Sometimes all the forces of the universe come together to help us make really poor decisions. One or two simultaneous bad decisions can sometimes be glossed over without too bad an outcome. But add more stupid decisions to the mix and no amount of "glossing" can prevent the impending disaster. After our "perfect" day on Thursday we should have been watching for this one. We missed it.
He is the anatomy of our Perfect Stupid.
(1) Last night we got talking to Ansley and his wife and before we knew it, it was eight o'clock and all the stores were closed. We had no food for breakfast, so I rode to find an open quickie store and struggled to find food that could be eaten . . . period. (2) We had cycled 5 days in a row and Sally was tired. We had promised ourselves we would cycle three and take a rest day. We did not want to stress Sally's health, but here we were at five and now we were planning 30 miles to make it six in a row. (3) we had just come from Switzerland, where the currency is the Swiss Franc. Now we were in France where the Euro is used. We had none and forgot to get any before we started further into the country. (4) We had checked the weather forecast the night before and found it would be raining by 3:00 pm, so we wanted to get up early and move before the rain came. But, at 6:00 am it was sprinkling on the tent. We assumed it was just a morning drizzle, so we got up and packed, without checking the updated forecast, which if we had, would have told us the rain arrived early and was now forecast to fall between 7:00 am and 12:00 noon. (5) Sally took a shower. She decided to wash her hair. Now her hair was wet. It is 6:30 am. It is raining and there is no way to dry it. (6) Sally took her clothes into the shower room with her. When she turned on the shower, the head was pointed at her clothes and doused them. She couldn't turn the water off because it was a push button times valve so her clothes got a little wet. She set her clothes outside the shower stall. She did not realize the water from the shower ran out under the door while she showered and soaked-and I mean wringing the water out soaked- all her clothes. (7) we are now ready to go and it is pouring rain. (8) We mount our bikes and head out into the rain.
What could inspire such blind stupidity? Well, we had told Klaus the night before that we would meet him in Staufen, we assumed it was the only day he and Marlen were available (not true) and because we did not check the weather report, we assumed it was morning drizzle and the real rain was coming later.
Fifteen minutes down the road we realized our blunder. It was pouring. Sally was cold and wet-not from the rain, but from her clothes soaking shower. She was sick from the cold and without energy and hurting from the five previous days of riding. I had my IPhone inside two bomb proof water tight coverings. It was dry, but that much plastic prevent manipulation of the screen. And the rain fell harder. The route we picked ran on the dike alongside the German side of the Rhine. No towns. No restaurants. No places to get out of the rain and cold.
After an hour and a half of suffering, and a few missed turns due to a rain drop hidden iPhone screen, I insisted we leave the dike, enter a small town and find a restaurant to get something to eat (remember, no food), dry out in (remember the rain) and hide until the weather improves. Sally was convinced that there would be no services in these small French towns, but I insisted and in we rode. We found Blume's hotel. First we used their bathroom. Then we entered their dining room where they were serving breakfast to their guests and asked if we could be served hot tea and some food. Pitiful. Dripping in our rain gear. Fatigue written all over Sally's face. They took pity, seated us at a table and we soon were pouring hot tea down our throats and eating rolls, meat, cheese and yogurt. We looked at the updated forecast and it showed the rain letting up in an hour. We sat for an hour, as our clothing dried, paid our bill and got back on the bikes.
The rain has stopped, but the fatigue was still there. We texted Klaus to let him know where we were and what our situation was. They had planned to ride from Staufen to Grissheim to meet us and then ride with us back to Staufen, but Sally was too fatigued to make it. They graciously consented to pick us up in their car in Grissheim and drive us to the house they were in in Staufen.
We met them at about 2:00pm in front of the church in Grissheim, loaded the bikes and headed for Staufen.
They were staying in the upstairs apartment of Klaus's aunt's house. There was an extra bedroom, where we dropped our bags and joined them for tea on the deck. It was good to talk and get to know each other better. After an hour we headed for the wine and beer festival in town.
We had a great time walking through the old town. Klaus pointed out all the cracks in the buildings, which we assumed had occurred over the centuries. In reality, those cracks had all recently appeared due to an attempt to use geothermal energy to heat the town. They had drilled down to tap into the warm earth below the town and something went wrong that caused the earth to shift resulting I severed cracking in all the old buildings. All the drilling has stopped, but the damage remains.
After a meal of traditional German food from the vendors, we walked up to the castle on the hill for a beautiful view back down into the town.
We returned to town, rode our bikes back to the house and Sally, Klaus and Marlen enjoyed some schnapps before we all retired.
It was great to get to know Klaus and Marlen better. Marlen was delightful. She is super kind, a great hostess and a dedicated teacher. Sally and her found much in common and talked a lot of politics, education and history. Sally felt she had found a kindred soul. Klaus's work with Deutschlandradio was fascinating to learn more about. Name a prominent figure in the world in the last 20 years and he has interviewed them. He covered the Obama election in 2007-08. He was live on the radio as anchor during the 911 attacks in New York.
We marveled at their amazing generosity, to take strangers into their aunt's home while on vacation.
Although our day started out with the perfect stupid, it ended very smartly with great discussions of world politics, world events and a sharing of experiences. I guess it isn't how you start the race, but how you finish. We finished well.
No comments:
Post a Comment