5-30-2010

Oatranto

As I rode along a little road I saw this and figured it would be a cemetery.

it sure is and wow, do these Italians spend the money on the graves.

I liked this little weedy patch and figure it is the best place to be buried.

BIG money deal here.

The first lizard I have had a chance to get a picture of for my friend Cactus Jack.

A car blinked its headlights when I was going through a tunnel and I checked and my lights were on dim but when I checked to see if there was light….. NO light!! Fortunately Jorg had put a spare light bulb in the tool kit so I was soon set to go again. Gotta look for another tomorrow as well as find some more oil. It uses about a half quart of oil a day and when I finally found a quart it cost me 15 euros….. yikes! Oh well, it is only money and best spent on oil and a good ride.

What the bike looks like all packed up with Givi saddle bags, my yellow camp bag and a huge tank bag that really cuts the wind much like a lttle windscreen.

This black guy was herding water buffalo through a mud bath. Maybe for fly control?

‘This is a huge tomato growing setup. All under cover and tressiled.

Potato field. I went through miles and miles of veggtable growing country. Everything seemed to be in the ground. Lots of tomatoes, carrots, potatoes. Onions and garlic were favorite crops.

I went through a little town and they were about ready to start a bike race.

The dump areas are always really filthy.

I stopped for lunch at a very old olive tree orchard. Most of the trees I have been seeing are really small but these old ones have stood the test of time. They grow a LOT of olives down here. Not sure what they do with them all. Maybe run some of their little diesel cars on olive oil?

I think I am now in Frazione Le Castella. Not sure if that is the name but I am about 240km from Riggio or just across the water from Sicily. I should be over there tomorrow. It was an exciting day. I got lost big time three times. I finally stopped and asked a Polizia and he took me to the auto parts store where I bought two new headlight bulbs as well as two quarts of oil. Man, they sure do hide the auto parts stores here. Napa could do a good business with their blue and yellow signs. I finally decided to splurge and get a hotel room for the night. It is a pretty nice one for 40E for one night. That is half what a Best Western cost that I checked at. That is the first BW I have seen and figured it would be too much, but thought I would see what they wanted. I will have to say if you pay the extra bucks you get someone that can speak a little English. Here, not so but one old gent finally took me up to the room and showed me how to get the lights to work. I have a safe place to park the bike in the basement, or at least I hope so. Nice little town with lots of pizza joints or restaurante places. i left my cable to hook up my little camera down in the bike saddle bag so i will have to up load those photos later. wow, the fist time i have had wifi in Italy. i didnt think they had this new stuff down here. it is almost impossible to find a internet cafe or i have only found one so far that let me use my computer and the other one i found only had three computers. ah, the neat thing about being in central and South America is that there  is internet EVERYWHERE and cheap too. even in tiny little villages. NOT here.