Sometimes watching laundry can be fun

We are in Kassel. I am very excited to do some laundry. Our last pitch had many geese in it and our blue picnic blanket need a good wash. Some drunk Dutch campers took some pictures of me picking up goose shit off the ground with toilet paper. Many of the sober Germans in the laundry mat gave me some quizzlical looks when I started snapping pictures of my laundry spinning. I promise it looked a lot cooler than this picture.



:: rolling post. ride on.

A couple of quick Rhine days

It rained! We finally had a real rain day - almost all day - and we were so grateful. The heat has made us sometimes sluggish and sometimes just grumpy (Ramona), so we rejoiced in the opportunity to wear our rain gear (which has so far just been heavy). Thank you Jim C for saying the rain hats are great - because they have been GREAT!



We passed this tractor...



And some old stuff and steep vineyards...




Our final Rhine campsite was right on the water. Joshua is competing with himself for best shelter ever.



This is the Marks Castle:




The following day (Fri, July 23rd) was short, only about 15km to Koblenz. From there we took the train to Kassel, so we would have time to hang out and relax. And here are aunt Sibylle, cousin Ray, and his daughter Nathalia, being goofballs in Kassel:

Oberspay

I was having a hard time with our dinner menu.




Quote of the day from Ramona in response to my asking, "what is würgzige?": "it doesn't matter. I know they do a lot of meat in this country, but you can't verb meat."

It was a long walk back to our pitch.









Chez nous.



Tonight we have a lovely Rhine side view of the river barges.








:: rolling post. ride on.

Bye Nahe River

We followed the Nahe river for 2 spectacular days from its source to the Rhine.









Tchüss! What a fun ride.

:: rolling post. ride on.

Rolling out of Kirn

My kickstand broke yesterday, so now I lean my bike on trees.





If something can fall off your bicycle, it will. Tally so far: bottle of advil, 1 sarong, 2 handkerchiefs, 1 bottle of sun screen. I decided to get serious about preserving my marriage after losing ramona's flip flops in some French city. I had to ride 5k back to get them.





Can a Chinese carbeener hold a pair of brazillian flip-flops to a German bag?

:: rolling post. ride on.

Trifecta achevied

It has been bloody fucking hot in Europe so far and we've been looking for the trifecta: shade, good visuals, and great sound. Trifecta achieved in bad müster next to a natural radiator and a park where a jazz band was playing. We had a lovely picnic and our first bottle of wine of the day.








I think it is 35 C out. Behind this radiator it is about 19 C.

We found out later that this town was known for its cooling towers. It was 38 C.

:: rolling post. ride on.

Nahe Day 2 and back to the Rhine

From Kirn we went for another big day and made it all the way back to the Rhine, just north of Bingen. Again, the Nahe delivered the magic.




Again, it was blazing hot we accidentally went up a mountain that took us above the town but at a winery, where we tasted and then bought a bottle of crisp Riesling.




And we rolled down into Bad Münster, where they have something truly cool: cooling towers. These are tall framed structures that seem to be full of small branches. Water is pumped up to the top and then drips down through the sticks, making a cooling mist and turning 38 degree days into 19 degree days. We picnic'd beside one, with our refreshing bottle just bought from the winery, and cruised around a little in town.






Outside a kitsch store we found these awesome treasures:




After the long and narrow river valley we were used to, suddenly the valley widened and flattened out. Again, we were in the fields...




As rain threatened and our hunger increased, we reached the end of our Nahe trip and got back on the Rhine - a very different Rhine from what we had seen anywhere else... castles and steep vineyards and huge boats.



Joshua's tent skills get better and better. We could have slept in this one.



Our campsite was protected by ancient fortifications.