Day 13 Fall Showed up

Day 12 — Fall showed up

A really nice day riding north through southern Serbia. The morning started cool, with mountain roads, rivers, tunnels and almost no traffic. I stopped along the river for a cappuccino — no food, unfortunately — and watched a couple guys fishing before getting back on the bike.

Today definitely felt like fall. The cornfields have been harvested. I passed tractors bringing in tomatoes and chili peppers, men cutting firewood in the little villages, and the hills are starting to change color. Athens was hot, sweaty summer riding. Up here in Serbia, feels like fall.

The little villages are always interesting. I get plenty of stares rolling through on a loaded bicycle, but every once in a while somebody gives me a big thumbs-up.

Leskovac was the opposite — busy traffic and a little chaos. I watched two cars bump each other and the drivers immediately got out and went forehead-to-forehead like two dogs fighting. 😄 I stopped for a good chicken-and-potato lunch, then headed north again.

The afternoon was flatter, hotter and windier. Windsock says I had a headwind for 89% of the ride — more than four hours of it. And I’m getting a little tired of drivers passing inches away on these two-lane roads when all they have to do is slow down for a few seconds and move over. Same thing happens back home. Share the damn road.

Made it to Niš with 71.9 miles behind me. Laundry done, steak, a little Serbian rakija, gelato, and feet up.Read more