The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry...

No kidding...take today, for example...:)

Pete and Shirleen were up at the crack of dawn to take us to the Pescara train station.  They used the autobahn which is a). fast, and b). a toll road.  When we got to Pescara Centrale, it was bigger than I thought.  This is one of my biggest faults...things take longer than I think, they are harder than I think, usually the problem is much bigger than I think, and places are farther than I think.  It's not unusual to hear me say, "How hard could it be?"

We all went into the train station and found out from an English speaking clerk, that our train to Bologna for which we had already purchased tickets online, did not accept bicycles.  Hmmm...that IS a problem.  We would have to buy tickets on the regional train (the milk run) that DOES accept bicycles.  Oooookay.  Sometimes, you simply have to suck it up and move on.  Pete and Shirleen stayed with us until our train was ready to leave, loaning us one of their extra cell phones for a back-up in case we need to get ahold of them in a few days on our way up to the Dolomites. 

We rolled out of Pescara and were feeling pretty good.  The Adriatic Sea is a beautiful color and all along the way to Ancona (where we would have to change trains) we saw beach resorts, and campgrounds, and pretty little plots of beach that seem to be used for holiday.

When we got to Ancona, we checked the departure board for the Bologna train.  Ahhh yes, 12:40 on platform 1.  We checked with several people to make sure we were in the right place at the right time.  Near the time for our departure, we saw a train pull in, but it wasn't our number, there was no bicycle icon on the outside of the train, and we heard a fellow tell someone else, "No bicicilete (bicycle)...next train.". Oooookay, guess we'd better take the next train...only...there was no next train.  First Patty went in to talk to the ticket agent.  He said unless the conductor says no bicycle, get on with it.  We would have to wait until 2:36.  We weren't satisfied.  There was a woman conductor out on the platform and Patty spoke with her.  She told us we needed the train to Picenza.  It STOPS at Bologna, but on the departure board it was called the train to Picenza.  It left at 2:40 and got into Bologna at 5:15.  That...was going to make it difficult to ride the 30 or so miles to Ferrara where we had reservations for the night.

Bologna also has a large train station, and it took us a long time to weave our way through the city at 5:30 in the evening.  At one point we were surrounded by protestors in a park...chanting, singing, holding placards.  We would ride a short ways and look at the map or GPS.  Keep in mind that Italian streets are notorious for changing names every few blocks.  The route that I had loaded onto my GPS was useless because the screen was giving me a "memory full" signal.  My GPS was tired...and so were we.  Once we got north of the city, we kicked it up a notch and were riding along at 16-17 m.p.h...loaded.  But we just didn't have enough time.  We were following Patty's GPS to the address of the Air B&B and were out in the middle of espaliered fruit trees.  We were both a little irritated that this beautiful ride was being hurried.  It made us wonder if it is such a good idea to try and book places and trains before you are actually here.  It was nearly dark and we had decided to try and get to a large intersection and call our host to see if we could be picked up...when we stumbled upon an Agriturismo.  An Agriturismo in Italy is a farm or ranch that open its rooms to visitors.  Pete had told us that the government helps these farms in some ways...tax-wise, or something, because they want the small farms to flourish...to remain.  What a concept...would that we were doing THAT in the United States.  This Agriturismo is called Il Raccolto...they have a website...look them up.  The caretakers were warm and inviting and while they speak no English at all, we managed.  I look forward to breakfast in the morning.