Off the road

We are temporarily and happily ensconced in the loving arms of our friends Melissa and Michele in their palatial house up above Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland.

Michele is looking great (as always) after his big fight with Leukemia last year, and Melissa has been spoiling us with wonderful Italian / Mexican dishes and hospitality.  We haven’t been able to find any beans with which to make a trip version of a burrito, so tonight Melissa made an amazing black bean, guacamole, and chicken burritos that were wonderful.  Especially with her family recipe for Margaritas...
The kids are enjoying some downtime in the mornings, a little simple time while Massimo and Giovani are in school. Even though it is very hot (100 today) in a land without any air conditioning, we have hopes for a breeze tonight and a rumored 10 degree drop tomorrow.  Luckily there is a local park/beach on the lake, so both afternoons and evenings have been spent in the water cooling off.  It is an amazing community resource where the entire village appears to gather, swim, drink, and visit when the weather gets hot.  Some shade, lots of grass, and a few stands to keep the kids in cold things and the adults well hydrated.  We were given a wealth of information about places we MUST see in the Netherlands from a very nice lady there tonight.  There is so much support from the people we meet for our adventure, with constant suggestions for places we can’t miss and good places to camp and the like.  This kind of travel is universally respected and encouraged for all its many benefits to the family.

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For people who can’t get enough of mundane details, something as simple as returning a van to the airport can take on the epic qualities that seem to accompany us everywhere.  An easy hour-and-a-half drive, but the map lady routed me through the woods and several villages before finally giving up and allowing me to get on the highway. Then the regular hunt for fuel near the airport, that inevitably has several missed turns requiring multiple visits to the same intersections trying subtly different variations on the phone’s request for "turn left,” until eventually you get to the gas station. Then to the car drop, which is in a different country, which means that when you mistakenly pass the drop-off spot, you get to leave the country and go back to the original, then spin all the way around the roundabout and back through the customs zone yet again...  I thought of Joe Arsenault today, while contemplating trying to do a 87-point turn on the tiny airport road (ala Austin Powers) with the van to avoid another trip out of the airport and into town to turn around.  Joe would understand.

Then the man who receives the van explains that while there is a train station at the airport, it is only accessible if you have a plane ticket, and that I would need to take the bus across town, departing from the gas station.  Luckily he took me back there so I didn’t have to walk the mile plus in the heat, and then it was just a simple issue of wrong currency, lack of ticket, and languages between me and the train station.  Geneva is incredibly diverse, and the train station is no different, with folks walking, riding, and on scooters all through the station.  Another fine day of travel experiences. 

Tomorrow we will get the kids’ sleeping bags washed and hung, a little bike maintenance done, and use this fine internet to plan out the remainder of our adventure to make sure that it will all fit in.

We expect to take advantage of Saturday and Sunday to do some more wandering with our hosts and seeing what this lovely country has to offer with cooler weather.

Even though it is hot, and we are being lavished with comforts here, I can’t wait to get back on the road and onto the paths and back roads that feel so comfortable compared to big cities, freeways, and train stations.  There is a lot for us to explore between now and mid-August, and I can’t wait to see it!

-Dave