Day 95

The panther’s head is ginormous, she looks more like a living doll than a cat. My mum is beautiful and smiling, her skin glows and she is sitting with the panther and stroking her face. My sister is on the other side of the room, busy with something, maybe a book, while white chiffon sheets obscure her. I kneel down next to my mum and give the panther a hug. I do not remember the rest of my dream but think it involved lightning and being stuck in a dangerous and inaccessible location. 

Wiggy told me that he also slept badly, in his nightmare he spent time with his deceased father. He wondered if it had something to do with the strange room we slept in. The room was in a beautiful house, which was filled with art, paintings, warm-washed walls and comfortable furnishings. But our room looked like it was once a child’s bedroom, and modelled to preserve that presence. On the shelves were books and childlike pencil drawings, on the drawers sat a pretty light-up globe, house plants and a model sailship. The place had soul, if you believe inanimate building carry their own life force, this is one to inspect. 

Anyway, the essence of nightmare also leaked into my waking day. The road that led towards Montenegro had fast and sweeping bends that curved around the mountains. I do not like these sorts of roads on little Maloo, especially with her worn-out 50/50 tyres. But, she was feeling even worse than usual today. With my dash reading 4 degrees instead of the recent 24 that was displayed in Morocco, some of the turns made me think Maloo’s front end would wash out if I approached any faster.

Actually, her front end felt really off, like the rim could scrape tarmac.  The rear end was solid but the front made thudding vibrations whenever I picked up speed. I slowed down and repeatedly complained over coms, until… I do not want to talk about the near incident, it still leaves horrible visions in my mind. But I can say that afterwards, I had a dart of adrenalin and a turmoil of emotions running through me. I pulled over and demanded we check my tyre pressures.

15 PSI in the front and 29 in the rear!! My bike should run on 25 in the front and 29 in the rear, no wonder she was feeling like a deflated trout and was so difficult to ride. Wiggy unpacked his tools and plugged in his inflator and when we rode off again, she was fixed! I had confidence cornering again and Maloo’s handling was a hundred times better.

On the itinerary side of things, we passed from Serbia into Montenegro today. The border was smooth and we saw a load of curious dogs. One sat by the booths and stared at the cars coming in, possibly a drugs sniffer dog. Then there were the dogs that chased us when we passed through the border, and also the cute stray that Wiggy gave a biscuit to. The stray came back with 5 cute and fluffy pups a few minutes later. 

We are in a basic cabin-like structure on the outskirts of a town tonight. My body is stressed and my shoulders are knotted. I do a Google search and look for a masseuse; only two results come up. Tomorrow, we will slow down and stop off in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, and fingers crossed, we’ll be able to book a session.