Land excursion

Dense fog lay over the Welzheim forest in the evening. Visibility had dropped below 50 meters and only the white border strip of the road could be seen, which was still weakly reflected by the illumination of the headlights. Leschek- who came out of the forest, as he is called by its owners, a Lada 4x4, did not think much of the trip and showed this by illuminating the road only poorly with his headlights. Rüdiger, the driver and proud owner, made every effort to keep Leschek going. I assisted him in that I made the started windshield with a leather sponge from time to time visible again, which didn't help much, because through the fog the road directly before Leschek was only dimly visible. Asha and Gaby sat in the back and loudly reviewed the evening so far.

We were in the Lamm in Hintersteinenberg a restaurant which is known for its good cuisine, beyond the borders of Welzheim. The innkeeper, a unicum, entertained us the whole evening and after we had stocked up with the home-made canned sausage, we closed the evening and let ourselves be taken home. Astrid Szelest and her husband Rüdiger are very close to nature and are involved in numerous projects for the protection of the forest and their animals, nationally and internationally. Well networked, they also like to pass on their knowledge to others. If you would like to learn more about the two of them, please visit their website https://www.szelest.info/. Not only that we were on the way with a wilderness teacher and a certified tracker gave us a good feeling, no Rüdi and Asha, as they are called by most people, grew up here and know every stone. So it happened that Leschek the Lada in this evening, despite good talk, simply had no more desire and with a deep sigh, the light went out and stopped in the middle of the " Täle". Even after good persuasion, he only gave a clack, clack and then nothing more. A calm set in, even the silence on the back seat was almost mystical.

But soon we got back on track and discussed what to do next. Rüdiger dragged through the dense fog and at the same time he was not seen anymore to set up the warning triangle. In front of us a dark shadow could be seen at the roadside and I looked to see what it was. It was a wooden power pole with a transformer on it, but what was much more important, there was an asphalt inlet and we could push Leschek off the road. Now we needed help. Philipp, who should have been there with Steffi but had something else in mind, was called to tow us away. We waited and the humid cold, which probably was also Leschek's fate, slowly crawled into our bones. We kept ourselves warm with stupid sayings, of which I always have some ready, until Philipp finally picked us up. Since the Lada did not give any more light signal, we postponed the towing to the next day and made ourselves comfortable with Asha and Rüdiger at home. After I had drunk him all the beer supplies empty (punishment must be), we closed the evening finally and drove home with Steffi and Philipp. The next day we picked up Leschek from his night rest area. He had survived the night quite well and purred, after we helped the battery with a jumper cable, like a kitten. After a while, to stay with the animal metaphors, a squeaking sound like a small pig appeared and it was clear that the V-belt had to be tightened. Due to the noise level inside we hadn't noticed this at all yesterday evening. All's well that ends well. Astrid and Rüdiger have definitely managed to make sure that the evening in the Welzheim forest will remain in our unforgettable memories and, even if unintentionally, you can always have a good time with the two of them. Simply two great people! 

The rest of the week was almost overshadowed by the events, but of course we had more encounters. We met up with the two cycling legends from Winnenden, Ursel and Lothar, who presented us their last tour from Winnenden to Berlin via multimedia show. While Gaby met with her former work colleague Neli, I tried to relax in the sauna. In the evening it was time for family again. We were invited to our niece in Stuttgart. Steffen, her boyfriend, turned out to be an excellent grill master and we had an extraordinary dinner. With a subsiding flu, fighting outside, he gave it his all, while Katrin was a courteous hostess. The evening ended far too quickly for us: What a pity! We would have liked to further decimate your wine stocks. Meanwhile, the preparations for the next sailing season continue. The weather data around Fiumicino shows calm weather, but the temperatures are still a bit low. Although December 2019 and, as it looks, January 2020 should be among the warmer ones since weather records have been kept, we prefer to wait a little longer before sailing. 

We will not be at the "boot"this year. But we wish all our followers, friends and colleagues a nice and informative fair and a lot of fun in realizing your dreams. We wish our club Trans Ocean a successful fair and many new members. For the first time, the association will also hold presentations during the fair. More details can be found on the homepage of the association under https://www.trans-ocean.org/termine?udt_686_param_detail=1052 .
How it goes with us further you experience next week, until then all the best, Fair Winds and hold the ears stiff.