JOURNAL OF DIXON AINSLEY
2 August
5:55 a.m.
Yekaterinburg, Russia
We are exhausted. I’m waiting for my turn at a communal bath. Paulie is asleep. She snores. Just a little, and it’s kind of cute, but I can’t help but think I shouldn’t point that out to her.
It’s been a hellishly long day, and we have the Essex team to thank for much, if not all, of that.
It began at the border crossing from Kazakhstan into Russia.
“It should be fairly quick,” Roger told us before dashing off with Sam and Tabby to check on the other camera team, who evidently had been in a minor accident. “There’s an official agreement with Kazakhstan to pass people through quickly. Just show them your visas and passports and this note from the government tourist agency, and you should be fine.”
“So long as they don
