Updates and a successful spin around the city!

Well- superb news from Mongolia! I have decided that having molly on my lap is not exactly ideal; a little uncomfortable for her when I need to put my feet down and a little uncomfortable for the both of us, when I need to turn since her head is in the way! SO- back in with the bag! This time however, it will be on the passenger seat, not on my lap. I tested this out, have secured the bag to Grettle and it works a treat!

 The problem of molly hopping out of the bag has been solved by the purchase of the harness (I hope), and we went for our first ever spin around the city today, with lots of traffic, lots of noise, big buses whizzing past us, and all three of us came out of it in one piece! HUZZAH!
It was very amusing actually….clearly the sight of a dog upon Vespa with English girl driver was not something the locals had seen a great deal of, and as we wound our way around the city, all the neighboring cars would wind down their windows in an attempt to get a snap shot before the traffic lights turned green.
So, the only problem now, is where on earth do I put my luggage? Molly is taking the place of a large yellow bag that I had strapped to the back of Grettle which contained a LOT of stuff.

I am busy strapping various hoops and clips onto the front of Grettle in the hope of securing things like the tent and other essentials, but basically plan to travel with very little, other than the dog!
Molly and I have been practicing ‘hop in the tent’ commands which have so far have gone rather well…

I’m a little apprehensive about sharing the tent and the sleeping bag with her for two months but have my fingers firmly crossed that she will eat neither!

I have managed to sow a new zip onto the sleeping bag which molly nibbled a few months ago, managed also to fix the tent, the back rack, welded the bike stand back together after the crash in the Gobi desert, and generally feel ALMOST set to go!
My major concern is that I only have 30 days to get through Russia from Mongolia to Latvia. This is 7000 Km which more or less means about 270 km per day. Now this would be just over an average day of driving for me and Grettle on a good tarmac road, but, doesn’t leave any room for error…breakdowns and dog escapes mainly….both of which, I feel, are most probably inevitable over such a distance…what can one do but keep ones fingers tightly crossed eh?