17 September ’04, Friday. I’ve never seen (except in pictures), I’ve never been in, and for sure, I’ve never driven in one….until today. I’m talking about a wind tunnel. Louise mentioned yesterday that the wind has been blowing pretty strong for the last day or two. We broke camp this morning in a pretty strong wind, but nothing that you would say to yourself…”I think we had better stay put”. Krk is a small medieval town on Krk Island, and we decided that we would make this our first destination for the day. In getting to Krk Island, we would also have the opportunity to cross over the “Largest Concrete Arched Bridge In The World with a Span of over 390 meters”. We saw it yesterday from a distance and it looked magnificent. So, today we were going to cross it…. GOOD GOD, HOLD ON…I’M TRYING TO KEEP IT STRAIGHT…I SEE THE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE…I’M ONLY GOING 5km NOW, AND I CAN’T GO ANY SLOWER…I DON’T KNOW WHY THEY LET US OUT HERE ON THIS SPAN NOW…HOLD ON AND PRAY !!!! Now that was just going over, and we had to go back…. What a nightmare. I might also say one thing, we have gone to a lot of churches since we’ve been on this journey, and we have said a few prayers while there also. Who knows? Well, a word about the town of Krk…It sits right on the shoreline of the Adriatic and has a wonderful port for boats…pleasure boats now… This is a true “Mediterranean” village. We walked the skinny paths that wonder here and there. Every conceivable type of shoppe for the traveler to wonder into. We also visited the 12th century Church of St Quirinus and it’s museum. It is beautiful, and some of the collection of religious items are magnificent. The church was initially an Episcopal chapel, but later used as the Court Chapel of Frankopans. Our time in Krk was limited, so on the road again. We just happened to be following 2 caravans as we approached “The Bridge”. We were already being pushed around a lot, but just prior to the approach, the caravans were pulled into a parking lot that had already about 60 caravans parked. Well, that left me in the lead of about 3 small vehicles to go across this bridge. Ffffaaaaarrrrr below us the water was being blown every which way, and soon it was blowing us every which way….GOOD GOD, HOLD ON…I’M TRYING TO KEEP IT STRAIGHT….. ….. Well, we made it, but I wouldn’t go across that bridge when the wind is blowing for anything !!!! Our turn was coming up to take us on to Zadar and we were on our way. Wait a minute, this wind is going to be with us all the way down the coast for the next 4 hours? It wasn’t exactly, but it did follow us for about 1½ hours before we had to climb the side of a mountain that any mule would balk at…. It was back and forth for about another 30 plus minutes and it was so steep that I had to use 1st gear for just about every corner, and never could use 4th. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we were ushered onto a “Toll” road for the rest of our trip to Zadar. Once after we crested the mountain and headed down, we had the sea in front of us again and we were in the wind again. As it turned out, the closer we got to the water the less wind. Now to find a campground….no problem…we pulled into a private home driveway (they also had a small sign out front “Car Camping”), and now, we are all set up under Olive and Fig trees with the Adriatic Sea, literally, a step away from our door step….This is livin !!!
Tomorrow…..Livin !!!
Tomorrow…..Livin !!!