Facebook says: Heading out? Stay connected!

Today, if all goes as planned, I will be a millionaire in lottery receipts. I mean I will be leaving Bulgaria and entering Romania. I know not how difficult it will be to cross the border, but if the Turkey-Bulgaria border is standard for borders in this neck of the woods, then I'm in for a long haul. Especially considering how this particular crossing is perhaps the only functioning border crossing between the two nations. You would think all former Soviet Bloc countries would get along splendidly following its collapse, considering they all wear t-shirts saying “I Survived the Soviet Bloc.” I suppose this is not the case.

Sorry about the lack of pix, but my camera is on strike. Damn unions. Actually, the connection is so slow that I fear even attempting to upload a picture will crash the connection and leave us all postless. I will instead try to paint picture in your head. Crap, all I have is red mental paint. OK, don't panic, we can still make some apples! But we all hate red delicious apples. I know! How about a nice sun. But is it rising or setting? Ah, forget all visuals. Let's move on.

The other day, just as I had decided to leave the last sizable city before the border, I spied a fellow touring cyclist stopped at an information booth just ahead. This was an entirely chance encounter because I had passed up the turning point for the road I wanted, which I shrugged off as I decided to see more of the city. The cyclist's name is Veronica, and she, too, had stopped because of fortune, though whether it is good or bad is up in the air. Her knee was giving her major problems, so she had to cut her tour short and thus was taking a train back to her home country of Romania that night. Instead of pressing on like I am wont to do, I thought it would be interesting and valuable to stay and talk with Veronica that day before her train. After all, she was the first touring cyclist I had the time to meet thus far on the trip. Needless to say, I had plenty of questions for her, and she for me.

Perhaps the best part of the encounter, outside of being able to speak fluent English with someone finally, was that we shared the same ideas about travel and living. We both appreciate and seek out freedom in life. Though she is a teacher of French and English living in the capital city of Romania, Bucharest, her dream is to move to the mountains of Transylvania, where she said she admires the simple life they live. Their favorite motto, roughly translated, is, “Wait, and things will solve. Have patience.”

A major reason why I take my bicycle is that it offermore freedom in traveling than through a plane, a train, a bus, or even a car. For instance, yesterday I spent a few minutes every now and then photographing the wildflowers on a deserted country road. This is an activity only possible through travel by your own power, and even in a car you speed along too quickly to notice any individual flower. At least I hope you would keep your eyes on the road in these hilly, curvy, dangerous road conditions. Also, all the people I interact with on this trip, I do so because I am on a bicycle, whether it be through the warmshowers website, the old men outside of cafes that I ask for directions and help, or the kids running after me shouting, “Hello! What is your name?” People give you respect (and a certain amount of distance; I am not sure if that is the smell or the fact they think I am crazy). People give you food and water. People give me more than mountains or rivers ever could. And all you have to do is pedal a few thousand miles to get it. Who would have thought paradise would be so easily attainable?