DAY 87

Thursday 6 October 2011

Before leaving the marina we introduced ourselves to and shared coffee with seasoned campers Wolfgang and Gisella. They generously gave us a map of Europe, and another highlighting all the good FREE camping spots in Italy.

We said auf wiedersehen to the couple and drove on.

Home is where you'd least expect it. Along this road
we also saw signs for "Florida" and "San Diego"

Feeling a bit peckish, we lunched outside a Lidl that looked out on a castle on a hill. We had to leave the sea momentarily in order to end up on the opposite side of the coast, so we boldly went through small, unpaved roads that more often than not turned out to be under construction or a dead end, and we even forded a mighty river (or 6-inch stream, depending on how you looked at it) with Nicole singing the theme to Indiana Jones in the background. Let us remind you that we do not have 4WD.

It was unavoidable traveling through the congested city of Calanzaro, and just when we were about to give up on GPS-James Bond and the labyrinth of streets he was failing to navigate, 007 emerged in the flesh. He spoke no English, but un poco espanol, which Dian and Nicole were able to understand. After considering the thought of telling us how to get out of the city verbally, he thought better and actually acted as our personal escort out of town in his own car.

The sights were beautiful thereafter and because of the waning daylight, we settled into a town called Scario, where we free-camped. The town was quaint, and we chatted with a few of the storeowners. One man explained that the surrounding area had many caves holding archaeological artifacts, but the people there were “not smart enough” to protect them or make something of them. Our last stop was at Anna’s grocery store where we bought a chocolate muffin to share for dessert. Pasta and “Puddn’head” summed up our evening…except for the church bell that sounded every. fifteen. minutes.

Tile artwork in Scario