a trip to the moon

… today must be the perfect day of rest because we drowe
more than 900 km in 1 day, took the first harder drop in a curve
between Irakly and Emona (we tried some beach-experience), the first
“off-road treat” in Bulgaria.. and dam, she’s fast on bumps and you
know you’ve got the right thing under you now.

..so, the sea for us and a first oil refillment for Antilopa Gnu

At the Bulgarian/Turkist border we are asked for the passports (oh.. lukily
we’ve taken them, I haven’t checked but I had the feeling that we took
them … and I was right), we go through, I take the first fine from
the Turkish Police (88kmh/70kmh, about 65Euros and 5 points), cross
Istanbul at rushour (17-18) and hit it for Ankara. It’s been cold,
yeah, cold. Dorian picked us up right at the end of the highway before
Ankara and having diplomatic corp numbers is very good for escorting
motocyclists in and out of Ankara. Him and Angela live right in the
center of Ankara and their appartment is the perfect place for lusting
around for 2 more days. After this night we didn’t have any serious
back/arms/legs pain. All the small things went away till the morning
so again… you know you have the right thing under you, the right
riding rithm, the right clothing.

… we hit the highway and burn the roll-bag on the exhaust.
We reach Vama Veche, recall some memories (it was already 18.00), eat
at Mitocanu and (as we like the rain) decide to hit it.

I put the GPS on the bike (for the first time, and all the cables and power adaptor
fit… well, they were supposed to), take a point on Varna, it shows
me 81km on straight line, and we hit it for the border line with
Bulgaria. We enter the border check point as in the gasoline pumps in
Brasov (fast, breaking late and crossing the line a bit… I guess I’m
not used with all the weight and well.. it was also a bit wet). All
goes fast and painless, our ID’s and bike’s registration. No questions
asked, no fees to pay, just hit it. After 5 kms in Bulgaria, the Gnu
decides to stop. I didn’t realy know how much it eats and I’ve been
driving full speed on the highway so we have to put it on reserve and
hope it has the 2.5l that the manual says it does. I love this start,
I simply love it. It’s perfectly safe for trial and error in Bulgaria
and Turkey. Should it have been done before the start? Realy? When
exactly? I guess we should have been “preparing” now and taking the
trip “some other time”. The lady at the gas station in the next
village doesn’t take cards or euros but I have 8 Leva from some years
ago and we get 3 liters for it. She looks at our number and says she
would gladly take Romanian currency. She tells me 6 lei/liter and
thats expensive couse home it’s 4.5lei/liter so maybe the rate is
wrong or Bulgarian gasoline is expensive but we are safe enough till
Balcik or even Balcik so I don’t have to care to much. We take a nice
detour on a wavy empty road before Balcik, draw money in Balcik and
the skies start to close in. We continue to Varna and there is a
thunderstorm around us. We love the clouds and the dark sky. I take it
as a sign of good will and ride on rain through Varna. It’s late by
now so we stop, check and stay at the first motel on the way to
Bourgas. It’s perfect. Good room, clean, we eat some schembe ciorba
and get a bit cought by Kamenitzas (bulgarian beer; I could drive 2 in
this time and don’t feel dizzy at all; so it works…. we are living
and getting a rest.)