July 30: Amber Waves of Grain
Beautiful rolling hills, amber waves of grain, lush green fields, and plenty of evergreen trees – today’s ride from Lativia south through the backroads of Lithuania and Poland was full of lots of great scenery, not to mention a surprisingly delicious mid-day Lithuanian meal. Read more of the details here.
Waking up rested after a good night’s sleep in Adazi, I headed south on E67 towards Lithuania, enjoying views of fields and farmlands as I made my way towards the border. The landscape reminded me very much of the Midwest, with relatively flat terrain but lots of beautiful, vast sweeping patches of green and brown fields of wheat and corn.
Wanting to have at least one traditional Latvian meal, I stopped at Etno Dvaras in Panevezys for a mid-day lunch along with Jorge, a biker from Spain that I met at a gas station while researching food options. Although he and I were going in opposite directions we decided to share tips from our travels before we headed our separate ways.
I ordered the traditional homemade meat pockets as well as roasted bacon with horseradish. The meat pockets were served with what looked like bacon and caramelized onions and reminded me of pot stickers. I had to close my eyes when I bit down on the crispy roasted bacon as it really did look like a piece of grilled fat. Even though I’m still not sure if there was any meat in there it was surprisingly delicious.
After lunch, I decided to take some back roads in Southern Lithuania and northern Poland on my way to Suwalki. What a treat! As soon as I veered west of E67 on route 651, the landscape changed in contour with beautiful rolling hills and a variety of lakes on both sides of the road. The road also became much rougher and narrower, adding to the adventure.
I will say that I am hopeful the drivers in Poland are a little more careful than the motorists I encountered in Lithuania today. On one occasion, a car coming the other direction decided to pass someone in front of him even though he had to weave through me and another car on my side of the road. As I felt the rush of wind from his car nearly touching me, I hoped it was an aberration. However, a similar event occurred two other times before I left the country.
When I was close to the Polish border, I stopped to take a picture and realized I could not remove my phone from its mount. In looking at it closer I realized the screw holding all the components together had come loose and there was not enough tension on the device to take the phone off. I knew I needed to find a way to fix the issue or risk losing my wireless charger, vibration dampener, the mount itself, and even my phone.
Fortunately, my friend Grant Myers back at home troubleshooted with me and helped me figure out that I could start tightening the screw by pushing the phone against the mount and turning it clockwise. After doing that several times there was enough tension in the device for me to remove the phone. I was then able to get to the screw with one of the Allen wrenches in my tool bag, tightening it down so that everything was back together. I’m so glad I have such an amazing support team back home!
When I gassed up in Poland at the end of the day, I inadvertently left my wallet on the gas station counter. Another motorcyclist came running out to me at the pump to hand it to me. I thanked him profusely and he smiled back and gave me a thumbs up. A minute later another polish man at the pump behind me started pointing at my bike and gesturing animatedly. I didn’t understand what he was saying but he gave me a big grin and shook my hand warmly twice. The exchanges brought home the point that although I may live in a different place and speak a different language than the people I meet, we all have the same sense of integrity and thoughts of kindness towards others. So, when it came time to pick a title for today’s post, it seemed fitting to use a phrase from “America the Beautiful” to describe the beautiful countryside I drove through today.
