Saturday September 20, 2008
Happy Birthday Daddy!

Ok so today I am going with jean-Pascal and Stephan on a ricci (Recon mission)! Super secrete spy stuff, no not really, we are going to scout a road that we can use as an alternate route if need be, this thing is steep and twisty. To bad we are in a 4-runner, a nice Ferrari or Porsche is what is called for today! But we are stuck with a 4-runner and a 55 mph or 90 kmh limiter! That blows!

Well Jean-Pascal is driving and I am navigating, when we got on the road I told him we needed helmets and microphones so I could call the road out like they do in rally racing! He laughed and said, Ahh Mark, you are familiar with this? I said, Jean, if its got wheels and a motor, and it goes fast, I am into it! Oh French fry was driving like he was in a race but when you hit the limiter it ruins the feel. So while we were driving there was a small junction and we could see up the road, French KFOR. So we turned in and were greeted by a cute blonde-haired person in camouflage with a rifle. Hey, is that Punk, oh never mind! So she waves’ us through after she realized Jean is a Ranking officer in the French Military. We get to the top of the Hill and they are setting up to shoot. It was funny because these two young soldiers were running down the hill with these large bundles of balloons. It was something you would see in a spoof movie. Just imagine, Fully armed, in camo running with balloons and rifles down a mountain path! So anyway, we stay and watch them shoot. That was cool. The rest of the story is a secret but I bet you can figure it out if you look at the pictures! What an amazing day! Would have never dreamed it, damn good shooting at a 100 meters I might add! So, we leave there and head back out on the road, now we have eight hours to cover 17KM and it takes us 28 min! So now we head to a little Serbian Monastery in the mountains. It was nowhere as cool as the first one but it was neat. It was built in the 1200’s! it was partially destroyed in the war and is being rebuilt piece by piece by the monks! People and governments offered to rebuild it but they refuse to let anyone out side work on their buildings. All the work is done by them.

While there I saw some honey, now I have become a huge fan of hone since I have been here. This is probably the best honey on the planet. So I was asking about the honey they were selling and the Monk said, oh you don’t want this honey. The quality is no good and it is not from the monastery. You need to go south and get your honey there. OK thanks!
The rest of the day was good.