Our Final European Chapter

Denmark to Paris

Denmark

Making it to Denmark from Norway picked up our spirits as well as Spot's apparently. We were able to find first gear and so sailed off the boat without a hitch. We figured upon about three tanks of gas to make it to Germany. Three tanks, three embarrassing stops.

Although the highway south was largely complete, some parts of the road had intersections that together with the surge of ferry traffic meant we ended up lugging or attempting to shift some that morning. We doubted we'd make it all the way to Germany.

The gas tank slowly ran dry and when we'd spotted a hill (to restart from) with a likely gas station, we took the exit. No gas station existed there however. Finally after wandering five kilometers and asking directions we found a station and learned of a VW dealer not far away.

In a major stroke of luck, the dealer was a major one for northern Denmark and though busy thought they could look at Spot later that afternoon and at least give us an idea of her ailment. Kim was adamant against spending any more money on ol' Spot and so we waited nervously for the expert advice. And waited.

Finally, about 15 minutes before closing, a nice guy took Spot in to what we assumed might well be her grave site. He doubted anything could be done that day, but we felt if we at least knew what the issue was we could decide whether to proceed southwards.

At closing we were deep in despair when we say Spot rumbling away in the parking lot, the mechanic motioning us to join him. A simple replacement of the bolt had fixed the clutch problem and now we even had reverse working again. He hadn't had time to work on the ignition switch or to tune the rough-running engine, but we were eternally thankful and quite elated as we set off for Germany once again.

Denmark, thru the Netherlands, to Paris

Despite the decreased efficiency (and hence speed) of the roughly running engine, we made it to a pleasant campground in Germany with a great-spirited, somewhat simple, quite humorous campground attendant who spoke no English but helped us remember our very limited and forgotten German.

We periodically had to make new friends, so we could then ask that they help us with a push start -- something we were resorting to about every fifth start now. In the exceptionally flat Netherlands this became increasingly frustrating. At one rest stop, after getting gas and eating dinner, we couldn't start and the only ones in sight were a 70 year old Dutch couple who didn't understand much English.

After about five minutes they understood we needed a tow and fortunately were prepared with a tow rope. We started fine, but the gentleman apparently didn't hear that Spot had started and so he nearly towed us onto the highway before we were able to get him to stop. The couple then stayed by our side for the next 40 kilometers to verify we'd be OK. Sweet, sweet folks, they typified the friendly Dutch!

Finally we wound up at Volkert & Marijke's in Soest, an hour southeast of Amsterdam. Unbeknownst to us, it was Volkert's birthday, so we were able to fete him appropriately. Uncertain about Spot's future, we spent the next few days working on Spot, fixing her up, completing all the projects that had languished, unloading our gear and eventually sending four huge boxes of clap-trap back home.

We also got in a bunch of fun with Volkert & Marijke, including attending the local Wood Chopper Festival -- complete with Jack Russell (dog) Races!

Spectacularly unable to interest any dealers in purchasing Spot, our newspaper ad only snared one (or was it two?) calls. Volkert had found out that a recent change in the import laws meant that anyone buying Spot would have to pay a fairly hefty, $500 or so, import fee which effectively lowered what we could charge for her.

We started pondering which river we could dump Spot in to collect on the insurance, but decided to continue on to Paris and try our luck there. Volkert had kindly verified the French did not have such an import fee. On our last day in Holland, we visited Amsterdam and the Riksmuseum's 200 year amazing retrospective of Dutch art then wound our way south through detours and construction zones to Brussels and eventually, the next morning, Paris!

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