer showed 4.1 miles exceeding my daily mileage goal by just enough.

Our flight from Skopje to Budapest, Hungary took only an hour and a half or so with Wizz Air. Once in Budapest, we had to clear border control. We also had to retrieve our checked bag and then recheck it with the airline taking us from Budapest over to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Discount airlines like Wizz Air do not have baggage check agreements with other airlines. That means when you’re flying in with Wizz Air and make a connection you have to get your bag at baggage claim and then recheck it with whatever airline you’ll be continuing the trip on. We’re going to have to do that three times on this trip because we’re using six airlines. So far this hasn’t been a real issue.

In Budapest, we grabbed a quick Chinese lunch. They have a beautiful terminal with an outstanding food court. We didn’t have a lot of time but we had enough time. However, there is always a “however” in life, following lunch we discovered we had to clear Hungary’s border control one more time to get OUT of the country. Heck, we had only been IN Hungary for an hour or two! We hadn’t exactly been anticipating this. It took longer than expected. Fortunately for us, our flight was delayed by about 15 minutes or we would have come very close to missing the plane.

The flight from Budapest to Kyiv was scheduled for two hours and 40 minutes. Ukraine International Airlines, another discount airline, charges for things like soft drinks and the like.

We landed at about 6:30 p.m. It was dark by now. When we got off the airplane we had to ride a bus back to the terminal. Lots of European airports use this bus system to get passengers from the plane where it has landed back to the terminal. This allows the airport to accept many more flights than they have gates for. You won’t see at virtually any airports in the United States.

The lines were long to clear Ukrainian border control. It probably took us 10-15 minutes. In today’s world that’s longer than average.

I try to develop solid and reliable local contacts to give us the best chance for a successful trip. I’ve done that in most of the countries we have visited. This has allowed me to develop many international friendships.

My primary contact in Ukraine was a young man named Vadym Evtushenko. His name in Ukrainian was Вадим Евтушенко. However, I don’t know how to read the Cyrillic alphabet so I was allowed to call him Vadym! He and I had corresponded several times a week over the past couple of months. Vadym was a racer. He was willing to give me as much information as I asked for….and I asked for a lot.

It’s important to remember that until I arrive in a country I have never actually met any of these people who help and advise me. I’m at their mercy regarding the accuracy of their information. How much am I at their mercy? Based upon the information people like Vadym gave me I invest thousands of dollars that I can’t get back if what they are telling me is wrong. Yes, I am a trusting individual.

Vadym had volunteered to drive out to the airport and pick us up. I didn’t want to impose but Vadym insisted. He would take us to our hotel in city centre of Kyiv. This was a very generous offer by the Vadym. We really appreciated his help.

I had asked Vadym how I would recognize him. He sent me back a picture of him wearing a red baseball hat. I would look for the man in the red hat. They don’t wear baseball hats a lot in Europe so his photo was going to be very helpful.

When we finally made it to the exit at the Boryspil International Airport there was Vadym wearing his red baseball hat just like he had promised. I love it when a plan comes together! We introduced ourselves. After so many messages over several months, it was great to meet him.

We talked about all sorts of things on the 30-minute drive into the city centre of Kyiv. We’ll be rooting for Vadym when he drives the #7 with his brother Andrew in Saturday’s races at the Autodrome Chayka on Saturday.

Carol and I will be staying at the 11 Mirrors Hotel (hotel lobby above) in Kyiv. It’s a very upscale boutique hotel. I have “status” with the Starwood Preferred Guest program. That status gave us an upgraded deluxe room. You won’t want to miss the photos of the space we’ll be staying in for the next five nights.

Our room was very modern and included a huge flat-screen TV. I’ve never seen a bigger one in a hotel room. The bathroom had two toilets. O.K., I know they weren’t really TWO “toilets” but this simply proves we were staying in an upscale place.

Again because of my status with Starwood breakfast will be included with our room each morning. That will be nice. They serve until 11 a.m. so we don’t have to rush out of bed early in the morning to have breakfast.

Tonight we had a late dinner at about 8 p.m. in the hotel’s second-floor restaurant. The service was a bit slow but the food was quite tasty (pumpkin soup with prawns) and reasonably priced especially for an upscale hotel. We would come to find out that just about everything in Ukraine is super low priced for Americans.

Touring and seeing the sights is a major part of my trackchasing hobby. This is especially true when we make foreign country visits. On every day except race day, we have some very unusual tourist attractions to fill our schedule. When I’m done explaining them I think you’ll agree with me that these are some of the very best touring opportunities that one could expect in any foreign country they might visit.

Ukraine is a long way from the United States in so many ways. We’re glad to be here. We are looking forward to my getting trackchasing country #77 in a couple of days.

Thursday – October 26, 2017

Today was scheduled for a full day of touring. We started with breakfast at our 11 Mirrors Hotel. Because of my status with the Starwood Preferred Guest program, these deluxe breakfasts are complimentary for Carol and me.

The presentation of the breakfast was outstanding. I wasn’t a huge fan of the food except for the bread, butter and jelly. Carol likes everything and really enjoyed what the hotel served. I’ve always been a big breadman. Our breakfast ambiance was as good as what we had at our “ship” hotel in Macedonia last week.

The first item on the agenda was going to be an 8 a.m. walking tour. It was scheduled to last for about three hours. There was no charge for the tour. The guides depended 100% on tips. I like that idea. That meant the guides would be paid based on their performance. We were very much looking forward to it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the tour location at Independence Square in downtown Kyiv. We ended up missing the tour!

That’s when Randy Lewis Racing stepped in and created a special customized tour for Carol. We saw a lot even though we didn’t always know what we were seeing on the RLR tour!

The weather came in at about 50°. It rained lightly for a few short minutes. The wind flew through at about 10 MPH. I would not have wanted it to be any colder. I did pick up a beautiful blue and yellow Ukrainian scarf as well as a very warm snug-fitting pair of gloves. They were five bucks each. Prices in these Eastern European countries are fantastic.

There were a few public toilets on the streets of Kyiv. Many European countries have a nasty habit of charging to use public toilets. Oh, my! Today Carol used one and spent about 15 cents U.S. for the privilege. She was not impressed with the experience.

We always have a good time on formal tours. However, most of the time we have an even better level of enjoyment just bouncing around and seeing what we can see.

At around noon we stumbled across an underground shopping mall. We spent some time rummaging through a grocery store and then hit the food court. I found a place serving khinkali like I enjoyed so much during my visit to nearby Georgia.

In several instances, we had to walk underground to cross major streets. You won’t see that in the U.S. The underground is often filled with shops like you might find in Grand Central Station in New York City. There are always lots of interesting things to see in these small retailers.

The real highlight of the day was going to be seeing a performance of Sleeping Beauty performed as a ballet at the Ukrainian National Opera House. The theatre was only 300 meters from our hotel. It was a perfect location.

I had ordered our tickets a couple of weeks ago. I did all of the ticket ordering on a Ukraine website. Everything on the site was written in the Cyrillic alphabet. I just kept using my intuition to pick the tabs and links I would need until they accepted my credit card! We had outstanding seats at very little cost.

The ballet was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. I figured (wrongly) the performance might be finished by 9 p.m. or so. I told Vadym we would meet him afterward for a late-night (to us) dinner.

The theater was very ornate. It was established all the way back in the summer of 1867. As you might imagine the Opera house initially featured Russian operas. In 1896 the building caught fire and burned to the ground. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1901. In 1911 Ukraine’s prime minister, Pyotr Stolypin was assassinated there. Yes, the Ukrainian National Opera House has had an exciting history prior to members of Randy Lewis Racing coming to visit.

The performance began at 7 p.m. With two intermissions it didn’t finish until about 10:15 p.m. I had to call Vadym after the first pause to tell him we would have to cancel our dinner plans for the evening.

I didn’t want to do that. I hate backing out on commitments. However, I had a commitment to Carol as well. Vadym was very understanding of the situation.

We’ve seen these kinds of ballet productions all over the world now including the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow Russia. It’s a great cultural experience.

It was now beginning to push 11 p.m. Europeans eat their last meal of the day very late. We normally have supper in San Clemente at about 5:30 p.m.!

There was a restaurant located directly across the street from the hotel called Mafia. We stopped in there for dinner. This was a fine dining sit-down restaurant.

We ended up having five drinks, (two alcoholic) and two main entrées. I went with the spaghetti carbonara. For dessert, we dined on cherry cake with vanilla ice cream. This meal would cost $60-80 or more in a U.S. restaurant. Tonight‘s bill came in at 603 Ukrainian hryvnias or about $22 U.S.

Even though we stayed in top-notch hotels, ate like kings and have been transported all around these capital cities the costs have been beyond reasonable…. on the low side. If you’re planning a vacation I recommend Macedonia and Ukraine. There will be lots to do including great restaurants and you won’t spend very much money. The airfares are comparable to what it might be cost you to fly to Hawaii.

We’ve got a big day planned tomorrow including a very highly recommended Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. If it lives up to its billing it’s going to be one of the very best things we’ve ever done.

By the way, if you get the chance you might want to check out my Trackchasing Tourist Attraction page. It’s located on my website at www.randylewis.org. It will give you a sampling of the places I have visited on the way to all of these racetracks. Here’s the link:

Trackchasing Tourist Attractions

Friday – October 27, 2017

Today was going to be one of the most intensive and unique Trackchasing Tourist Attractions we had ever encountered. We learned about the opportunity while doing a city centre tour in Skopje, Macedonia a few days ago.

We had struck up a conversation with a young man from Minneapolis. He tuned us into the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster site tour. When I checked out his recommendation with TripAdvisor users and the plan was a go. More than one reviewer told us the Chernobyl tour was the best thing they had ever done. I like to take other people’s ideas and run with them.

I went online to make reservations. To some, the tour might have seemed pricey. Actually, we were getting a tour that began at 8 a.m. and didn’t have us returning to Kyiv until past 8 p.m. We paid the $79 U.S. per person tour fee and an additional $10 p/p for insurance. We declined the offer to have our own personal Geiger counter for $10 each! I’ll tell you more about that later.

We woke up to breakfast at the 11 Mirrors Hotel in the city centre of Kyiv. The hotel has a young staff. They were really excited about Halloween happening in a few days. I’m not sure why they were in their costumes four days before the holiday but they were. Halloween music wafted through the hotel lobby and restaurant. They had some sort of Halloween treat displayed as part of the breakfast buffet. It truly looked as if they had cut off the fingers of dissatisfied guests or maybe controlling Russians.

After breakfast, we took a 15-minute walk to Independence Square. We would pick up the Chernobyl tour there. Carol and I were designated bus #1 of the three buses waiting to pick up tour guests. Our bus seated 18 passengers plus the driver and tour guide. We were one short of capacity giving me two seats for the price of one.

Our guide, Vika, was a young Ukrainian woman. I’ve going to guess she might have been about thirty years of age. She spoke English with a cute Ukrainian accent. She had a fantastic sense of humor. She had a passion and enthusiasm for informing and entertaining her guests for what would be a 12-hour tour. Well done Vika!

It was going to be a two-hour drive from the city centre of Kyiv to Chernobyl. We would make the trip on an 18-passenger bus. During the drive, they showed a more than one-hour documentary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occurred on April 26, 1986. This was a good way to get us “caught up” on what had taken place more than thirty years ago.

About midway on the drive up to Chernobyl, we stopped at a gas station convenience store. We would stop at a few convenience stores during our time in Ukraine. Every one of them was as modern as anything I’ve seen in the states.

Little did we know that this was the last time we would see a fully normal restroom. In Europe, restrooms are called “toilets”. Toilet doesn’t sound as romantic as restroom does it?

We took the opportunity to buy a few snacks. Lunch would be provided on the tour but you never know when you’re going to get a case of the munchies.

We ordered a hot dog as well. We have always noticed that foreign countries do most things just a bit differently than we do. I guess that’s why they are “foreign” countries!

Let me try to describe the hot dog bun to you. Imagine a cylinder-looking piece of bread. The cylinder is about 10 inches long and maybe 2-3” around. The center of the cylinder is hollowed out. Ketchup and mustard are then squirted down into the cylinder’s center cavity. Then the hot dog is inserted into the bread cylinder. On the way in it gets “ketchupped and mustarded”. Genius!

In advance of the tour, it was explained that we would be exposed to a small amount of radiation but not that much. Carol and I are adventure travelers. You’ve probably noticed that.

What’s a little radiation, right? We were told that flying on an airplane (closer to the sun?) would give you more radiation than touring Chernobyl!

Radiation can cause a problem based upon two things. The first, is how much radiation is present. Secondly, is how long you are exposed to radiation. The Q&A section of the Solo East Tours website explained that we wouldn’t be in the radiated area long enough to suffer any harm. They also told us that the area had been cleaned up and now radiation levels were “acceptable”. If you can’t believe a website’s “Q&A” when it comes to nuclear radiation then what can you believe?

I can tell you right now that this tour would never pass muster in the United States. That has nothing to do with radiation levels. It does have something to do with other safety issues.

The drive up and back to Chernobyl took four hours. For the other eight hours, we were on the bus and walking the grounds. We must have gotten on and off the bus more than forty times.

When we were off the bus we did a lot of walking and climbing. My iPhone pedometer at the end of the tour showed we climbed 18 floors of stairs. We did nine of those floors in one residential building.

Over the years vandals have struck the areas surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site. That meant that all kinds of broken glass, wires, pipes and such were everywhere. As the tour group walked here and there the sound of crunching glass was constant. At my height, all kinds of low ceilings and metal hazards tried to prove to me that I really did need the tour group’s insurance. No, this tour would never be allowed in the U.S.

I would save the #1 highlight of the tour was exploring the ghost town of Pripyat. Pripyat was a city of about 50,000 people. It was supposed to be a model city. Most of the heads of households that lived there worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The plant was only 1-2 miles from Pripyat.

When the accident happened residents of Pripyat were told, about 36 hours after the explosion, they would have to evacuate. They were also told they would be allowed to return to their homes in 2-3 days. That promise proved to be inaccurate by a long shot. Now more than 100 large residential buildings are totally vacant and have been for more than thirty years.

Pripyat was designed to show the world that a brand new city with lots of upgraded amenities could co-exist with a nuclear plant right new door. There were more than 100 Soviet-style residential buildings in the city. These “apartment” type buildings were around 10 stories tall. They were large enough that 50,000 residents could live in about 100 of them. There were indoor Olympic-sized swimming pools, modern (for the time) grocery stores, an arcade with bumper cars and a Ferris wheel. A huge sports stadium adorned Pripyat.

Today Pripyat is a full-fledged ghost town. Imagine a town of 50,000 people in 1986 all leaving town, never to return, in such a short time. Time and vandals have taken their toll on the situation. Please do not miss my photos of Pripyat. If you ever get to Ukraine you won’t want to miss the Chernobyl nuclear disaster tour. By the way, compare the “before and after” photos of the Pripyat Olympic sized pool from above!

I’m really glad we did this tour. Now I can charge my cellphone by simply holding it in my hand! Kidding…..I think.

We were pretty tired puppies when we got back to Independence Square in Kyiv. We had walked 5.8 miles (that’s 9.2 kilometers) and climbed 18 floors of stairs. But then how many people get the chance to get this close to the biggest nuclear disaster of its kind?

We were happy to have passed two exit tests. On the way out of Chernobyl, the bus stopped twice. While a security guard cleared our bus with his Geiger counter the tour members were herded into a building. There we placed our hands on a machine that measured our current level of radioactivity. Today everyone passed.

Much of our tour was done in light rain. Quite a bit of the walking was done in the forest. The toilet facilities were beyond “rustic”, especially the “Russian toilets”. Most Ukrainians don’t seem all that fond of Russia. Maybe that’s why they labeled the worst of the worst “squat” toilets “Russian” toilets. You certainly get the feeling that everyone left on short notice and never returned like the picture of a kindergarten school shows above.

Following the tour, we walked 15 minutes back to the area where our hotel was located. Yep. I’m pretty proud of Carol. I think far less than 10% of Americans 50 years of age or older could have kept up with us on today’s tour.

For the second night in a row, we had dinner at the “Mafia” restaurant that was located pretty much across the street from our hotel. Even though we really enjoyed this place last night I don’t like to eat in the same place twice when I’m touring. Why? Let me explain.

We love eating out in upscale restaurants on these trips. Sometimes they are expensive and sometimes not. Normally, we have a recommendation from someone or some source for each dinner location we frequent.

That’s why we are rarely disappointed in our choices. Last night the food and drink at the Mafia restaurant were well above average. However, it was only one data point. If we chose somewhere else to eat this evening we might do just as well or even better. Notice, I don’t expect to do worse.

The “safe” traveler might say, “Last night was really good. Let’s not risk it. We’ll go back to the place that we already know was good”. Normally, I don’t look at things that way. I would rather have two experiences than one. I would expect that second experience to be as good or better than the first. In those situations where that is not the case, I chalk it up to “adventure”.

Saturday – October 28, 2017

Today is race day. It will be race day in my 77^th different country. I’m proud of that achievement. However, I must explain something about that statistic.

Yes, it was racing that brought us to Ukraine. Since this country was being “checked off” today we might never return to Ukraine. Does that mean we don’t like Ukraine? Not in the least!

Long after the racing experience here has faded from our memories other memories with linger. Seeing a first-class ballet in a foreign country is something everyone should do even if they think they will hate going to a ballet.

Visiting the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will always be remembered. Tomorrow’s surprise trip (that I haven’t told you about yet) will surely be on the top of our Ukraine memory list.

How many folks get to do what I have described above? Not all that many. However, I haven’t even mentioned the real highlight of the trip. It’s the people. It’s almost always the people.

I had insider knowledge on this trip from Vadym and his friends. For gosh sakes, he had driven out to the airport to pick us up to start the trip. Then we had shared his “pit box” at the races and toured his race shop. As I will tell you, after the races, Vadym and his race team hosted us at a raucous dinner in a “Ukrainian kitchen”. Then the “guys” came up with an idea to make the trackchasing portion of our trip even more robust. However, I might be getting ahead of myself. What happened today?

We started the day by ordering our first ride from Uber. The driver picked us up at the hotel with less than five minutes’ notice. Off we went to the Autodrome Chayka.

Apparently, our Uber driver was not a race fan. The Autodrome Chayka was built all the way back in 1976. I’m pretty sure our driver had never been there. He didn’t speak much English so how do I know that? He got lost driving to the track and had to call Vadym four times to get us there! I’m just glad I had asked Vadym to give me his phone number so drivers and anyone else could call him for help.

By the way, not all that many people speak much English in Ukraine. It seemed like natives of Macedonia were much more familiar with English than Ukraine. Unlike most men as soon as I get lost I stop and ask for directions. When I tried that in Kyiv I more often than not struck out. As you might expect younger people did better than older people with English.

Finally, we reached the Autodrome Chayka. I’m told the racetrack opened in 1976 when Ukraine was actually part of Russia. It’s three kilometers in length or about two miles. Today the cars would be racing counter-clockwise around the road course.

Remember, I provide all of the details you see in this Trackchaser Report just to make it a little easier for my fellow competitors to emulate this trip. By the way, no other trackchaser had ever visited the Autodrome Chayka.

As soon as we reached the paddock area we found Vadym’s pit box. We were soon introduced to Vadym’s co-driver, brother Andrew. Andrew is six years younger than Vadym. Then we got to meet their father and Andrew’s girlfriend and the pit crew and lots of other folks.

The guys would be driving a Russian Lada in today’s one and only race at the track. All of the cars at the track would be in this single race. They don’t normally do that but a couple of the classes had low car counts. Today’s race would be for 40 minutes plus one lap.

They were just getting ready to go out for qualifying. We would let them go about their racing business. Carol hung out with Andrew’s girlfriend Lena and her twin sister. These three girls, all with roots in Eastern Europe, seemed to have a lot to talk about! I roamed the paddock trying to get photos of each of the racers. The weather was cool with a temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit and some wind. Fortunately, the rain that was predicted was holding off. These were not ideal conditions for the race fans. However, on the day I am adding a racetrack in a country for the first time I will take anything I can get.

About this time a bearded man came up and introduced himself. He was Slava the “sports observer”. Slava spoke English well. He knew a little bit about my background as a trackchaser. I’m sure he got that initially from Vadym. Slava began to give me some of the background detail about Chayka and today’s race event. However, he had some other interesting news to impart as well.

Slava informed me that some other racing, of a much different sort, was happening in Ukraine this weekend as well. This was country music to my trackchasing ears. Slava told me they were having another race in the city of Rivne, about four hours to the west of Kyiv. It was scheduled for tomorrow. You can imagine what I was thinking at that point.

The only time I can ever remember receiving similar news as this happened in nearby Turkey. We had come to Turkey to see racing at their former Formula 1 track, Istanbul Park. Then while talking with our hotel concierge he discovered another track that was holding a race the day after our visit to Istanbul Park.

Wow! Carol and I were all over that even though it wasn’t easy to make happen in Turkey. Imagine trying this in a country like Turkey where English isn’t spoken all that much. We grabbed a taxi to a bus station. This was a city-to-city bus emanating from the huge Istanbul bus terminal. Then when we arrived in the city of Korfez we caught another small bus and then another taxi. It was a wild adventure in a series of many that have come from my hobby of trackchasing. We were happy to add the Izmit Korfez Circuit to our lifetime lists that day.

Being able to add a second track in Ukraine was not going to be easy either. However, if we could make it happen it would be great fun. The biggest challenge in getting over to Rivne was going to be transportation.

Slava had come to me with the idea. Maybe he would like to go and could drive us to the track. Nope. Yes, Slava might like to go but he doesn’t drive.

I told Vadym about the opportunity. Would he like to go? No, he had other plans for Sunday. However, he told me he would check with folks to see what could be done. I never ever entertained the thought of renting a car myself. However, if I had totally struck out with my local contacts I’m sure I would have done that. We would put the Rivne visit on the back burner for a couple of hours. We had racing to watch at the Autodrome Chayka.

We watched the qualifying from a five-row permanent grandstand. From there we could see the action in the paddock behind the grandstand. On the track, our view was of the 90-degree left-hand turn that led into the long front straight and the start/finish line. Had we been by ourselves we likely would have watched all of the racing from here.

However, Slava was a man of ideas! He recommended we follow him to a special location. From this one viewing point, we would be able to see as much of the track as possible. Not all really good ideas are SAFE ideas.

However, Carol and I are nothing if not adventuresome. We had already been to the heavily radiated Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster site for eight hours. Could watching the race from Slava’s recommended viewing point be any more dangerous than a visit to Chernobyl? The short answer was yes!

When qualifying was finished and the track was quiet we followed Slava out onto the racecourse. As we walked along he gave us more historical perspective about Chayka’s history and today’s racing. The track had experienced just one fatality when a motorcycle accident happened on a non-racing day.

So exactly what did Slava have in mind for us? We would watch the racing from behind a steel Armco safety barrier. The “fence” was just 3-4 feet high and that was it.

He was right about one thing. We could see the racing from the start/finish line and maybe as much as half of the track. Slava did not share the inerrant danger from this spot as much as I did.

Why was I scared? I’m seen a lot of racing at a lot of places. I’ve seen more than my fair share of unusual and deadly wrecks and accidents for both drivers and fans. Today was an accident waiting to happen.

However, we were in Ukraine. Would the U.S. allow a tour as we had just done at Chernobyl? No, they would not. Would normal spectators be allowed to watch racing in the U.S. from the position we found ourselves in today? No, they would not. I guess that’s why we went to Chernobyl and found ourselves in today’s viewing position!

The cars raced on a straight section of the track at very high speeds for about 500 meters directly toward our location. Then they made a sweeping right-hand turn, where the track was slightly banked until they roared out of sight.

You’re probably thinking, “Randy aren’t you dramatizing the likelihood of your and Carol’s demise just a bit”? When I saw the sections of bent fence that we were standing behind from previous racecar impacts I thought not! Take a look at Vadym’s race car that hit a tree in a previous race.

In the right-hand turns the cars put a lot of pressure on their small left front tires. All it would take was one tire failure or a car getting nudged to send one flying in our direction.

I gave Carol implicit instructions. If a car comes our way out of control jump IMMEDIATELY down the hillside banking into the brush. That was a drop of thirty feet or so. I wasn’t sure if this was the best advice or simply hunkering down behind the steel fence and hoping the car would sail over our heads at 70 MPH.

Now before we go any further I must ask my readers a question. I know that some of you are male; probably most, and some are female. Some are married and some are not. At any age could you possibly see yourself suggesting what I was suggesting to Carol of your spouse, significant other, or friend?

We watched most of the race from this spot. I was able to take a lot of good photos and videos. I was the only person taking photos while Slava took notes. Another fellow had a large camera and seemed to be a professional photographer. Today we only nodded and smiled. Tomorrow I would get to meet Igor Romanov.

When I thought we had cheated death long enough Carol and I moved around the turn. We were mindful not to take our eyes off the racers. I had the video image of last week’s racing accident in Macedonia firmly planted in my mind. That car got on those victims in a split second. That could happen today as well.

Soon we found ourselves in a wooded area where we had another view of the track. We made sure to stand directly behind some sturdy trees. Vadym had previously sent me a picture of his totally used-up racecar after he had contacted a tree at high speeds at Chayka.

When the cars didn’t come around any longer we assumed the race was over. It had run for 40 minutes and one lap. On the walk back to the paddock area we were reunited with Slava. I’m going to recommend that he not watch the racing from his favorite spot anymore. I would like to have him as a friend for as long as possible.

Once back at the paddock we awaited the results. The final results did not come quickly. It seemed that some drivers had broken some rules. One of the rules was that a one-minute minimum pit stop was required. Some drivers, like Vadym and Andrew, co-drove the race. To make things fair, cars driven by just one driver had to make a one-minute pit stop even though they would not have a driver change.

Carol and I stopped by the concession stand for a sandwich and drink while we waited. Then it began to rain. Carol went with Lena to await the final results in her car because of the cold and rain. After about an hour or maybe more the results were in.

The Evtushenko brothers Vadym and Andrew were declared the winners of their class. Everyone in their pit box was thrilled and happy. It was fun seeing them stand high over the paddock during the podium celebration. Way to go guys! Yes, that’s Carol holding the trophy and me standing right behind her.

It was about this time that Vadym gave me the word on the idea of seeing a race tomorrow in Rivne. One of his pit crewmembers wanted to see that racing. He would drive us. Slava would come along too. That was great trackchasing news.

While we had waited we all drank vodka straight in the paddock. Vadym gave me the opportunity to drive his racecar. I wasn’t sure I could even get in the Lada.

We decided that Vadym would give me a “ride” in the racer. I had to have some assistance getting my last leg shoved in the car. You pretty much have to be an active employee of Cirque de Soleil to get in one of these things. Vadym gave me a pretty exciting ride until the gearbox started smoking and the smell of oil and grease permeated the car’s interior. Then I needed just a little bit more help to untangle my 6’3” frame (190.5 cm) so I could exit the car.

The Evtushenko brothers garage their racecar less than a mile from the track. It seemed as if as many as 15-20 other racers do the same thing in kind of a “condo” like atmosphere.

I guess I first started getting into the racecar garage touring scene when we did it with Allan and Zack Martin in Namibia. Then Nikola Popevski invited us to his garage in Macedonia.

Garage tours are a lot of fun and certainly add a behind-the-scenes element to a fun day of racing. Knowing people who race helped us in so many ways. Major thanks to Vadym and Slava and everyone else for their fine Ukrainian hospitality. They went out of their way to make sure we had a good time. We did.

However, having a Ukrainian good time was not finished for us. Vadym had invited us to join him and his race team for dinner at an authentic “Ukrainian kitchen”.

Vadym’s brother Andrew was there. Two members of the pit crew, Denis and Yura joined us. Vadym’s dad, Dmitry, joined us proudly carrying the gold “Cup of Ukraine” trophy. From there the party was on.

All kinds of authentic Ukrainian dishes were offered up. Vadym knew that I had enjoyed khinkali when I had come to nearby Georgia for a trackchasing trip. He made sure to have the Ukraine version of khinkali served. It is called Varenyky.

The boys of Ukraine like to drink as well. We started drinking vodka, again straight, early on in the celebration. This continued during the middle portion of the evening and into the final portion of the evening. From time to time a three-piece Ukrainian band came by to serenade us. As you can imagine the more we drank the more everyone sang along with the band. At random points, when the mood struck anyone at the table, a toast was proposed and more vodka was consumed.

To say everyone had a good time was an understatement. Vadym and his friends and family treated us to a very nice authentic Ukrainian evening of food, fun and entertainment.

Our hotel was only a five-minute walk from the restaurant. Vadym, Denis and Yura volunteered to walk us back to the 11 Mirrors Hotel. There, Carol bade us farewell as we had an early morning wake-up call for tomorrow’s trackchasing activity.

I invited the guys up to the hotel lounge. There we continued to drink alcohol. I had switched to Bailey’s and they went with double shots of Jack Daniels. After two rounds I called it a night. Again, they would not allow me to buy the drinks even in my own hotel. Thanks guys!

Sunday – October 29, 2017

Today might have been the most unexpected surprise I’ve had in years. We had come to Ukraine with the expectation of seeing racing at one track. Yesterday when we arrived at the Autodrome Chayka a fellow came up and introduced himself. He was Slava. Everyone called him the “journalist”. Slava prefers the term, “sports observer” He writes racing reports in Ukraine.

Fortunately, Carol and I didn’t have any absolute firm touring plans for Sunday. The Museum of Corruption and Kyiv city walking tour will have to wait until my second visit to Ukraine. It would have been interesting if we did have some other firm touring plans. Would we have canceled them and gone to the race? You can make your own guess on that.

Vadym came to our rescue. One of his pit crew was willing to drive us eight hours round-trip to Rivne. Slava was in too. Arrangements were made for them to pick us up at our 11 Mirrors Hotel at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Promptly at 8 a.m. I got a message from Dmitry Parafienko (right). He told me he and his buddy Artyom Sschpotev (center) were waiting downstairs to begin the trip. Then we would make the short drive over to Slava’s home to pick him up.

Slava lived in an old-style Soviet era high-rise building. He would describe it as “ghetto”. He lived in his apartment with his grandmother who was in her 90s. Slava told us the place was small at about 20 square meters.

Folks, before I go much further I’ve got to tell you this adventure was a real highlight of the trip. How many foreign visitors to any country get this type of “local flavor” during their visits? I’m going to guess the answer to that question is just about zero.

It took us a bit more than four hours to make the one-way drive. Slava was a pretty good English speaker. Dmitry and Artyom spoke much less English. However, when needed, with a little sign language and short sentences we could all make ourselves understood.

I rarely make long trackchasing driving trips with others besides Carol. Why is that? It’s really rather simple. Other trackchasers can’t keep up with my travel schedule at the beginning or end of one of these trips.

Today Carol was on a “trip with the boys” (Slave, Artyom, Dmitry). The weather was going to be bad. There was a 100% chance of rain. It was cold with temps in the low 40s and windy. There is ZERO chance an American oval track would have raced in these conditions.

I kept asking Slava if he was sure they would race in this weather. He had been talking to the promoter on the phone both yesterday and today and assured me they were racing.

Then after seeing a little bit of the racing action Slava laid this on me. He told me the promoter had asked the drivers if they would like to postpone for a week and wait for better weather. The drivers told him that since they were already at the track they wanted to race. Thank goodness!

Along the way, we stopped at convenience stores for “a coffee” and restroom breaks. Despite much of Ukraine being older and at times not all that prosperous the convenience stores were as nice as the most modern you’ve seen anywhere. Most offered sandwich shops and various forms of coffee and baked goods.

During the four-hour drive, we all learned that Slava is a major NASCAR Cup fan. He’s really a fan of all motorsports. He watches the race on a live streaming basis on his computer.

I showed Slava a special section about NASCAR drivers that appears on my website at www.randylewis.org. There I provide my view on each NASCAR Cup driver.

Slava read it with interest from my iPhone. He agreed with most of my analysis with the possible exception of Tony Stewart. Slava could recall virtually every NASCAR incident over the last several years. Yes, he was a major NASCAR fan. By the way, here’s the link to my view of the NASCAR drivers.

NASCAR….my favorite and not so favorite drivers

Racing was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Once we arrived in Rivne we had some minor difficulty finding the track. We did see posters advertising the race.

When we did get to the track we pulled into the paddock area first. We found eight smaller, less than 1,600cc, racers parked under a small shelter. Yep! They were going to race today.

We were early. It didn’t look as if any refreshments were being sold at the track today. I suggested we go for pizza. Everyone agreed. With lots of Ukrainian conversation amongst my three new buddies off we went.

Slava looked like a man who could find a good pizza place. He told us he weighed in at 120 kilograms. He also told us he wasn’t a “sportsman” (athlete). The guys did a great job locating a restaurant serving pizza. Dmitry pulled our car up onto the sidewalk as they do in these parts, and we went inside.

Slava told us we would have to take our pizza to go. There wasn’t time to eat inside the restaurant and still be at the track for the 2 p.m. starting time. We ordered four medium-sized pizzas of different kinds. Service was fast and soon we were back at the track.

The Motorpark Rivne is a large stadium with seating all the way around. I’m going to guess it seated as many as 5,000. Today there might have been twenty racing fans in those stands. There was no admission fee that I could see.

The stadium and its flat dirt oval, about 400 meters in length, normally hosts speedway motorcycles. If you’ve never seen those guys race you should. “Speedway” is very entertaining.

It’s always a good idea to get V.I.P. treatment if you can. Slava knew the promoter. That “in” gave us the use of a “suite” today. The weather conditions were miserable. I’m going to see they were the worst of 2017 for my trackchasing. Our suite provided a nice windbreak although it was not heated. We plopped down our pizza boxes and enjoyed some mighty fine pizza.

The eight cars racing today were performing in some type of team event. The races would be short only about four laps each. Each of the races would start with three or four cars. The race winner got three points, second two points, etc. At the end of the day, all of the points were totaled up to calculate the day’s overall winner.

While everyone else stayed in or near our suite I took a walk around the track. With each race’s completion, I would move another section or two around the track. This way I could get photos and videos from every angle.

Our suite was located at a nice elevation on the front stretch of the track. The pit area was behind the grandstands on the backstretch. When I reached the pit area on the backside of the track I stopped to say hello to one of the racers.

His name was Igor Romanov. Igor was driving car #0. That’s one of my favorite car numbers made famous by Rick Ferkel and Ernie Schaeffer. I had sort of met Igor at Chayka yesterday. At Chayka, he was taking photos near where we watched the race from. We had nodded and smiled. Today I got to say hello to Mr. Romanov and gave him my trackchasing business card. When I arrived home I had a Facebook friend request from Igor.

With all of the rain today the track surface was “soupy” at best. In the turns, the cars created large “rooster tails”. A couple of times the cars slid into the wooden board fences that were there to protect the speedway riders.

There weren’t a lot of cars racing today. They didn’t race for very many laps. The weather was bad. Did that affect my enjoyment of the race? Not in the least. Not in the friggin’ least.

I was in Ukraine. Ukraine had been one of the more difficult countries to see a race. The Motorpark Rivne trackchasing idea came up at the last minute. This was a fantastic opportunity to spend some time with three Ukrainian guys I had only met yesterday. Who gets to do that!

I also had the chance to meet today’s promoter, Sergey Peleshok. He was happy to have American racing fans visiting his event. He insisted that he take my picture. I happily obliged. Then I saw the Ukrainian message he sent to his followers about our visit.

“Україна- Америка. Ренді Льюїс гість з Америки відвідав 70 країн 2000 треків. Приємна зустріч в Рівне.”

We had seen about two hours of actual racing. It was at this point that I recommended we head back to Kyiv. It was going to be another four hour plus drive. Carol and I had an early morning wake-up call tomorrow morning for our Kyiv departure. Everyone in our group agreed we had seen what we had come to see. I thanked the promoter and drivers for racing on such a questionable weather day.

Before I go any further I’ve got to give a shout-out to Carol. She’s a real trooper. Trackchasing is really my hobby. She supports me in it and has seen nearly 600 tracks herself. Would Carol be a trackchaser if I weren’t? You’re kidding with that question, right? Nevertheless, her strategy is that if she’s already out on a trip she wants to see as many tracks as she can. She did that this weekend.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at another gas station convenience store. There we filled up our car with LPG gas at about $0.50 U.S. per liter. I paid.

During the trip, Slava had entertained us with stories about his model car collection. He showed us pictures. He had thousands of model cars, many of them in their original boxes in his apartment and in his parent’s apartment nearby. The 43-year old also had a collection of more than 400 racing hats. That’s a big collection for a 20 square meter apartment! Slava told me he was a lifetime Jeff Gordon fan although today he was decked out in a Rusty Wallace jacket and hat.

Slava had another interesting point of view. He had been born in Ukraine when it was Russia. That meant he was born a Russian. His primary language is Russian. Most people I met in Ukraine were not fond of Russia. Slava felt differently. Because he was born in Russia and had never left his allegiances were with his native Russia although he was willing to appreciate Ukraine as well.

Everywhere we went in Macedonia and now Ukraine people were giving us gifts and picking up restaurant checks. That was very nice of them.

When Slava left our car today he pulled a huge chocolate bar out of his backpack and gave it to us as a gift. Then when we parted ways with Dmitry and Artyom they gave us a small figurine of an old Ukrainian man. Very nice people on this trip. We so much appreciated their kindness and generosity.

Monday – October 30, 2017

Today it was time to head home. We had left our modest seaside cottage 12 days ago. I’ve had a lot of really good international trips. Frankly, I can’t think of a bad one. Visiting Macedonia and Ukraine joins several other countries at the top of the list.

We grabbed an Uber ride to the airport. Initially, our bag was rejected at check-in for being six kilograms “overweight”. We went over to the side and rearranged things. Soon our bag could “make weight”. So where did those magical six kilograms go? I’ll just say it this way. I’ve glad no one tried to pick up my jacket!

On the way home, we would connect in Stockholm, Sweden. We had begun the trip by flying from Los Angeles to Barcelona, Spain to Skopje, Macedonia. In the middle of the trip, we flew from Skopje to Budapest, Hungary to Kyiv, Ukraine. That meant we had been in Spain, Macedonia, Hungary, Ukraine and Sweden on this trip. Does that qualify us as international jet setters?

We landed back at LAX in the evening. While Carol waited for our bag I made the more than one-mile walk from the Tom Bradley International Terminal to our Lot F airport parking garage.

Carol and I celebrated our return to the U.S.A with a visit to In N Out Burgers. This had been virtually a perfect trip. Granted I had put a lot of time into planning it. We were rewarded for those efforts.

I’ll close my Ukrainian report by thanking Vadym and Slava and everyone else that we met who made our visit to Ukraine one of the best ever. Until next time, long live Ukraine!!!

One might expect that I would just sit back at our modest seaside cottage and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean after this long trip. Yes, that would be a good thing to do….but not yet. There’s too much “out there” to see and do. I’m going to see and do it while I can.

Can trackchasing country #78 be far off? It might be far off from San Clemente. It might not be far off in terms of time. Stay tuned right here at www.randylewis.org and you won’t miss a thing.

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Randy is a freelance journalist who winters in San Clemente, California and sometime flies in coach.

And so it goes from country #77, Ukraine.

THE COUNTRY LIST

#77!!