01 August 2014
Enns to Schwanenstadt, Austria (49 miles; Total = 458 miles)

I have just shaken hands with the town drunk. It’s nice he wanted to welcome me to this town of Schwanenstadt, barely believing that I was from America and having quite a bit more to say, about which I’m not sure what the subject was, my senses being deadened by the alcoholic fog emanating from his speech, but he smiled when he walked off so I think it was all okay. Then again, he was drunk so that smile was probably not so much about his interaction with me but more about the apricot schnapps that’s a specialty around this region.

We blew out of our dumpy room in Enns this morning in no time flat. Brush your teeth but not your hair, pack your bags but not your helmet, and go go go. Me being me, I was concerned enough about today’s lack of accommodation-supplied breakfast to have a terrible nightmare last night about Gina serving herself coffee and saving none of it for me (okay, so “nightmare” might be a little dramatic for describing a dream in which I was denied coffee but hey, me being me means a morning without coffee, even if not real, is a nightmare). I’m happy to report it was merely a nightmare and not a premonition, a bakery stop with coffee being had on our way out of town.

Today’s route left the Danube behind and a smorgasbord of other routes to follow toward the lakes: the R14, R4, R6, and R you getting us anywhere near a toilet? Not to overshare, but finding unlocked water closets around here can be like finding a sober person at Oktoberfest (or maybe here in Schwanenstadt), and when you have coffee on the road instead of near your room, that saddle can get awfully uncomfortable awfully quick. Three hours later, after rolling through fantastic open farmlands and along the deep green Traun River, there is relief to be had in the strangest of places – a children’s zoo, for which no admission charge was necessary. There amongst the giant tortoises and exotic cats and brightly colored birds was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.