… for those of you who are not interested in the story, take a look at the gallery which can be found at the end 😀
It feels kind of strange to be on the road again after spending 4 weeks in the same place.  We leave St. Quentin-la-Poterie and our friends behind to start our „friends & family & some business“ road trip that will take us from the south of France to the north of Germany (and back). Our first stop was Marseillete near Carcassonne to meet with our former Swiss neighbors who had taken the same decision like us and who are now living in a very nice place right on the Canal du Midi. Even though it’s been more than a year that we last met, it feels like it’s been just yesterday. Exchanging old memories and new plans (for life) the evening passes much too fast. From Marseillette we drive to Sarlat la Canéda to meet with Dan and Francesco, a couple that we’ve met in Crete. They run a luxurious BnB Hotel in the middle of the old town ( https://les-suites-sarladaises.fr/ ) and we are greeted like old friends. Sarlat is a beautiful medieval town and we take an early morning walk into the old town to watch the Saturday market come alive. Sitting in a Cafe, sipping on a perfect Cappuccino and enjoying freshly baked „pain aux raisins“ we feel that the market must have been like this a hundred years ago (most likely without the Cappuccino). The heat is increasing as the heatwave from Africa is hitting central France. Driving north on secondary roads it get so hot we have to turn on the air conditioning (and yes, our car has no airbags but it does have air conditioning). It’s propably one of the 3 times a year that we turn it on.
We decide to make one stop in Royat and one north of Dijon in Sanchey. It’s the first time this year that the night temperatures don’t drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. We sit outside, look at the stars and get attacked by hordes of Mosquitos with a preference for campers. The next morning we look like we have been infected with chickenpox and start to apply lots of Fenistil (which doesn’t help much).
From the lake of Bouzey (near Sanchey) we drive straight to my parents place and spend a night in Zweibrücken before picking a campground near Waldfischbach with no phone coverage and a broken payphone. We watch groups of young people walking by, talking to each other in the absence of mobile internet. Nobody committed suicide so having no internet for a couple of days doesn’t seem to do any harm.
Our time schedule is pretty tight despite having 2 months before returning to Uzès. During the last 2 weeks we drove more kilometers than in the previous 2 months. And it won’t stop. After a business meeting in Mainz, Hannover is next on the list. Enjoying the hospitality of Camilla’s parents we ignore the cool weather and Joiz is having his usual good time in jumping over the hedges in the garden. While Joiz is spending 2 1/2 days with one of Camilla’s old friends we take a short trip to Berlin to meet with a very good friends. It is a year that we last met them but we instantly reconnect and it feels so good to be with them again. We spent the evening during the great dinner that Tillmann has prepared, talking, exchanging ideas and drinking wine. What would life be without friends?
As the date of Adventure Southside is approaching fast, we have no interest in rushing south so we take it slow and stop in Karlstadt about half way to our destination. We’ve never heard of Karlstadt before but this cozy old town on the Main river instantly wins our hearts. The campground is tightly packed but everyone is extremely chilled.  In the evening we sit on the banks of the river, drinking white wine from the local wine bar and watch the small boats go by. Too bad that we can only stay for one night.
We arrive in Eigeltingen early in the afternoon the next day instantly run into a couple that we’d met in Morocco 18 months ago. We set up Mike (the Defender) right next to them and reserve an additional lot for Betty, blogger of the Rolling Beast. This kind of show always brings like minded people together. The atmosphere is relaxed and many campers bring their dogs along. But it’s not only about meeting old friends but about making new ones. This time we meet Björn and Christina with 3 of their 4 children and their dog Chester. Sometimes you just “bump” into people that you instantly like. We love this couple, their thoughts about life and their ideas of living. We spent the evening with interesting conversations and we are sure that we’ll stay in touch.
This is the third time that we attended the show but most likely the last time. As the show gets bigger every year it looses it’s intimacy and the infrastructure can hardly keep up with the increasing number of campers. It is always nice to meet with friends and exchange travel stories but there will be other, smaller events coming up in the future.
For now we take a break near lake Bodensee to process our experiences of the recent weeks.
The road trip continues. One Life. Live It!
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