Elvis on the Move - Motorcycle Adventure Travel

The one thing I have begun to dread on this trip is running out of gas and... BORDER CROSSINGS!!! I hate them. You just never know how you're going to be treated or how long you will have to wait. I know Bulgaria is part of the EU, but it's not part of the western part of the EU and it has strange rules. Every step along the endless border crossing makes me more and more confused. I kept getting asked for a “chip”. I have no idea what they were talking about but when I gave them the confused look they kept waving me through to the next checkpoint. I don't think I will ever understand what they wanted but I have a feeling it had something to do with the sign that said you have to pay to drive on the Bulgarian roads. After ten kilometers I became very happy that I didn't pay for it. These roads are, for lack of a better word, shit. Shit, shit, shit, and more shit. It' only one word but it is so accurate. These aren't roads they're goat paths with a little bit...

Everybody has a “bucket list”, that is a list of things to do before you die. Well... I have a list so long it would take two rolls of toilet paper to list it. There are minor things like, celebrate New Years Eve in Rome, which I have done, to major events like watch the birth of your first born, which I have also done (and I wasn't hung over afterwards). Today I can check off two more: 1.Ride a motorcycle to Istanbul, and 2.Ride a motorcycle to Asia. I have gone years without being able to even check a single item off my list, yet this year I'm about to have a bumper crop. My new muffler is making my bike growl. It's really sexy! Plus, I think I'm actually moving faster. This new high performance muffler was expensive, but I like it! The road out of Istanbul is great. I'm hightailing it to Bulgaria and I'm not going to waste anytime. I have been humbled by my midnight run into Istanbul and I know I'm riding on borrowed time. I need to make hay while the sun...

I decided that if I can get a new muffler I will drive to Asia, otherwise I will make a hasty escape out of Turkey (I'm sure I'm not the first person to do that) and head straight back to Croatia. Success!!! It cost me a fortune but the new high performance muffler is something else. The guys at the shop took every muffler they had and tried to fit it before we got to this little beauty. 500 Euro. How am I going to pay my credit card when I get home? I'm going to be in shit when my wife sees my credit card bill. But on the plus side, think of all the Aeroplan points I accumulated. I think when all is said and done this trip is going to cost me the Range Rover Izabel wants. In all fairness how can I say no to the woman who lets me tour Eastern Europe alone? Not Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe and now Asia. I am going to cross the bridge to the Asian continent. My bike is purring like a tiger and when I hit the throttle it growls now. I like this. Of course for 500 Euro I coul...

I'm sitting here in an industrial park on the outskirts of Istanbul waiting for the motorcycle shop to open up. I didn't want to drive through traffic to find this place so I woke up at 5am and got myself ready and checked out quickly. I probably woke up the entire hotel when I fired up my unmuffled engine in the underground parkade. My god! What a racket. I remember when I used to like Harley's for the noise they made, I must be getting old. I think I was a little too anxious because for the first time since starting this trip I actually found the place easily. It took me about 15 minutes from the hotel and now I have to wait for about three hours for it to open. Time to do a little maintenance. Maybe reattach my side view mirror? That would be useful. My neck is sore from all the 180 degree shoulder checks. The loss of my helmet camera is a terrible blow to the documentation of this trip. It was so easy just to slide the switch on the camera and it would capture everythin...