May 20, 2023 - Pluzine, Montenegro

 I'm catching up on a few days of going blogless.  Soon after leaving Blagaj, BIH for Pluzine, Montenegro Google Maps and the Garmin GPS, for some unknown reason, took us on a little unplanned detour down a dirt road that quickly turned into slippery mud.  And, you can guess what happened.  When trying to turn around and get back on solid ground, Sooz and I tipped over not once, but twice, in big puddles of water and slimy mud. Luckily, there was a very nice young Bosnian man walking his dog that helped me pick up the bike twice in the slime.  Also luckily, neither Sooz nor I were hurt, just some sore muscles for both of us, and seriously bruised pride for me.  

After waiting for a couple of minutes while I caught my breath and we chatted with our new Bosnian friend, the GS started right up.  It smoked pretty heavily while it burned off the oil that had seeped into the cylinder while it was laying on its side in the mud and water, but continued to run strong and take us to Pluzine on nice, dry, paved roads.  No, there are no pictures!

While crossing the border yesterday from BIH to Montenegro we ran into a bit of a snafu.  They had to see the original registration for the bike, the photocopy I had handy was not good enough.  My brain froze, and I could not find it in any of the papers I had with me.  So, they waved me over to get out of the line of cars waiting behind us while I cleared my head and found the original registration in the tank bag.  The border guard then asked to see our insurance Green Card.  Well, the Green Card we bought in Germany does not cover Montenegro.  I told her this and that it was my understanding I could buy "border" insurance there at the border.  She shook her head and said there is no border insurance.  Finally, she just looked at me with a combination of frustration and pity, and simply said, "Go!", which we gladly did.

The last 20-30 miles riding to Pluzine were spectacular.  The twisty, mountain road was in great shape, there was very little traffic, and the weather was perfect - it almost made up for our earlier rolls in the mud.

We got to our hotel/restaurant in Pluzine around 6:00 pm ready to call it a day.  We checked in, had a nice dinner and then tried to sleep in the small and noisy room.  When we had breakfast this morning, we asked about getting a bigger and quieter room and luckily they had one which we immediately moved into.  

We stay here again tonight and then head out somewhere tomorrow.  We have reservations, but I can't remember where.

This is Sooz and Belma who works at the Hotel Blagaj.  Belma is working at the hotel while she finishes her masters degree in biology.  As you can see, Sooz and she hit it off.

These baked goods are our 4th course of breakfast at the Hotel Blagaj.  Belma is going to send Sooz the recipe for one of the cakes.

A section of road between Blagaj and Pluzine.  Sooz took this from the bike while we were riding.

This picture of Lake Piva was taken just outside our hotel in Pluzine.  The lake was created by a dam.

The hotel has a zip line starting from a tower in the parking lot going all the way across the lake.  If you look closely in the center of the picture, you can see a person zipping down the line.