We were loaded up and on the road by exactly 7am. Driving along, we saw some beautiful countryside. Most of it is farmland, with husbands, wives, and children all tending to the fields by hand. The soil looks very rich, so dark in some areas that it is almost black, and so red in other areas that it looks to be enriched with copper or iron. Natalia was telling us along the way that during Imperialistic Germany, they used to take Ukrainian soil by the truckload to Germany since it is so rich in nutrients.
Some of the houses are very poor, little more than shacks. Others are quite nice by Ukraine’s standards. We have seen hundreds of Soviet-style housing areas, some with outlines of the hammer and sickle on the walls that were partially erased. Underground bunkers line the road every 20 km or so. The roads are quite rough, covered in potholes, and boy does the ride feel like an E-ticket at Disneyland!
As we got closer to Severodonetsk, the land started to change. It became a little bit more hilly and much more industrial. There are factories everywhere- everything from chemical plants to salt mines. Some of them are even surrounded by huge fences with barbed wire and guard towers. We are told that this is because the Soviets used to bring prisoners in to work.
We arrived in Severodonetsk after about 10.5 hrs of driving and checked into our hotel. We paid for a “deluxe” room with a king-sized bed for 450 UKH (100 UKH = appx $12.5 USD). Our breakfast is supposed to be included. We ran into a little issue since we got only 1 bath towel and one hand towel. They told us, “One bed, one towel!” We told them that we had a deluxe room with two people, but they didn’t budge until about 10 minutes of our translator arguing with them. We ran into the same issue with breakfast, “One bed, one breakfast!”. We ended up paying 10 UKH more (about $1.50 USD) and being able to get an extra set of towels and an extra breakfast. This place makes a Motel 6 look like Heaven!
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