The riding today was better than yesterday. Less traffic. More scenic. No big climbs, but lots of little steep ones. It kind of got repetitive: descend to town, cross bridge, steep ascent. If you look at the elevation profile, that pattern repeated ten times. Distance goal achieved today. An ambulance must have passed me five times, going all over the place in different directions. At one point, I was standing on the side of the road and it pulled up next to me. There were two men and a woman and they immediately spoke in English and I told them I was from America and on my way to Georgia / Gürcistan. The driver said “In Türkçe we say Maşaallah” - and I didn’t know what to say in response. So, after they drove off, I looked up Mashallah, and it translates to: “God has willed it,” and I started to think about how well things have been working out. For example, I got to Tirana on the same day that my cassette was becoming so loose that my low gears were failing. If I had taken the main mountainous route in Albania, things could have been much more difficult. Also, my stay in Istanbul with Dan and Lothar went very well; we were able to help each other. I invited them to stay at an Airbnb. Dan is a bicycle mechanic and he helped me restore my brakes and tire. I also think about all the people who I’ve met or reunited with on this trip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashallah?wprov=sfti1#