Day Thirteen

Today Franz is leading me to the shipping company at Schipol. It's a 70 KM ride, and he expects to be there alot earlier than I think I can be. Leaving in the morning, the bike traffic on the fietspad is the heaviest I have been in, but never seems clogged like car traffic. The only thing keeping me from passing is my legs. Franz stops to wait for me to catch up often, so I never feel lost or abandoned. What a patient man he must be.

Here's a picture that Franz took during our rest stop. He had coffee, I had cigarettes. Compare this photo to the one where I am first climbing into the Versatile and the difference in my stomach is incredible. I lost almost 20 lbs in the brief time I have been here. We left at 8:00 and got there at noon. I rode as hard as I could all day. I entered the biulding and found room 214, while Franz stood guard over our velomobiles. His ride home took 1.5 hours. I provided my name, address, phone number and Email address to the shipper.( Aphotocopy of which became the shipping label for the crate which was biult around the Versatile.) I received no paperwork or receipt from the shipper, and was whisked downstairs, where I let the air out of the tires and helped load the Versatile in a van.

Having been relieved of my charge, I grabbed a free bus ride to the main terminal at Schipol, while Franz, likewise relieved of his, pedaled his quest back home. At Schipol I used the bathroom to change out of my bike clothes, and went downstairs to the train station. Bought a ticket to Amsterdam's Centraal station, and rode the train into Amsterdam. The city was much different on a Thursday afternoon than on Saturday at 8:00 AM like last time. I bought a few gifts for people back home, and without even trying, stumbled upon the one coffeeshop I had really wanted to visit. Two reasons: Frank Zappa, and Jack Daniels. Very few coffeeshops are also licensed to serve alcohol, but the 4:20 Cafe, or DeKuil as it used to be more commonly called does, and it is the only place (perhaps in all the world) that features the music of Frank Zappa. I sat at the bar, had a couple Jack and cokes, and visited with Snow White till I felt like one of the seven dwarfs. Here's a picture of the pivot point the Versatile shares with the Green Machine to break up the monotony of all these words.

I tried to call home (the Van Schoot residence ) to see which train to take from Almere Buiten, but ended up getting a wrong number, and trying to get a guy from some energy company to tell me what train to take. To where? well to your house. Well who are you? Kind of amusing in retrospect. Anyway, back outside the train station having a cigarette, I found a digital info sign that cleared things up for me, and I took my train back to Almere. I called home (Van Schoot residence) and this time did it right. I talked to Marianna, who said to stay right there, and Guus would come pick me up. Guus came and got me with an upright 2 wheeler with a heavy duty carrier on the back. I had to ride side saddle on the carrier on the back. There was nothing to hang on to, and it was hard to stay on. Guus is strong, and we were weaving throuh pedestrians, and flying around corners. A few times my legs scraped on things which we were cicumnavigating. A kid in the NL has been doing this since infancy, but for me, it was a new and wild experience. A totally unexpected layer of icing on a many layered cake, if you will. When we got back, I found out the reason so many people had been pointing and laughing was that this form of transport is usually how boyfriends carry their girlfriends. How humiliating it must have been for Guus to have ME on the back of his bike.

When we arrived "home" dinner was waiting. Franz's dutch rendition of chinese food was awesome, served with koekbroek, thin crisp wafers of bread that complimented the meal wonderfully. Franz and Marrianna told me of the trip they are planning to ride the Great Wall of China next year. What wonderful people. I have met so many many wonderful people over here.....In the velomobile community, at my campsites, and out on the fietspad. I left Snow White and all my supplies on the bar at 4:20 cafe back in Amsterdam, but had a peaceful evening drinking beer out back with Franz.