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Perhaps it’s time to get sentimental for a change. Here in the blog, at least. Because the final night of this project has begun. And afterwards, that’ll be it!

Not that the project’s over already … but tonight, shortly after midnight, the sun went down for the last time on this drive. In half an hour, at 2:21, it will come back up—and stay up. It’s currently 0.8 degrees below the horizon, waiting to make its final appearance.

I thus commence my “photo Finnish”—a well-lit dream-situation.

In order to give my gracious readers an impression of the situation, I’m posting an older photo. I took this picture five(!) days ago … much, much farther south. It was one-thirty in the morning, back when the nights were still submerged in twilight. I was at a campsite, its only camper. The trucks roared by and elk stalked through the woods. I decided to take it from my car’s window.

I really do need to get around to writing a post on expectations, blanket generalizations, and prejudices, but I haven’t so far. So for now, just one thing: before setting off, I thought about where it would be difficult to obtain a SIM card and where it would be easy. I did assume that Finland and Norway would be communications El Dorados. And while can’t say anything about Norway just yet, it’s definitely true of Finland. What I didn’t expect was this: anyone who doesn’t hear the phone ringing up here is simply not to be helped!

sent from my SIM card

Time for a few general remarks…

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This blog lets you post comments. And I’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks for your many contributions!! Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found a good way of making these comments more easily readable—to see them, you have to open the individual posts by click on their titles. In any case: as I write this, the newest comment is in the entry “Trucking.”

I’ll occasionally post entries to this blog after the fact. These contain thoughts from my notes that have taken a while to mature. I still place them wherever they fit in chronologically, so they appear farther back in the blog. One of these latecomers is in the Hungary section.

And finally, as a reward for everyone who’s read this far: here’s Finland’s southernmost E75 sign (according to my research so far, anyway)—cheers!

One good thing for artists to do is to apply to “artist in residence” programs. For a certain length of time, in a place that’s usually far from home, you get Continue reading →

There’s one thing deserving of mention that’s been underrepresented in my blog so far—and that is, of course, truck drivers and the long-haul freight business in general. Let’s just say trucking, though, since the longest haul on this road is evidently that of yours truly. I haven’t yet met anyone who’s said, “Vardø, sure, Vardø—that’s where my route leads. Not even on Crete. And I’m now starting to think that I might actually be the first person who’s ever driven the E75 from start to finish. Which would be quite a first!

There wasn’t much of any traffic until I reached the Serbian city of Nis. That’s where the E75 intersects with the E80, which originates in Gürbulak. For those who are scratching their heads: that’s at Turkey’s border to Iran. So the E80 brings with it Turkish tractor-trailers. The tea ceremonies I see in the parking lots fascinate me.

So in order to get a better feel for all this, I decided to spend the night at a truck stop in Hungary. Just a couple meters away from the E75’s off-ramp there’s a pavilion encircled by a giant parking area—or at least an area in which to park. The pavilion contains a restaurant, a small shop, bathrooms, and showers. I try out all of it. There are no Continue reading →