Friday July 13, 2007

 

DATE: Friday July 13, 2007
ROUTE: Mako, Hungary to Timisoara, Romania
DISTANCE: 57 miles
TIME: 3h 45m
CEG: 233’
WEATHER: perfect

Three beautiful days in a row --- a record!

And speaking of records, in Phase 2, from Warsaw to Timisoara, we cycled 818 miles in 13 days. As far as weather goes, we’re even with 7 rainy days and 7 sunny days. Totals are: 27 cycling days, 1649 miles, 15 inclement days, 12 sunny days.

We presented Chantal with her bicycle at breakfast and sang Happy Birthday. She was very surprised and decided to see how far the decorations would last. To our amazement, they made it all the way!

We said goodbye to Adrienne, our Hungarian guide, who will return to her home and family in Budapest.

Today we cycled only 6 miles before crossing into Romania. We stayed on the same road all day which made it very easy for the arrow scouts and even easier for us. We noticed an immediate change when we entered Romania, and it wasn’t the road conditions. The road was smooth, straight, and flat. We all prefer roads with shoulders but we’re used to sharing the road and the traffic, at first, was light and polite. The difference was the garbage. We haven’t seen roadside litter anywhere in Eastern Europe. Today the road was littered all the way to Timisoara and there were places where people had dumped piles of garbage. We passed fields of sunflowers followed by fields of weeds. This country has suffered terribly from the government policies and is just emerging from poverty and heartache. You can see it on the faces of the people --- resilience and determination.

The traffic increased as we approached Timisoara, made more difficult by laboring trucks, broken-down cars, slow farm equipment, and impatient drivers. Nancy and I entered the city together, and often walked our bicycles through dangerous intersections.

Our hotel is in a great location just off the main square. We walked to dinner at a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous meal. We said goodbye to Damiano, who has ridden many miles with me as sweep, and hello to Alex, our new Romanian guide.

Tomorrow we get to see the city.

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