Day 39: Friday, 17 June 1983

Start: Campground, Schoenau, France

End: Campground, Seltz, France

The wind kept my rain fly flapping all night, which made for poor sleeping. Still blowing up my nostrils this morning, and still unexpectedly cool. Actually kind of chilly. I've hardly taken off my jacket for the past few days. Even start the ride today with full-fingered cold-weather gloves. Met an American couple from Vermont on bikes. They were steering south and loving the wind at their backs. 

The Rhine along here surprisingly unimpressive. Not so wide, and apparently not so deep. This ain't the Mississippi, at least at this point. My route north is on a good road with little traffic, very flat, but I can see the Vosges on my left and the Black Forest rising on my right on the other side of the river.

I spend the day spotting old concrete fortifications of the Maginot Line along the way and taking my rest stops where I can explore them. To me, this is very nifty. I run into a Texan pedaling south and a Dutchman going north. The Dutchman is finishing a three-week tour of the Juras and heading home. Same guy I met on Friday when I was heading toward Switzerland. Very interesting fellow, seemingly with many tours under his belt. After awhile we veer off in different directions.

The city of Strasbourg looms across my route. It starts at the Rhine and stretches off to the west, so I can't really go around it on either side. After studying my map, I calculate how I can thread my way through and pop out the far side. Not nearly as much fun as riding through open country, but I advance pretty smoothly and with much less headwind in the city. As I negotiate a downtown traffic circle clogged with automobiles, a group of pedestrians on the sidewalk spontaneously claps, waves, and cheers as I go by.

Later in the evening, when I find a campground north of Strasbourg, by chance the Dutchman is also there and I camp next to him. I set up the June Bug without the rain fly so it can air out for awhile, then I ride off to find some food and beer for us while he watches our camp. When I get back, he's highly amused and tells me how the German "auto-campers" (his term for campers travelling by car) in the campground keep walking past my tent without the rain fly, shaking their heads, and wondering who would want such a silly tent that can't even keep out the rain.

My right knee definitely feeling stiff and sore, probably from pushing into headwind for two days.

Conditions 

Distance: 95 km  

Weather: Cool, strong headwind 

Road: Good 

Traffic: Light 

Terrain: Flat 

Mechanical: All is well 

Physical: Right knee stiffening up