Just keeping track...

Last_post

This will be the last post for this road trip. I an sitting on a plane do route for Montreal. More on that later.

Still_on_the_road

In Italy. Riva del Garda. Beautiful and quiet. The joy of low season travel. But I will be without internet, email or phone for a few more days. I will try to beg the hotel to let me use their computer to post a few pictures. More, of course, later.

On_the_road_again!

Time for a road trip. Nothing like driving for inspiration! So i will be posting irregularly for a while, depending on signal availability. Stay tuned!

Cows

Yes, there is a cow festival (krovnj bal) in Bohinj!

Lots of people, lots of cows, lots and lots of food! I was there with our
neighbor Villy, and his friend Manuella.

A fun day in the only part of western Slovenia where it was NOT raining!

By the way, there is six feet of water there...clearer than most swimming
pools!

A perfect day... thanks Villy

It IS going to rain!

Mucha

Change that!

Rain on the forecast, for tomorrow and the next 4 days! So... no bicycling tomorrow. But there is a cow fiesta in Bohinj. I mean COWS!

Once a year, all the cows come down from the mountain into the valley for winter. This is what I understood with my very limited Italian and my non-existent Slovene. So, this is as good an excuse as any other for a party, right?

So we will ride some treacherous roads to get over the mountains and go to the lake Bohinj. Beautiful place. I will post pictures of the cows...let's hope I got this right...

You'd think...

You'd think that "rainy season" means that it's going to rain most of
the time, right? Well, not here, apparently. I think that in the
Slovenian valley of vipava, it means
that someone is thinking about it, that it might rain at least one day in
September...

Only clear blue skies to look at, no even the usual July and August late
afternoon thunderstorm or anything! And the temperature still hovers
around 23-26 degrees in the afternoon. Nights are a bit fresh, at 10 to
15 degrees, but I'm not complaining. I've been sleeping with the bedroom
window closed for the past few nights.

Tomorrow, Friends and I are going for a bike ride on top of the
mountains. Trnovo to Kucelj and back, I think. Of course, weather
permitting...

Map

For you guys who are visual, who need drawings and stuf, here's a rough
map of the trails I've explored so far.

This is taken from the Palm's Tracker software output using my GPS. It was
then imported into Excell and modified in Photoshop.

Key points: Yesterday's bike run to Sveti Pavel, the walk to Kucelj from
Mount Gora and the fact that I am now in good enough shape to consider
going all the way to Kucelj with my bike: only two kilometers separate
mid-Kucelj from the summit...but the eleveation is 600 meters!

Sveti Pavel

Sveti Pavel exists, I saw it!

I have been trying to go there for 3 years (well...not that hard, there
are so many trails to look at). Today, Mac and I made it to the hill and
found the little church. (Sveti Pavel means Saint-Paul, I think)

It's a tiny church, very beautiful. Next time I will explore the Roman
ruins at the base of the hill. But for now... these photos!

That's Kucelj, in the background.

Rough day...

The dog went to sleep in his cage before me. First time since we got here. I think it was a rough ride. I can tell because everything
hurts for me too!

Update on the technical page

I just completed an update on the Technical pages
www.cogev.com/trips/technical.htm

I also added a couple of new pages under that one, describing the fun of
setting up a connection with a cellular phone while traveling.

If you are not technically curious... don't bother.

Time to go for a bike ride, Bye.

New scenery!

Today I went around our backyard. Well, our extended backyard!

I drove to Kromberg, Trnovo (via Ravnica, saving 45 minutes to the drive to
Nova Gorica), Rijavci, Mount Kucelj, Mount Gora, Predmeja, Lokavec, and then
Ajdovscina back to Gojace.

All these unpronounceable to say that this is one of the most picturesque
drives in Slovenia. And there are many!

The scenery is extraordinary, there is nobody on the road, and when it's 25
in the valley, it's 15 on the mountain tops. Wow!

First, it's a drive through an enchanted forest of very white rocks lying
under the canopy created by tall pine trees. Very small roads (pictures one
and two)

Then I drove to a house in Selovec (the only house in Selovec) and took a
walk to Kucelj, the mountain in our backyard (very extended backyard). In
the third photo, Gojace in the middle of the picture...

The drive back to the valley is AWESOME! In the fourth picture, in the
extreme lower left corner, you can see the road on which you exit the
mountain area within a few kilometers. WOW!

TIM

I went to Gorizia (Italy) to solve a problem with my phone account.

Basically, Saturday, my all-you-can-use-GPRS-for-a-month ran out, as
expected. I went Friday to have it renewed, but the lady at the TIM service
point told me I had to wait until my "contract" was finished (I had signed
up for GPRS on August 4th)(I learned later by calling the hotline that she
was wrong...she just didn't know how to renew my stuff).

The unexpected part was that I did not get an SMS or even an email telling
me that it was going to run out. So, being a slow day (I didn't fell like
going for a walk or biking), I did internet stuff all day. Eventually my
connection disconnected, just like that. I had run out of minutes, or Euro
credits on my card. 44 Euros!!! Vaporized!!!

Problem is, I couldn't even get on-line to renew my subscription, since I
had no credit left.

Monday I went to Gorizia (Italy) to try and fix things. Unfortunately, that
particular TIM service point is closed on Monday. Stupid (and I am not
calling myself stupid...)

I ended up buying an extra refill card at the cigarette store and
reactivated my Internet account.

Of course, talking to the help desk (dialing 119 on the phone) went nowhere
and the person on the line kept telling me that I had to go to the service
point. I know my Italian is not very good, but I am certain I explained
pretty well what the situation was!

So, Tuesday at the store, I tried to explain to the lady present what the
problem had been. She just lifted her shoulders and said: "Not my problem".

I am sure that my Slovenian provider would have been much more cooperative
about this! http://www.cogev.com/blog/archives/2004/08/000188.php

Again, if you use any fancy functions for communications, make sure that:
the phone uses the right supplier (most phone will switch automatically if
the reception is a bit better with another supplier when traveling out of
the country, that you have time left on your special deal, and if you can,
don't use TIM. Their service sucks!

OK, enough complaining. I am back online and will post often.

Back online !

Fixed the connection. More later.
This is Gorizia. A little park in the center of town.

No_internet!

TIM made a mistake when re-filling my account and it is now deactivated! Have to go monday! Until then its SMS!

Thanks!

Thanks to Michael (from www.cateandmichael.com ) for the pointers on solving
a pesky technical snag with my email-posting program. I can now send entries
(with text and pictures) directly from my phone, either on the Italian
network (TIM) or the Slovenian network (Mobitel).

Thanks again.