[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

Can't see. Better slow down.

Some small towns in the background on the Transalpina Highway

That was a great ride! Here's a short video of both the Transfăgărășan and the Transalpina, with a litle bit of mechanical troubleshooting in the beginning:

Riding the Transfăgărășan and Transalpina Highway in Romania

 

[lightcycle]

With the Carpathian Mountains done, we stop at Târgu Jiu, the city at the base of the Transalpina highway, for lunch.

Târgu Jiu

Târgu Jiu Prefecture (Administrative Palace) on the left

After lunch, we hit some local traffic

 

[lightcycle]

Continued from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/339.html

We need to be in Pula in a few days. Rather than take the shortest route to Croatia, we make a little detour up to Hungary and then back down into Croatia to bypass Serbia. That way we don't have to pay for a 14-day vehicle insurance slip when we're just passing through. We definitely want to visit Serbia, but it'll have to wait for another day, when we can properly do it justice instead of just rushing through it.

It's all highway from Hungary to Croatia. So no pictures, except for roadside stops for food, gas and pee breaks

At one of the gas stations, we run into Orhan & Dilya from Turkey

They're on a motorcycle trip on their brand new R1200GS, all the way up to the Nordkapp! We spent quite a while at the gas station exchanging stories. This is their honeymoon vacation! We've met a few folks from Turkey so far on this trip and they've all been such genuine and friendly people. Orhan and Dilya gave us their address in Alanya and told us that we could stay with them if we come to visit Turkey. So generous! I don't know where Alanya is, but I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing it sometime in the future!

Our trip continues. A sleepover stay in Budapest and then back on the road

 

[lightcycle]

I love the highway system in Europe. You can cover so much ground in very little time. We are closing in on the Hungary/Croatia border and we stop for another gas/food break. When we climb back on the motorcycles after lunch for the final push to the border, Neda's bike fails to start.

Uh oh.

She pushes the ignition button. All we hear is click-click-click. This is a very familiar sound to us... The dreaded flat battery has struck yet again on this trip (admittedly, most of the time because of our own neglect). I think back to when we first bought this battery in Zagreb a couple of years ago. They only had one Yuasa (BMW OEM battery) in stock, so I put that one in my bike. We bought Neda a cheaper Italian battery, and the store that sold it to us warned us that it was not as good as the Yuasa...

Edit: So I took a look back at the blog entry from when we first bought Neda's battery:

But the place only had one Yuasa left, the kind the factory installs on the bike. They also carried a cheaper Italian brand that was compatible, but we heard that those don't last very long. So we bought one anyway and put it in Neda's bike. This should make an interesting future blog entry.

So this is that future blog entry... I hate it when I can predict the future.

We spent several minutes trying to bumpstart Neda's bike. We have to take off all the luggage because it's too heavy for me to push around the parking lot. No use, the bike is just not catching. So we have to resort to drastic measures:

Jump-start cables between the bikes like an electrical transfusion

BRRUUUUUUM!!!!

We have ignition! It's a healthy start, which means that it's definitely just a dead battery. I told Neda to keep it running for a while to give the stator some time to charge the battery up a bit before we head out. But before I could finish my sentence the bike dies again.

Whut?

Another jumpstart, then cables disconnected. This time I leave the throttle half-cocked for a minute or two to try to get some higher voltage flowing into the battery. Keeping the revs up, I tell Neda to jump on and do some laps in the parking lot just to keep the bike running above idle. We need to make sure her bike won't die on the highway.

I watch her do a couple of circles around the lot and then the bike cuts out. The battery is just not holding a charge.

Crap! This is our second bike breakdown in less than four days. At least we're not at the top of a mountain range in the middle of nowhere. We need to be in Pula soon. So what are our options right now...?

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/340.html

So Neda's got a dead battery that won't hold a charge anymore and we're stuck in a gas station parking lot, exactly halfway between Budapest and the Croatian border. What are our options?

We definitely need a new battery. Our first inclination is to just make it to Croatia somehow. We don't speak Hungarian, we don't know where anything is. We're feeling really helpless in this foreign place. If we can just make it across the border, then Neda can speak her native tongue, make calls, arrange stuff... We just need to get across the border.

Neda calls the dealership in Zagreb. They tell her they can't send any tow trucks across the border. So we're stuck in Hungary. Maybe call the dealership in Budapest? But that's going backwards and we need to be in Pula soon. We're not thinking clearly. Why the laser focus on getting to Croatia?!? Surely there must be a place somewhere around here that sells motorcycle batteries?

Bit by bit, our senses return to us. I hop on the Internet and sure enough there is a motorcycle store just a few kms off the highway. Okay. We'll pick up a new battery there and then back on the road!

I call them. And they speak no English. Argh. I'm going to need some assistance... Thankfully a girl behind the counter at the gas station speaks fluent English and helps us with the motorcycle store. They have a battery in stock, but they'll have to charge it first - it can't be used immediately. And it'll take several hours to charge. And the store is closing soon... So the earliest we could have it would be in the morning.

Fine. That's the best we can do. At least we don't have to pay for an expensive tow. But where to sleep tonight? And what about Neda's bike and all her luggage? I guess we could strip all the softbags and stick it in a taxi? Have it follow us to wherever we're staying for the night...

The very helpful girl at the gas station was listening to us fret and worry in front of her and she interrupted us: "We have a store-room in the back of the station. You can keep all your bags here and if you leave your motorcycle right in front, then it'll be in view of our security camera".

Brilliant! OMG, this girl was such a lifesaver! She even told us about a small town just a few kms away where we could find some accommodations. Throughout this trip, we've been blessed to meet so many people that have helped us out. We were beyond grateful and couldn't stop thanking her enough!

With the luggage safely stored and Neda's bike parked in front of the gas station, we two-upped to the town the girl told us about. It was less than 15 kms away.

Balatonberény turned out to be a very pretty lakeside resort community! Great suggestion!

We managed to find a room in a guesthouse run by a very stern German woman. But at least Neda could speak what little German she knew to her. Despite being the cheapest place in town, it really wasn't cheap at all and it ruined our string of €20 accommodations. But this was an emergency...

And the reason why it was so expensive is that Balatonberény is Hungary's cottage country
where everyone from Budapest heads to for the weekends or their vacation...

 

[lightcycle]

It's set on Lake Balaton and there's lots of families here enjoying the school vacation. Yes, we're here during high season as well...

We spent the entire evening walking aroung the very pretty beaches in Balatonberény. After the last couple of weeks of rushing to get to Croatia, it was actually quite therapeutic to have things taken out of our hands and be forced to slow all the way down. We hadn't realized just how frazzled and weary we've become. We've been traveling non-stop not just after arriving to Europe, but really ever since we left Chiang Mai five months ago.

We are due for a very, very, very long break.

We find out later that Balatonberény is famous for its nude beaches. Just for clarification, these people aren't nude...

These ducks look so peaceful. We need a bit of that right now.

I can't believe we found this oasis of serenity through a combination of bad and good luck. It's not somewhere we normally would have stopped, but we're glad we stumbled upon it!

 

[lightcycle]

A good sunset is always good for the soul

....and there it is... Thank you, Balatonberény!

After the sun sets, my new-found calm starts to get eaten away by the ghosts that haunt my thoughts at night. I don't normally fall asleep till around 3-4AM, so after Neda is out, I have a lot of time to dwell on things. With all these problems we're experiencing, how much of it is our own neglect...?

We've never been particularly pro-active about bike maintenance. We're the kind of people that don't carry a lot of spares, only change our tires out when the cords begin to show, keep adjusting that chain out until it snaps... We are reactive, and it's costing us time, money and peace of mind. And then I can't help but think about my shaft drive... about how the mechanic in Zagreb recommended that I fix it sooner, rather than later. That was over two months and several thousand kms ago...

Sleep doesn't come easy for me that night.

 

[lightcycle]

In the morning, we two-up to the motorcycle store. It's about 35 kms away (past the gas station,
where we left Neda's bike) but right off the highway so we're there in 20 minutes

Then back to the gas station to install the new battery

We pull out Neda's bags from storage. Unfortunately the girl from yesterday is not working this morning. I would have liked to show her our appreciation somehow, buy her some chocolates or something. As for the new battery... I've never heard of Varta before... Hopefully it's better than that Italian one we picked up a couple of years ago!

And then, the moment of truth... Neda hits the starter and the bike fires up good as new!

Not bad, less than 24 hours delay and we're back on the road to Pula!

 

[lightcycle]

On the highway, we motor right through the Croatian border and although no words are exchanged over the intercom, I sense that Neda is slightly relieved to be back on familiar soil. I had entered the Zagreb BMW dealership on my GPS and I stare at the waypoint as we pass right by it on the highway. If we didn't have to make to Pula, I would have liked to have gotten both our bikes checked out... Neda's battery, my front brake light switch. And that damn shaft drive. Is it me, or has my rear tire been wobbling more and more the last couple of weeks...?

And then, as if I could predict the future:

At a gas station stop between Zagreb and Pula, Neda's bike fails to fire up again

I know *EXACTLY* what the problem is now.

It wasn't the battery. It was the dreaded burnt stator within the charging system. It's a well-known problem with the F800GS bikes. I've read about so many people experiencing it, but I always assumed since Neda got a later model and a F650GS that she would be immune to it.

Not the case.

I can't believe we just threw out a good battery and bought a brand new one when we didn't have to. I feel sorry for cursing out that Italian-made battery... It did its job well.

All of these unnecessary costs sting a lot. And to top it off, we do own a battery charger, so we could have given her new battery one more charge to get us to Pula. But we left the charger... in Pula - thinking we'd be back soon enough. %$^$^! I talked to everyone at the gas station to see if they had a charger or would sell me one. No luck.

 

[lightcycle]

We are both feeling very low right now. It seems that in the past week there's been an unseen, yet palpable force trying to stop us from reaching the Istrian peninsula. The closer we get, the more problems seem to crop up. It really feels like a giant invisible hand swatting us down every time we get back up. It doesn't help that we are both travel fatigued on top of things.

Neda is particularly despondent. She just wants to throw up her hands and forget about getting to Pula. Just get towed to Zagreb and get all of our issues fixed right now. But I talked her out of it. We just spent the last couple of weeks rushing through our trip to get back to her hometown, we were *NOT* going to give up within the last 200 kms.

So we're towing her bike to Pula. We'll worry about getting everything fixed later.

We're all limping home now. Both us and our bikes are in rough shape. All four of us need some fixing up, but at least we'll be in familiar surroundings and amongst family and friends.

 

[wildorange]

[YEAR 3!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

To say you've had a very stressful period would be an understatement.

The location you stayed at looks beautiful, and an ideal time pause, reflect and as you quite rightly stated.....well earned downtime.

Look forwards and upwards, have a safe onward journey and look forward in reading your further adventures..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[unkamonkey]

Gene, all in all you have a good life going on. We have all been handed a ******** sandwich and like you mentioned, I just sort of shrug and say "fine". I seem to do that a lot anymore.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[profdlp]

I know that you are resilient enough to make it. I am looking forward to the next installment to find out how. :ylsmoke:

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

It reminds me of the separatists in Quebec. Every 15 years like clockwork, they have a referendum about whether to stay or split from Canada. Then, a slim majority votes to stay. Everyone feels like their issues have been aired and it's business as usual for another 15 years...

The separatists movement isn't really the same anymore. Since we kicked Pauline Marois (the PM of Quebec) out of even her own riding back in 2014. She really insulted many types of people, including working against anglo's and military members, so I never seen so many people politically involved, especially my English military friends, and subsequently registered to vote, so we could vote against her and get her out. News and poles were saying she was looking to get a majority, which was either way wrong, or was a lie to get people motivated to get her out. I think the latter...

While the new generation isn't really hard into separating like the older-bitter generation because of the 1982 constitution signing, but now as I found out late last year, there's a new political party which now, get this, wants to have Quebec move in with the USA instead. Known as Parti 51, they stating that the USA shares more values with them when with Canada, and that being a State with it's own constitution rather then a Province, having more control over themselves and being more independent, but the rest sounds more like a child just whining to be on a "better" team" (higher dollar, and being a participant in world power decisions). A party that actually existed in the past, but was dissolved back in 1990. My family here in Quebec have already said they would move out of province if Quebec separated from Canada.


Good luck on the bike! I'm also quite anxious to see what happens next.

 

[lightcycle]

Thanks for all the encouragement, guys! Appreciate it!