Driven

Say what you will about the drivers and driving in Albania. I mean it. We were warned about the drivers and driving in Albania. They weren't exceptional in safety. The many many roadside memorial monuments attested to that fact. They were cooperative in an anarchic way. Even at high speed on a thin road the drivers would give room to a donkey driven cart, or one of the improvised motorcycle-halfcarts. And to us. We were rarely crowded. We were given the friendly honk on a regular basis. Sometimes too often. After 50 plus miles of dragging a trailer with sore bum and sore hands even a friendly honk would sometimes set my teeth on edge. Or I would bare them in a less friendly response. People in Albania were almost all surprisingly friendly, even assaultively so at times. Immediately after crossing the border in to Montenegro things change. It is tidier, cleaner, prettier, not quite as friendly, and the drivers don't honk as often out of friendliness. They do not share the road. This place could use several 'share the road with bicyclists' stickers. Or, at least a 'don't aim for the bicyclist' stickers. I also came to a universal realization. I was never sure about this but had always guessed that people who drive BMW cars and Audi cars were not just complete and total inconsiderate jerk wads in the states. Now I have proof. Of all the worst, fastest, most selfish and inconsiderate drivers that we have comes across, who have buzzed us, and have acted like complete and entirely terrible human beings, it has 100 per cent always been German driven cars. The breakdown has been 65% BMW, 39% Audi and 13% Mercedes. It became even more starkly apparent and clear once we started riding in Montenegro. I realized that those cars were equipped and filled with air bags as well as douche bags. A non safe combination, at least for us. We've ridden something around 500miles so far and very few of those miles were flat or in the sun. My fingers are crossed for the next 500 being a bit more sun shiny.