Farmland Romania

 Not only do we see lots of brightly colored bee hives along the road, there are lots (5-10 per day that we pass) of trucks with rows of bee hives - usually parked in orchards.  This was an apple orchard.

Shortly after putting my camera back in my pocket, the guard dog came after me (actually, just a little yappy thing) - I generated about 900 watts sprinting away from him.

Glad to have found a battery and have my power meter back.

 Lots of almond orchards today.  This guy was working alone, but lots of families working the trees - lay out some blankets under the tree, whack the tree a bunch of times with a big stick (sometimes climbing part way up the tree to get the upper branches), then collect the almonds off the blankets.

 Besides the basilicas and churches, there are plenty of roadside shrines (or, maybe religious bus stops and places for weary or wet cyclists to rest).  Some are dreary, some are colorful and pretty.  It is noticeable that the Orthodox don't have the fixation on dead Jesus like the Roman Catholics do - more saints and apostles and Jesus giving blessings.  A bit less depressing.

 The road department must have had a backlog of 8% signs - every hill that we went up or down today, no matter how steep, had a sign warning you that it had an 8% gradient.

And, every 2 km there was a sign warning of bad roads for the next 2 km.  They were accurate.

Missing were the signs warning of crazy drivers.  Today was perhaps the worst day in which I've ever been involved, of drivers intentionally running bicyclists off the road - swerving from oncoming lanes, and driving alongside then swinging in toward the bicycle - several forced off the road, and one down into the gravel.

Funny mix of true nastiness, and others who gave us wide berths, slowed down to allow safe pacing, big waves and grins, attempts at English greetings, etc.

Lots of horses on the road - including some gigantic loads of hay, some with the whole family aboard.  Since we traveled at roughly comparable speeds, more interactions and greetings with the horsey set.  And, not a single horse tried to run us off the road.