Our summer nightmare in Kachanivka

I never posted this when we went, since our camera was in the States having one of its buttons repaired. We used M's camera, and forgot to upload the photos.

At the end of July, we decided to try a Saturday day trip out of town. Our friend recommended a lovely place called Kachanivka - steeped in history, a little like Mt. Vernon in that it is an estate with nice grounds and a park to picnic in. It isn't marked on any map, but she told us that once we got close, we could ask.

Great - loaded up S and took off. A got to try out the new GPS, which is hard when there is no street address, or even a historial site listing. We input the closest town we could find on the map, and drove off. Everything was fine onthe first highway, and then the GPS sent us off on what ostensibly was the most direct path (the longest leg of the triangle) but the GPS does not assess road quality. The going was slow and after about 20 minutes of bumping along, I told my dear husband to turn around and stay on the main highway, even though it was technically longer. It paid off, and we saw a sign eventually that said there was a Kachanivka historical site - just turn left. Which we did. After stopping for directions twice, and grabbing some grub, and grousing between spouses, we did manage to find the beautiful site. It took almost 3 hours to get there, which was not anticipated. (Photos below of the walk down from the main house to the water.) The weather was beautiful.

The return trip was a nightmare of an empty gas tank (bad planning by both me and husband) and a GPS that couldn't figure out how to get us to the closest gas station. This wasn't wholly the GPS' fault, as we were in a tiny dirt-road village, and it kept telling us to turn right in 50 meters, which would have been someone's house. We had to resort to the original plan, which involves me asking the locals for directions, which we did after driving past the same two kids playing soccer in the middle of the road three times. As near as I can tell, the GPS was somehow off in its satellite line-up by around half a kilometer. The return drive kept us on our marital toes, as we tersely debated the merits of electronic guidance versus wifely map-reading. Suffice it to say we alternated and the end result was around 45 minutes down a "road" that was strewn with giant potholes (I am so glad that we brought an SUV) that reminded me of the quality driving experiences in Georgia. For the record, when I told us to turn and follow what looked most logical (i.e. the thickest line on the map) we made good time. When I listened to the evil GPS woman who was programmed to have an Australian accent, we lost time. I still love my husband.
What a day. But now you understand why, if you come to visit, you ain't gettin' a visit to Kachanivka as part of the package!