Max's batteries... and a lazy rain day.

Max has two 100 AH 12 volt AGM deep cycle batteries. He also has two 100 watt solar panels to keep those batteries charged.

For comparison, our North American motorhome Sherman had four 225 AH 6 volt wet cell batteries, and three 80 watt solar panels.

That's quite a bit of difference. Our usage is quite high given that we are on our laptops a lot. 

Lots of good free camping spots

Saturday was a beautiful day. Sunshine, with a high around 20C (68F). Above average for this area at this time of year. So we got the bikes off and went for a bike ride.

First we went south along the beach road as far as we could go. Lots of good free wild camping (boondocking) spots. Only one problem though. Mosquitoes! There are a lot of marshy areas, and that usually means bugs. Bugs and I don't get along!

Off to the beach!

It was time for a change of scenery, so we did the short 44 km (27 mile) drive to the coastal resort town of Shëngjin. 

Wasn't quite sure what to expect as we hadn't been here in the spring. It turns out that Shëngjin has a really nice beach. There is also a small shipping port. But it's a growing resort area, with a lot of hotels and rental accomodation.

This lifestyle is not for everyone

Katja and Yves came over to say goodbye. We had given them some tips for what to see on their way south through Albania, and they had given us some tips on our planned trip to Norway next summer because they had spent a lot of time there this year.

And then they gave us a tour of their rig.

Views above Shkoder, and evening visitors!

Not much sunshine on Wednesday, but the temperature was a pleasant 18C (66F). In fact, perfect conditions to go for a hike. 

I found a nearby trail that runs up above the hill in behind where we are parked, so we set off just after 10:00am for what turned out to be a really nice hike!

Have I mentioned that we love Albania?

We spent the morning puttering around and getting Max ready to move across the river. Weather has been nice... highs around 20C (68F) and clouds with sunny periods. We haven't had to use our furnace since we got into Bosnia, although I'm sure some chillier evenings are coming. 

Did all the maintenance chores like filling the fresh water tank, and emptying the holding tanks and then did the five minute drive to our next location! Gotta love short driving days!

Sometimes things just have a way of working out

When we arrived in Shkoder on Saturday, our original intention was to stay for a full week. We had been traveling almost every day for the whole month of October, and we just needed some down time. Shkoder has a lot of places we could ride our bikes to, and it's just a good place to relax. 

The camping place we wanted to stay at was a reasonable €10 a night and we were prepared to pay that for a week. But when we arrived, it was full of mud from the recent rains.

A bigger job than I thought it was going to be!

Sure enough, as they forecast, Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day! It was so nice to have sunshine and blue sky. It was even shorts and t-shirt weather, with the high temperature going up to 24C (75F). 

Fantastic.

And so, it was a perfect day to repair Max's leaking bathroom roof vent.

Happy to be back in Albania!

But we're a little disappointed we didn't get to see more of Montenegro. The weather just wasn't cooperating. We saw enough to know that we will need to return and spend more time there, and that's okay too. I can see us doing variations of this north to south (and vice versa) route several times in the coming years.

We went to pay our bill at Autokamp Titograd near Podgorica at about 10:00am, but we really didn't want to leave. The family that runs the place is so friendly and welcoming and of course we had to sit down and have a coffee with them before we left. We will return there for sure one day.

Heading into Albania today

Yes, Max's bathroom roof vent is still dripping. My quick repair in the dark slowed it down a little, but didn't stop it. I'm not surprised. Fortunately, it drips right onto the floor of our shower, so the water just drains away not really hurting anything.

But we're still confused about how this happened to begin with. I was almost convinced it was a stress crack from the twisting motion of the body caused by putting one wheel on a ramp higher than the others, but when I put it down off the ramp, the gaps on the damaged vent didn't change at all. It's very strange.