Tuttlengin, GR 151/92**

europe2003 PII, Day 7
20June03, 151km/92mi**
Tuttlengin, Germany

Lisa explored the clinics and hospitals of Bavaria today. But the ride was beautiful and our longest of the trip. We left Basel at 7:30A, crossed the Rhein and after a bit more riding, crossed the border into Germany. The German border crossing guard didn’t even bother to check out our passports, but we celebrated our 3rd (Steve, Lisa, Susie, Dave, Sylvie) or 5th (Charlie, Bob) country of the ride.

We rode east along the German side of the Rhein River for a bit, on the 34, with Charlie and Dave trying to perfect the route…

Steve, Dave and Charlie were riding in the front group. Susie, Lisa and Bob trailed some distance behind. Somewhere just before Schworstadt, Lisa disappeared. Bob turned back to find her. She was a little confused about not getting the power she wanted out of her legs – she thought maybe she had a flat tire.

Rumors were shortly dispelled when she rode into town, crumpled to the ground, and couldn’t get up. We stabilized her a bit. Susie stayed with her while Bob rode ahead to find the lead group and the van. Then it was off to chiropractors clinic a couple towns up where she got some Novocain shots, therapy and advice from this nice doctor.

With Sylvie caring for Lisa, the rest of the riders (Susie, Dave, Steve, Charlie, Bob) continued east to Waldstadt along some great river trails.

We then cut away from the river, heading NE toward Tuttlengin. The steepest hills of the ride greeted us in Bavaria, and only Charlie rode up all of them. We did have some pretty countryside and past yet another nuclear power plant.

Kind of nice how the steam from the tower blends in with the clouds, isn’t it?

We stopped for lunch on the roadside of a little town. Lisa, still very much affected by her earlier trauma, still contributed by helping to prepare lunch. In the process she cut her left hand open in the flesh just below her little finger. We patched her up and sent her to the local hospital where they gave her a few stitches, and her third shot of the day, for tetnus.

She’s pointing at the needle – not a happy camper. She also didn’t want this picture on the site – something about her hair. (As they say, helmet hair NEVER looks good.)

The riders continued northeast along an some great roadside trails.

We came to an early section of the Donau (in English – the Danube). This is a river of majestic and historic significance, which runs all over southern Europe from France to the Black sea. We’ll be riding it on and off for 3 days. At a wooden bridge along the way we stopped for a photo op.

Along the way we did ride through some cute towns, many with cobblestone roads, some on steep hills and a few with both. Here’s one for reference.

The last 50km/30mi was some of the fastest non-stop distance riding Dave, Steve, Charlie and Bob have ever done. We all separated according to our own pace, and with a good tailwind we flew through the rolling German hills (covered mostly grain crops). Eventually we made it to Tuttlengin – the same four rode all the way today. For Dave and Steve it was an all time record day.

Here’s the end of the day pictures: 1) Group in front of the Hotel Stadt Tuttlengin, 2) Steve playing on a fountain in town, and 3) Sylvie by the ice cream cone at our after dinner snack. (You get to eat tons of food when you ride a lot.)

This was Dave’s last day :-(. Just when he was getting good at it too. Sylvie takes him to Munich tomorrow, and then she picks up the Capps – Bill and Jason, and Don Hudson. Then there will be 9 of us!

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No bio today – It’s already past 11. It takes about 45 minutes to upload pictures and write one of these things, and another 45 to upload it to the website. We’re going for an early start tomorrow!