Muggy and Buggy

To Faxe, Denmark -- 46.4 miles, 11.7 mph, 1150 ft

Meg woke up at 5:00, her normal time (apparently) and once again tried to buy plane tickets to South Africa, but to no avail.

It was surprisingly hot, muggy, and buggy today. There was the definite smell of smoke in the air during the hazy “morning” portion of the ride. We eventually decided it must be farmers burning their fields after passing a blackened field later in the day.  Annoyingly, there have been thousands of tiny flying bugs around the last couple days, and though you don't really see them, you constantly have the feeling (accurately so) that there's something crawling on your face, ears, arms, and legs. 

We shopped at Lidl market during our lunch stop, which, to our disappointment, looked to be a true discount store, with a poorer selection and boxes slashed open and stuck on the shelves. Lunch was once again on our our red Barcelona blanket, still going strong after eight weeks. 

To our delight, the scenery improved noticeably after lunch as we rode closer to the coast, accompanied by a welcomed, cooling breeze.  The campground I thought we were heading to turned out to just be someone’s big farm house (thanks, Google!) Luckily, though, there was another spot just up the road. 

The Feddet campground is another gigantic place and was really hopping. On the upside, despite the crowds, there were tons of amenities, and Dex couldn't wait to try out one of them: the dozens of different cool pedal cars. He and Kylie had a great time exploring the camp while Meg and I settled into a not-very-secluded tent spot by the beach. Afterwards, Meg hit the showers, while I opted for a quick dip at the narrow sandy beach, washing off the sweat and bugs. I'm still flabbergasted at how warm the water is here. We’ve been in pool water that's colder. 

For once the WiFi was blazing, and I actually managed to get a FaceTime call through to Mom. It was great to see her and even better that she was feeling as good as at any other time during the summer, after taking a round of antibiotics. 

For dinner, the camp restaurant was booked, so we settled for fast food fare from the kiosk -- pizza, chicken strips, and french fries while playing a round of mini golf. And this was not your average course, easily the nicest one we've played.  The layout was challenging, complete with astroturf and flags to mark the cup.

It was a beautiful evening and even now, a month after the solstice, the sky is not yet dark at 11:00. Another chapter read of our family book and the sound of waves on the shore capped off the night.