Day 8 – A drive through Romania

all we did was drive and puke all day today….

We were going to see more of Brasov (pronounced Bra-shahv) this morning before we left, but Jack was not moving.  We tried to get some breakfast in him, but all he had was a couple bites of cocoa puffs and a few slices of orange.

Our hotel room was nice (and should be for the money).  It was 2 floors and here are some of the pictures.

 

Our own private courtyard.

 

 

 

 

This was jack in the downstairs bedroom after breakfast.

We had Teo and Tunde come get us in the van at 11:45 (ish) and we headed out of town.  We got on the right road home and left Teo and Tunde at a gas station where they grabbed a cab back into town.  I am so thankful for helpful friends, a cell phone, and a trustworthy van.

We then proceeded back west to Oradea, a 7 hour trip with no air-conditioning.  It was 30 deg. C today which is 86 deg. F.  We had the windows open the whole way home.

Poor Jack, we were trying to get him to drink and stay hydrated today while it was so hot.   At our first stop, we got him some gatorade which he threw-up a few minutes later along with his breakfast oranges.  Since he didn’t eat hardly anything last night at Tunde’s mom and dad’s house, he had to be starving.  Thank goodness for all of our gear that was on the floor in front of him, he did not have too much in his stomach.

So picture this scene….we are on the only major thoroughfare through central Romania, it is 86 outside, no A/C, and you have to stop on the side of the road and clean up a kid and the van.  Not fun.  Jack was such a trooper and Jessica was so patient today.  We were supposed to come back tonight have have dinner with House 6 again, but we called that off.  Jessica was really bummed, but did not put up too much of a fight.  We are all tired.

Couple of notes on the roads…

1. imagine southern Indiana roads where it is only 2 lanes and there are all types of vehicles.  Semis, mopeds, horse and buggy, Audi’s BMW, Vans, Tour busses, motorcycles, walkers on the side of the road.  Everything!!!  And, there is no road rage, you can get right up on someone to pass them and there is no tapping of brakes, or anything that would discourage it.  Cops are only in towns, not in the country.  They do not want to waste the gas.  So, for me, it was kinda fun and challenging to drive this road home.  It would have been way better with A/C.  Our Van is a turbo diesel so it was some torque to get around people. (for you moms and women reading this, it has some “get up and go”).

Some interesting things about the driving though…I was part of a 3-wide incident when an ambulance coming toward me passed the oncoming traffic and I had to keep to my side to let him through.  And, right in front of us was another 3 wide incident where it almost looked commonplace.  Very interesting scenery and driving.

As for Jack, we figured out about 2/3 of the way through the drive that a bag of ice might be good.  We had him hold and and lean on it to keep his fever down.  That worked out well as he stayed cool and made us all feel better. 

OK, some pictures from the way home and then off to bed for me.

This is what a typical village looks like.

 

These are Romanian Dacia (Rhymes with “Gotchya”) cars. They are made here and we followed a lot of these.  I think top speed is about 40mph…we passed them quick too. 

We saw a few trucks like this all over, but the picture is of the sign on the way out of town.  On the way in town it would say the village name.  On the way out, it would have the village name with a red cross through it. (“no more village”)

A shepherd with his sheep.  Right on the side of the highway.  We saw them all over.  There are no fences, so there are shepherds.  In the village last night, we saw a shepherd brining the cows home to milk them.

Off to Budapest tomorrow and on our own after this.  It has been fun in Romania….

Last update on Jack:  He got to bed tonight about 11pm, and had some drinking-yogurt with Vitamin C in it (my own concoction).  He also finished his Gatorade and had some water.  I hope he sleeps till 10am!