Last Night on the Road

Saturday July 21st
Gluckstadt, Germany



1:11 pm. Made it! Had a goal of getting to the ferry to Gluckstadt by noon on Saturday. Set that goal in Bremen. And I was there at 11:30 am! I didn't know when it ran or how often but I needn't have worried. Every 20 minutes! It's a freeway!





So now I'm 20 kms from Elmshorn and can go at my preferred pace.

Sitting in a cafe sipping a luscious strawberry milkshake.


Ahhhh! And no wifi in town. I'm gonna check with the hotel before leaving. I see a great business venture: bring wifi to Germany! You'll make a bundle!!!

Sunny day too. Woke up to it! Sure does raise the spirits. (Wifi would raise them a bit more:))

6:30 and I'm parked for the night on the edge of a field on a back country lane. I had to wander around a bit to find my spot but I think I'll be unbothered here tonight. And I have about 5-10 kms to go tomorrow to meet up with Heike which isn't til 1 pm. After pushing every day I'll have time to sit and read a book tomorrow. Hope the sun cooperates.

My last night in my tent, on the road anyways, is always bitter sweet. I am ready to come home. I've tried on the idea of taking a train to Italy but I just don't want the hassle of another culture, language, rules, and loneliness. I know no one there. It would be "the same, but different". I'll save that for when I find a biking partner. And maybe plan it with hostels and campgrounds. It's not sounding as much fun already:)

No regrets. Everything happened as it should have. Perfectly imperfect:)



Home on Wednesday and on to other adventures. Looks like I'll be joining dear friends from the AT (Appalachian Trail) for their final stretch. Willing and Abal will be doing the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine the beginning of Sept and have invited me to join them. Sounds like a plan! It's taken them 5 years to section hike the trail and I've joined for a bit every year except last year. I hope this biking has conditioned me for climbing Katahdin:). I remember it was a doozy and that was after 2100 miles of hiking!

Gute nacht,

BagLady


Love this family in blue cycling together...note 4th on sidewalk.

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Getting Close

Friday, July 20th

11:00 am I slept 11 hours last night. Woes me, guess I was tired! And awoke to no rain. Packing up dry! Felt a bit odd. Stumbled around on the route this morning off course twice already. I'm getting much braver. Not afraid that they won't speak English. Even if they don't, I think they can help me. This morning I stopped a car to get help. That's a first in Germany.



And now I'm in a little restaurant getting my coffee for the morning. Had a fruchplunder (fruit Danish) from the grocery store for breakfast 10 minutes ago when I was getting today's salad for dinner and some bread. Needed to charge both phones so when I found this spot, I'm getting coffee, charging and lunch all at once!! Donertasche. That's what I'm having. Gyro meat in a wrap. I'll be giving up meat again when I get back home, but here it's such a big part of the diet and would really limit my options.



I passed through the prettiest area this morning. Findorf. Beautiful homes and gardens. Otherwise it's most farm land. Also beautiful, but in a different way.


7:30 pm I'm camped out in the open this evening on a quiet lane on the edge of field in the woods...sorta. Can't be in the dark deep woods again. I can't see why anyone would mind and I need to get my mojo back. Some men out for an evening bike ride had stopped on the road and were commenting about the bike, so I stuck my head out, but my English scared them away. They were smiling and friendly though. If someone comes, I'm not moving. They can darn well haul me off to jail. It's a dry evening though after another day of rain on and off. And I'm enjoying having my tent open and the evening light pouring in. The field has oats swaying in the breeze...stiff breeze at that...but the woods block me from the worst of it. And the sky has...no, had...the most beautiful white fluffy clouds against a blue background. It's cloudy now...the grey, rainy kind. Don't know how long the dryness will last.

2nd the last night on the road. Very ready to come home!

Gonna keep this short and sweet...oh, oh, heard a car...is this the time...no, guess not...no one's is there.

Oh I do want to share about trying to find postcards and cash in the last sizeable town. No one wanted to speak English with me. One gracious woman, when I went to the bank and it was already closed, worked with me though to finally tell me where an ATM was. I don't know what they call it here, but it's the machine that I put a card in and I get euros out! But postcards were hard. DId finally get a couple but I had to ask and ask and ask. And when they do use some English with me, I thank them for it! And I love the folks that at least try and help me and don't just look at me like I'm some creature from Mars...I get that sometimes. Lunch ordering today was stumbling but I managed to ask enough questions pointing and he answered and pointed...and we figured it out together. He had some English though, so that helped too.

Ok, going to bed early and hoping for a long uninterrupted night. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

BagLady


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone