Day 9: Police checks galore

Aug 07, 2007

Special to the Star

A 6 a.m. start meant that we were out on the road long before most of the slow-moving trucks (save for a string of road crews in huge off-road vehicles) and were making excellent time before our group of cars was stopped about 200 km in for speeding through a small town. Words were exchanged, there was a lot of shrugging and the drivers of the cars - I was navigating at the time - ended up making a contribution to the radar cop's kid's college fund. Or something like that.

Four hours later, we were pulled over again. For pulling out of a gas station - less than a kilometre up the road from a checkpoint - from the wrong exit. Thankfully, one of the rally organizers, Herman Holzfuss, had also been pulled over and his crew helped with the Russian translation. Cue much shrugging and apologizing and eventually, half an hour later, we were sent on our way.

These roadside checkpoints, a remnant, I guess, of Soviet times when everybody's papers got checked every time they went in or out of any town, are a bit frustrating.

It's one thing if, like we were this morning, breaking the law. It's quite another to hold a pack of cars up for what seems like ages for no apparent reason. Many of the rally participants say it's because the police officers have little else to do through the course of a day and that all these cars with all these stickers are the most excitement they've had all year; some say they're hoping for big bribes from ignorant foreigners. Either way, you're never quite sure what, exactly, is up when a baton gets waved at you.