May 18 – Thursday

Getting ready to leave my home away from home – baby goats look like they’re doing really well.

Started packing up the tent just after 9 – took around an hour.

Said goodbye to the Danes – took a nice pic of them with Luisa in the office as they checked out.

Paid up my bill and hit the road in Colin’s van with bike inside (pedals off) about 10:30 or so.

Headed to Revanna, on the other side of the Apennines, and right on the Adriatic coast. Colin noticed a Farmicia just by chance on the road, kind of in the middle of nowhere. Went inside to see if they had something that would help my sun-rash, which looks worse today – almost like welts or pustules. The pharmacist took one look and said ‘oooohhhh – no sun for at least two days’ then went in the back, opened up a drawer and brought back a little box. It was cortisone cream and I’m to use it twice a day to get rid of the horrible looking rash. It does look worse than it feels – at least it’s not painful or itchy, just looks like I’ve got a disease of some kind. Applied the cream immediately and am hopeful that in a couple of days I won’t still look like a leper.

The drive was good – lots of beautiful villages on hillsides – including Assisi not far from Foligno. As we progressed east and the mountains got higher there were fewer villages – just the occasional farm.

As we neared the east coast the mountains suddenly stopped and it was totally flat.

Stopped at a Lidl store near Revanna – German origin but all over Europe. Kind of a cross between Costco and Walmart, but mostly food and produce. Also – wine – cannot believe how cheap it is! Got a cart full of fresh produce plus other essentials – laughed when she told us the total. Would have costed 3 times as much at home.

Went to one campsite but didn’t like it so headed to another one. It’s pretty big and seems like a lot of the folks here are long term/permanent. Got the tent up in a matter of minutes – takes longer to tear down than to put up.

The campsite is very different than Pian di Boccio – no free electric hookup or wi-fi (well – 10 minutes, but that’s nothing) but you don’t have to pay for hot showers. Also, they have a gym and lots of other stuff that we likely won’t use. Only staying here one night anyway.  Minute walk to the Adtriatic Sea – very beautiful.

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