A week of sorting things out by riding around the Lithuanian countryside helped me discvover a few “issues” with the TransAlp that took days of head-banging and trial and error to sort out. In the end, it turned out to be a “high-speed fuel starvation” problem. It’s source eluded us and all local motorcycle mechanics appeared to be on vacation or away to some idyllic lakeside cottage for the several days.

Finally found a fellow whose shop was hidden behind several warehouses in an area that looked like an abandoned Soviet-era factory of some sort. Walking in, I noticed two KTM Adventures with their motors disassembled, a Yamaha Tenere also torn down, and a belt-drive Harley with the rear-end apart. A good sign. The average grease monkey can not find his way aound an instrument as fine as a KTM. He also was wearing sandals (all eastern European mechanics wear sandals) and had a spider tatooed on his neck. This had to by MY MAN!

Two hours later, my cousin delivered mer back to the shop. The mechanic said he could find nothing out of order but he did adjust the float bowl levels, an issue we had considered earlier but didn’t know exactly how to do get at them. He took no money saying “I didn’t fix anything.” He suggested going for a fast ride and letting him know if the fuel starvation problem was gone. It was. And the man was paid.

The Lithuanian countryside is most remarkable for two things, in my view. The unexpected roadside crosses which stand 10 to 15 feet high in front yards, gardens, or in the pictured case, at an exit off of a super highway from the capital to the seaside. Secondly, the stork population. Storks fly from Africa to Lithuania every summer to have their young and enjoy the weather.  Out in the country, it is not unusual to see a pair of storks with their nest at the top of a power pole. They are everywhere and always remind me of this gentle agrarian land.

To be honest, I must also admit that visits to small breweries where they make farmhouse country ales of unusual quality in barns, garages and even micro-breweries, increases my interest in Lithuania.