Route planing help needed Ukrain-->kazahkstan
 

Tryig to get as much info as possible before crossing in to russia tomorrow and head towards Astrakan.

As i made a complete cock up in Ukrain , by choosing the boring E40 from west to east :nono:. I dont want to make the same misarable mistake in Russia.

I am in Lugansk(Luhansk) and will be crossing the border at KRASNODEN-DONETSK... . My alternativs are as follows

1.continiue on the E40-M21 to Volvograd and then towards astrakan.
2. Head south to Rostov-na-donu and take a secondary road (p269) to stavropol and then the a154 to elista and onwards to Astrakan.

(I am using a reise know how map of west russia for the road names)

can anyone please comenton these two alternative routes ?
Anyone knows a better route to recommend?
I have four days to kill in russia before I can enter kazahkstan , so i probably have to stay two nights either in elista or astrakan ...

please any feedback today or help would be much appreciated:D

too late i fear, but my advice to you and everyone else planning trips in Ukraine and Russia is simply;

Avoid main roads like the plague.

These are big countries with tens of thousands of roads. Buy good maps and get the hell off the boring main roads unless all want to see is transport trucks. Its not like the only roads across russia, the biggest country in the world, are those with E numbers.