This page is just for SMALL posts related to my retirement planning and travel stories.
I will continue to add to this over time, so if you read this before, check it out again in the future.
NEWEST POSTS are at the BOTTOM
... .............. ..... Total DAY DATE.......... Miles MILES. Location 62 2018-09-01 Sat 263 10,245 Ribe, Denmark .. campground 63 2018-09-02 Sun 0 10,245 Ribe, Denmark .. campground 64 2018-09-03 Mon 196 10,441 roskilde, Denmark 65 2018-09-04 Tue 125 10,566 Stege, Denmark, Southern denmark near peninsula 66 2018-09-05 Wed 166 10,732 Ueckermünder, Germany 67 2018-09-06 Thu 247 10,979 Drzonkow, Poland 68 2018-09-07 Fri 235 11,214 Prague, Czech 69 2018-09-08 Sat 0 11,214 Prague, Czech 70 2018-09-09 Sun 0 11,214 Prague, Czech 71 2018-09-10 Mon 225 11,438 Horni Plana, Czech 72 2018-09-11 Tue 181 11,619 Bucovice, Czech 73 2018-09-12 Wed 313 11,932 budapest 74 2018-09-13 Thu 4 11,936 budapest 75 2018-09-14 Fri 0 11,936 budapest 76 2018-09-15 Sat 0 11,936 Budapest 77 2018-09-16 Sun 187 12,123 Siofok, Hungary .. near Lake Balaton 78 2018-09-17 Mon 259 12,382 Ineu, Romania 79 2018-09-18 Tue 255 12,636 Ranca, Romania 80 2018-09-19 Wed 121 12,757 Ranca, Romania 81 2018-09-20 Thu 234 12,991 Transfagarasan, Romania 82 2018-09-21 Fri 112 13,102 Brasov, Romania 83 2018-09-22 Sat 91 13,194 Sibiu, Romania 84 2018-09-23 Sun 16 13,209 Sibiu, Romania 85 2018-09-24 Mon 66 13,275 Sighisoura, Romania 86 2018-09-25 Tue 0 13,275 Sighisoura, Romania 87 2018-09-26 Wed 91 13,366 Sovata, Romania 88 2018-09-27 Thu 241 13,607 Borsa, Romania 89 2018-09-28 Fri 250 13,857 Tirgu Secuiesc, Romania 90 2018-09-29 Sat 250 14,107 Buzau, Romania 91 2018-09-30 Sun 99 14,206 Sinaia, Romania
Just an update on where I have been and what I have been doing.
As previously posted, on August 5th I met up with a woman by the name of Nancy, who goes by the name Special Agent Nancy on ADVRider.com
Nancy rides the same model and year bike I have (2011 Triumph Tiger), but her bike is not black, the only proper color for a motorcycle. I already posted about how our early ride went. Very well I think.
We finished riding Norway, then went into Sweden to see a few things, then back to Oslo, Norway. See my WhereIsBobL page to see our chaotic route. In Oslo we stayed with another inmate from ADVRider named Thor. Thor Hammer. No, not a joke, it is a common name in Norway. He is a great and very generous man and a true world traveler.
On August 31st I took the Ferry to northern Denmark to see a few things there. As it turns out, it would have been more sensible to ride back through Sweden to see what I wanted to see. BUT, even though that would have been a more logical route, things ended up turning out better this way. Funny how the world twists.
Nancy went back home on September 1st and last I heard was really glad she is back there, but she does miss her Triumph Tiger. That girl needs to ride!!!!
The riding with Nancy was great. I have never traveled with anyone that long. I did not think it would work out, but it did. It is not easy to find someone you can travel with even short term, much less long term. I am glad we met up, it was a fun time.
As for Riding Style, Nancy is even more of a drive-by tourist than I am. Think Chevy Chase " Look kids, the Eiffel Tower!". Works for me. I like that kind of traveling. Something has to be pretty special to be worth giving up riding time to see.
Unfortunately, I feel I need to add this paragraph, as there are a few among my readers that will jump to conclusions that real motorcyclists and world travelers would not. No, there is nothing romantic going on here. Nancy is very happy in her relationship at home. Very Happy. This was two friends travelling, and nothing more. I want to thank her honey for being OK with her traveling with me. She was under my full protection the whole time, for whatever that is worth.
I continued on through Denmark and will likely be heading into Germany and then towards Romania tomorrow. If all goes according to plan...... I had trouble typing THAT with a straight face, you know how plans go.... but if it does, I will be in Romania within a week. Not sure how long I will be there, or where I will end up. Keep following along. I will try to post more often.
I am so far behind on posts that I am not sure if I even know where I am right now. You will need to be signed up to my blog posts if you want to be kept informed real time. I will only post links to FB or E-Mail when I have a long boring post. So, as posted earlier, after 27 days of riding together, Nancy and I went in different directions. When you set off alone after being with people for a long time, there is always a short period where you feel a bit lonely. You have to re-learn how to enjoy eating alone, making decisions alone and riding alone. For me it takes a day or two at most. I like travelling alone for the most part.
Riding alone is the easy part. When you ride with others, even if you are riding with a passenger, you are still kinda' alone. I have never had a twinge of loneliness when riding.
Until now that is. I could not understand it. A few times during the first two days I had that feeling of loneliness while riding. That makes no sense. I have voices in my head to keep me company. Music that is produced in my head to sing to. Or maybe it is more like yelling. I can't hear myself, so I think I sing wonderfully.
Then I realized what was going on. My helmet was silent. Where were the voices? Where was the music? It was terrible. How could I be all alone in here?
During our trip, Nancy loaned me a Sena Helmet Communicator. This allows piping of music and GPS instructions through bluetooth to speakers in your helmet. It also allows bike to bike communications. I have never used anything like this. I thought the idea was terrible. I once suggested to Irene that we get a pair of them. She said I was only allowed to get one. For MY helmet.
As it turns out, it really is a great device when riding with others. You can let the other people know if you are pulling over, getting ready to pass, completely F'N lost or whatever. It greatly enhances safety. It is also nice to be able to point out interesting things on the side of the road, finding out if anyone else thinks that roadkill looks fresh enough to harvest, or if anyone is in need of gas.
What it does not do is let you talk to yourself. It is hard to know if the other rider turned on their Sena in getting ready to speak. So if you are doing what I sometimes do, yelling (I call it singing) random phrases from whatever song is bouncing around in your head, it can seem really weird if the other riders get to hear you yell BAT OUT OF HELLLLLLL or something like that.
So the voices in my helmet, and my talking and singing to myself stopped for 4 weeks. It was not until I realized it that they started to come back. I was no longer alone. Unfortunately, the first bit of music that came back was the theme song to the Laverne and Shirley Show. At least it wasn't ABBA.
Coincidences are funny. I realize our minds can find patterns where none exist, but sometimes things happen that make you wonder.
Here it is Monday September 3rd. I last saw NAS (that’s Special Agent Nancy) on Friday August 31st. In case you are reading out of order, NAS has the same bike as mine, a 2011 Triumph Tiger. This is a fairly tall bike even if the suspension is lowered. There are not a lot of Triumph Tigers around, and even fewer women riding them.
So today, as I was walking away from my bike in a parking lot near a bunch of Viking Ships, I see a woman riding a Triumph Tiger. Very unusual. So, of course, a selfie is required:
I am not sure how good her English is, so I am not completely sure if she understood why I was taking the photo, but she did say: “It’s not everyday that a man gets down on one knee for me.”
I may have just proposed.
Then a woman on a Triumph Speed Triple I think pulls up. And another on a Honda something, and yet another on a BMW.
They had to go, so I went in and looked at both new and old Viking ships. Post to follow.
When I came out, there were a ton of bikes in the parking lot. All styles, all brands. All driven by women. It turns out there was a 40th Jubilee (anniversary I think) for a local Woman’s Motorcycle Club. There was a news crew there to interview them.
In this day and age, it should not surprise anyone to see women on bikes, but it is still unusual to see large groups of all women riding together. It is good to see.
And here they go. The Tiger rider is the last to leave, Tail Rider being a very important position in a group. Tiger Tail in this case.
DEFENSTRATION = The action of throwing someone or something out of a window.
This word originated in Prague. After visiting the castle I can understand. Oh so many walking tour groups.
Roads? Where we are going we don't need roads:
While wandering towards Budapest, I stopped to look at my GPS. A guy stopped to make sure I was OK. His English was less than great, but I had ear plugs in so I was not sure if it was him or me. He pointed at a sign, Hotel and Cafe, and said something about dirt, and I should follow him.
I decided what the hell. It was not a terrible road. But it was not great. Lots of loose gravel, large rocks and ruts. Just what a fully loaded big bike loves. It was not so bad, and I had fun, but about half way up I realized that the shortest way back down the mountain was to take the same 14 Km down. We rode right past the signs that said no motorcycles.
At the top, I discovered that he knew no English. He bought me a beer, Non alcoholic, and paid for my access to the road, which aparently is required.
We had a grand old time trying to have a decent conversation with no common language. We did OK, then we rode back down the mountain. I wonder why it seems to take me forever to get to my next destination?
Our Route: 
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My favorite way to ride is to plug in a destination, and ignore the GPS. I try to stay as far away from heavily populated areas and highways as possible. It is not good for making time, but you can find fantastic roads and some pretty great little towns.
I was on the way to Budapest today, and was just wandering around. I could have gotten there in a small number of hours, but it took all day.
I found these guys 
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Banskej Bystrici 
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bansk%C3%A1_Bystrica
Bikes are Special
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There was also Banská Štiavnica, and other great little towns.
I should have stayed in Esztergom, Hungary, as it would have been perfect timing, and a great location, but I had already made reservations in Budapest.
And this Gem - Esztergom, Hungary 
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www.facebook.com/TriumphHungary/
I stopped by the local Triumph Motorcycle Dealer to buy some maintenance items and see if I could work on my bike there.
I could just do it at my Air BnB but here if something goes wrong or I need something else i am covered.
I do all my own work on my bikes. See my tire/radiator fiasco if you want to know why.
The dealer had a great time watching me work on the bike, changing my brake pads and other maintenance, especially after I told him it had over 150,000 Km and was a 2011.
He had to photo my Ironbutt plate, and my odometer. He said he would put them up on Faceplant, but I have not seen them yet, here two days later. So, no photo yet. He was pretty amazed by my description of the Ironbutt Rally.
