Tag 21 (Saturday 99.05.01; distance = 94.3; time = 5:25; odometer = 2380.9)
-- No snoring problems last night. I didn't even hear cellmate #2 come in
-- guess those earplugs worked good. I was rolling by 5:00. Good plan, for
it was already (or still) windy. I had a lot of ground to cover in the
wrong way. Right out of town, I took a risky route right into the wind. I
wanted to gain wind "potential" for later when the wind picked up. It was a
direct head wind, but compared to yesterday, not bad. I scrambled to my
tack point, hoping I could beat the wind pick up -- I did, but not by much.
I stopped at a bakery and bought some stuff that I ate while riding. I was
trying to get to Hirtshals early, so that I'd have a chance at getting the
ferry. I didn't know when it ran, but the earlier, the better. By the time
I got to my last 10 km, the wind was full head wind. It didn't have the
same ferocity as yesterday's, and I ground it out right to the end with
only about 3 stops the whole morning. At the ferry, she asked me, "Do you
have a reservation?" "Oh yes, I've had it tattooed to my forearm!" Of
course I don't have a reservation. I tried to find info about this stupid
ferry for Susan's dad in CH. Very weak info on this sort of thing. Well, no
problem, I got a ticket (of course no car) and had some time to kill (2
hours).I went to the open post office (miracle). Then I went to the grocery
store. What shitty food here! I did manage to use up the last of my coins
and bought some not-so-great food. Back at the ferry, I talked to a Dutch
guy living in Norway. He and his Norwegian friend (who didn't speak
English!) had done a little 2-day bike tour in Denmark. We talked about the
wind and then it was time to load our bikes. This ferry is weird. Everyone
has an assigned seat, much like a plane. It also goes fast. I think there
is no cargo and that's the difference. I like the other kind better.
There's a German guy next to me snoring. There's some Asian idiot behind me
making a glorious mess with the stupidest pastime for kids on a bumpy, fast
ferry ride -- paint by numbers. Now that I'm caught up here, I'm going to
put away the Denmark map and try to eat something. I think it would be very
helpful here to like fish and vodka. So once off the ship, I spotted a
police car -- I asked about a hostel and found it without too much trouble.
Too early. I had some hours to kill. Exploring the city, I realized it was
the national holiday here today! So nothing was open again. At the Shell
station, I bought a good map. Then I found a Turkish cafe -- Doner Kebap to
the rescue. Back at the hostel, I got checked in and ate my lunch that I
bought in Denmark. So now I feel pretty well stuffed. I spent most of this
evening talking to my cellmate. I noticed he was reading C source code --
he's a Linux freak! Cool. He works for a game company in Oslo. Very
interesting.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
