On my way I came across many dead villages, – said Andrey. – In fact, the story of every small community is a reflection of the country’s history. When the village disappears, the memory of her dying. In order to save the information, I conduct two journal – one public, in the form of blogs in social networks, and the second manuscript.
For two years, Cowboy was on the southern part of Russia to Vladivostok. Now heading North to Murmansk, and then intends to travel through the Central regions to Tyumen. According to his calculations, there are still three years of wandering. This is the first paved route via Khabarovsk Krai towards Tynda.
according to the resident of Tyumen, the hardest part when you start to think about the road, watch the signs, assess the distance. Here you covers psychological fatigue. This affects pace and speed. Once Andrew even danced when in a good mood went in the early morning with a backpack on the highway in the Caucasus. Someone in the path, singing a song, someone listens to music, and Cowboy restores the in-memory diary entries.
in the campaign In the Altai territory he stole a backpack, which was almost all things except phone and documents. But the most grievous loss was the loss of the diaries with notes about 372 days.
is afraid of wolves – in the woods, repeats the saying Andrew Cowboy. – It is sometimes dangerous to leave the house and walk to the store. It is better to live life to the fullest and take all that she gives us, with thanks.
Andrew E. – reserve officer after military service he worked at the school – worked with the cadets, taught history, social studies and mathematics. It was difficult to decide to quit – in his opinion, from the change of the person holding the family and the habit of living in comfort.
In 2002 I had a dream – to go to Russia, to learn her story from the inside, not from textbooks, – said Andrey Cowboy. – In 2016, realized that there is strength and health, we must act. If you do not move to the dream, it will remain a dream. A year and a half threw the backpack on the shoulders and went.
the Biggest impression on the traveler made the ancient Derbent, where every street is filled with history, Yuzhnouralsk and Troitsk, founded in 1743.
In the way of a resident of Tyumen only what you need – in a backpack tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, gas burner and two tanks for it, a pot and a small supply of food. Backpack weight – about 25 pounds. According to Andrew, before the weight of the backpack up to 40 pounds, and often had to give up the extra cargo.
the products are Cowboy enough 500 rubles a week. A constant source of expenditure – the speaker: you have to pay for unlimited tariffs regional operators. Traveler help Tyumen Afghan veterans, Cossacks of the TRANS-Ural Cossacks, the people he communicates on the road, and subscribers in social networks – products or money. On an average day in the winter and summer Andrew is 25-30 kilometers. Sometimes, overcomes the 35 or 40.
Usually tyumenets sets up a tent on the outskirts of the village, sometimes for the night invited local residents to learn about his approach from the Internet. And so all the comfort of a tent and the forest around, laughs Andrew. The tent heats gas includes a tile for 10 minutes, heat lasts an hour and a half. This time is enough to keep warm and to sleep.
In the way of valuable communication with people, when you learn something new and learn, said the traveler. Cowboy says 74-year-old cyclist, with whom he happened to meet in the Rostov region. He has traveled almost the whole of Russia and at the meeting admitted:
– Five climb and ride all the way to die can not.
it Turned out, before the start of the bike trip and the doctor said that he needed to live three months. The pensioner was hurt: a lifetime spent in the village and saw nothing. But now he has traveled all over the country.
– Consider myself a happy person. I am free, I managed to escape from a framework that we makin’, – says Andrey. – My quest will ever end, but I do know people who know the taste of travel, it will not stop. After writing the book, of course, go on.
the Title for the future book tyumenets not yet invented. Maybe “Walking through Russia”? While this is not so important, because time to think about quite yet. In 2023 Andrew Cowboy plans to return to Tyumen, having 42 thousand miles on the roads of Russia.
