Day 63 : Romania Holiday cut short but heavy winds

They say a cow can be tipped over and paralyzed for hours.  Some have tried this, and some have seen the eye of the protecting bull, grabbed the bull by the horns, jumped on it's back with no saddle, and rode that baby all the way to Kansas to sell it for auction for more than it's worth, just because of the story... everybody loves a stolen bull at an auction.  Mostly because once a bull leave the state, it falls into another jurisdiction, making it a free bull to anyone tough enough to take the chance.

Some people take bulls and ride them to Kansas, other people, like me, find abandoned tents in the woods and take them down river.... then wait 4 days before using it just at the right time.  The right time?  Now.  Here on a beach with a campfire and a belly full of tuna and ramen... and maybe a little vodka, as the Russians might say. 

It's actually a terrible night to use this tent, on account of the wind factor,  which was the same factor that threw me to shore.  The same factor that dociled my dream of paddling 190km with no sleep, through the night, to the canal that would take me to the Black Sea. 

I feel like I've been a week away for 2 weeks.  And still a week away.  This river keeps, "Draggin' on", as the late Jonny Cash once lyricized.

But that doesn't docile me, cause I ain't no fossil, yet!

I might be dumb, but I ain't stupid.  I'm living good right now.

Apparently today is a Romanian holiday, which is why I'm sleeping on the Bulgarian side, illegally.

The grocery store was packed with hungry, slow poking, G-E-D havin', cant decide which way I'm goin' getters!  They got these carts, no baskets( in case you only need 5 things like me), and the carts take up precious real estate just like the hairy eyebrow droolin' holiday havers do!... And these carts cost 50 lei, which is a simple coin, which I had!  But I didn't pass much math class so I could figure out how to use the cart!  Guess I'm gonna get me a degree!

So I walk in thinkin'," I'll figure it out or carry things in my shirt"  Cause I'm sick of asking all the folks if they speak the international language of English, and mostly too proud, and it was early, for me... 11am.

So I go in, and see a basket them employees use to stock the shelves..... so I steal one!

Not after I tossed a few peaches in the wrong place behind the employees back.

Off I went.  The only AmericaN AND the only customer with a basket, not a cart!

The. Place. Was. Busy.  And I'm used to gettin first dibs from the trash for free at night sorta guy, so this wasn't my type of rodeo, although there were a lot of slow moving cows.  Not fat people, just... slow moving.

I zipped around looking for odd things like zip lock bags, couldn't find em... champagne.... couldnt read the bottle.. protein powder... doesn't exist.  So I went to the basics I've been doing all 2 months at the store.

2 hand fills of granola bars.
4 tuna
1 sausage
2 gallons water
2 candy bars
1 Cracker ... box... not 1 cracker
and that's it!

I went to THE MOST DEVISTATING PART OF MY DAY.  THE CHECKOUT LINE:

People do NOT mess around in the checkout line.  This is more like a "you better check the F outta my way line... or I'm gonna check you over that line..." sorta checkout line.  And remember, it's a holiday, a day to relax.

I'm self aware and lucky enough to identify employees and their eyes.  I observed one employee who sees the mayhem building up.  She talks to another employee, which to me meant "they are opening a new line!"

I got out of line. followed her to the end, and everyone followed me.  So I was 2nd up.  Not bad. And I had like 10 things, pretty good.  One problem..............no cash.

This was bad.  Even though there was a card swipe machine, Romania is still old school and slow when it comes to plastic cash.

I get up to the plate and start with a killer line, "ce faci" which means "how are you".. in Romanian.  She doesn't smile or answer.  I ask if she speaks English and she looks up with 2 lemons in her hand and asks me a question in Romanian.  I say I dont know, forget it, I'll just put them back, dont worry.  Every one in line all of a sudden looks at me with that look like you make when someone isn't paying attention at a green light.... like "omg here we go"  and I know it too.  The people behind me point to a scale.  So I get out of line, go weigh the items and repeat the numbers, this goes on to more confusion.  SO, I say forget it!  The guy behind me in line explains some stupid shit about these stupid lemons, and i put them in my bag. 

Comes time to pay.  Uh oh.

I put my card in..... the wrong way... the lady makes a hussy noise like a baby, rips out the card, reinserts it, and then we wait.... the moment of truth.  I'm so close to leaving with my granola bars and water.  Everyone in line is breathing hot air from hell on me...

The card declines.  I say, okay, I'm just going to go to this atm, ring up these other people, and I'll get back in line.

So I leave the line, make a b line to the atm.  Pull out some money.  And when I come back, I'm expecting the cashier to be taking care of the others, she's not, and everyone is staring at me.  I give her 7 more dollars, say "give it to charity".. I dont wait for the change. and I leave like detention just got out.

I'm sweating right now as I write this.  But I had to tell my story for others to know.  It's not just paddling out here, its dealing with retired hockey players at the grocery store.  

Everyone is checking each other, trying to get their hands on some diapers and laundry detergent, and exotic cheese.

This is why I eat from the dumpster, in case anyone wants to know.

The rest of the day was peaceful, partly cloudy, no meatballs, and calm waters with a beautiful sunset.  Society is not the problem, the problem is that society separated itself from nature, and now it's just confused, not problematic.

Get into nature, hug a tree, preferably one not covered in ants, and breath that good ass prana.

Ain't nothing like a fresh breath of summer time river air.

You think them fishermen got high blood pressure?  I dont think so.

km 435?
not too long to go, maybe 4 days?  hopefully 3!