Kathleen …… you are looking good in your raingear! It is great to see that you and Keith just get out there and go for it in the rain (very Canadian). Some great photos.

Dave and Lauralea

Were you finding something like a work company #430? Company as in a part of a battalion. Maybe they built the walls. I'll be interested in what you find out.

Enjoying your blog very much! You are troopers riding in the rain, but I agree, you wouldn’t set out in it at home, but when touring....the show must go on, and it’s actually not that bad.

Well I did famously drop Dodie off somewhere with an appendicitis and went on to keep a squash date. But that was in the old days, when squash was everything. Actually she has just had a big pile of zonky drugs, which will give me a chance to go buck some logs. A warm fire in winter has clearly replaced squash in my priorities!

Dodie says she would gladly join you in the rain instead of being set in front of the TV here, watching Leave It To Beaver. It's kind of interesting, though. The premise of today's episode is the grief that comes to Wally from the other boys for letting a girl drive him on a date. U.S. was Saudi Arabia not that long ago!

Hi Steve - yes one of the many benefits of keeping a journal is to settle such contentious issues such as the originator of the jammer index. Nice try though!! I have lost several issues with Kathleen when we agree to check the blog to see who is right on an issue when or where did such and such take place.

Sympathies with Dodie. I shared a room in Kamloops recuperating from gall bladder surgery one Christmas some 20 years ago. The fellow in bed next to me after a knee replacement was in excruciating pain through the night despite the powerful pain killers...moaning that he had never experienced pain like that before. Incidentally while i was recovering from my surgery Kathleen abandoned me and took the kids skiing that day. Now I know you wouldn’t do such thing to Dodie.
Wishing her s speedy recovery.

I’m not sure that ‘brave’ is the best adjective for describing what we’ve done to ourselves, but thanks for the encouragement. As far as bravery goes though, I think the edge goes to you - I’m very impressed that you’re back in the game so soon after your awful accident.

Oh Steve, I wish there were a way to make this easier for Dodie. For what it is worth, days two and three were the worst for me post shoulder surgery. Our oldest son, who is well acquainted with cyborg life, had warned me about that. Keith shared a room after surgery some years ago with a man who had his knee replaced and he said he had never experienced pain like it. So our hearts go out to Dodie. When you think about what is done to the body to complete a knee replacement...actually, don’t think about it. Tell Dodie we are pondering our options this morning. It is pouring with rain. We have a short day planned because of the weather forecast but even at that this is the kind of rain that soaks through despite all the modern rain gear. The hourly forecast shows it continuing for, well, hours. We may jump a train, or sip cappuccinos until noon or just get soaked. We haven’t decided yet.

Ok, even with the vast research resources available here at the farm, your claim to the Jammer index is holding up! In fact, it turns out both that the quote from Sept. 18 was yours, not mine, and that you also gave a Jammer rating in Kreutzwertheim on Sept 5, 2014!

Worse (for me), even much later I was still toying with an inferior 8 jam scale, like this:

"The much anticipated breakfast in the hotel Reinhard this morning was just ok. The basics were pretty much all there, but hey, we have higher standards than that now. For example, there needs to be eight varieties of jam, all in large pots from which you fill your little bowl. Jam in foil covered plastic tubs? How much suffering can we take!

Fuelled by not quite the right jam, and not quite enough coffee, we limped out onto the bank of the Rhine, and headed south"

Dodie has actually been having a pretty hard time, with lots of pain starting on the second day and still there, being zonked by the heavy drugs, a white count that spiked, and generally feeling unwell. She did come home today, but I have just sent a note to our friend Erika Paxman, who teaches nursing, asking her to come over and check things out. There is no emergency, just no joy - yet.

I should have done that ride with rocks in my panniers. Just a note as well...three weeks in July glued to the Tour de France is not a legit training strategy! We are both feel strong though. We are just having breakfast and contemplating the next few days in the rain. We probably won’t go far today.

Hi Steve - thanks for your note regarding the jammer index.

The original ten jammer was near the beginning of our first tour on September 8, 2014 in an amazing winery on the Mosel. The breakfast was over the top. Keith then suggested we should have a scale upon which to rate breakfasts calling this one a ten jammer.. We have copied and pasted the reference below.

Monday September 8, 2014, 22 km (14 miles) - Total so far: 375 km (233 miles)

Ascent 208 m - Descent 196 m - Net Ascent 12 m
The day started by awakening to the sound of church bells - a common sound in this part of the world. Looks like it is going to be another great day with the high of 23 degrees forecast (and it was).

The breakfast at the winery today was a "ten jammer". That's a standard by which we will rate the breakfasts we have...by the number of jams offered. We are assuming there is a direct relationship between the number of jams offered and the overall quality and variety of food/beverages provided. Further research will be required to confirm this hypothesis.

More importantly how is Dodie’s knee coming along?

We are here in Chur enjoying our meager “6 jammer” (generous) contemplating the next several days of forecasted rain.

It was a stunning ride. Today we are off in the rain. Probably not too far as there isn’t much point in riding through such spectacular scenery if you can’t see it.

We are loving your journal and your new lifestyle. I am not sure we are brave enough to make that plunge! I do find though that once we leave home I just don’t think about it. Interesting isn’t it.

Thanks for the great tour of Chur!

One thing, surely not as significant as whether Darwin or Wallace thought of evolution and natural selection first, but about the "Jammer" scale: Your first tour was in 2014, a time when the Grampies were also circulating around the breakfast lands of France and Germany. I am submitting these two excerpts:

Grampies: International Meeting on the Eurovelo 6: Dannemarie to Baume Les ...
Sep 18, 2014 ... The much anticipated breakfast was a pleasant surprise. While only a three jammer there were croissants, baguettes, butter, jam and a big pot ...

The Best Kind of Tour Guides: Berlin, Day One - Poking Around ...
Oct 22, 2014 ... Anna spoiled us with a ten jammer breakfast that included croissants, buns, cheeses, meats, fruit, and scrambled eggs and bacon.

Since September 18 is a month before October 22, I am submitting a bid as the originator of the "Jammer" index. If you can come up with an earlier reference, I will humbly withdraw. However, either way, research does show that you have used and developed the concept most extensively since 2014! It is a complex area, because as you point out, you can not rely on a simple jam count. And even if you did, there are tricky questions like how to handle Nutella and honey!

My legs are tired just reading this; makes the 3 Ferry Ride seem like an easy day!!

Already downloaded! Not sure when I’ll get to Switzerland but likely in 2019 or 2020.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying your journal and seeing how you have now joined the community of col collectors. That feeling of accomplishment at the top is addictive, as is the reward of the swoop down.

Wow, Kathleen. Hats off to your CN! I’ve never looked at this part of the map before, but it looks like a route I might have chosen. Anxious to see where you go next!