Solution: Be Awesome

July 28, 2007 by dunny.

SkipLizard doesn’t give in when the going gets tough.  We rise to the occasion.

Our water pump went out in the middle of the night just after we had crossed the Romanian border.  We refilled the radiator with water at a rest stop and made it about 30km further to Cluj Napoci when the Chariot went into the RED.  We stopped at a gas station and started stretching so we could fight those bitch bolts.

Keep in mind…our tools are shitty.  Beyond worthless, really.  Long story short, there were two huge bolts that we couldn’t get off and had no chance of getting off.  All that happened was us standing on the car grunting and sweating and tugging until finally we gave up and passed out sitting up in the car.  Yup, in the gas station parking lot.  With truckers staring at us.

Up the next morning and had a few more bouts but figured all we were doing was bending the engine screws so we went off to try and find a mechanic.  Put the beast back together and found one just down the road, but he was too busy to help.  He just gave us a few hints and sent us on our way.  At least he spoke English.

Back to the gas station parking lot only to find yet another bolt we had no chance at.  So we pissed around and got bitchy with each other, put the beast back together (again), filled the radiator up and added some sealant and kept driving.

At, the next town we got to we pulled off at a garage immediately and found some dudes to help us (they had real tools).  We got the new pump in and got the Chariot humming like new.  We haggled over a price and eventually gave him some American bills and had him sign the car.  AND…get ready for this…the town is called Turda.  We got our turd of a water pump fixed in a town called Turda.  Awesome makes the world go round.

Right, so we were off to Transylvania.  I think the biggest surprise of the trip so far was how absolutely amazing the Romanian countryside is.  It’s absolutely gorgeous…sheep everywhere…cows walking in the road in the small towns…horse-drawn carts everywhere…we were in awe.  We made a quick stop by Bran Castle (Dracula’s place) and got back on the road.  Being a day behind, we had to hurry and get to the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria and hit the beach.

That meant another drive all night event though…much tougher this time though because the Bulgarians invented an alphabet that uses numbers and stars and exploding mushrooms to represent sounds.  We got lost immediately after crossing the border and had to navigate back to our entry-point (Ruse) using star-naviagation.  I’m not joking.  We went back north to the border using the North Star b/c our compass doesn’t work.

Right, so some time around 5 or 6am Andy started hallucinating and imagining people and bodies in the road and had to take a couple road-side naps.  I eventually took the reins and got us to Varna on the coast to meet up with Nick and his Bulgarian lady, Lili.  Had to hit an internet cafe then a pay phone to wake the lovebirds up at 9.  Lili told us where to meet and we bounced around that crazy beach town and finally got a cabbie to lead us and got out of the SJ.

We had a couple beers and some pizza and hit the beach.  After a quick swim and a few peaks at all the topless women we passed out in the sand in legendary fashion.  A 3 hour nap never felt so good.

Had showers at Lili’s grandma’s place there in Varna then headed north to Golden Sands to some friends of Lili…Svetla and his chick whose name I won’t even try to spell…who were staying at Svetla’s grandparent’s cottage in the hills overlooking the sea, with an outdoor kitchen and a case of beer with 11% alcohol.  Had dinner and hit the town nearby, and since we didn’t have to drive through the night finally we just drank a bunch of Tequila instead. 

Woke up at 2pm wondering why we were still drunk and went back to the beach.  Spent the whole day there admiring more and more gorgeous women and gold sand and blue water…then had a quick dinner…and were off for Istanbul.

We’re here now, safe and sound and marvelously happy.  I’ll save the tale of the 11 hour drive along the Bulgarian coast for Andy…partly because I’m exhausted, but mostly because I never want to speak of it again.  Sorry for the delay in posting, apparently we caused a good panic back home (and Andy couldn’t help but post about breaking down since we didn’t get the chance when it actually happened)…but if you learn a lesson here, it’s that we will not fail.  We will not be held down.  We will not succumb.  All we know is awesome.  Sit back, take a deep breath, and marvel away at the fact that we have now covered 10 countries and 2500 miles in 6 days, met more badass people and had more wild experiences than we may have ever had, and ended up in an Executive Suite at the Hilton with a balcony overlooking Istanbul that was given to us for free (thanks again Lisanbes).

Starting today, comfort goes downhill fast.  But that means the fun goes up.  You thought the awesomemeter was in the red up to this point?  Just wait my friends.  Baku, Azerbaijan and Jane Barker are next on the list…we’ll be there either tomorrow or Monday and it may be until then that we’ll get internet.  But no worries folks.  SkipLizard finds a way.

Here’s to being awesome.

Skip, out. (SkipLizard Homepage)

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