We set out for our big drive to Germany. Our plan is really to drive the 8-10 hours it takes to get to Wurzburg and then have two days there rather than having to check into, and out of, a hotel along the way. This is not meant to be, because the evil French trucks now have help from the evil French highway construction projects to make sure that we cannot meet our goal. At one point when I was driving and waiting at a tollbooth we did not move for so long I popped it into neutral and put on the parking break for ten minutes– no need to overwork my leg muscles! We drive and drive and stop for food in some place that is like a weird French/German mix, because it is so close to the border. Finally, we cross the boarder on to the lovely speed-limitless German roads. In fact, immediately upon crossing, some BMW starts flashing his lights at Scott because he wants to drive 180 or something and we were impeding his progress. Anyway, we think we can push it to Wurzburg and I call our hotel (after calling the states to have someone look up the number – I wrote all of the hotel information down but the number; what was I thinking?) They tell me they are booked up and we cannot come a day early, ugh! What will we do? We decide what is best is to pick a place along the way since it is already 11 and get some rest rather than pushing it on further, but where to stay? The guidebook I have isn’t that helpful. I try calling the number listed for a place in Baden-Baden and no one answers. Not knowing enough about other towns along the way, including how large they are, I am loathe to just get off the highway and search because in those small towns you really don’t find anything open past 11. I finally I hit on an idea – We are near the city of Karlsrhue; I am going to test Google with the words “Karlsrhue” “hotel” and “Germany.” When I announce this plan to Scott, he suggests that the stress of the long road trip has gotten to me and that I am losing touch with reality. But, ha ha! Google – otherwise known as Alexis’ favorite thing in the world next to gazpacho – comes through and texts me back a list of hotels in Karlsruhe. So now we are speeding down the highway doing 160 kilometers an hour and I am frantically dialing on one cell phone (having procured a charger for Scott in Spain) and checking numbers and information on my phone. Several tired voices tell me they are booked up when, finally, I get a kindly old man who tells me we can stay at his hotel. I confirm the address with him and offer a slight involuntary cringe when he tells me they are directly on the Bahnhof (train station). But, hey it’s a room and I am beyond tired.
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