July 22-23, 2010 - Celebration on the Baltic Sea

Thursday the 22nd was spent killing time in Swinousjcie, going from beach to cafe to dock to bookstore to park and back to the cafe until the SS Pomerania loaded up at 6PM headed for the port of Copenhagen.  For the last 2 hours, I plugged into the fantastic Marc Maron podcast WTF and watched the boats come in and out of the harbor.

Eventually a weather-beaten, drunken man came up to me and asked if I liked beer.  After answering him in the affirmative, he said, "Me too.  Give me 7 zloty so we can drink beer".  I was in an expansive and generous mood (and had two more hours to kill), so I gave him the coins (equivalent to around $2.50) and he returned with two beers.  He was travelling with his family as part of a musical group he called "The Crazy Family".  He was the leader and main singer.  The guitar player and the bodyguard were passed out a couple of benches over, equally red-faced and besotted.

Listening to his stories helped kill the time till I needed to hop onto this enormous boat:

When I came into the loading area, a fellow American bicycle tourist was in line with me.  He was the first American bicyclist I'd encountered on this trip, so I peppered him with questions.

Upon loading, we grabbed a bench on the top deck, enjoying the last views of Poland.  I grew wistful and teary-eyed, saying an emotional "Good-bye" to all I had seen and experienced in the Old Country.  But it was also a time to celebrate, since I had accomplished exactly what I had set out to do so many months ago. 

Here's a shot of the final bit of Polish terrain I'll see in a while:

Of course, a bit of horrendous Polish vodka was in order:

The American bike tourist and I drank the vodka: he out of a used beer glass and me out of one of my water bottles.  Classy, huh?  Regardless, we had a nice time comparing stories and philosophies, just two drunk guys on a boat talking all sorts of nonsense.

That night I bedded down on the top deck, shielded from the mists of the Baltic Sea by a small overhang.  Behold my quarters:

The next morning, I met up with my new buddy in the car deck, both of us shaking the last bits of vodka from our heads.  Here's Wyndham, my fellow bike tourist, in the car deck:

When we got off the boat, it was 8AM, and he didn't have a place to go, and didn't have the means to get onto the Internet to look for a place.  So I invited him to come over to my Danish brother's place to use his computer and get a cup of coffee.  The 10 mile ride to where we were headed helped sweat out the night's festivities.

The transition from Poland to Denmark was more than a bit startling.  From an emerging eastern European country to fantastically wealthy and developed world-class metropolis.  Quite a stark contrast.

Next up: 2 weeks in Copenhagen!

July 21, 2010 - Dziwnow to Swinousjcie

Did It!  Here's the Expedition (with the spotlight being hogged by me) in front of my symbolic final destination: the lighthouse in Swinousjcie (properly pronounced "Svee-no-oos-cheh" and improperly pronounced as "Swine-so-juicy")

And yes, you'll notice, if you look closely, that I've gone and done what innumerable other dudes in my carefree position have done: I've grown a beard.  Keep the jokes to a minimum, please.

Anyway, Swinousjcie is very similar to all of the other places along the north Polish coast except it's even more be-Germanned than usual.  The border is just a couple of kilometers west and it seems to be a popular spot for them to come, buy cigarettes and lather up their enormous guts with salves and unguents.

After a fish dinner and a cold beer (or two) I called around to various folks on my contact list, just wanting to celebrate the end of the bicycling portion of the trip.  I discovered all too soon that calling friends, a bit tipsy, at noon (Seattle-time) on a Wednesday is a bit presumptuous.  So I settled for strutting around the boardwalk, laughing and chuckling to myself all evening about what a goofy adventure this had all been.  I'm sure I looked more than a little nuts.  And I probably was.

July 20, 2010 - Kolobrzeg to Dziwnow

Estimated Mileage: 40 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

July 19th was a rest day.  My host Maciek armed me with an English-language guidebook of Kolobrzeg and I spent the day visiting various tourist attractions that I had missed the day before.

On the 20th, Maciek rode with me a few kilometers out of town and sent me on my way down the coast, towards the German border.  This was to be my penultimate day of travelling and the emotions that inevitably accompany the waning days of an epic adventure were with me.  Emotional and pensive, but in a good way, like the end of a Cameron Crowe movie where the protagonists look wistfully at each other and realize that, goddammit, things are going to be all right and aren't we glad we had this journey together?

The ride was completely miserable and not worth talking about, mostly because I took beach bike paths that were half-dirt, half-sand causing me to fishtail constantly and leading to inumerable near-crashes.  Note to Poland: if you create a map of bike paths, it would be nice if those bike paths were actually RIDABLE BY A BICYCLE.  Ahem.  Here's a shot of a typical stretch of the days' ride: beautiful scenery, horrendous path surface:

Anyway, I had another fairly short day, just 40 miles or so to yet another beautiful beach surrounded by ostentatious and tacky beach shops selling all manner of crap.

The garish environs clashed with my mood.  I went to bed early after a few hours at the beach and some fried fish.  The next day was my last of travelling from city to city by bicycle.  Holy smokes....

What's Next?

Much of the posts on that I've put onto this site have been pretty straightforward: reports and photos of my daily rides interspersed with a few anecdotes and dumb jokes.  What I've left out is some of the more personal reflections that've come along with this trip.  Those who know me, know that this year has been one of intense change and regeneration: severe loss and sadness on a number of fronts combined with overwhelming joy and passion on a number of others.

The Expedition was the culmination of this year of change: completely outside my comfort zone and like nothing I've ever done before.  The challenges I've faced these last 12 months (both voluntary and involuntary ones) have been confronted and overcome for the most part.  I'm at the end of a long journey that's taken me over a year to complete, and the Expedition that's now nearly over was just one aspect of that journey.

In a week, I come back to the States full of new life and energy, ready for the next set of challenges, having put this last batch of Chumps finally to rest.  There were a few moments there, in northeast Poland in particular, when I didn't think I would make it out.  But the Old Country is behind me and what comes next is precisely up to me.

July 18, 2010 - Ustronie Morskie to Kolobrzeg

Estimated Mileage: 20 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

After the raging storm of the previous day, I was glad for an extremely short trip along the coast to the tourist town of Kolobrzeg.  There was a nice bike path along the water for the entire way into the city, including a couple of miles on an abandoned air strip that was used by the Soviets.  Here's a shot of the endless concrete air field.

There were lots of school groups being led by nuns walking around here for some reason.  One group of kids high-fived me as I passed by, putting a smile on my face for most of the morning.

Kolobrzeg was a surprise, in that it was a really wonderful little city, full of parks, architecture, cafes, beaches and fantastic fish restaurants.  Speaking of fish, here's a typical fried fish lunch of halibut and pickled cabbage:

A Swiss bicyclist I ran into in Slupsk referred me to a guy named Maciek in Kolobrzeg and I had made plans to stay with him and his family that evening.  The day was spent slowly meandering from beach to cafe to restaurant to park to beach and on and on and on.  I was to meet him at 7 and I got into town at around noon.  I spent quite a bit of time people watching at this old lighthouse:

I met up with Maciek in the main town square and we had a blast comparing gear, trip stories and whatnot.  He's an incredible character, and a fine fellow.  His family welcomed me into their home and gave this lonely traveller a great couple of days.  Here's Maciek:

Goodbye to the Old Country

It's been about a week since my last update, and things have been very busy since then.  The Expedition finished traversing the entire north coast of Poland, there was a rest day in Swinousjcie then a wonderful ferry ride to Copenhagen, where I camped in my sleeping bag out on the deck of a boat crossing the Baltic Sea.

It's my third day in Copenhagen, a sleepy Sunday hanging out with my Danish brother (he stayed for a year with my family when I was 13) and enjoying this most civilized of cities.  I'm working on gathering my thoughts on the trip and finishing up the few days of trip reports I've got left to do.  In the meantime, you should all know that I'm safe and happy, getting ready for my return trip back to Seattle on the fifth of August.

July 17, 2010 - Darlowo to Ustronie Morskie

Estimated Mileage: 60 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

Darlowo was a really wonderful little town, and I debated staying for another night.  The hotel was great (if a bit expensive), the town was very walkable and had plenty of sights to see.  I woke up and checked the weather and saw that there was a 40% chance of thunderstorms.  Against my better judgement, I hit the rode anyway, wanting to get to a beach town named Ustronie Morskie for a fun Saturday night.  Here's a final shot of the hotel and it's cozy spot next to the river:

The ride started off pretty mediocre, on a very narrow and busy tourist road out to the coast.  After about 20 miles, I stopped for a cup of coffee in Mielno, enjoying the sunshine and people-watching.  Upon opening my handlebar bag, a surprise was waiting for me: I had left a banana in the bag, and it was slathered over the entire interior.  Ugh.  Using these little cheesy wax napkins that are endemic in Poland, I managed to get the worst of it, and only had a couple of casualties (sorry map of the Czech Republic that I was supposed to return to a friend).  All of my papers and maps now have a black and banana-smelling fringe on their pages.  Also, my hands were sticky which I immediately transferred onto the handlebars.

However, nature provided me with an excellent bike and hand washing method: an afternoon torrential downpour!  About a mile outside of Mielno, the winds picked up suddenly, and lightning started booming down way too close for comfort.  I'm able to recognize the difference between "Oh, just a strong rain storm" and "Get the hell indoors, NOW!".  This was definitely the latter.

I huddled under an awning back in town along with a dozen or so soaked, smoking beach tourists.  We waited for a bout 15-20 minutes, until the weather passed, and we all returned to what we were doing.  Here's some video from underneath the awning.




And here's a photo of a beach town before the deluge:

And here's about an hour later:

Trees were down everywhere, blocking roads and paths.  The center of every town had shin-high beach town garbage water clogging the streets, a frothy brew of rainwater, suntan lotion, beer and PCBs.  And my feet were soaked with it.

Still, I was in the mood for adventure, so I tackled the various obstacles gladly.  I came upon this gorgeous old Prussian lighthouse, one of the many dotting the Pomeranian coast:

After the lighthouse, the path got very dogdy:  lots of trees and detours, mud puddles and branches.  After two hours, I figured I had made through the worst of it.  Lifting a fully loaded touring bike over the likes of these kinds of obstacles is no easy task, but I did it:

And after two hours of this, where was I: RIGHT BACK AT THE FREAKING LIGHTHOUSE!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  Completely deflated, I abandoned all hopes of using the Baltic Sea bike path to get to Ustronie Morskie, and just used the main highway to get to town.  It was about 10 miles of windy, hilly riding, but at least I didn't see that goddamn lighthouse again.

Ustronie Morskie seems like a prototypical Pomeranian beach town: lots of beautiful, clean beaches, and a truly tastless array of beach crap shops.  I enjoyed the night though, mostly because I met a couple of groups of Polish women who spoke English.  I was excited just to get the chance to talk to someone, and they were excited to meet a foreigner who wasn't German (this part of the country is overrun with them in summer, apparently).  All in all, a day with lots of up and lots of not-so-ups.

Captions Finally Available!

Hey everybody: Just wanted to let you know that I finally got around to captioning my photos of Krakow and Lublin. Here's links to those photo albums, for those who want to know more about that part of the trip:

Krakow Photo Album
Lublin Photo Album

July 16, 2010 - Slupsk to Darlowo

Estimated Mileage: 45 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link


The day started off with my (these days) typical 4 AM wake up.  Going stir crazy waiting for the breakfast buffet to open, I listen to my comedy podcasts until the scrambled eggs beckon (Marc Maron, Doug Benson and Jimmy Pardo today).

At breakfast, I heard a non-Polish speaker attempt to fumble his way through ordering some coffee.  Me, desperate for some conversation, pounced on him.  He ended up being another bike tourist doing the Baltic Sea route all the way around the horn, to Finland from Berlin.   A very nice guy named Michele.  We swapped typical bike tourist lore ("Yes, the main highway out of town has a very nice shoulder for 15 kilometers.  I highly recommend it") and parted ways.

The ride, as it has uniformly been here in Poland (except for you, Gdynia, goddamn you) was just wonderful.  Just enough hills to keep it interesting, but not enough to make the heat a problem.

Along the way, I caught up to yet another bicycle tourist, this time from Germany, hauling a nicely made self-built trailer.  He was on a two week jaunt along the north Baltic Coast.  His name was Uwe and he was a big fan of lighthouses, so he took me to an old Prussian one in Utska, built in 1830.  Here's my new buddy Uwe on top of the lighthouse:

Lunch consisted of Vanilla ice cream, coffee and languor by the sea.

I arrived in my destination, Darlowo, giddy and feeling like a million bucks.  As I get closer and closer to Germany, the towns become more and more geared towards tourism, which means I'm feeling much less lonely and isolated.  In the east, it was just me.  I didn't see another bike tourist for the entire time I was out there, and nobody spoke English except the hotel and restaurant folks.  Now, I saw about a dozen today, two of whom I had nice conversations with.

Darlowo is a completely charming town.  I spent a couple of hours outside of the hotel, making a series of long overdue phonecalls back home.  This little doggie came up to me and lay down on my feet for an hour while I was on the phone.

For the historically inclined, this region is called Pomerania (or Pomorze, in Polish, I think), and used to be a part of Poland, then Prussia, then a bunch of other things.  When Napoleon came through here, he occupied Pomerania, along with the much of the rest of Poland.  In 1812, Russia threatened to kick France out of Pomerania, presumably in order to take back control of it's territory in Poland.  Napoleon countered by invading Russia, along with 90,000 Poles and 90,000 Germans.  It ended disasterously for him, destroying his enormous army and is thought of as the beginning of the end for him.  It also spelled the end of Poland's hopes for independence until after World War II.  Coincidentally, I'm reading the exact chapters in War and Peace when Napoleon begins his invasion of Russia, and there's a lot of political and philosophical discussion about the causes of the war.  Here's a photo of the castle where the old Pomeranian Dukes used to live, apparently:

Tomorrow, I skirt along the beach for most of the day and then I'm going to be camping for my first time since Austria, more than a month ago!

July 15, 2010 - Lebork to Slupsk

Estimated Mileage 35 or 40 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

Woke up to a flat tire, an inauspicious start to a day that was supposed to be my day of bouncing back from the malaise that's been plagueing me.  I quickly swapped out an inner tube after being unable to find the leak (though I did find a wire in the tire that could've been the cause) and as I was pumping it up, it blew up!  There was a group of workmen all standing nearby and they came over to check it out.  When they saw what happened, they all started laughing and yelling "Kaput!".  Check it out:

Kaput, indeed.  What had happened was that I was in such a rush to get going that I didn't put the tire on correctly.  So, I destroyed a tube.  Luckily, I had another one handy, and this time I double checked my work.

The ride was a beaut: mostly empty rural roads with just a few stretches of cobblestones.  Miles and miles of corn, wheat, mustard.

Much of the clouds swirling around my head lifted, due to the great riding, the gorgeous weather and through the judicous singing of various Weird Al songs (my current favorite: "Rye or the Kaiser" to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger").

Try the rye or the kaiser,
They're our special tonight.
If you want, you can have an appetizer
You might like our salami and the liver’s alright
And they'd really go well with the rye or the kaiser

How can you not smile after that?

Arriving in Slupsk, I was shocked at what a beautiful town it was, considering it's name sounded something like a comic-book sound effect of someone slipping in their own guts.  Check out the city hall:

All of the old building were in that classical old German brick that's prevalent in this area.  Here's an interesting photo with 3 pieces of Polish culture in it: 14th century church, World War II memorial and a poster for a local music show:

I ended the day with a plate full of "Chinese" food.  I put that in quotes because it was really just spaghetti with some vegetables thrown.  Who would've thought you wouldn't be able to get killer Chinese food in Slupsk, Poland?

Mile Zero: On the Road to Slupsk

July 15, 2010 brought another Mile Zero milestone!

That's 3000 miles since I bought the Chump Steamroller, back in November 2009.  It was only 9 months ago, but it feels like a lifetime.  That's also about 2100 miles on this trip, since May 13th, when the Expedition began.  That's quite a number for me.  I've read enough bike journals to know that it's not hardcore territory, but I'm proud of it.

Here's the piece of countryside where the odometer went to 3000:

And the spot on the Polish road atlas where it was:

You can see here where I found myself the other times I've reached Mile Zero Modulo 1000

July 14, 2010 - Krokowa to Lebork

Estimated Mileage: 35 miles
Trip Route Link

This had to be a low point of the Expedition, mostly because of morale issues.  One thing I've learned is that on a long solo journey like this, morale is as important as component as food or water to one's well-being.  It's got to be cared for and not taken for granted.  I spent the ride in my head, not taking a single photo, just kinda pissed off at things.  Not how I want to be on this trip at all.

I'm not going to dwell on this day, lest you think I'm a big bummer.  So I'll end this post and move on to an infinitely more interesting and positive day, July 15...

July 13, 2010 - Gdansk to Krokowa

Estimated Mileage: 50 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

When I saw a town named "Krokowa" on the map, there was no way that the Expedition wasn't going to stay there for a night.  This town is in a region of Poland called Kashubia, which is separate ethnic region of the country.  Here's a sign that says "Welcome to Krokowa County" (or something close to that).

The map said I had a quick 40 miles to Krokowa, so I chose a route up the coast through the three towns of Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia.  This was an enormous mistake, and if anybody reading this blog ever is thinking about bicycle touring in Poland DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR GDYNIA!!!!!

This was easily the worst day of the entire trip, riding-wise.  Nothing else comes close, and I've had a few not-so-fun days.  It started harmlessly enough, with a nice jaunt along the beach of Sopot.  But a few miles outside of Gdynia, all of the things I had gotten used to in Poland which made the riding great (multiple routes, shoulders on the main highways, respectful drivers etc) just did not exist.  I was stuck in the middle of the largest industrial area I'd ever been in, with semis, trucks, sand, offramps, onramps all competing for the road against a tiny, fluorescent bicycle tourist named Ben.  I got so lost and turned around that at one point I stopped a postman and just said "Please, please help".  He immediately picked up on how distressed I was and spent a good 5 minutes trying to give me directions.  That man is a saint.

At one point, I actually had the thought that there simply was not a way for me to get where I needed to go.  I stopped at a random patch of horrible and had a gut check.  I looked at my saddlebags, my dusty feet, my bicycle and my hands.  I thought about the obstacles ahead of me:  the heat, the hills, the loneliness, the isolation, the hunger.  Bundling them all together into one big problem, you know what I did with all those chumps?  What else?  I STEAMROLLED THEM!!!!!!!

There were some other chumps along the way that needed steamrolling (construction detours, shoulder-high thorn bushes, wind storm, rain storm) but I arrived in Krokowa feeling like a tough guy.  Hell, I am a tough guy.  So there.

July 12, 2010 - Krynica Morska to Gdansk

Estimated Mileage: 45 miles

Photo Album Link

Trip Route Link

I was a little hesitant upon hitting the road again.  Building up my momentum to get going in a morning after a rest day has been a constant challenge.  Farting around the campsite or the hotel room for hours, listening to my podcasts on my iPhone until the last minute (Tom Scharpling and Howard Stern, thank you very much) and just generally dilly-dallying until I simply can't put it off any longer.

This was the same exact route I had done 5 days previously, and the road into Gdansk wasn't very fun for a bicycle tourist.  But, the day had a surprise in store, in the form of a kind-hearted German fellow who I met on the ferry which crosses one of the tributaries of the Wisla.  Here's my new buddy:

We struck up a conversation and it turns out that he's at the tail end of the Baltic Sea Route, a classic, epic European bicycle tour that takes you through all of Scandinavia, St. Petersberg, all of the Baltic states, Kaliningrad, Poland and ultimately, back to Germany.  Holy smokes, it makes me look like a piker.

I had the good fortune to be invited to stay with my new friend in an apartment in Gdansk that was going to be renting along with two of his friends.  We cycled together into the city and killed some time sipping sparkling water at a cafe while waiting for the apartment to get ready.  We shopped together and then I cooked dinner while he went to go pick up his friends from the airport.  By the time they got back, I was feeling rather domestic.

Quite frankly, I was thrilled for the company.  Things have been getting a bit lonely, especially now that the End of the Expedition is getting close.  That night I sacked out in a corner of the kitchen, thinking that it had been far too long since I used my sleeping pad and sleeping bag. As usual on this trip, the days exertions (combined with a pair of earplugs) made me sleep like a rock.  Here's where my sleeping nook was, after I moved the table a bit.

July 9-12 - The Beach at Krynica Morska

Estimated Mileage: -20 miles
Photo Album Link

To describe the town I stayed is difficult: it's a little like some of the ramshackle beach towns I spent time at in Spain mixed with a heaping dose of schlock and flagrant tourist exploitation.  It was wonderful.

My hotel room looked out over the main downtown area and the Wisla Lagoon.  Mornings were fairly peaceful, but things got rowdy in the evening, with a pan flute band piping happily along to the background of "El Condor Pasa" or "Unchained Melody".  They played endlessly every afternoon from 2 to 8, and I actually loved it.  Here's a short video from my window with the flutes in the background.




My day was: wake up, apply lotions and unguents, avoid the breakfast buffet, hit the beach, make my way through 'War and Peace', eat lunch, go back to the beach, go back to the hotel, read and fall asleep.

On Saturday night, I went for a long walk at midnight along the stretch of beach that leads ultimately to Kaliningrad.  At first I walked past endless groups of Polish kids farting around on the beach, everybody very friendly and tame.  I spent about an hour winding down into the silence and lay down on my back, feet in the water, the tide getting into my pants every now and then.  Here, at the very tip of the northwest of Poland, I was lying down, looking up and the sky and wondering if I had found what I came looking for.  And what was I there for anyway? Tide, Sky, Horizon, Waves.  The passive gorgeousness of a north Baltic night and a wandering American lying down see it unfold.  I observed it and was part of it too.  The Mystery surrounded me.

July 7-8, 2010 - Siedlce to Krynica Morska

The Gdansk Gambit is a rousing success.  Not only have I firmly established myself at one of the seedier lagoon-side hotels of the North Baltic town of Krynica Morska, but I have also begun eliminating my hilarious biker tan through repeated shirtless sessions at the beach.

It was a three-day ordeal to make my way to this town, but here I am:

To get here, Day 1 was the excellently paved 45 mile ride from Biala Podlaski to Siedlce.  Day 2 was a 13 hour train odyssey from Siedlce to Warsaw to Gdansk, which I will write a novel about someday when the emotional scars have healed.

 And Day 3 was the short 40-mile ride from Gdansk to Krynica Morska.  Now I'm sandy-footed and belotioned: all is right with the world.

This is quite a funny little town.  My first impression upon seeing the people crowding the cafes was that this must be where Poland sends it's ugly people.  From my very limited experience in this country, the Poles seem like an overwhelmingly attractive people.  Now I know why.  They take all the misfits and mutants and send them to Krynica Morska for a "permanent vacation".  I swear to god, this morning's breakfast buffet was like a haunted house.  I actually started laughing because of how monstrous the crowd was.  Ok, that's a little mean, but it was quite a shock and all of it's true.

So, here I am, cooling my jets in a funny little beach town in Northeast Poland, chuckling to myself about the places I find myself these days.  A teenager handed me a flier today for "The Best Beach Club" which happens to be in viewing the distance from my hotel room.  Tonight, it advertises for "Angelo Mike (Sentence Sessions) + Elio Rosso (Rezydent)".  An irresistable pairing, like Franks & Beans or Lennon & McCartney.  Tomorrow is "DJ Wroo & Nuno".  Think I'm making jokes?  Behold:

Until I hear otherwise, this club across the street is officially "The Best Beach Club" in my book.  Also, I am "The Best Concert Pianist", until I hear otherwise.  DJ Wroo better be awesome...

July 6, 2010 - Biala Podlaska to Siedlce

Estimated Mileage: 45 miles
Trip Route Link

After realizing I had allowed my trip to become boring, big Expedition changes were in order.  Consulting my road atlas, I looked up the closest town that had a railway station that connected to Warsaw.  "Siedlce" said the map.  So that was the day's destination.

I did a gut-check, looking at what was going on these last few days, and why I felt at such loose ends.  I'd biked for a month and a half from from May through June and felt really good about the daily grind.  I'd stopped enjoying it, and I'm not sure why.  So, there didn't seem a good reason to continue doing something that wasn't very enjoyable if I didn't have to.

That was when I brought together the best minds of everyone that with me on this trip (that's the Large Handlebar Bag, the Tent Poles and, oddly enough, a bag of peanuts I picked up last week) and we hatched a devious plan, so cunning, so daring that if it was any more cunning or daring it would become sentient and create Terminators.

We were all going to the beach.  The Baltic Coast, to be more specific.  Krynica Morska, to be even more specific.  The plan was: bike to Siedlce and stay the night.  Catch a train the next morning to Gdansk.  Stay in Gdansk for a night, then bike the 80 km to Krynica Morska.  Then, find a reliable patch of sand in viewing distance to the water and do not move unless it's to apply various sun-shielding unguents and salves.

Since the Plan (called The Gdansk Gambit) doesn't involves a ton of exercise, I immediately made the heart-rending decision to eat less.  Check out the remnants of my first salad of the entire trip:

The whole day was spent on highway 2, making a bee-line for Siedlce.  The riding was amazingly fun, just an enormous, flat, perfectly paved shoulder of the road for 50 miles.  I made great time, with my legs and lungs screaming for oxygen most of the day.  Another day of great weather, and the change in plans did wonders for my morale.

This little kitty kept me company during lunch, and lazed around the deserted gas station/restaurant where I ate:

So!  Lots of changes, better moods and healthier meals.  Excelsior!

July 5, 2010 - Wlodawa to Biala Podlaska

Estimated Mileage: 50 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

Today was the day I finally got by biking legs back after the weeklong decadence in Krakow and Lublin.  It was 50 miles of perfectly flat, smooth asphalt and I tackled it at around 15-17 miles per hour.  For me, that's pretty fast, but it felt great to get some exercise without the whiny voice in my head constantly saying "But Beeeeeen, this is hard...".

Not much to report on the day's ride except it was wonderful.  Oh, I saw this city sign that made me think that this town is the direct opposite of the town from Footloose:

The last four days blended together, with one relatively uneventful day blending into the next.  Here's the typical agenda:

1. Wake up and shower
2. Make an ass of myself at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet
3. Pack and hit the road
4. Bike for 50-70 miles (4-6 hours)
5. Find hotel and settle in
6. Catch up on photos and blog.  Make a few calls.
7. Eat some excellent Polish food
8. Sleep

I hate to say it, but I allowed my awesome biking vacation to turn tedious!  Mostly I'm stuck in this routine due to the fact that I have no idea what people are saying, where to go, or how to do anything.  So I'm stuck doing things that are idiot-friendly (eat, sleep, use internet, exercise).  

Things needed a shake-up!  Action is required!  Stay tuned for news on the big Expedition Mid-Course Alteration (also called the Gdansk Gambit).

Some Random Thoughts on Poland

• Dogs are plentiful and fond of chasing bicyclists.
• The first three initial interactions you have with any member of the service industry are sure to be hilariously rude.  By the fourth, you'll detect a smile and some friendliness.
• Whatever they've done to maintain the stork habitat, they've done it right
• Things, in general, are fairly high-priced.  Meals and hotels are only slightly less than I would expect to pay back in Seattle
• The Internet situation is much better in Poland than in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  I have no idea why.
• There are a huge number of these sweet, Soviet-era bicycles that I simply must obtain when I get back to the states.  They have a big pin in the center of the frame and you can fold it right in half.  They look kinda like this (but usually a bit more beat-up):
• Dinner portions are Flintstones sized.  You know that part of the opening credits when they throw the giant dinosaur rib rack on the plate?  That's a fairly typical Polish meal.
• The Polish soups are far superior than the non-soup dishes.
• Poland isn't a fan of spicy things, in general.

Some Things Spotted on a Lamp Post

Saw these guerrila stickers on a lamp post today, and thought it was worth posting:

Yes, that's a skater beating a guy with a swastika.  While I appreciate the sentiment (and I would gladly beat a Nazi with whatever implement I had lying around), it's the kind of thing that only can cause more problems.  Beat a neo-Nazi you see randomly on the street?  Ok, I'm down with that.  Create a sticker of you beating a neo-Nazi on the street?  That borders on violence-provoking.

What do you think?

July 4, 2010 - Hrubieszow to Wlodawa

Estimated Mileage: 70 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

Forget the Fourth of July, today was Stork Day for me.  They were everywhere!

Every town had a few dozen enormous stork nests.  Half the nests had a single stork, the others had a whole gang of them: 3, 4, 5 storks all crowded on top of electrical poles.  Whenever I passed one, I made a point of saying "Hey Gang!".  They responded with this ominous beak clacking.  There must have been several hundred along the way.

The whole day I skirted along the very eastern border of Poland, spying little bits of the Ukraine and Belorussia across the Bug River.

The riding, as it has been nearly everyday in Poland, was really wonderful.  The roads were mostly well-paved, the weather cooperated, and I only had two run-ins with vicious dogs.  The dog thing is beginning to really get to me.  Usually, it's just little dogs that chase me, and they don't worry me too much.  But today I ran into my first bicycle tourist on the road, and stopped to say hello.  Immediately, a really nasty looking black lab came snarling and running at me.  For a black lab to snarl and charge means it's a mean dog, since by default black labs are the most docile creatures on the planet.  So I took off and didn't get to have a conversation with the other lone bicycle tourist on the Poland/Ukraine border.

The day ended at Sobibor, the location of a death camp which saw a successful uprising in 1943.  Many of the prisoners escaped and spent the war fighting with the Polish Partisans or the Red Army.  There wasn't much left from the war, except this sign and some broken train tracks:

My hotel for the night was the Hotel Czar Polesie, a really nice place in the middle of Wlodawa.  Very highly recommended and run by one of the sweetest old couples you'll ever meet.

July 3, 2010 - Zamosc to Hrubieszow

Estimated Mileage: 45 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

For a short 45 mile ride, I was sure a whiny little beeeeeeeeyatch the entire time.  Not very hilly, through truly wonderful cycling country.

My morale issues continued unabated, despite various attempts to cheer myself up.  Singing John Prine songs and making up rap lyrics to rhyme with "Krajabrozovy" helped for a couple of hours.  This was also going to be my last day of going east.  After today, it was going to be a north and west trip, instead of south and east.  It felt like a milestone.

I got to stay in the winner of last year's "Poland's Worst Hotel" reality contest.  When I arrived, it was clear that nobody had any time for me, since they were prepping for a wedding at the attached banquet hall.  I didn't have to pay for dinner, because they just served me from the wedding meal.  I holed up in my miserable room (it was only about $20 a night, so I can't complain too much), with a earplug in one ear and a headphone in the other, trying desperately to drown out the techo-Polish folk dancing going on about 100 feet  away.

Notice that there aren't any beds, just two couches converted into "beds".  I slept in the crevasse of the one near the window.