Luxury Bike Travel

To Northeim, Germany -- 41.0 miles, 11.5 mph, 1400 ft

The rain started up again around 5:00 AM -- apparently, Meg knows cause she was playing Words With Friends with...er, friends. This was definitely the coldest morning yet, so we dug out our tights, rain jackets, and hats for breakfast. Once again, the rain stopped in time for us to tear down camp and get on the road. I knew buying those rain paints in Italy would keep us from having to actually wear them.

For the first part of the ride, we decided to give up on Miss Cranky and brave the shoulder-less road to get some miles in on the moderate 8-mile climb.

The days are definitely starting to run together -- pack up the tent, ride, admire the views, find a grocery store for lunch, avoid the rain, find the next camp, set up the tent, eat dinner, repeat.

At the Rewe grocery store today, Dex asked for a pair of socks and informed us he needs pants. Really?  Apparently the fancy REI zip off pants aren't warm enough, especially if you don’t wear them!

Grocery stop

Dex with Kindle and leggings

The rest of the day was uneventful as we pedaled along the same road for miles, first through the university town of Gottingen and then through Northeim to our final destination at the Sultmer Berg Campground, conveniently located at the the top of the steepest street in town. Dex called out Kylie yesterday for riding with no hands much of the time. Hmm, I wondered if that has any effect on her power output?

For the 4th night in the row, we are camping -- not a bad little spot. I'm just trying to figure out, though, when all the tourists come. Judging from the row of stalls in the bathrooms, they definitely expect crowds at some point. Last night's tiny campground had no fewer than 8 stalls in the men’s bathroom, but there's still hardly anyone here.

Meg was bummed tonight when I informed her we would probably hit 1900 miles, but not 2000 before the end of the ride. I think I'll let her and Dex crank out a hundred mile loop once were at Bjorn's house in Sweden. Incredibly, after six weeks since Barcelona, the days are numbered.  In a major departure from our typical last minute planning, we’ve penciled in an approximate schedule all the way to Sweden.

I've been keeping track of our daily expenses since the beginning of the trip. Meg has begrudgingly accepted my constant inquiries, “How much was that?”  Surprisingly, our expenses have been steadily dropping since Italy. We were scared away from eating out in Switzerland dropping our daily cash flow from ~250 in Italy to only ~175 In Switzerland.  Here in Germany, we've shied away from hotels for the most part. That, along with cheap groceries and and eating dinner at the basic campground kiosks or cafes, has dropped our expenses to just over $100 a day -- luxury bike travel at its finest.