Well it doesn't seem too much like FLR is interested in rehiring me at the moment. Randy promised a call back if they needed anyone. No call, hence no need. It kinda sucks because I have to find a way to pay off my debt, but looking at the bright side at least I'm not working in that craphole again (so far). Plasti-Fab has once again come to my rescue, with a couple days of work available making catalogues and helping move everything around the office so that new carpet can be put in. It won't be enough hours to pay off everything, but at least it'll be a big help.

Anyhow, time to recount a few more days!!

Friday, May 14th

We were woken in the middle of the night by a car that stopped at the cemetery and decided to shine it's lights at our tent for a 10 second duration. James was really worried it was a groundskeeper and we were about to get in trouble, but the car left and there wasn't an incident for the remainder of the night.

We were up at 5:30am, packed and back on the road by 6am. We pushed hard today in hopes of getting to a campsite that the map showed as being just a little ways into the mountains southwest of Parma. We made pretty decent time, and took a break just outside of Parma in the town square of some small place, as we were eating our daily ration two older Italian men started talking to us. The conversation was interesting, with them unable to understand us completely, and us doing no better. James, to his credit, can usually do a pretty decent job of miming and interpreting the mimes of other people, thus did we manage through Italy.

Parma was a nice enough city, plenty of trees, fountains and the obligatory old fashioned style architecture. From there to the mountains the cars were backed up for miles. Of course! It was Friday, everyone's headed out of the city for the weekend. So we spent the bulk of the evening slowly climbing upwards while passing dozens and dozens of cars. They eventually passed us back, but we didn't mind, because we were finally in the mountains and almost to our goal.

The sun sank lower in the sky, and time was running short. We had reached the general area on the map where the campsite was supposed to be, yet for some reason we found nothing. As the final rays of the sun disappeared beyond the earth's curve we still had yet to find a place to sleep. We stopped at what looked to be a store of some sort, and yet also seemed to be a house. By this point my knee was throbbing painfully, and every pedal rotation sent a jolt through my fragile ligaments. The people living in the house/store informed us that the campsite on our map was closed for the season, and that the only camping open was in Borgo Val Di Taro, about another 90-120 minute bikeride away - in the dark. Catch was that it was 9pm already, and the site closes at 11pm. They called for us though and let the gent running the site know we were on our way.

I was in no mood to continue, being hardly able to walk, but James bribed me with a ice cream treat and once again we were on the road. We pushed toward Borgo, and it wasn't easy. We were getting deeper into the mountains and the road had more and more inclines, as well the night was set upon us and the only visibility was from the passing cars (usually honking at us) and from the lights on James' bike (We'd bought 1 front and 1 rear light). As closing time neared, our worry grew - if this didn't work, then we would have nowhere to stay. Finally, we could see the lights of Borgo ahead just beyond the next large hill. We agreed to separate, and James shot off to the town to make damn sure we had a spot while I continued to plod on at my own pace. I sped up for awhile, to keep the red taillight in sight before I was plunged into absolute darkness on the side of the mountain road. But in the end, it was that final ascent that did me in. Halfway up I finally hopped off my bike and limped the remainder of the way to the top. Once there, I took (what I thought was) a well-deserved secretion break before hopping back on the bike. The way down was nice, and eventually led right into town. Unfortunately, the path through town led right up the side of the mountain once again. Having had enough for the night (We'd been biking for 17hrs) I decided to walk through town. It was rather enjoyable, actually, walking in the peace and quiet of the night. Eventually James discovered me (I'd just missed the turnoff to the campsite) and we set up tent for the night and crashed in the way only a completely exhausted individual can.

James had cramps in the night, he'd pushed himself way too hard at the end and paid dearly for it. Lets just say that his cramps weren't a pleasant experience...for either of us.

Saturday, May 15th

Today we labeled an official Day of Rest. We slept in (relatively speaking - 9am), took our time getting ready, had our first showers in days! It's a shame the shower only lasted 20 seconds! Stupid crappy campsite, 1 euro for a token worth 20 seconds of water. Oh well, it was nice to shower anyway.

We headed down to the supermarket and bought a lot of food. We were both getting really weak from the terribly inadequate food we'd consumed over the past few days. I have a pretty high metabolism as well, and James was demanding I eat more food because he kept saying I looked like crap. I thought my crap look was just because of the grunginess. But we feasted anyhow, and wow was it good. It's not like we ate really wonderful food, it's just that we ate More than usual. In fact, it was almost like a normal meal - except for the whole eating corn out of a can using the lid bit.

So we decided we'd leave the cute big town of Borgo Val Di Taro and get a little bit of distance logged on the road. Yes, it was a day of rest, but we couldn't be lazy and just sit around for the whole day.

It wasn't too far outside the town when we hit the biggest climb yet. The road led up and above us in countless switchbacks towards the top of the mountain. The day being a day of rest, we decided to walk the worst and ride where it wasn't so steep. We were afforded plenty of beautiful panoramas of the surrounding hills and valleys on the way up. Finally, after hours and walking/riding, we neared the town of Tarsogno - not too far from the top of the pass over the mountains. We found an abandoned BOAT to camp by, and waited until night had fully descended to set up our tent.

Yes, that's right, I said a boat. It wasn't a real boat though, rather, a large house in the shape of a large boat. All the windows were smashed out, and it was really rather eerie. I'll post a picture for everyone to peruse later. We put our tent up no more than 30 feet away from this scene-straight-out-of-a-horror-movie, and slept the night away.

Sunday, May 16th

Coming Soon! And WOW What a day it was!!!

Ok Ladies and Gents, the pics are coming next!