Hi from Lapland, Finland.

Hi again:

I have been riding through southern Finland for the last several days. It is a land of lakes and forests, and the topography is almost as flat as a pool table. I am sure that if you flew over this country, all you would see would be trees and water.

Fishing an logging seem to be the main activities here -- that and taking saunas. I see logging trucks all the time, and I saw a train with car after car of logs the other day.

I have been traveling with a married couple from Germany. He is Peter, and he works with heavy machinery and wants very much to visit Caterpillar in Illinois. Her name is Esther, and she comes from Nigeria. They met when Peter was working on machinery in Nigeria. I don't have a picture of them alone, but I do have a picture of the three of us in the dining room of a Russian woman in whose home we stayed overnight.

The Russian woman's name is Olga. She lives in Finland now, hates Obama, is divorced, and isunhappy about it. She flirted with me shamelessly, and then proceeded to make us a delicious meal (even though we had already gone to the store, bought our own food, and cooked it on the barbecue grill), She talked incessantly, and brought out a bottle of vodka which she kept pouring into glasses for us to sample. I think she drank two for each of our one, and, that bottle dry, she popped open a bottle of whisky.  Quite the drinkers, these Russians. Thomas, Esther and I quit the liquor long before she did.

I have not been taking many pictures because the scenery here is just like Minnesota with its many, many lakes and its mile after mile of pine trees. Don't get me wrong, though -- I do like Finland (I would like it better if only it would warm up and quit raining).

One of my favorite memories of Finland is going to be finally getting a new chain for my motorcycle. The old one had been making a terrible racket, popping and cracking, and I had been looking for a new one for weeks, stopping at about every motorcycle shop I could find. I finally found one, thanks to the help of a very kind Finnish man (He was a travel trailer salesman. I stopped to ask him directions, and he spent about an hour on the phone calling around, and even more time doing an internet search). He located one at a motorcycle supply house, and even got me a 30 percent discount. I had to drive about 150 kilometers to locate the supply house, and then I found I had to have a special tool to put the new chain together with. The next morning, I located a motorcycle shop that very graciously put the new chain on for me at a very reasonable price. And it makes all the difference in the world to ride with that new chain on, I can tell you.

I am camped in Rovaniemi, Lapland tonight. It is a beautiful town and I am planning to stay here several days waiting for the summer solstice which happens Friday. The people here plan a big party that night (the sun will not go down at all, so I bet the party goes on long after I go to bed. It should all be a lot of fun.

 Thomas and Esther are camped right next to me. They don't plan to stay here for the summer solstice party. We are only a few kilometers from the Arctic Circle, so I think I will ride up there with them in the morning, then see them on their way to Nordcap, the most northern point you can ride to on a motorcycle in Europe.

But first, have to go to the grocery store to buy tonight's supper.

Shopping would probably be a lot easier if I could read Finnish. What do you suppose this is?

Sometimes you can't be real certain of what you are buying. On the other hand, sometimes it is pretty easy.

It is almost midnight now. Supper is over, but the sky is daylight bright. I have blinders I wear when I go to bed. Time to go put them on.

Goodnight,

Ron

Helsinki, Finland

Greetings from sunny and warm Finland:

I took a ferry from Stockholm to here in Finland yesterday, landing about 60 miles west of Helsinki at a port city.  I had to pack up my motorcycle and leave my rooming house early in the morning to catch the ferry, and I guess worrying about that is why I hardly slept night before last. I did doze off once or twice, but each time I woke up after a few minutes to look at my watch. When it gets light at 1:30 a.m. it throws a guy off his schedule anyway.

I made it though -- I was in plenty of time for the ferry. It was a good thing too, because the line was long and slow to get my ticket. Once I had that in hand, it was a quick zip into the hold of the big ship for the 10.5 hour ride to Finland. And a beautiful ride it was, too, going through narrow passages between mile after mile of islands.

Ships are much more civilized than airplanes when it comes to travel. Still, I detest them. After I have explored everywhere I am allowed to go on the thing, there is nothing left to do except sit in the hot sun or shiver in the cold and breezy shade. I was sure glad I had my computer to play on and to watch movies on, and I was happy to have a good book along with me. Also, there was three pretty good acts going on, one after the other, in the lounge.

We landed about 8:00 p.m., and my first item in this new land was to find a campground and make up on the sleep I missed the previous night. I was amazed at the campground when I found it. Look at how the caravans have their own site instead of being packed in jowl to jowl.

There were geese everywhere -- and it must be mating season because they were all paired up, male and female, and there were a lot of male on male fights going on. Jealous brutes! This guy was trying to put on a show for the female he had his eye on.

I slept great, despite the rather cold temperature. There was no rain, though, and the cloudless sky let the sun start coming through at 1:30 a.m. A midnight sun is bright, althoujgh kind of cold, but by 5:30 it was high enough in the sky to make the tent toasty warm inside. Time to eat  breakfast, pack up, and head for Helsinki. It was a mere 60 mile trip -- no challenge at all for somebody like Odysseus.

I found another nice campground in Helsinki. They know how to do campgrounds here in Finland. Look, I have my own picnic table. That is a rare thing in Europe. In fact, this may be a first for me out of all the places I've stayed over here.

After a quick sandwich, eaten under the sad yet beady gaze of a sea gull who was absolutely certain human food would fit in his gullet just fine, I walked across the street and caught the train into town,

One of the first things I saw was this statue. What do you think -- up here by the arctic circle, does it flow clockwise or counterclockwise?

Here it is from the front. As you can see, it does not swirl at all. Another myth laid to rest.

I didn't see any children wanting to play in this fountain. I wonder why? Stupid idea for a statue. I decided the best thing for me to do was wander around and people watch. I enjoyed these kids trying to blow giant balloons.

As far as big cities go, Helsinki is one of them. I will give it more of a chance to impress me tomorrow. Right now, it is past my bedtime. That sleeping bag is calling me. I leave you with one last mystery: why do you suppose they set up all those tables smack dab in the street, each with several bottles of water lined up on it. I hung around for hours to watch what happened, but it is still a mystery to me.

Later, Ron