Tag 15 (Wilmersdorf, DE; Sunday 99.04.25; distance = 172.1; time = 8:42;
odometer = 1811.3) -- I got up nice and early. It's amazing how much easier
everything is when it's not covered in 2-degree H2O. So I was rolling at
5:30 after a 30-minute takedown. Since today is dead day, I was kind of
wondering what to do about food. I rode for 2 hours straight to start out.
Then I saw a big, modern-looking gas station in a big industrial city. I
went in to see what I could buy. Wow! This place was huge and completely
stocked with groceries. Well, not really ... it was really just like a
normal American gas station, but since I'm so used to pathetic micro
stores, it seemed like a luxuriant shopping center. I bought everything I
would in a grocery store AND a new map. Further advantages besides just
being open early Sunday: I could watch my bike through the huge windows,
AND they took my credit card!!! While I was enjoying fresh Jogurt outside,
a cop car pulled up and asked if I needed help with directions (I was
looking at my new map). He was very friendly, and we talked for a while. I
told him I like going through areas where people ask "How do you like
____?" He was the second ex-DDRer to ask. Back on the trail. Ultra early,
of course, there was about zero traffic. I was on "main" roads almost all
day. As the day wore on, the traffic did pick up steadily until it was
pretty irritating by afternoon. In the afternoon, a LOT of motorcycles
(5%). I was on a mission of distance. I was trying to crank as much as I
could while the going was good. I had 600 (?) km by 11:30. Good thing,
too, since the wind started to pick up steadily -- dead on head wind. I
found a little Imbiss stand that specialized in German food. I had some
kind of sausage -- unbelievable, huh? Onward. On and on and on and on.
Windier and windier. A tough grind in the afternoon with the heavier
traffic and wind. I stopped once to change the map. I was at some business
that was absolutely closed. While I was taking a leak, someone showed up.
Incredible luck there. Later, I felt something I thought was a bug. There
are medium-sized bugs here that move in the air and make you have to bob
your head to dodge them. They also stick to you -- especially the eye area,
which is why I was wearing my shades for the FIRST time. But this was no
bug. It was a rain drop. Nothing unfamiliar about that for me, except it
was bright and sunny. It was almost a repeat of yesterday. What I think was
happening is that the wind was blowing the rain to me several km away. So I
exercised my supreme weather power and made it stop -- sunglasses off. That
did send all of the motorcycles home. I stopped again at another gas
station to buy dinner (since it worked so well this morning). I even found
Coke in Swiss-style bottles. The guy seemed pretty suspicious of my bottle
from CH -- yes, they're the same. I was getting tired, but I was also near
my goal -- a pair of campsites shown on my map. I saw the kind of place
that I often see, but never at the end of the day -- a very modest-looking
pub in a small town with a "Zimmer Fret" sign. I inquired and it was 30 DM
(~$16). Done. So, this room's extremely nice. I ate some of my gas station
food, which is better than in sounds. In fact, it's as good as it gets when
bike touring without a stove. I also had some ice cream from the pub, and
then I watched TV in my room, just cuz it was there and that fact impressed
me. It was motorcycle racing -- one of my favorite spectator sports, and it
was in the rain. OK, that's over. I'm organizing for tomorrow's super
early, avoid-the-wind push to the sea.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
