Leaving the Hartland

August 9, 2021

After a blissful two night stay with Vance and Laurie on Hartland Pond it’s time to move on today to our hotel in Hartford, our base for catching the Amtrak to the Newark airport tomorrow. Vance has volunteered to drive us down, and to stop along the way at the UPS store in Simsbury for us to ship a few things back to Portland that won’t be needed overseas.

The main items to be returned are two new tires that we packed in case we thought any needed replacing at the end of Part One. Looking at them now though, all four tires have enough tread that they look good for another three months on the road. No sense carrying the others along in the suitcases, especially since they make for a tight fit in the suitcases. I think that’s the most likely cause of the bent disc on Rachael’s front wheel when we arrived in Minneapolis. We were lucky that was an easy repair then; no sense tempting fate again.

The other big news from Hartland Pond is that the junco eggs hatched in the nest hanging from Vance and Laurie’s eaves. Here, the proud papa is keeping photographers and other predators at bay.

It’s Monday morning, and Laurie is back at her work in her summertime home office. Once the season changes she’ll have to move back indoors to the spare bedroom where we and the burying beetle have been hanging out.

I’ve packed the bikes away in some interesting settings by now, but none as serene as this one.

And it does look like the trip is a go, from what we know now with less than 36 hours until departure. Requirements for entering the Netherlands, crossing into Belgium, and from there into Germany two weeks later all are unchanged and welcoming as of this writing. We’re starting to relax.

It does sound like we’re getting out while the getting’s good though. With Delta skyrocketing in our country, Covid rates here far exceed the EU threshold for remaining on their safe list. They have to meet and formally remove us from the safe list first though, and there’s speculation that that could happen as early as this week. It’s conceivable that if we were here a week from now we might be aborting the trip or fishing around for another destination that would still admit us.

Lucky, so far; but check back Wednesday, when we’ll hopefully be checked into our hotel in Antwerp and reassembling the bikes.

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Graham FinchWishing you a stress-free journey .... and looking forward to seeing updates.
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2 years ago

Bob DistelbergSafe travels!
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2 years ago

Suzanne GibsonHave a good trip! Wishing you open borders and punctual flights!
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2 years ago

Tricia GrahamHave a really wonderful time. I see that now Germany has taken the Netherlands of its red list which is good news
With great regret we have put off our trip. We are not the slightest bit worried about things in Europe. However here in New Zealand we are the victims of the success of keeping Covid out. The bottom line is that no matter what happened we could not get back into the country until the date of our MIQ reservation- they are booked out for months. At 82 and 84 the risk of something else happening is just too great
As soon as self isolation of fully vacinated people is allowed this will remove the bottle neck and we will be on the first plane when the weather is OK
Have fun
Tricia
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Tricia GrahamThank you, Tricia. I’m really sorry that it’s not working out for you to go this year, but it’s very easy to understand. New Zealand was such a model for the world in its approach for containing the virus at first. It’s surprising to see this downside to their early success. Hopefully by spring.

I did see that Netherlands was just reclassified a few days ago. I’m not surprised - rates were dropping so fast that it seemed likely this would happen. No regrets though on our change of plans - we’re very excited about our planned stay in Belgium.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Graham FinchThanks, Graham. I’ll do my part and keep looking for a decent moonshot for you, but it won’t be the same. Moonlight in Luxembourg just doesn’t have the same swing to it somehow.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks, Suzanne. It does look like the stars are aligning for us. The EU decided just today to leave the gates open to us for a while longer, so it looks like we’ll get in the door. As a bonus it looks like we’re in for a spell of brilliant weather when we hit Antwerp.
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2 years ago

Andrea BrownWe'll all be relieved when you land safely without bureaucratic drama, unpack your BFs, and sail out into your beloved Europe again. Have a great flight and try to get some sleep.
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2 years ago