A Spill and Wine Country (unrelated to each other)

We took off from the beautiful mountain of Alpe d'Suisi and headed back the way that we came, through the city of Bolzano and into the northern wine country, along the "Strada del Vino". Unfortunately, only 2K out from the camp, I took a little spill - could have been much worse, but my sore muscles from yesterday were joined by a sore arm and rear end for the rest of the day!! Thankfully, the monkey didn't get hurt... (or the bike)

In addition to my spills, we had two flats as well. However, it was a more relaxed day (only about 100k total), so we weren't in a huge hurry.

We saw beautiful views along the way. I'll post a pic, but there's really no way to adequately show in a photo all that we were seeing...

We made it to the town of Trento, but heard from Peter and Mario (who were up in the support vehicle) that the road from Trento onto the camp was narrow and busy - no way to pass it on bike, so we met them in Trento. Of course, as we rode through wine country, this is a picture of what it looks like if you just get to relax and enjoy it... (sorry Mario and Peter - I had to post it! Blame Juan - he took the picture)

We're staying at the resort town of Riva del Gardo, which is beautiful. Our next stage is into a small town called Mantova, and then on to Milan. Our weather has been beautiful up until now, but it looks like we will be seeing rain for the next several days...

Along the way, we've been seeing and hearing from God in so many different ways. Certainly the beauty of creation, but also the community of believers - the way that we are able to prefer one another and interact with joy and peace in such a small space. I pray that this continues, as there is a high potential for frustration in such a small area for so long. But so far so good!

Thanks for reading about our trip thus far - I realize that these aren't the most scintillating posts (as I'm usually posting about midnight or early in the morning), but it's great to hear your comments and thoughts. There is so much to learn along the way.

One other thing - later in the trip, we'll stay at Angelo's house. He lives in Lucca, and grows grapes and olives on his farm. He is a fascinating person, and I think the posts from those days will be very interesting as we see a little of his life, the process of olive and wine making, and the town of Lucca. However, first, it's on to Milan - through the rain! Greetings to all, and more will be coming soon...