Friday, June 25, 2010 Day 14

Quick note to let you know that we are at Goreme, Turkey tonight. I have several days to fill in but just wanted you all to know I'm still here. On a computer that's a bit difficult to use (back to the commodore 64 days). I'm staying in a cave tonight as everyone here lives in caves (pictures will follow soon) and I'm going hot air ballooning at 5am tomorrow followed by champagne breakfast. On our way here today. we went through another storm that I'm sure was a tornado. Everyone pulled over. except me of course as a fellow from the group said, "come on girlie get a move on. You're wet now so keep going". So, on I went, bracing myself as the wind was strong enough to take ya into oncoming traffic. I pulled over to the side and once again I got, "woman, what are you doing. Let's put a move on it". It was a 540 km day (we got into Goreme at 8 tonight and had Turkish Pizza and now headed for bed). My bike now reads about 5700 km's in total. It's hard to believe that we've travelled from London, England to Goreme, Turkey and only 5700 kms. Considering I put 4500 kms on in a weekend. Keep in mind however that over here it is not just straight driving. Most of it is through hills and curvy. Well, signing off for tonight. I'll get ya's all caught up tomorrow. Nitey Nite!!!!

Bucharest, Romanıa

Coming into Bucharest, we still saw lots of people with their horse and carts as well as a lot of farmers minding their fields. We got into Bucharest so late in the day (approx. 8pm) and pretty much had dinner and went to bed. I did responhd to some email but other than that, we really didn't see Bucharest, Romania. In the morning we had our luggage down to the bikes at 7 am, breakfast at 7:30 and then off by 8 (a schedule we hold to quite seriously). Well, maybe not! As you notice it is after 8 and our fearless leader is not in his seat and no where to be found. On a serious note, Mick MacDonald (owner and tour guide leader) has put together an amazing trip and no one knows exactly how he's doing everything wearing so many hats ie: leading the ride, arranging the dinners, accounting for all his receipts to the amazing hotels we've been staying at as well as dealing with all the demands of the group ın a calm, cool and collectible manner. My hat's off to you Mick!!!!

Bike Maintenance

Bike maintenance is a must on this trip. We are in Istanbul, Turkey and I have approx. 4700 kms. on my bike (started with only 66 kms). Our mechanic recommends that we do the chain at least once a day (ıf not twice). Once we go to Mongolia or "the Stans", ıt will be necessary to do the chains everyday and perhaps twice a day.

X MEN IN ACTION

I had to post this picture as it is one of my favourites. Can you guess which one I am?
I think it's just tooo cool!!! We were on our way to a picnic lunch off the roadway and Carmen snapped a picture of us "four amigos" or "2 Aussies, a Scottsman and a Canuck." Our bigger riding group has broke off into 2 groups and this is my more intimate group. However, once closer to Russia, we wıll all ride together as this area will mandate that.

COUNT DRACULA

And HERE is where "MY COUNT" lives. Pretty snazzy, eh??!! Count Vlad Dracul!!! The castle ıs actually called "Castle Bran". This is what "MY COUNT" wore for an eveniıng out as well. Leavıng Vlad's house, we saw all sorts of things. Once leaving Sighisoara, we headed to Bucharest, Romania and saw pups being sold out of the back of a vehicle, more horse carts (there are a lot of gypsy caravans on the road) and somewhere between Sighisoara/Bucharest, Romanıa and Nesebar, Bulgarıa, we saw a Mausoleum dedicated to WW1 heroes. In Romania, there were some sub standard roads however I expected them to be a lot worse than what they were. After leaving "the Counts" abode we had some wonderful sweepers through the Carpenthıan Mountains as well as switchbacks. FANTASTIC!!!

The Medieval City where İ was spooked

The top picture was typical of the people there. Mostly dark black hair & weird eyes.

The courtyard wıth flowers is the foyer

to where we slept. Next,

Mıck & Isaac havıng a beer at the pizza joint we ate at.

The dark pıcture ıs the cave bar (before power went out).

Me wıth my "COUNT" and the weather from the support

vehicle driving to Sighisoara

Day 11, Tues. June 22n, 2010 Nesebar, Bulgaria

Hi All. Just me once again. I have so much to tell all of you but unfortunately so little time as we are off to Istanbul, Turkey today. Once there however, we have a two day layover so I will get caught up with the blog. I still have to show you Sighisoara pictures (again, I will NEVER forget that small medieval citadel in Transylvania IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!). Also, who would've known that Nesebar, Bulgaria is like the "hot spot" of the Black Sea. We rode along the coast of the Black Sea yesterday coming into Nesebar and it was beautiful. The "twisties" that we took which were a natural part of their roadways was fabulous riding and the road conditions were smooth. Quite the difference from Romania. Much more money seems to go into this area. While riding the one side of the roadway was brown rolling fields while the other side was quite plush and green. Lots of rolling hills. We stayed in an amazing hotel in the old part (again medieval part of Nesebar) and by the place that we stayed at, you'd think we were all rich. Just gorgeous. I had a balcony in my room that looked inward toward the medieval city.

So, I will write and give lots of pictures in Turkey. So, don't go too far away cause "I WILL BE BACK"............