7 May ’04, Friday. Cold Rain, Rain, Go Away…. Well, it is not only raining but because of the problem with the van we weren’t able to attach to the addition as well. Now this may not sound like much of a problem but you would have to see it to believe it. Prior to the van not starting we arrived back to the campgrounds and I pulled up close enough to attach to our addition. I didn’t make it. Close but not close enough and with not being in the right position we couldn’t go out the side door or the passenger door. We had to crawl through the drivers side. On top of that it was raining. So let me recap…. Raining, Van wont start, Raining, Slide through drivers side, and yes, Raining. Up and out by 9am and I was ready to hike to the Volkswagen Dealership here in our small town. It was just over 40 minutes to walk and it was still (Yes you guessed it) Raining. They were all very nice and told me it was going to cost $70 Euros per hour but they would give me a ride back to the campgrounds and have a look. They brought a tow rope just in case. The young man was right on top of what he should be looking for and within 15 minutes he had us running and he was on his way with $30 Euros in his pocket. Louise and I both thought it was a bargain. Now what to do with our day. After going into town we decided to head off to Germany for lunch. We took the back roads and really enjoyed a ride through the countryside to Bocholt. This then turned in to one of our better days. The parking lot that we found was on the top of a store in the downtown area. The first try was on the first floor but we were too tall to get in so we had to back out and try for the roof. We were really glad they had a roof because the drive up was very narrow, steep, and had a curve in it. We wouldn’t have wanted to back all the way down. After parking we went into the first floor and found just what we had wanted to find for the last 3 days and it was even on sale. As it was, we found a number of things (all on sale) and a great bowl of hardy soup in their Café. Then the quest was to find a Internet Café. Luck was on our side again. Found one and put it to good use by up-loading to our site and taking care of our emails as well. Now unfortunately, we encountered another problem with the van. They say bad things come in three’s. Well, here is number 2. Here we were about 20 Kilometers away from home, Raining, and our WINSHIELD WIPERS QUIT!!! A little scary riding home and really wishing the wipers would all the sudden start working but, we made it back, got hooked to the addition and settled in for a movie, bottle of wine, and popcorn for dinner. Some really good news, our laundry that was washed 2 days ago is almost dry…socks should be dry by morning.