Yesterday night was cold, the temperature outside dropped below -26 when we went to sleep, and even through our gas heater was turned on maximum setting, frankly it wasn't a comfort sleep. At morning we doesn't want to stress the engine by the cold start and tried to heat it by petroleum wielding torch, to no avail (our torch was a bit broken and can't give a decent fire).



So we risked the cold start, and all goes well thanks to new starter we installed the day before.

We made some adjustments to our truck before riding out, most noteworthy was layer of thermo insulation outside the cabin and engine hold, to prevent engine (and those inside the cabin) from freeze.



Well, at first we overdone it, and on long climbing roads we had a few boilings of antifreeze in truck's radiator.



So, we added a hole to ventilate radiator and experimented with shapes for a while =^_^=



Today we passed through Ural mountains and hills. A magnificent sight, and a hard road, with continuos ascends, descents and turns, combined with heavy long-haul traffic. As wikipedia notes this part of the road nicknamed by the locals as "Death's road", due to heavy casualties from numerous road accidents (more than 50 deaths annually on a small 150km part of the road). We also has our small incident, nothing serious... almost nothing. The makeshift fuel filter that was installed by army technicians had a loose screw at one of the fittings and long runs with heavy load produced enough vibration for it to fall off, and the jet of fuel split on the hot engine. Well, we was lucky as cold weather prevent it from ignition at exhaust pipes, so all we needed to do is reconnect it and double-check all the fittings.



Oh, and tiggah got himself a nice pair of mukluks. Through I prefer not to buy any natural fur things, this one buy was more of a necessity as it is one of the best ways to keep your feet warm in extreme cold conditions. And I'm really sorry for the dog who gave his life (and fur) to keep me warm.

The temperature outside is -22 degree celsius;
temperature inside living space of our truck is +11 celsius;
temperature inside truck cabin is -6 celsius;
stress level of the crew - absolute zero;
3100km to our destination.

And now the photos: