8/4/05
After I woke up I looked out the window and it still hadnt stopped raining, damn. So I went back to sleep for a couple more hours, woke up and still raining, damn. So after dragging my feet as long as I could glancing out the window every couple minutes in anticipation of seeing sun I finally had to sack it up and get on the road. Luckily after a while on the road the sun started to show through and it clear up.
I made it to Slovenia after a short ride. My first real border crossing, kind of exciting, made it through in 30 seconds, not that exciting after all. Slovenia was allot like Italy but with allot of vineyards in the area I drove through. After a short lunch of , you guessed it, salami and cheese I made it to Croatia. I rode along the coast till about 5:00 where I came to a nice little tourist town and decided this would be a good place to stop for the night. It was one of those typical Josh twist of fates, I was driving along this road thinking it is getting close to the time to stop for the evening when I came upon this road and thought where does this road lead. Sure enough after bout 10- 15 miles it lead to a great little town called Rovinj. First thing I had to do was find an ATM machine, I was so excited when I got into the country I didnt want to stop at the money exchange at the border, so I found an ATM machine parked the bike on the road and got some money. The machine gave me several hundred Kuna, whatever those are, hhmmm must ask someone what the exchange rate is, maybe next time I will stop at the money exchange. As I was putting my helmet back on a guy just started backing up his van and ran into my bike. Luckily I was close by and ran over and hit his window before he knocked it completely over. So after that fiasco I set up camp and wandered around town for a little while before heading back to camp to make dinner. Once I finished my excellent dinner of pasta/salami/cheese/wine the skies opened up and dumped on me once again. I ended up spending the rest of the evening with some German girls playing (well watching them play) rummy under a canopy.
Todays Specs
Weather: 75 F, Rain, sunny, Rain
Distance: 85 miles Trieste Italyto Rovinj Croatia
8/5/05
After rolling out of bed to clear skies, a nice welcome from the rain of the night before, I headed into town. Rovinj is a neat old town built on a hill next to the sea. There were all kind of boats around the city and even an old 4 masted schooner (though I am sure quite modernized for luxury cruising) to really add to the effect. After exploring the city I met up with the German girls who were sunbathing on the beach. Well now I am sure you are all thinking, josh you the man with the german girls, well no, this is how off my ho-dar (a name my friend came up for Hogan radar) I later found out the hard way they were lesbians.
So since it was Friday night I put on my best t-shirt and best jeans, yes I know I only have one pair of jeans and two t-shirts so I am pretty sure that qualifies them as my best, I headed into town. I didnt quite know where dance club or good bars where but I am sure I could find them. Well after wondering to one end of the town then back to the other then across once more I thought I should ask for directions well maybe after one more trip across town looking, damn I can navigate half the world but I cant find a damn bar, ughmmm Josh you use GPS. So after some quick directions I was in a cab heading out of town to the nightclub. Once at the place that could only really be called about 10 bars in one I saddled up to the bar with nothing in mind but to forget the Lesbian experience. After finding what looked like a bartender who knew how to mix a drink I asked for something strong but not fruity, well after watching him pour me a Croatian version of the long island ice tea I was quite happy so I slipped 10Kuna on the side (about $2) well he was so happy that I dont remember paying for too many drinks or more truthfully anything else for that matter till I found myself walking home from the bar at 6:00am.
Todays Specs
Weather: 85 F, sunny
Distance: 0 miles Rovinj Croatia
8/6/05
Well once 11:00am rolled around I figured I had better pack up camp and get on the road. So with hang over and all I was once again on the road. I road around the penisula at the top of Croatia around to Rijeka the onto the Island of Krk. It was a great riding with beautiful scenery. At one point I came around a corner doing about double the speed limit I am sure when the car in front of me turned out to be a Policja driving along. I slowed down to speed limit and followed him at a distance for a while when he finally slowed down and waved me by. That doesnt happen to often, a cop waving you by to break the speed limit. Hmmm life is good.
So once in Krk I found a campground, funny thing about riding on a hang over when the bike is moving things are alright but once you stop moving it goes to shit. As I pulled into the campground I came to a stop, typical lots of people standing around, as I put my foot down the bike started to lean and I started to lean and the bike leaned more and I leaned more and well we both were laying on the ground before I knew what happened. I quickly jumped up and so said nothing to see here happens all the time. Well after popping a blood vessel in my forehead I had the bike back on two wheels and a kickstand.
Turned out the campground was the fullest I have ever seen, and they kept letting people in, with about a foot of space of my own I set up camp and explored the town of Krk. It was a nice town definitely decked out for the Italian tourists who were there. But it wasnt american cheesy, it was quite nicely done with vendors doing there thing and not taking away from the historic part of the scenery.
Todays Specs
Weather: 80 F, sunny
Distance: 125 miles Rovinj to Krk
8/7/05
Last night was one of the windiest nights I have ever seen, after waking up a couple times to make sure the tent wasnt blowing away I remembered reading the pamphlet that came with my supposedly aerodynamically windproof tent and remembered that it said to set it a certain direction in the wind. Well I couldnt remember which direction it was but I am sure this wasnt the right way so I hopped out and rotated the tent 90 degrees and once again life was good, I could barely tell how windy it was, once again the mormon tent builders in Utah make a great tent.
After packing up I headed back to the mainland and then south, not really sure where I was heading but my bitter friend Dylan who is stuck back at work in San Francisco mentioned a island called Hvar which was supposed to be really good.
Once on the road the weather once again turned ugly and the skies opened up once again and pissed on me. It was even quite cold, the thermometer was reading about 55F. I have become quite acclimatized to the warm weather so I did not hesitate busting out the heated vest to keep warm. At about 6:00 it had quit raining for about 30 minutes and my gear was almost dry but it looked like I had about 45 minutes before the black clouds on the horizon would be upon me and continue raining on me. So I quickly found a campground and set up camp. When I pulled up to the registration the manager lady came out and took my passport, You american, yes, really you american, yes I think, where from in America, California, No, Yes, she ran to the back of the bike looked at the plate and said you on Moto, yes, you crazy and you first american hear ever with a huge 3 tooth grin, pretty sure the campground dental wasnt too good of a plan. After getting through registration barely escaping many hugs I found a place to set up camp, with the soft wet dirt once I got off the it promptly fell over again. But at least this time there was only one person watching who came running over to help. It turns out he was French and was extremely friendly and was actually from Paris. After getting the bike situated and camp set up just in time for the rain to start I went and spent some time talking to my French friend and family under there canopy. At one point the wife was concerned about the wind, cause it was blowing quite hard, and maybe a tree falling over. I agreed and echoed my concern of one falling on my bike. She gave me a funny look and asked maybe i should be worried more about the trees falling on me instead of the bike. One would think if anybody had a healthy respect for large trees it would be me, with my newly mended part titanium hip courtesy of a large tree in Lake Tahoe, but no I thought of my bike. That is the love of biker has for his bike or she probably just thought lack of intelligence, debatable.
Todays Specs
Weather: 55 F, cold and rainy
Distance: 125 miles Krk to Coast of Croati
