Part of the fun of going on an adventure is having unexpected events occur. Chance encounters with interesting people, unforeseen variances in the route, camping in countries with different expectations of what camping is and the daily surprises that occur when out of the normal home routine. Most of these events are neutral, neither good or bad, just different. Some are delightful. Some can rattle you until you see your way through it. Meeting Klaus and Marlen was delightful. What happened to Sally today was rattling.
Loath to leave our hotel so early, what with its comfy bed, good wifi and attached bathroom, we knew the 90° forecast for the day would be better encountered in the swimming pool of our next campground rather than on the bike route. We drug ourselves out of bed at 5:30 am and were cycling by 6:30 am. The bakery in town was open. We stopped for a pastry for breakfast and a baguette for lunch.
The route was described as 60 km of bike trail reclaimed from the path along canals that the animals used to walk as they drug the barges. The route on the map looked straight as an arrow, and it was. Tree lined, this 50' wide canal made for a beautiful ride. About 10 miles up the canal, we made a sharp left turn, 90°. It did not occur to me that there might be more than one canal, a series of them, connected to provide transport of products, built before the steam age. I rode blissfully along, failing to notice that the sun in the east was on my back now instead of off to my right. Sally was noticing that none of the towns we were supposed to be heading toward we on the signs pointing in our direction. In fact, they were pointing in the direction of Colmar, a town off our route. I had turned off the GPS to save battery. Who needs a GPS when the route is straight as an arrow for 50 miles? Sally brought us to a stop. I turned on the GPS all the while thinking, "Of course we are on the right track! How many canals do you think they dug back then?"
Well, looks like they dug at least two. We were three miles up the wrong ditch. We turned around and cycled back to the right angle bend. There was a bridge up and over the westward heading canal along which we had just ridden. This time we cycled over it and regained our northward pointing canal.
In half a mile, we were in the town of Marckolsheim, the southern end of the Maginot line and home of a Museum about the Maginot line and WWII. We paid our €3 entrance fee and entered the bunker. It was very large, three huge rooms, plus a bunk room and a couple of gun turret rooms. This was one of dozens of bunkers, each 1km apart stretching all the way to Belgium. They say good fences make for good neighbors, but the Germans must have lost the meaning in translation. Because the Belgians were neutral before the war, they did not extend the line through their country. When Hitler attacked, he did an end run around the Maginot Line by passing through defenseless Belgium.
We left the bunker museum and cycled to a grocery store for food, then got back on the canal cycle route. The temperature was nearing its predicted high of 90° for the day. We were happy that much of the trail was shaded by tall trees to keep the direct sun off us.
We reached the town of Boofzheim, home of our campsite for the night and cycled about a mile across town to its entrance. The registration office was closed until 2:00 pm, but the snack bar was open and Sally was hankering for a beer. We sat down at one of the tables, realized it was self serve and walked to the counter. I returned with a beer for Sally. She drank half the glass and then headed for the restroom.
I was reading emails when I heard a cracking sound and her cry out. Startled, I asked if she was okay. She screamed "NO", and pleaded for me to come. I ran the short 20' into the vacant dining area to find her curled on the floor, crying out in anguish, exclaiming, "I think I broke my ankle!"
I went into Ski Patrol mode and examined her ankle. I skipped most of my usual questions for a patient, being intimately involved with this one for 40 years. The floor had a small two inch step down. She was looking at her beer out on our table and stepped on the edge so that she rolled her ankle to the outside. As she went down she caught herself on the pool table, otherwise she would have fallen to the floor. The owner brought ice for me, once we got past the language barrier. As those of you who have traveled in Europe know, there really is almost no ice. He brought me about six cubes wrapped in a dish towel. I applied the ice and left her on the floor. After about 10 minutes we got her into a chair back on the deck and raised her leg. I snuck over to their miniature ice machine and took nearly all they had, when they weren't looking, about half a ziplock gallon bag. I kept ice on it for the next hour.
The woman who runs the campground, an attractive 40 something, inquired about her ankle and offered to call for a doctor. I said to wait for a bit, that we would see how it did tonight, then go for X-Rays if it was bad in the morning.
I registered us for camping, then went to find a sight nearest to the restroom. I couldn't see Sally walking any distance with her injury.
After returning to the Snack Bar deck we decided to try to get her to the campsite. Her ankle showed almost no swelling, which pleased us. She could gingerly put weight on her ankle, and decided to try to ride her bike the distance, rather than walking. That went okay, but in the five minutes necessary to hobble and ride to the campsite her ankle ballooned to baseball size. We got her settled in the tent and the ice reapplied.
I knew the ice would not last long. A large grocery store (Safeway sized) was at the entrance to the campground. I rode out to buy ice. They don't sell any. I searched the frozen food department for the cheapest frozen food, settling on frozen Jo Jo's, €1.26 per kilogram bag. I figured we would go through a lot of Jo Jo's before the night was over.
We made it to the restroom twice in the next hour (damn beer passed right through her). She leaned on me to walk and reported the pain wasn't too bad. I took a shower, to cool down. It was now 91°.
After dinner, about 7:45 pm, I headed back to the store for more Jo Jo's, surprised how long the first bag lasted. Once inside, I realized they were closing in a few minutes, at 8:00 pm. I was fingering another bag of Jo's, when I got the idea to ask in the deli section for ice. As I walked by the meat department, I saw the girl taking the fish off the beds of ice and putting them away for the night. I asked if she spoke English. She said no. I asked two other workers nearby and got the same result. I found a customer and asked "Parle-vous English?" He said, "A little". With pantomime and very few words I got the message across. He walked over and relayed my request for ice to the worker. Her eyes grew big. She immediately went in the back room and emerged with a large bag of shaved ice. Victorious, I returned with my prize to Sally.
We boiled up a dozen eggs, for breakfast and dinner tomorrow, and crawled into the tent for sleep.
Adventures. Gotta love 'em. Before Sally went to sleep she said her ankle wasn't bad and she was sure it would be okay to walk on tomorrow. I wasn't so sure in light of her pain level today, but appreciated her positive outlook. We will see come morning. At least we get to sleep in!
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