Day 3 - Etten Leur - Bunnik (Utrecht) - Aug. 28

Woke up to sunshine - the bikes are all checked over, the Garmin and TomTom are programmed and we sit down to breakfast and last minute instructions.  By the time breakfast is over, the clouds have rolled in again.  Rain gear is packed in bike bags just in case - you just never know....it is so unpredictable.  The cyclists are cycling along and all of a sudden the heavens open and it's raining. It stops as quickly as it starts.  Today was the day to see windmills along the Molen Weg and there were lots of them.

 A pretty picture from on top of the dykes where the cyclists and the van were travelling.  It's amazing to see whole communities lower than the dykes - lush green fields with cows and sheep all grazing.  The cyclists were very thankful for the strong tail winds today.  The van couldn't meet up with the cyclists for lunch because a roadblock had the van travel many kilometers around to get there so they landed up eating at a cafe and could dry off and warm up before they set out again.  Anna had her challenges driving today - the roads can get so narrow and cars park on both sides and traffic is 2 way and no one wants to back up......Anna did land up backing up and then we decided to turn around and go another way.  Thankfully "Betsy", the TomTom voice, can re-program the route.  It is so funny to hear Betsy pronouce the Dutch names of the places we need to go to.

Saturday night's accommodation is at the "StayOkay" hostel in Bunnik - very close to Utrecht.  Anna and I had arrived first and were impressed to see the cyclists being led in by an 8 year old with his father.  The 8 year old was in his glory!  We joined 50 others for a delicious buffet supper.  Doing laundry is becoming a challenge - laundromats aren't as readily available as at home.  Last night the garbage pail became our wash tub.  It was filled with warm soapy water, all the wet and dirty cycling clothes were dumped in and John VanderSteen began "agitating" the clothes, first with his hands and then his feet got into action as well.  Joe rinsed it all out while he as showering and then it got hung up outdoors hoping it would dry overnight.  That was not to be - it rained again.  John and Joe wrung it all out again and rehung it hoping for better weather.  During breakfast another cloud burst so it was wrung out again and put into a garbage bag and hopefully we will find a place to dry it today.

Distance traveled - 120 km.   Flats 2 -      Total Flats 7