Today I ran out of gas. Here is why I ran out of gas:

1. I was going through Heves, Hungary, about which my hosts had warned me “you probably don’t want to stop there. A lot of gypsies.”

2. As soon as I entered said city, my gas tank light went on. But I figured I had another 30km or so.

3. The next town, Fuzesabony, was hard to navigate; I wandered around houses for 15 minutes wondering where the hell the y’know businesses are.

4. Gas station #1 in Fuzesabony was closed.

5. Gas station #2 in Fuzesabony was closed. A couple guys in a truck driving by saw my plight and said “Eger.” (Eger was 20km away.)

6. On the road to Eger there was another gas station. Said gas station had no gas. “Benzene. Nem?” “Nem. Eger.”

7. 0.5km from Eger, I ran out of gas. It was all downhill from there. I rolled and walked into the gas station. Yessss!

Also today I almost blew up my bike, and some guys in a car worked some magic. Here is how this happened:

1. My battery died because of the gas thing I guess. I try it every five minutes just in case it will magically start working. Nope.

2. I asked the guys at the gas station if they could give me a jump. “Are you sure that would work, from a car to a bike?” “Nope, I’m not sure at all!” (confer confer) “Actually, it will not work. It would make your battery explode.” Oh.

3. A guy in a scooter pulled in to get gas, and we convinced him to jump my bike. No luck. “Well, I think it is not the battery then.”

4. “Ahh, it is Saturday evening, and all the mechanics are closed. There are mechanics in Eger, but it is Sunday tomorrow and they will be closed too. Do you have anyone you could call?” “Um, not really. Hmm.” “Hmm.”

5. Another car pulled up. The gas station guy conferred with him. “Can you start the bike?” “Okay, I’ll try.” It starts up!

Finally, today I almost did a dumb thing, but I was saved because nothing ever goes wrong ever. Here is an internal dialogue of these events.

1. “My bike is running! My bike is running! I will not turn it off until I reach Miskolc, where I am going to sleep. Worst case, I can deal with it in the morning.”

2. “Well, the closest route is through the national park. 50km, no sweat.”

3. “Boy, those clouds look threatening.”

4. (25km into this 50km road) “I wonder why all those cars are stopping. Oh, a truck is on fire in the road. Okay.”

5. (pulls over, stops the bike, instinctively turns it off.) “fffffffuuuuuu–”

(long pause while the fire department takes care of the truck on fire in the road.)

6. Nothing ever goes wrong ever, the battery was the problem all along, and it starts back up instantly.