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Then
we headed down, down, down. On the way down we passed the walled
town of Valico di Monte Nibbio. I
knew Don would want to go into this town, because it is a quaint little
village,
up a steep hill on cobblestones on a narrow road. His
favorite! So, I stopped, parked my bike and trailer in a nice
space behind a park bench,
and waited. Pretty soon Don came along and parked his bike and
trailer
next to mine, and then sat down with me to enjoy the view and the
shade.
We were just getting ready to leave when a woman drove up in her car,
and
in Italian gestures and intonations, told us that she wanted to park
where
we had our bikes parked and would we move. Don took an immediate
dislike
to her, and so he gave her that good old Italian gesture, throw up your
hands
in the air, what can I do, its out of my hands. She didnt like
this,
and tried to edge her car up next to our bikes anyway, but there just
wasnt
room. There were 5 pay spots just 10 feet away, but she wasnt
having
that. She wanted the nice, shady, free spot.
Finally
she drove off in a huff, muttering Italian somethings at us out her
window. Shortly after this encounter, we got on our bikes and
teetered along the cobblestoned street up the hill, and then around the
corner. Who should be coming around the blind corner,
just as I was negotiating my bike around that same corner, and heading
down
a steep, bumpy road? You guessed it! Parking lady.
Boy
was she mad! She had parked way down the hill, and was huffing
and
puffing up, just in time for me to run right into her. Luckily I
was
able to take evasive action, and I didnt bump into her.
By
the time we got to the bottom of the mountain
it was 3pm and very hot. We decided to call it a day and checked
into
a nearby hotel in the town of Fabro. Our shower felt good and we
watched
the Giro coverage. While I watched the news Don did some more
laundry.
I was sitting on the bed, minding my own business, watching the news on
tv
and playing Monopoly, when I heard Don sweetly call me, Geralynn, oh
Geralynn.
I called back, just as sweetly, Yes dear? No answer.
Then
I heard, in a more demanding voice, Geralynn! What do you
want?
I grumpily called back. Still no answer. Then there was a
shrill
whistle, and I thought, Gee! Is he pushy or what! I have to
get
up and go to him. So I got up and went to the bathroom, where he
was
washing his clothes. No Don. I look in the hall. No
Don.
Then I heard a very loud Wheeeet, which means, You had better get your
butt
over here NOW! and I still couldnt find him. I looked all around
the
bedroom, in the bathroom, shower, out in the hall again. I called
out
one more time, Don, where are you? I hear you, but I cant find
you!
Well, he had gone out on the balcony to hang his clothes to dry, and
the
door had locked automatically behind him. He was stuck out there,
with
no way to get off or back into the hotel.
After
I rescued him from that fiasco, we decided
we needed some wine and we went to the grocery for supplies. When
we
got back our room was very warm, so we opened the big window to get a
breeze
and I went down to the desk for ice. No ice, the bar doesnt open
until
June. By the time I got back, Don was in a fit. There were
wasps
buzzing all around our open window, trying to come in. Don was
waving
them out as fast as he could. We closed the metal shutters, but
then
it was just too hot. Since there is a big sign advertising the
air
conditioning, we went down to the desk and asked how to turn on the air
conditioning
in our room. Very sorry. No air conditioning until June.,
was
the reply. We tried to tell the clerk our room was just too hot
and
we couldnt open the window because of the wasps and we needed the air
conditioning,
but she just kept repeating, not until June. We argued that June
is
just a few days away, and wouldnt she flip the switch now? No, in
June.
Finally Don made her come up into our room and opened the shutter and
showed
her the wasps flying in, so she let us change rooms. There we
could
open the window, and that helped a bit. This was turning out to
be
a day of predicaments.
Also,
the restaurant didnt open until June, so we went across the street and
had dinner on a nice outdoor patio. My steak was excellent.
Don wanted the shish-kebab, but we didnt know which item on the menu to
say. After trying to describe to the waitress the
shish kebab we had seen cooking on the grill, by stabbing imaginary
chunks
of meat on a finger, we saw her eyes light up and thought we had made a
clear
order. Too bad Dons shish kebab turned out to be a lamb
steak.
Oh, well. I shared my nice fillet mignon with Don.
We
just were not having a lucky day, so we
went to bed. I woke up at 2:30, sure that I had heard someone
tampering with our bike trailers, which were parked in front of the
hotel. I spent
the next two hours figuring out the best way to file the theft report
with
the Italian police, and then fell sound asleep at about 4:30am.
At
about 4:40am Don woke up and decided he
would get the KY jelly handy for when I awakened. He quietly went
to
his duffel bag to get it. Not there. He unzipped each
compartment, looking carefully, trying not to wake me with his
rustlings. Then he
did the same with my duffel bag, again searching each
compartment. Then
he looked through my bike bag, then his bike bag. Now he was
getting
grouchy about this, and determined to find it. He got dressed and
went
downstairs and out into the front yard of the hotel and looked through
both
of our bike trailers (still there and untouched, in spite of my
imaginings).
He still couldnt find it! He went back up the stairs to return to
our
room. Oops! He had locked himself out of the hotel.
He
had to wake up the hotel night clerk at 5:15am to let him in.
Back
in our room again, Geralynn still snoozing away, he went through both
of our duffel bags again, went through all of the
drawers in the room, checked everywhere in the bathroom, and finally,
at
about 6:30 he was so mad, he woke me up to ask where it was. I
didnt
know either, and looked around a bit, but couldnt find it. He
grumpily
said it was time for me to get up anyway, and even more grumpily
unplugged
the tv (there was only one outlet in the whole room) to make coffee.
After
coffee and breakfast we packed up and
got ready to leave. As I was picking up the last few items, that
I
stuff into my trailer, around the sides of my duffel, what did I find,
hiding
under the bag of laundry detergent? Yep! The KY jelly.
We
decided Fabro was not a good town for us,
and headed out early.
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