Powering Up for the Last Leg

Our spirits were high on the day we rolled into the resort in Chia. The hill climbs were behind us, and the wind had been at our back as we turned eastward along the southern tip of the island. We visualized hitting the pool upon arrival, and there was the ever hopeful thought of getting our luggage.

However, on checking in, the bags weren’t there.

We were getting desperate. I like to think we can travel in a warm climate with a pair of shorts, a T shirt, and toothbrush, though Marlene disagrees. This experience had almost proven me right with the exception of electronic stuff. The laptop could be charged with the Italian 220 volt outlets but we needed a plug adapter which was in our luggage. My starving camera and Kobo along with Marlene’s curling iron needed the 220 to 110 volt converter which was also you know where. Even though at each hotel we begged and borrowed what we could, we were running out of power.

I was trying to combine parts from a spare hotel laptop charger with parts from our computer charger when Marlene got the call from the front desk that our 2 suitcases had arrived. She was some excited, and so was I. Finally, in an instant, everything was literally coming together. We had been on the road for 5 days, wearing the same clothes, cycling without bike helmets, gloves or a mirror, and of course running out of power. But we had survived it.

The next day we headed off for the last cycling leg of our route. We headed up the east side of the island toward Pula. Most of the route was just slightly inland from the coast, so there was lots of agriculture. In Italy, that means orchards, olive groves, melon fields and of course vineyards with ripening grapes. Remember all that local wine we told you about.

It was an easy 20 km day. We had clean clothes, all our biking equipment, and were powered up.

Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2011/09/sandinias-history-and-culture.html