Wednesday - August 12, 2010 - First day on the road.

This blog is one day late. I stayed in Horb am Neckar at a hotel with out a working internet connection. It was just 500 meters from the Hohenberg Kaserne. I did not know there were any still open. The travel took much longer than I expected.  I left the Airport at 7:30 am. Finfing the Neckar River was not difficult. It was due south.

The only Problem was it was not really downhill. From Bob's First of Geography: "If there is a downhill, Then there is an uphill." Many of the uphills required a 'push' not a 'ride'.

Still it was a beautiful ride through a variety of terrain. Most people I saw were traveling down stream, not up stream like yours truly. My brain must have been in park when I planned this portion of the trip. Still the country side is well groomed and very clean. I have seen almost no liter. Compared to the USA that would be no liter. Germany has an exceptional public works program.

There are also Flowers on every bridge crossing. They seem to take pride in keeping the county clean and beautiful.

I have had a chance to talk to a number of people even if it has been functional; i.e. food directions, etc. I am getting more comfortable with the language issues, but I have a ways to go. I did two young ladies who agreed to let me take thier picture. They were collecting money on the bike path for some cause. I think it was to help hold a bake sale to buy a Fighter Jet or something like that.

I could post hundreds os pictures of the scenery, but I do not have time nor do have the time to look at them.  I had a few adjustment problem with the bicycle. I learned to check the tightness of all bolts and screws. Both my front saddle bags and my back saddle bags fell off at one time or the other. This adjustments delayed me an hour or so.

I arrived at my hotel after 82 kilometers with tired legs, wet from the rain, awed by the country side, and unregretful. I am glad I am making this trip. It is a real challenge. The hotel was nice, but on top of a hill. It was clean and provided a meal of roast beef, noodles, and salad. It was very good. The inn keeper and the people at the bar were very friendly. the only down was we could not get the internet connection to work. I will post later from the second day.