First, and most important – a very happy birthday to brother Bob – the big six-oh!!

Slept in for once – didn’t get up until 7:40. Sunny and breezy seems to be the norm here. They keep everything very clean and tidy – the shower was great, hot water for 7 minutes with the magic blue bracelet.

Ate breakfast on a picnic table near the fountains/play area. Little black kitty came right up to me but didn’t seem to like the beef packet I had bot at the store. Maybe the kids that came to play spooked him. I’m sure he’ll track me down later.

Got a nice long newsy email from Marge – very nice to hear from her and get caught up a bit on what’s happening back home.

Took a little ride on the seaside road back towards Split. Was just starting up the hill, away from the ‘strip’ by the town beach, when I came upon a bunch of people walking up to the church. I thought – ok, it’s Sunday – not surprising. When I saw the crowd of people outside the church I wondered if maybe there was a wedding happening. I stopped (near a couple of other cyclists that were also wondering what was going on) and waited. There was an official looking church guy and some kids dressed in gowns and holding candles beside a building across from me. Cars kept coming up and down the (very narrow) road. Finally a tall man gestured for the cars to stop coming up, but a jeep proceeds anyway. When the tall fellow waved him to hurry the f-up, he stopped! Church bells were starting to chime which produced more frantic gestures and the jeep finally got the message and continued up and out of the way. The kids were on the move, two by two, and there were a lot of them – probably 30 or 40 in all with another churchy guy at the end. They all filed into the church to the tolling of the bells – very touching, whatever it was for.

Probably got about half-way before the road I was on veered to the highway. I’m going to ask at the office if there’s a road that goes all the way thru so I don’t have to ride on the highway again. Passed what looked like a playing field (soccer pitch?) that had a wall around it. The wall facing the parking lot had a painting of a confederate flag and the words ‘white boys’ in big blue capital letters – don’t know what that’s about.

Views from the road were spectacular, when there weren’t buildings in the way.

Finally got my odometer working again – along with other parts of the bike it got a bit of a s***kicking on the trains and bus. Still haven’t got the front fender snapped back into the little bits that connect it to the actual wheel – might have to ask someone with stronger hands to help me or it’ll be rattling every time I ride and that will irritate me. My bike was beautiful and perfect when I left home and now it seems like a bit of a wreck – oh well, at least it’s getting used a bit!

When I rode past the church on my way back I could hear the kids inside singing – sounded really good – still wonder what it was all about.

Had a nice cup of hot black tea on one of the terraces above my tent site – first one in days.

Put my second ground cover down with my black blanket on top and had lunch outside my tent. Little black kitty came around and I tried to give him some food – he still doesn’t like the beef I got this morning, so tried a chicken (I think) packet – he liked that enough to eat two portions. The ‘tuna’ I got for myself turned out to be kind of a pate – not bad, I guess, but not what I expected – so much for getting the ‘cheap’ one! Fresh tomatoes and a cuke, in addition to multi-grain bread-roll and cheese (from Trieste) rounded out my meal.

Did some laundry – a lady at the sinks shook her head at me when I plugged in my ipad at the electric outlet (meant for hairdryers). I thought she was warning me that it might get stolen, but I think I was wrong. Turns out she was a cleaning lady, and was likely telling me I shouldn’t be powering up my stuff on their dime. I just smiled and continued doing my laundry by hand. She continued doing her cleaning up (actually a good job!) and shooting me black looks from time to time. I guess I’m in trouble if the camp’s electricity police come looking for me, but in the meantime I put up a line by my tent and am air-drying my clean clothes.

Went for a walk around the campground – it’s actually really big. There are probably 10-12 places for tents, but looked like a couple hundred campervan spots, and almost full capacity. Tried out the water – actually quite warm and might have to swim one of these days. Using the solar panel again to power things up – works really well as long as I use the charger in between it and the ipad.

Asked at the restaurant/bar if they could put the Giro on tv – it’s the last day – another individual time trial, but the only two sports channels they have are both showing soccer games.

Little black kitty came around again just as I was finishing my dinner – he had a whole packet of fishy stuff and still wanted more. Didn’t want to make him sick, so just patted him until he purred. Poor little thing – probably the most affection he’s ever gotten.

First selfie ever!!

Very nice evening – breezy but not cold – a bit cloudy but not stormy.

Oh – just found out on cyclingnews.com that Dutchman Tom Dumoulin won!  I’m so happy!  I couldn’t be there, but my fried Colin was – can’t wait to hear what it was like!

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