Three is company too or day one is just as much of an adventure as any

August 11th, 2012 Saturday

 And thus began our adventure!

Our send-off crew!

 With the blessings of the artists in residence (and son) we made an excited, yet slow departure away from Bremen. I had several issues with my derailer getting off of its track (mostly me leaning forward when stopping to correct the issue and thus moving my shifters) but we were finally able to move away from the city and envelop ourselvs in vast green fields- and that was only the park!

 We met many lovely people along the way including a woman named Reina who was on her way to visit her elderly aunt the next main town over. She rode with us for a bit and was kind enough to translate a few signs and explain a few things (such as the food and such items for sale along the side of the road).

beautiful yet bumpy cobblestone

We were blessed with excellent weather, and shade for most of the way. I was not as prepared for the change in road as we passed from paved streets, to cobblestone, to dirt road, back to paved, as we moved between small and even smaller towns. So imagine my surprise when I look down at my chain ring and I am missing not one, not two, but THREE chain ring bolts (this is out of 5) with the two loosening themselves with every pedal stroke. Alex was kind (and smart) enough to give me one of his bolts (me now with 3, and he with 4) which enabled us to get to the closest bike and repair place along the map. Alas, we arrived too late in the afternoon (around 3) and they would not be open again until Monday (small towns take their weekends seriously, and we can respect that).
Along the way, we encountered a lovely play area where Alex and I took a break from riding to try out the teeter-totter.

teeter-dee

totter-dod

 At one point we strayed from the scenic route and took a "regional route" which basically means it is up to the surrounding areas how well established the bike route is. In this case, it was quite sandy and rocky, and our km per hour sometimes slowed to walking the bikes. We made it about half-way to Hamburg (a decidedly beautiful route to the city from Bremen) to a camping place called Zeven (zee-fen)