Sunday, July 29, 2001: Curious Teresa - Napoli to Scauri, Italy - 77 km

Frank here…

You know, people told me that the Napolitano drivers were the worst. I didn't really notice it. In fact, they stopped at all the red lights in contrast to what I was warned about. It would have been very difficult to get out of Napoli towards Formia if it wasn't for the super people who told me to follow them through the maze of traffic and left and right turns.

My riding day finished relatively early (about 3:30pm) even though I started late. Even though it was short lived, there was at least one memorable occasion. I stopped for a menu touristo (which is something like the day's main dish). It cost 16,000 lire, which included everything. "What the heck," I thought. I had a great meal in the shade, but did not like the water after my waitress opened a one litre bottle for me. She gladly changed it for another refreshment. Part of the meal had the mozzarella del bufala. Everyone here raves about it, but I find it very heavy and bland. Oh well. Anyway, I could not eat my mozzarella and she offered to make a sandwich with it and let me take it out on my bike. Great. I was expecting a lot added to my bill, but surprisingly, she added nothing extra. Wow! Thank you, and a tip for you as well.

I had to stop for a pee in one of the many fields. I heard something as I was about to stop and found that a woman was calling for my attention. I did not really understand what was going on. A man was sitting on a lawn chair and two suggestively dressed women were near. When she asked what I was doing, I told her about my journey. Then I asked her what she was doing. Her answer told me that it was high time that I high tailed it out of there. Whew!

I found Campeggio Arizona with the help of a very cordial youngster who guided me there near the town of Scauri. At the camp, one of the owners was able to relate to my eye problem. He had macular degeneration - an eye disease that affects the central vision first. My problem affects the peripheral first. I was shown my tent site, then immediately visited by Domenic, Teresa, Stani and Antonio - brothers, sisters and cousins - none more than ten years old. They all helped me set up my tent and invited me to play bocce with them. Teresa was the most curious and daring. She often went in my tent and touched my bike odometer even after my requests not to do anything. Oh well.

I went for a walk to the very busy beach and had a nice refreshing swim. The sky turned dark with added thunder, but rain never fell. Interesting.

-Isn't it amazing that expectations can potentially inflate or deflate an event?

-Frank Pollari