Day 19 Oberhausen, Germany - When the Ferry is Closed for Repairs.....

Joan's View

The streets of Cologne were quiet when we left in the morning except for the late-night partiers returning home, and some early morning joggers/cyclists. It took some time and lots of turns to actually get out of the city of Cologne. We encountered some older, narrow barriers protecting the bike trails. Tony had to do some really strategic maneuvering to get the bike through them. I even had to help lift the front of the bike at one point. 

We found a travel company that Cara & Nick might be able to use next time they come and get a deal when they show their last name. 

Heading to our ferry, we had stop and get a bite out of the biggest strawberry that we have ever seen. Keep reading because it must be good luck to kiss a giant strawberry.

We arrived at the ferry that Tony had planned to use to get across the Rhine. Alas, it seemed super quiet there. I walked down to read the sign and a German lady explained that it was closed for repairs. It might open next week. Uh oh, time for plan B. She said there was a ferry about 15 kilometers down the Rhine. We noticed another group of 4 German cyclists' approach that were talking and studying the ferry as well. They took off along the bike path, so we started to follow them thinking that they knew where they were going. Several miles down the trail we all came to a stop at an intersection and asked them if they really were going to the ferry. The one lady spoke better English than I speak German and said that they knew the ferry, so we continued to follow them. Tony was questioning this route because it was different than what he saw on maps. Several miles later on rural trails, however, the kind lady pointed and told us that the ferry was down that road. We didn't see a ferry, but we followed their directions. They were starting to turn around. It dawned on us that they had gone out of their way to show us how to get to the ferry! Such kind people. 

We rode along the road which was in the direction of the Rhine and came upon a biergarten with a sign about a ferry. The first boat out was at 10:30, but it was now about 10:00. This ferry only transports people, bikes, strollers, etc., but no cars. As we waited, a group of about 8 guys on bikes came looking for the ferry too. They zeroed in on the biergarten, and managed to convince the beer stand guy to open so they could get some beer. Tony could have joined them, but he actually opted to stay with the bike and make sure that we got on the ferry. The ferry captain saw us waiting as soon as he docked and seemed curious about our bike. He offered to take us for free on his "test ride" to the other side of the river even though it was before 10:30. I told him that the other group of guys drinking beer were waiting too, but he motioned, "Let them drink their beer. They can go later." We got a private ferry trip and great conversation with the kind captain.

Tony deciding if he wants to join the beer drinkers.

Our favorite captain

Getting off of our private ferry.

Where the ferry dropped us off was pleasantly exactly on our scheduled route, so it was easy to navigate from there. Riding along the trail, we had another kind person encounter. This Bossmann truck drove up alongside us to ask about our bike and where we were going. He was actually holding up traffic so eventually had to drive on. We continued riding and saw that he had parked to the side a little down the road. He said they he owned a strawberry business and offered us free great tasting strawberries. He called ahead to the lady working his stand to let her know that we were coming. He spent several minutes going over the directions with us. He also said that if we were ever in the area again to contact him. We know there are kind people, but this is amazing. We rode toward the free strawberry directions and happily found the stand. The sweet lady working the stand knew who we were and gave us 2 large boxes of the amazingly fresh, hyper sweet strawberries. We mowed them down. 

Robert Bossmann 

The Bossmann strawberry stand

Yum Yum Sweet Strawberries

As we were finishing devouring our treat, this other kind couple came up to chat. The husband commented on our bike that Tony does all the work. I agreed and laughed, but the wife stuck up for me and said, "No. Look at her legs." Her comment just solidified how much I liked her in addition to her great smile. We chatted with them for quite some time because it was so fun.

Also at that same stop, we got a picture of these older folks doing some sort of dance together.

We rode for some length of time through the edge of Dusseldorf. I decided that I really like Dusseldorf because of all these super friendly people. We even managed to identify a bakery with an awesome apple tart before we left Dusseldorf.

Further along the trail (which was very bumpy today since the trail winded along lots of city streets), we rode into a small town and could see that the streets were filled with people. What was going on? Tony had to walk the bike through the crowds. Turns out there was a huge flea market. 

Safer for everyone if Tony walks the bike.

We stopped in the middle of the crowds so that I also could check out the church where a mass had just ended with another anniversary celebration. That church has a raised pulpit very similar to the one in Glandorf, OH.

Leaving that little town, we found this sweet old lady on a bench who said that I could take a picture with her.

One other very evident discovery on this trip and especially today, is how well trained so many of the dogs have been that we have encountered along the trails. An example of one today was a guy walking his dog without a leash. He used hand signal without ever looking at the dog to get the dog to the side of the trail and sit. When we passed, the owner signaled again, and they took off. Since Luna just chewed up Marla & Nick's fence, we want to acknowledge we are thinking of you, Balogs, and appreciate everything you are doing for Luna.😀

We finished our ride today with a few extra miles, but the experience was extremely fun.

Tony's Extras

We had so much fun today and the strawberries were so flavorful and tasty. The whole ride was full of turns, intersections and many traffic signals. All the stopping and starting on our tandem is tough resulting in sore legs. 

By the way, traffic signals here are set up for cars and separate ones for bicycles. Something else really cool was that there was a waterline repair in the bicycle path, so they turned the one roadway lane into a bicycle lane. This caused the roadway to be one lane, where they set up a traffic signal for the cars to wait and go through one way at a time. In the U.S.A. they would have said, "oh well bicycles, figure it out on your own." You have to love bicycle friendly countries. Tomorrow off to Munster, Germany. This is so much fun!!