Warm and cozy

Today we are safely in a little hotel in Venlo Holland.  Very simple accomodations (used to be a dormitory) but adequate for our needs.  Sadly Holland is not accustomed to this kind of warmth, and so Air Con is unavailable.

Our high for the day was 109, so we opted for a new plan of getting going early, and making sure we were off the road by noon.  That didn't mean that we didn't still stop for breakfast -

Nor did we avoid important tasks like the feeding of all the horses and ponies along the route. Especially draft horses -

And proper ponies-

With babies -

We may have been the first people to offer that horse an apple, and she took to it quite quickly.  Both kids were enthralled with the size of her “schnozzle” as it advanced on their hands -

We are even more of a sight than usual now, trailing our picked-up peacock and emu feathers, and a large bunch of carrots at the ready for feeding at any time...

Tomorrow is purported to be cooler by a few degrees, so we have found a campground about 20 miles further along with (reputed) shade and river access for swimming.  We look forward to it. Hoping for another early start after a good night’s sleep, and an afternoon spent in another river hole. Traveling along Holland’s back road velo routes is now a fun game of Where’s Waldo, trying to find the next sign.  Only a few missed so far, and we still get to see all those things that we are supposed to -

-Dave