Tag 16 (Ueckermunde, DE; Monday 99.04.28; distance = 112.4; time = ???;
odometer = 1923.7) -- Per plan, I got up super early (4:00) and packed up
and got ready. I took some time for some Brotli and mandarin oranges for
breakfast, and then I was on the road at 4:45. I had to make a turn onto a
very minor road, and I didn't want to miss it. I ended up with 2 forest
excursions on trails to nowhere. I had a second change road and found it
with no problem. Its problem was sand! Very hard riding, just like Michigan
back roads. The surface was also VERY rocky and filled with huge sand
craters. The bike took the beating pretty well. I will be totally
unsurprised when the frame just splits in half one day. I finally made it
to good paved road. Despite this being a "minor" road on my map and despite
my earliness, this road was VERY busy. I could tell that my earliness
hadn't been in time for the wind either. It was already blowing against me.
Not only that, I felt tired! Sure, I got up early, but I had plenty of
sleep -- still, I felt beat after only 20 km. Hmm. So, I struggled into
Prenzlau and stopped at a bakery and had some coffee and lots to eat. The
next stretch was a long, Canada-style grind through huge, Canada-style
fields. The fields here are absolutely enormous, since people only live in
villages and there are no fences. This road also went through a large army
base. This, and the wide-open fields, made finding a bathroom stop very
difficult and annoying. After a long time of this busy, uninteresting road,
I finally got to Turbelow. While I was trying to get through this town
while minimizing my exposure to cobble streets, I saw an open post office.
Wow!! I finally got to mail away some dead weight maps. Expensive!, but
worth it. The final road to Ueckermunde was much nicer, because it had much
less traffic. I was relieved to finally make it, since I was still tired. I
found the ferry dock, and it looks like my ship only runs tomorrow. Hmm ...
I rode up the lake (or bay or whatever it is) a bit and stopped at a
campground. They wanted 15 DM and a shower was extra. Hmm. There's a lot of
nice woods around here. I ate a big lunch there (oh ya, right when I got
into town, I did my grocery shopping. Very annoying with the carts. I had
98 Pfennig and I needed a 1 DM coin!). I was thinking about riding around
the bay for an extra 80 km. On a good day, I'd have done it, but since I
felt so weak today and it was pretty windy and volatile-looking, I decided
to wait for the ferry. I also predicted that a guest room would be a MUCH
better value than the stupid RV lot. I went to the tourist center, and she
found me a room. It is actually a huge apartment with fridge, TV, phone,
bedroom, porch, etc. It is 40 DM (~$20 US), and the shower was coinless,
AND I get breakfast tomorrow. Such a deal. I put all my gear in the room
and rode into town to check it out, since I was kind of early to be
finished. The bike shop was lame. They were doing an archeological dig in
the town square. Other than that, boring. This place reminded me of
Traverse City, Michigan. It is a vacation place where normal people take
low-cost vacations. On the way back to the room, I went into a grocery
store. Somehow it was the wrong grocery store. There were 2 big grocery
stores stuck together. Brilliant. I had a great onionless Doner Kabap at
the Imbiss outside. Back at the room, I washed my shorts and took a shower.
It's not late, but I'm ready for bed. I did eat A LOT today, so I hope to
be feeling stronger tomorrow. The really weird thing today was how
sensational I was. I might as well have been on fire for the attention I
was getting. I was wearing my normal set up -- jacket, hat/helmet, shorts,
gaiters. Everyone was staring at me and whispering to their friends, as if
I was wearing a kilt. I was really starting to get self-conscious, since it
was so unusual. I just hope that damn boat runs tomorrow, or I'll be really
irritated. It should be OK, though, and it's only a couple of bucks.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
