Everything you need to know about driving in Poland is summarized on a large sign just as you cross the border. Memorize it. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Speed limits change with the configuration of the road, the presence of buildings, the time of day, and the type of vehicle you’re operating. Trucks are allowed 50 kph (about 31 mph) while cars can cruise at 140 kph (87 mph). Watch your mirrors!

As I had not planned to actually tour Poland, I had no paper maps to spur my curiosity and had to rely on downloaded Googlemaps or maps.me. Problem is, on the mobile navigation apps, I could not figure out a way of “avoiding highways.” I was being relegated to the very excellent Berlin-Warsaw autostrada. For a super-slab, this is an extremely good road. The overpasses, especially, are aesthetically designed and the most interesting I have seen. Some are suspended, some are arched. They have completely unnecessary but attractive decorative features that kept me looking for the next one. An interesting diversion. Of course, I brought my weather with me. When I ride, it rains and I had a partial day of drizzle.

Poland proved to be quite a bit more economical than Germany— which was a bargain after Scandinavia. Roadhouses often had rooms to let at campground prices, restaurants served food that I associate with my mother’s home cooking, and beer for a stack of Zlotys that equated to about two bucks. I spent the night at a hotel behind a gas staion for $27. Breakfast included.

Going to Lithuania from Poland, one has to be sure Google doesn’t send you through Kaliningrad, an odd vestige of World War 2 that the Russians held on to after they “liberated” Lithuania, Poland and East Prussia. This little island of a colony requires a Russian visa, expensive and unavailable at the border to a U.S. citizen. The other mistake is a route through Belarus, also more trouble than one expects in modern Europe. The shared frontier between Lithuania and Poland has only a few crossings that appear on the map and I told my phone to head for the city of Alytus which would get me off of the expressway. The route was worth it— a well-paved, little-used two-laner through wonderful farmland with rolling fields of rape and other grasses.

The ride was so pleasant, I forgot to stop and soon found myself in Lithuania as night fell. Although I had planned to sleep along the way and then visit some friends in Vilnius the next day, I carried on through the deer-infested forests near Druskininkai to Kaunas. This is where I had started about  a month earlier. I arrived in time for a bowl of hot beet soup and night’s rest in the “sauna-summer house” that had been my digs while getting ready for the trip. 

I awoke the next morning with a strong interest in going for a motorcycle ride. How does that work? I like driving too, but if I were to take a 4-week roadtrip, even in an interesting car, I’d be 100% done when I got home. I packed some rain gear and headed to Vilnius. Did the same thing the next day! I was close to my plane flight from Riga to London and I couldn’t quite figure out what I would do in the UK without a bike. The thought of riding to Mongolia popped into my noggin. Summer’s coming!