June 18th: Thessaloniki to Igoumenitas

It was another sweltering day. We were happy to leave that foul smelling city and make our way into the hills surrounding Mt Olympus for our first regularity. It’s weird to think we’ve seen both Fuji and Olympus on this trip. The tight turns up the hills had the body of our car rolling and the wheels now rub on the inside of the fender when that happens. Other than that they went quite well and the hilly roads in between were gorgeous. The MTC was at a seaside cafe in Igoumenitas so Tim, Alican and I went swimming to cool off. Very refreshing after such a hot day! We took off for the ferry dock and drove onto the Kydon Palace, our vessel for the next 19 hours.

The deck had beautiful views of the Adriatic and a nice warm breeze the whole evening. There was a bar and a dance floor that was the hub for all the competitors. We finally got to bed around 2 am but many more stayed up later.