In the days leading up to our departure, we made a list of all the things we wanted to get done. Most things were last minute, like shopping, cooking and packing. We had a few items on our list that required us to pack up and drive, but we soon nixed those. We did not leave our little aire until we pulled out for good.
One thing we did do was go to the police station and report that Jean Marc’s motorhome was still parked up in the aire. You might recall, he was our neighbor for a while and was taken away by ambulance after he had an accident. After a few weeks, his motorhome was still plugged in and waiting for his return. Presumably there is some food in there that isn’t going to be in good shape if he returns. We figured we should at least let someone know it’s there. It had been almost three weeks since Jean Marc’s accident. We feared he might have died and no one would know about the little motorhome.
After biking to the local police station, we spoke with the first group of officers we saw, and the one who spoke English happened to be familiar with the accident. He told us Jean Marc has suffered a heart attack, spent two days in emergency and then was moved to a hospital. After that, he knew nothing more. Further, he said that because this was a medical situation and not a police matter, there was nothing they could do about his motorhome.
So, that was that. We hand wrote a letter to Jean Marc (with the help of Google Translate) and put it on his window in hopes that he will return and find it. Who knows, one day we may hear from him.
Another big task we had to do was find a charity where we could donate items, including Roman Polanski, our solar clothes dryer. We talked to folks we knew and did our best to find something on the Internet, but in the end, we found nothing. We packed away most of the things we planned to donate, figuring we would find a place sooner or later. But we decided to just leave Roman Polanski right where he stood. We figured someone would either take him, or he would still be there when we return in a couple of years. Hopefully folks will use him as intended.
In the last couple of days we cooked up a storm knowing that our first few travel days would be long and our overnights would be without services. A couple of weeks out we just couldn’t wait to go, but as the day drew nearer, we had our doubts. We had spent three months fairly sheltered and didn’t know what we would find as we traveled. More specifically, with the current ban on travelers from the US, would my passport be a problem at the border? We kept all of our receipts to show that we had been in lockdown in France, so we were prepared to answer questions.
We waved goodbye to Roman and left on Wednesday morning, June 17. We had been in that spot for 93 days, a full season had passed by. Of course we didn’t get very far because we had to stop to refill our propane tanks and do last minute grocery shopping. Just like when we filled up after our Morocco trip, we found that we only used 7 liters of propane during our entire stay. I thought for sure we would be empty, but I guess not. Actually, I don’t even know how much that equates to, as I do not know how many liters our tanks hold. Each tank holds 11 kilograms, so 22 kilos total. How many liters is that, someone do the math. Jim? Bill? Did I write this already in another post? Seems familiar. 🙂
Soon we were done with chores and ready to hit the road. We took a wrong turn and promptly added 22 kilometers and 3 euros in tolls to our trip. UGH! I am not in the practice of following the GPS, but I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly!
By noon the skies had opened up and the rain came pouring down. We had picked a free aire by a lake for our first overnight. It was beautiful, but temps were in the 50s and the rain kept coming. It felt a little like we were in the mountains. We both slept very well, it was so quiet.
Day two dawned with blue skies and we hit the road with a bit of apprehension. Today we would cross the border into Germany. The Rhine River separates France from Germany and as we drove near, we kept looking for the border, a place where they would surely want us to pull over and present our passports. Nope! Nothing. Nada. Our fears were unfounded. As before the coronavirus, we drove right across the river and into Germany and kept right on going. Whew!
We were heading to Stuttgart where we had an appointment at the Hymer dealer to get some work done on Bijou. You may recall that the gas struts that lift our bed up over the front seats are shot and I was unable to lift the bed. We ordered the parts to be sent to us when we were in Portugal, but when the package arrived, it was empty. We think that Customs must have taken them and failed to include one of those little slips saying as much, but we really don’t know for sure. We did get a refund but we still had no struts. Finally, we had an appointment with the nice folks at the Hymer dealer to fix our bed. Also, we needed new latches for our fridge, but only got one instead of two. Our service rep, it seems, had problems ordering parts in multiples. She also only ordered one bed strut, but they just happened to have another in stock. Cool. 🙂
The night before our appointment we stayed at a free aire about 15 kms away, very convenient. We arrived at the Hymer dealer at 9 a.m. and were out by noon! Excellent! The waiting room was located in their accessory shop so, of course, we had to buy a couple of things, the most important of which is a washing machine. I KNOW, RIGHT??
So, laundry in Europe is a whole other ballgame than in the States. First, laundromats are few and far between. One country may have plenty, but the next has nothing. Or if we find one, there’s no parking and it’s miles away from where we are staying. Since we typically stay in aires, there are rarely laundry facilities available. So that means we have to check into a more expensive (and less appealing) campground in order to do our laundry. And it’s really expensive! We typically pay four or five euros for washing, and three or more to dry. So seven to ten euros PER LOAD, and after a couple of weeks, I usually have three loads, lights, darks, and bedding. Sometimes we just hang our clothes outside to solar dry, which saves a bit. But the best days to do laundry are rainy days, so I tend to use the dryers. But now I have MAX! My very own washer, so solar drying it is! He cost just under 70 euros, so it won’t take long before he’s earned his keep!
We left the Hymer dealer and headed for Pölich, our first stop along our Mosel Mosey tour. We planned to take a week to drive about 80 kilometers along a stretch of the Mosel River, staying in aires, riding our bikes and visiting cute little villages along the way. We’ve been here for over a week now and we are still at our second stop. We’ve traveled a whopping 17 kilometers.
Our first stop was at a little marina. It looked kinda run down, but we liked it enough to stay three days. And there are bike paths everywhere, so we have really enjoyed getting out in the cool mornings and biking into the next village. It was on one of these trips that we found our next aire. Well, not aire, in Germany they are called stellplatz, but they are essentially the same thing – little camping areas set up by the town for motorhomes (not trailers!) in hopes that folks will come and visit their town.The stellplatz where we are currently is right on the river and we snagged the last waterfront site. We are really happy here so we’ve just plopped and haven’t moved. We’ve spent our days riding our bikes, enjoying lunch (with wine! Europe is so civilized!) by the river watching the boats and barges go by. Every morning the bread man comes and each afternoon the ice cream man drives through. Today we have our money ready, so we’ll see what we end up with.
After we left the marina on our way to our next stellplatz we stopped at the local Lidl to do some grocery shopping. This was our first store in Germany and we were looking forward to seeing all the new foods on offer. And wow, this Lidl was fantastic! Big and clean and very well stocked. I had a blast walking through it. We did get some brats which we later grilled and they were delish!
Oh, and did I tell you I finished my Whole 30? I lost just over 11 pounds and I feel great. I guess I’ll keep doing some version of it, because we certainly ate very well, but not drinking any wine for 30 days is for the birds. We’re in wine country for heaven’s sake! We’ll see how it goes. At least I didn’t come out of lockdown feeling the effects of too much of everything!
It has taken us no time to get back into the swing of things. We have not been in any shops or restaurants, so while we’ve chatted with our Dutch neighbors, we have done so from a distance. Inside the Hymer dealer everyone wore masks. We carry masks with us at all times, and wear them anytime we are inside, like grocery shopping, for example. Social distancing is a thing here, as you can see by the line at the bread truck, and no one is complaining, that we know of anyway. Where we have been, people are behaving in such a way that we feel comfortable. It feels great to be on the road again!
UP NEXT: Our moseying continues…
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How green n beautiful!!! Loved little video
I am surprised at how lush the countryside is in Germany. Lots of vineyards and flowers everywhere!
Love the blog update. I follow you with every post. I’m so enjoying the overseas experience. IF all goes well we’ll be in Europe in May 2021 on a river boat cruise. I’m so looking forward to it if it’s not cancelled. Thanks for posting.
How fun! We saw a river cruise go by last night! It was nearly empty. Let’s hope things are somewhat back to normal by next year.
Everything looks so beautiful And it sounds sooooo civilized.
We are becoming quite spoiled with our leisurely lunches with wine. No matter what’s going on, folks drag out their tables and wine and enjoy their lunch. It takes some getting used to, but we have been assimilated.
Awesome!!
It’s been wonderful to be traveling again!
Love all the green and water! How fun to be on the move again and seeing new places. So refreshing to see a world where people exercise safe practices! Still hard to believe you were in your park 93 days, certainly a unique experience you’ll always remember. Glad you found another pretty marina to enjoy :-))) Looking forward to seeing more of Germany where I think they’re doing so many things right these days.
We are so glad we are here where they are taking this virus very seriously, and it shows. With borders opening even further on July 1st, we are keeping our masks on and our fingers crossed.
I can see how Ausfahrt means exit. Good job on the Whole 30. You should be proud.
The bikes were a great purchase for you. It really changes the whole experience. I could really get into the whole bread delivery person.
We waited several months before pulling the trigger on those bikes and now we’re sorry we did. Thinking back, it would have been great to have them in Ireland!
Love the new washer! Jealous of your German adventures. I just love the country and especially the wine and fresh produce. Of course the best thing I remember from there was spaghettieis.
Steven just had a bowl full when the ice cream man came to visit us yesterday! He had all kinds of red toppings and some kind of sprinkle that looked like cheese. Very clever!
I think that sprinkle cheese is white chocolate. Glad you got to try it.
Oh, how fun to be on the move again! And how beautiful the countryside is. It sounds as though everything is going well for you guys. I’m glad. Your posts always make me laugh. Leaving Roman Polanski behind for the next visitors…and that sign with “Auf Weidersehen und gute fahrt” LOL!!! I’m still impressed that you managed a Whole 30 while in lockdown in France. You have some serious willpower.
Oh, it has been so lovely to mosey along the river, mostly on our bikes because we were too lazy to move for a while in Bijou. You’d think having been stuck for three months we’d just dash here and there, but nay! We are finally on the move, though. For now. 🙂
Mr Google says 22 kilos is 22 litres. It’s 1 to 1. Kind of like a pint is a pound the world around. Love the photos.
I had no idea that we could basically calculate one to one! That’s east enough to remember, thanks! And I have never heard that saying before, but I bet I never forget it!
SO lovely to see you on the road again!! Good travels!
Nina
It’s so good to be traveling again! But we are not the only ones, others have copped on to the fact that camping is a good way to socially distance and/or isolate. Crowds in town are very low, but the stellplatz are busy. Not full, but busy!
A quick and easy conversion from a Canadian, we have been metric for a while. 1liter of water(the standard) is 1kilo, 1kilogram = 2.2 pounds. For your propane…. 3.73 (about 4) liters = 1 US gallon. We did some converting while travelling in the US the past 2 winters but we’re old enough to understand pounds, inches, feet and mpg. I had no idea what 24 liters /100 km meant lol.
Safe travels, looks like a beautiful area and wine with meals is a good idea in any country 😉 Cheers.
Hey, thanks for the helpful reply. I have to admit I like metric, but I still haven’t got it all figured out. Last time we had to think about conversions we were in your country on our way to Alaska! 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
My wife and I have been following you since the lockdown. Our RV is also in Sens and we were a week from traveling over to pick it up for our spring trip when the lockdown began. Now it looks like it will be a while before our next trip. We really admire you for sticking it out in the air there for 90 plus days, we have talked about it and do not think we could have done. You have earned your trip and it will be interesting to see how it goes with much lower levels of overseas travelers. Enjoy you’ve earned it.
Thanks for your kind words. At the time we hightailed it to Sens we didn’t have a clue what “lockdown” would actually look like, or how long it would last. We literally took it day by day, got into a routine and came to love our little aire. Have you stayed there before? I guess you heard Phill and Hannah sold their business. I’d like to say come back soon, but we are enjoying less crowds in areas that are usually filled with tourists. 🙂
We’re so happy for you and feel as Ron and Ton do that you earned it. Not sure we could have done it either! I wish we were over in Europe this summer in our German RV but we’ll just have to live vicariously through you. We spent September 2019 riding our electric bikes along the Rhine. We didn’t get to the Mosel but were planning on doing that this summer. Ah, how I miss that lifestyle and Europe. Take care and safe travels.
I am pretty amazed at the network of biking trails along the rivers, I guess you could ride the entire route if you wanted to. I don’t want to because I love having Bijou to return to at the end of the ride. 🙂 Got your newsy email and will reply soon! Thanks for commenting!
We have stayed in the Sens aire 2 or 3 times, it is a great location and as you well know convenient to Lidl, and Auchan. Lately we have been spending our first and last nights at the free aire near Gron, no electricity but free water and a cool toilet. We did hear the news about Phill and Hannah, hopefully the new owners will take good care of all of us. We did our German trip last spring and enjoyed ourselves. If you are looking for some ideas we documented some of our favorites on our blog, travelintiger.com. Again we are jealous have fun and be safe.
The aire at Gron was closed! Roped off! The reason is because it is attached to a little city park and all parks were off limits during lockdown. So no one stayed there! We did ride our bikes over to confirm, and yep, it was closed! I’m so glad you mentioned your website, we will take a look at your travels! Thanks!