After I have chosen to continue traveling by myself, the first stop where I spent some more time was Celje in north eastern Slovenia. I did pick it just because I saw a nice looking parking spot on the map when I was searching for a place to stay for a little while. It turned out to be a lot better than I thought, even though I have to claim my first losses 

The night before I got to Celje I spent in Zagorje ob Savi next to a small fishing pond. Which was ok, but not to be recommended since I ended up still being in the city which didn’t show on my map. The issue was, that I did all my laundry on Saturday in Ljubljana and I mean everything! So with no option to hang my stuff outside to dry I turned the inside of the bus into a gypsy cloth dryer. The next morning I left quite early since I felt really like being watched from all sides.

My GPS showed me a nice little campground right on the riverfront just a few kilometers away. So off we go… to find the campground being nonexistent anymore, if it ever did. Moving on… to… ehmm… Celje I guess?

I arrived in Celje on Sunday May 14^th at a parking lot just outside the city but right by the river. So for everybody that might wanna go there and check it out: 46.225472, 15260848, right at end of the parking lot are 6 RV spots. Parking for RV’s is free, I was even able to grab the WiFi of the sportsclub next door, electricity is 0,5€ per KW/h if you need any. Even though I have my solar panels, I indulged into the luxury of spending 20 Cents to have my cooler running from the grid. Parking Dr. Jones into the RV spot I realized really quick, that the T3 is not considered standard camper size I guess, looks kind of lost there :)

After spending the first day of reorganizing everything in the bus and doing some work, the next day was all mine to spent just the way I wanted. The weather thought otherwise though, so I spent the day reading and uploading some video looking at the rain outside. Now, Tuesday was gonna be my day. I enjoyed the sun, went biking up and down the river and even went up to the nearby castle. On my way back I found a fresh water outlet in the mountains fresh mountain water, awesome! I went back to the bus to grab some containers and refill my water supply. So let’s just call it a day then.

After having the place all to myself, apart from people coming and going to the sportsclub, during the day, another camper arrived during the night. When I went ahead to say “hi” to my new neighbor I got to know Tit and Luna, Tit actually being from Celje but preferring to drive around the area and mostly live in his RV. Luna, a German Great Dane being the size of little pony looked like she could occupy the entire back of the Van just for herself for sleeping. Tit and me got of to a good start right away, since we shared the same views and attitude towards live. He used to be a professional mountainbiker for 20+ years and has now retired (I guess he is mid 30) and lives the good life! We decided to meet again later for a little canoe tour on the nearby lake.

For the rest of the midday I went up for a short hike into the forest just behind the RV parking lot, to discover a big treehouse Tit told me about. After roaming the woods and having some lunch we met up again and headed to the nearby lake (46.275803, 15.258318) for the paddling tour. He and Luna took a canoe while I went with a small sporty kayak, which turned out to be a mistake because I was just zickzacking and spinning out all over the place. Didn’t fall in, and still had a great time though! We went to a small kiosk to get something to drink, enjoyed the sun, the solitude and talked about life, traveling and personal attitude towards life. He told me a nice quote (I forgot who it is really from): Your mind is like a parachute, if it’s is closed it’s not gonna help you much!

After coming back to the cars some friends of him joined us, we had something to eat and Gingerbread for dessert. Yes, Gingerbread in mid May! :)

Since the place by the lake seems to be quite nice I decided to stay here for a night or two and enjoy the view and relative silence it offers. Yesterday (Thursday) I thought it is about time for me to have a shower. So I dug out my water bag filled it with water and laid it in the sun to heat up. After about one hour I came to check out if it needs to be moved into the sun again. What I saw then I still can’t believe: some ass-clown stole the valve of my waterbag! Now what is he gonna do with that??? It will only fit onto this bag, he left the bag so I guess he was in no desperate need for a shower! Basically he/she stole a part that is useless to him/her that renders what is left useless to me as well. I can’t just get a replacement as well, because it is custom made for this special kind of waterbag. That is like stealing somebody’s used toothbrush, you are not gonna be able to use it or sell it, and the person you stole it from is really fucked. No shower, means more stinky-Ben for everybody! Bravo!

Of course I can use one of my other 2L water bags in the meantime, makes you shower faster and more efficient. I hated this endless showering all the time anyway. I went so far and even turned down a shower in Tit’s RV the evening before. Well, can’t change it and won’t let it bother me any further. Moving on, enjoy the day, life is good!

How good life really is, was shown to me about one hour later. Tit and Luna showed up again, and we went on another boat-tour, swimming and chilling in the sun. After we got back he asked me if we want to go for a short bike tour around the lake. Of course I wanted to, so I got my bike off the carrier, put my helmet on and was good to go. Then Tit showed up, wearing his professional bike gear… and I remembered… this guy used to be a professional mountainbiker… oh oh! The tour he took me on was amazing! I was sweating like crazy and I could almost hear Frank complaining about the abuse, but yeah that was big fun! Thank you Tit for the good times. Keep living your life the way you do!