Landmines and Mountains and Bears, Oh My

I have crossed the border into Croatia ( Sunday) and should be in Plitvicka National Park tomorrow. It will be a good place to ring in the summer solstice.

 Slovenia was great, short and sweet. I found myself on some quiet, forested backroads and one that went through a Ntl Park. I camped next to a stream that cut through a rockface creating a natural bridge. It was very peaceful until about 3 AM when the frogs started croaking. One sounded as if it were saying, "Felix, don't do it!". It felt like I was in some B horror movie. My last meal was in a small village with nearly all consonants in the spelling of the name. The style of the food was local and my server had been to Cleveland before for a big Slovenian reunion. I got a bowl of fresh forest foraged mushroom soup, fresh picked greens from the garden out back, smoked then cooked salmon plus potatoes with leeks. The costs are half then they were in Italy so I could indulge. It sure beat the tunafish in a toothpaste tube I tried the day before. Hours later at the border, Babno Polje, the woman running the bar was making someone an ice cream sundae. I ordered a juice. She gave me a juice then poured me a shot of some clear spirits and insisted I drink it. I gave in and merrily walked to the border.

Croatia joins the EU on July 1 so I am one of the last to get passport stamps at this very unused border. The mountains on the Croatia side are much bigger and my first two days have seen some hefty climbing up and down. The slopes are steeper and the forests choked with tall pine and deciduous trees sometimes so impenetrable I could not even put two feet inside. They are home to wolf, lynx and bear and locals shudder when I tell them I sleep in the forest at night.

Croatia is so full of mountains and dense forests, it's a veritible lumberjack's wet dream. And those saws are going all day long. Homes have dropped timber in their front yards that they then splinter into jumbo wood piles; the winters must be long and brutal here. This place seems rougher around the edges. Some villages look Bavarian while others are recovering from the war. I am starting to see abandonded homes with bullet holes all over the walls. Some villages have dramatic statues, the one with the young man hurling a hand grenade sticks out. But there a flowers everywhere and people seem reasonably happy. I have been offered alcohol each morning as I pass someone's house too. Maybe this is how they learned to cope.

I now spend money called kuna. It is not cheap here. A couple place names I've walked through: Gorica, Crni Lug, Ravna Gora, plus a super forest road from Vrbovsko to Ogulin. I have to be careful now because there are leftover mines from the war. I knew to expect this but I was not entirely sure where to worry. Well, that day is here. Know that I will take all precautions to be safe, esp when camping at night. My maps aren't the best either but I'm making do with what I have. And with that I am going to go becuz i may lose this again....bad computer. ps: i have gotten recent emails but cannot reply from this computer for some reason. thank you.
 this is not proofread.