Simple is ok too

Very little cell signal tonight, so maybe no pictures.

Today was a simple day.  We rode our bikes from a big city out into the country, and ended up at a campsite next to the Rhine river.

Our night in the hotel worked as we hoped, with the kids getting 11 hour nights, and Liv and I doing well also. We used the time to rest and do more planning to figure out how to keep on time for our train from Mainz to Bayreuth at the end of the week.  We have been trying to shoe horn in a side trip to Heidelberg to see an old family friend of mine, but even though it is only 15 miles or so off route, we just can’t make it work.  We will see if we can get her a train ticket to where we will be camping, and go from there.  Hard to tell what can be done, as we will be on the other side of the river, etc.

Laying out the route from campsite to campsite is critical when the time gets tight, as you can’t just take the total distance and divide by the number of days.  With campgrounds being slightly off route, and the official route being slightly different than the phone route, it is easy to end up with too far to go at the end.  So far, things look good for us to be able to take care of all our tasks and make our connections.

Even though Ruby is still suffering from her eye problems and gets a little lethargic when dosed up with Benadryl, we still had a fine ride.  We started the day with an in-room breakfast that I procured from the highly regarded boulangerie down the street, which was nicer than our regular granola.  Liv did all the shopping for the day (the continent is mostly closed on Sunday) and we fought our way out of town.  These large towns take ages to get into or out of, with their large industrial edges.  You would not notice this in a car on the motorway, but when riding it can be at least an hour.  We are village riders for sure.

It was fun to finally see the Rhine again, since we are supposedly following it but haven’t seen it for days.  We will be on levees tomorrow mostly, but may end up in Germany — we aren’t quite sure. The weather has finally broken and we are really enjoying the lower temperatures.  I feel stronger and am less tired at the end of the day, to be sure.  Hopefully the cooler temperatures will lessen the recovery time as well.  Things look good through the week, and maybe wet at the weekend when we will be off the bikes anyway.  

Ruby and Lyle are still great companions for each other, and great companions for Liv and me as we ride.  We are so lucky to be able to make this trip happen.

-Dave