Monday, May 8, 2023 - Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

 Today was a fairly domestic day.  We putzed around the apartment doing laundry and sorting things.  I found the insurance office and bought a 1-month motorcycle liability insurance policy for around $12.00 US.  That was my big outing for the day.  I needed to go to a couple of different offices to find the right person.  Luckily, the first office I went to had a person who spoke English and he called the other office to let her know I was coming and what I wanted.  That helped a lot.  

Downtown Bihac was nice, kind of a normal European town with offices, business and workers.  They had blocked of a stretch reserving it for pedestrians so restaurants had outdoor seating, it was a nice open area.

I stopped in an "electronic" store, that sold mostly cell phone accessories, looking for a power converter for our electric items. I wanted to have an extra one.  I had a nice chat in English with the young guy working there.  He has been to Jacksonville several times to visit his uncle.  He likes Florida but it sounds like he had a tough time with one of the local policemen.  His uncle bailed him out and everything was fine.  But he also told me the local police here are not to be messed with, which I had no intention of doing, but good to know.

It looks like a big storm is coming in starting Wednesday and lasting over a week.  So, we chose to go to Sarajevo.  We found an extremely inexpensive Airbnb apartment for a week and will be sitting out the storm there.  We were in Sarajevo in 2019 and liked it but didn't stay very long so this will work out fine. We will be staying right downtown and will be able to walk to most things which beats riding a motorcycle in the rain.

A nice little stretch in downtown Bihac.

This is what a one-month motorcycle liability insurance policy for Bosnia and Herzegovina looks like. They call it Border Insurance.

May 7, 2023 - Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

 Today was our day of rest.  We did not ride the motorcycle although I did run a few errands with the father who owns the Airbnb we are staying at.  It was a nice, warm day with no rain.  Tomorrow may get a little wet.

We sat on our front porch in the sun drinking coffee for almost 2 hours this morning. It felt great.  We ate some bread, cheese and salami we bought at the grocery store yesterday. 

I have been a little concerned that we have overloaded the weight carrying capacity of our side cases when our dry bags are strapped on top of them.  So, I unloaded some straps I brought with me and was fooling around with them in the driveway.  The side without the exhaust pipe will work well by supporting the case to the frame with a nylon tie down strap.  A nylon tie down strap will melt against the exhaust on the other side case so I needed something else I didn't have.  The homeowner, Omer,  notice me working on it and came over.  His English is a little better than my Bosnian but not much.  Through hand signals and Google Translate he offered to take me to the local hardware and see what we could find.  It was a beautiful store resembling a slightly smaller version of Home Depot.  I bought some stainless steel cable, attachment bolts and an extra pair of nylon tie down straps just in case.

The bottom line is that we did good and were able to rig a support system on the exhaust side with the cable, some protective hosing and attachment bolts.  It should work okay until I come up with another brilliant fix.

Sooz and I walked to an ATM for some local cash and then to a local restaurant for dinner.  They had a limited menu due to kitchen construction. They didn't speak any English so we had no idea what we ordered and it kind of showed.  I liked it because it had a lot of sausage, but Sooz could have done with a lighter fare.  We recognized the local salad Sopska which we had enjoyed during our last trip to the Balkans in 2018, but the limited menu did not allow it.  The entire meal for both of us including bottled water came to about $9.00 US.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain a little.  We are going to try to get liability insurance for the bike and then take it easy.  The river across the street is easy to walk to and enjoy, plus, we can hear it in our apartment.

Our dinner menu.  It turned out we each ordered the Desetka u cijeloj.

The Desetka u cijeloj platter with a scoop of mild feta-like cheese, and bottled water.  I enjoyed it.

Our new friend enjoying our motorcycle.  You can also see the nylon tie down on the non-exhaust side case.

The Una River across the street from our Airbnb

Omer and me crossing cultural divides while working on the bike.  Photo by Sooz.

Another shot of our new friend.  Photo by Sooz.

May 6, 2023 - Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

 Today we left Austria, passed through Slovenia and Croatia, and arrived at our Airbnb in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was only 137 miles but took us most of the day.  Luckily, it was another great weather day, mid to upper-70s and mostly sunny.

The reason it took so long is that we had to buy a toll road vignette (toll card) for Slovenia and stop to manually pay tolls in Croatia.  Also, when we crossed out of the EU into B&H the crossing guards were not having a good day and did not cooperate in helping us buy motorcycle liability insurance.  Instead, they let us through after a few awkward exchanges in English and Bosnian.  This is very odd because they never checked the insurance, title or registration for the bike. So, now, we have to wait until Monday to buy liability insurance here in Bihac and keep our fingers crossed nothing happens ...  all part of the adventure of adventures. 

I noticed that for some reason the tracker stopped tracking us in Slovenia.  Fear not, we continued on to Bihac in good shape.

We will be staying here in Bihac for 3 nights, leaving Tuesday the 9th.

Our Airbnb. Our apartment is in the lower right with the door open.  

We did not have to buy a separate international plan for our cell phone service.  The plan we have includes international texting and data.

They love their sausage here in B&H.  This is one isle in a local grocery store.

We got this coupon to the restroom when we bought a coffee at a gas stop.  Such a simple idea, we should have these in the US.

Our toll road vignette for Slovenia good for 7 days and cost 7.50 Euros

Susie is allergic to mushrooms and onions so it's important to let servers in restaurants know this when ordering.  But, sometimes it's really difficult to get this communicated.  That's where Google Translate comes in handy, especially with the Bosnian and other Balkan languages that use Cyrillic script.  There is no way we could pronounce the Bosnian translation but this app will play the pronunciation.  This is good AI.

May 5, 2023 - Graz, Austria

 Happy Cinco de Mayo!  That holiday has not made it to Germany or Austria, at least not that we have seen.

We had a good day today, fine weather (70s and mostly sunny), good roads and a nice hotel room at Hotel Jufa here in Graz, Austria.  We rode 271 miles and crossed from Germany to Austria.  Because we were taking toll roads in Austria we had to stop at the border and buy a 10-day toll road pass for about $7 US.  That's not bad at all.  We opted for the digital check which means their cameras verify the bike's tag/license plate number which I registered to get the pass.  So far, so good.  Because both countries are in the EU the border crossing was seamless, no customs or immigration. 

This is the second day we have had traffic backup due to construction and the large number of trucks.  The nice thing is that all trucks are required to stay in the right lane, except when passing.  When traffic backed up, all of the trucks were jammed up in the right lane and cars were able to mostly keep moving in the left lane, but at a slow speed.

The photos in this post were taken by Sooz from the back of the bike.  She's really good at doing that, plus it allows me to stay focused on the road.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is outside the Schengen area.  It looks like a nice town and we will stay there 3 or 4 days to rest up and take a breather.  We also noticed that B & H has a tiny strip of Adriatic coastline, including the town of Neum, which I think we will check out after Bihac.  Sooz found a little apartment on the coast for $66 per night.  The Balkans are much less expensive than northern Europe.

This is our route we travelled yesterday and today.  

Susie got a kick out of seeing real phone booths on the side of the road.  They were located on both sides of tunnels.

As we approached the lower Alps we started going through lots of tunnels, we lost count of how many.  This sign lets you know we are approaching Tunnel Klaus - not sure if it is named after Santa.

Riding through Tunnel Klaus.  All of the tunnels were in excellent condition and very clean. In this photo you can see my phone with Google Maps and behind that is the GPS - it's nice to have backup.

A lot of people want to know about the price of gas in Europe - here is my receipt for gas I got today in Austria.  I bought 14.81 liters of premium (95 octane) low ethanol (5%) gas for 26.42 Euros. That's 3.9 gallons for $29.31 at the exchange rate using my Visa credit card.  That works out to $7.51 per gallon, or about double what we last paid in Gainesville.  Included was 20% tax which seems high but I think gas taxes in the US are at least that much.

May 4, 2023 - Neumarkt in der, Oberpfalz, Germany

 Sooz and I had a good flight on Singapore Airlines from NYC JFK airport to Frankfurt, no problems, turbulence or lost luggage, everything went well. We left NYC around 9 pm eastern, Tuesday, May 2 and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany around 11 am local the following morning - the flight was around 8 hours long with the 6-hour time change.

Chris Knopf is Stefan Knopf's son and they both work at Knopf Tours.  They handled shipping the bike and we also stayed there Wednesday night May 3. Of course the first thing I had to do was check on the bike and make sure it made it safe and sound, which it did.  I reinstalled the windshield, mirrors, side-cases and it started right up. It's really convenient and affordable to stay on-site at Stefan's which is also where the bike was delivered.

Today, May 4, 2023 we packed up and hit the road around 11 am riding around 150 miles today.  It was a good day with no issues.  Some of the road signs are different and take a little getting used to but we did good.  We started out on local roads and then hit the highway.  They fly on the highways in the left lane - of course, I had to try it; we were cruising at 105 mph until my passenger rightly suggested I slow down, which I did, to 80-85 mph.  It was fun.  Germans are excellent drivers, always following speed limits and slowing for construction zones - I'm serious, the drive very well, just fast.

It's 9 pm here and time to sign off.  Tomorrow we will see how we feel.  Our short-term destination in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It is the nearest town outside of the Schengen area. We can only stay a total of 90 our of 180 days in the Schengen area so we are dividing our time up so we don't go over 90 days.  We heard a story today that a guy's wife could not re-enter Germany because she had spent 92 days in Schengen, so she had to stay outside the area for awhile before being able to enter.  We don't want that to happen to us.

The Schengen Area

Our 2018 BMW R1200GS Rallye at Stefan's and ready to go

Stefan Knopf wearing a Florida State University hoodie, I knew I liked that guy!

For lunch today we splurged and had a nice meal. This is my plate of salmon, fresh locally-grown asparagus, potatoes and hollandaise sauce. Susie had a mixed green salad.  Tonight for dinner we went to the local grocery store and picked up a few things.

An example of some of the German traffic signs

The little German town of Öhringen where we had lunch

April 29, 2023 - Brooklyn, NY

 Yesterday, Sooz and woke up at 3:30 am in Gainesville and arrived at Laguardia Airport in NYC around noon.  We took an Uber to our hotel in Brooklyn and took a nap.

We later grabbed a late lunch at Junior's Cafe. Sam met us and we took the subway to see his girlfriend Miranda and several of their friends perform stand up and improv. It was really fun and we met Oscar and saw several of their friends who we have met before. 

Today we slept in, met Sam and Miranda for lunch at a Japanese noodle restaurant. All 4 of us took the subway back to Sam and Miranda's apartment which is really nice. 

The weather has been NYC spring - 50s, rainy and windy.

Miranda on stage

NYC skyline driving in from airport 

Looking northwest from our 9th floor hotel room

Sam, Miranda and Sooz drying out and warming up waiting for the elevator to Sam and Miranda's apartment 

Night shot looking northwest 

Europe 2023 - GNV4ALL Goes to the Alps

 

Europe 2023 - GNV4ALL Goes to the Alps

My wife Sooz and I are heading to Europe on May 3, 2023 for up to 6 months. We are using our trip to raise awareness and funds for Gainesville for All (GNV4ALL), Gainesville Empowerment Zone Learning Center. Please follow this LINK to learn more about GNV4ALL and contribute to this worthy cause.

We will be spending the month of June in Andermatt, Switzerland in the middle of the Alps followed by early July in Berlin for the 100th Anniversary of BMW Motorrad (Motorcycle) Company. Those are the only reservations we have so we will decide where we want to go and how long we want to stay while we are on the road.  

We shipped our 2018 BMW R1200GS Rallye to Germany using Sefan, and his son Christopher, Knopf (Knopf Tours) to coordinate the process and store our bike until we arrive on May 3, 2023.

Once again, we will be using a SPOT tracker, you can follow our location in real time HERE.

I will be updating this blog periodically so come back and check on how we are doing.

Terry Clark