Kiev to Budapest

Day 73 - Kiev to L'viv - 6.75 hours, 340 miles. Good roads and nice weather. Got a late start after a quick stop to pick up a few liters of engine oil turned into a two-hour fiasco. BMW Ukraine's payment system was down. Cash wasn't acceptable, either. Don't ask why. Due to traffic and additional payment requirements, the transaction took two hours. Lovely.

A local man sent me photos of my bike parked in front of the dealership three days later...found me on FB. That's a first. Wish he'd have chatted me up a bit.

On long stretches of boring highway, there's often only one thing that can keep me going...Radiolab podcasts and sour candies.

Day 74 - L'viv to Kolochava - 4.5 hours, 135 miles. Here comes the miserable, cold rain and terrible rural roads. Yes...that's an average speed of 30mph. Before leaving town, Green and I stopped to change his oil at a nearby Liqui Moly station. Vlad helped me out...and pretty much did the oil change for me for a few dollars. "The Chief" showed up half-way through and took plenty of pictures of Green to text to his buddies. Poor Green...felt kinda like he was having his picture taken in the changing room...filter on the floor, drain plug exposed. Also interesting how half the staff had cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, walking around the shop floor.

Day 75 - Kolochava to Budapest, Hungary - 6.25 hours, 270 miles. The last 150 miles was multi-lane interstate. That just shows how slow I had to take the first few hours. More rain and terrible potholes. Oh, yeah...and almost got arrested leaving the Ukraine. A story for another day.