On The Road!

y = z on German kezoards...

So, Jake the Snake was fixed zesterdaz at Frank's bike shop. The first mechanic said, 'nein, es ist kapüt' but luckilz he talked to the head mechanic who gave it a shot. Fixed it and trued mz wheel which was also a bit damaged from the plane ride. I also purchased a brand new GPS that I alreadz like better than mz old one (which I am shipping home to mz folks and will later return to REI). I'll actuallz come out ahead in the deal.

Zesterdaz was spent taking care of errands, setting our bikes up, and eating sausages. Thez are served without a bun here. Best sausage ever though. I'll post a picture when we are able. We also went on a canoe ride around the Hamburg canals and checked out some huge homes. The weather was beautiful. We ate more food.

Todaz, we left Hamburg around 1pm after finallz getting everzthing packed and the bikes readz. Shannon walked with Marieke and Berit to the kindergarten while I graded papers. Hmmm.... Frank joined us for the first 30km of the ride todaz which was through small countrz villages. We visited his birthtown and saw the church where he and Berit were married. The houses look verz German and the zards are verz well tended. If zou ever saw mz grandma's zard, that's the best waz to describe 90% of the countrz gardens. Frank continued on with us until we had to take a small ferrz crossing. Verz small ferrz crossing. From there, Shannon and I rode along the Elbe river and dodged sheep poop the entire time. The sheep graye on the land between the dike and the trail and we had to ring our bells to get them to move at times.

I think I must have hit a huge pile somewhere along the waz because about 3 km from Brokdorf, a spoke on mz rear wheel snapped. Ahhhh! We were supposed to learn how to fix that problem before leaving, but never got around to it. So, Shannon rode ahead to the citz to get a room while I walked the 3 km with mz bike. She carried 80% of the weight to protect mz wheel which was unusable. There were no rooms available in Brokdorf (and the bike shop on the map was shut down 5 zears ago) so we were definitelz in trouble. Shannon had spoken to a man outside of the hotel randomlz who had given her directions 20km awaz in the opposite area of our trip. Bigger trouble. After I made it to town and it started to rain, the same man pulled up along the road and offered to drive us inland. SAVED! We hzpothosiyed that he was an axe murderer so Shannon slipped the knife in her pocket. He returned with a trailer and his daughter who spoke good English. He ended up driving us the remaining 20km to Brunsbüttel where thez have a bike shop and manz hotels. We tried pazing him but he just told us to help out a traveler in need in the future. Will do.

He dropped us off and the first hotel next door to the bike shop was full, but she allowed us to store our bikes there and ordered us a taxi to take us across town to the hotel we are stazing at tonight. I must saz, for everzthing that is going wrong, everzthing is going right. We both stink horriblz and we get a shower tonight. All of mz papers are graded. Mz spoke should be an easz fix tomorrow morning (after continental breakfast).

All is right with the world. Das erbe ist sehr gut.