Day 5 - Solo, Estonia - The Saga continues and then it ends

Tony's View

Yesterday we left off writing about the luggage that missed the direct flights from Frankfurt to Tallinn. I got a call from Scandinavian Airlines about 11:00 after going to bed. She said the luggage is on a flight to Tallinn and it should arrive around 1:00 am, and that they will give me a call to deliver it shortly thereafter. We were about a 1 hour car ride from the Tallinn airport. I got a call again from United around 12 midnight. She wanted me to help her find our luggage at Dulles airport. She asked for the AirTag information and I let her know it was in Frankfurt. Okay, back to bed. 1:00 am. I get another call that asked where exactly I wanted to have the bags delivered. I gave her the address and said to call me 10 minutes before they get there and I would be on the road with my bicycle lights so they knew where to go because we're in a very remote area. She says it sounds like a plan. I go back to sleep again and woke up at 2:00am. I decided to call the lady and tell her I see per the AirTags the luggage was in Tallinn Airport and that I haven't received a call. She was appalled and said that she would call me back within an hour. So at 3:00am she said to expect a call. I fell asleep and woke up at 5:00am. I decided to call her and I got an answering machine. So, I went to sleep again, after laying there in frustration. I woke up with a call again at 7:30am. That person asked how long we were going to be at that Airbnb, I said we are leaving in 3 hours. She said the quickest we could see the bags was the next day. I said, You can't be serious, another day?"

It was time to take matters in our own hands. We decided to get an Uber for an hour drive to the  Tallin airport to pick up our luggage and another hour Uber ride back. We got back to the Airbnb at 10:00 and $105, later. But we had our bike and was ready to put it together. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!!!

As the blog followers know, the World's Record for putting our tandem bicycle together was 3 hours and 28 minutes. I did have great help from Joan this time and I am proud to announce the new World's Record is now 2 hours and 32 minutes. The interesting part of this new World's Record is that when we finally started cycling, Joan pedaling forward wasn't working. 😂😂😏😕. We decided that Joan would pedal backwards this first day. The cool part is that we are talking about me screwing up on the bicycle than the airlines.

When we were coming in from the Airport after picking up the luggage wee saw 5 army trucks with soldiers in the back and wondered what was going on. The host of the Airbnb told us there is a NATO Air Force base, Amari base, on the other side of the woods. That explained the thunder we heard last night. By the Way, the Airbnb hosts, Margus & Ena were so friendly that they were going to take care of shipping the baggage to Vilnius Airbnb, very genuine people.

It was so nice to just go out and start cycling. Just to have some new complaining. We were riding against a stiff wind all day. We started out at 2:00, our latest start ever. We decided to take the 35 mile route instead of the 55 mile ride. We went by the NATO Air Force base. We definitely saw and heard 2 fighter jets fly over us.  

The trails were kind of unique today, but still super fun. I would swerve from side to side to avoid branches hanging out and mud puddles. This area is mostly wooded area. great place for wild life. We did see a huge and fluffy red fox. Also saw some Moose crossing signs. 

This was a cool house along the trail. It is a storage container with a roof and a smaller, elf like house on the side of it. Actually was pretty cool.

We decided to take a break at one of the many bus stop along the highway where we rode our longest stretch. Bus stops out in the middle of nowhere. I was getting tired, since Joan pedaling backwards didn't provide as much power as forward. Looking forward to forward pedaling tomorrow since it is now fixed. We were on the other side of the street looking at a map billboard where I could show my Estonia geography to Joan 😀

Joan's Extras

Using one of our grandson Todd's favorite sayings, "Let's Go!"

However, if you have pedaled forward to go forward on a bicycle all your life and then have to pedal backward to go forward, your brain is doing some serious overtime. We got lots of honking from one driver. He was probably trying to tell me that I was trying to tell me that Tony & I were pedaling in opposite directions.

This is our home for the night. Hoping for a clear sky and lots of stars! 

We were later getting to our dome because of our late start, so dinner was much anticipated. Our host and chef, Helen Pohl, was a culinary chef at the Spanish embassy. We savored a delicious 5 course meal. 

By the way, they have chickens guarding the bathroom just like the yurt on our bike trip 2 years ago. They also have giant mosquitos which I'm guessing are comparable to Alaskan mosquitos. At least it will be cool tonight so fewer mosquitos out when we get up to go to the bathroom. We'll see if the chickens are out then.