Apeldoorn

Saturday's weather was in the 50'sF and mostly sunny, so we decided on another road trip. This time we chose Apeldoorn. Kevin had been in the area when he was studying Operation Market Garden in a history class and had wanted to go back there. I'm so glad we went!

The trip up was interesting because it was so laid back. Traffic was light, so navigating was easy compared to our trip to Westkapelle. We had considered going to Nijmegen and/or Kinderdijk but decided to go further north instead.

At one of our rest stops another Harley owner pulled up near us. We talked about bikes and how we've each modified ours a little. He has a 2002 Road King, so he was charmed by Kevin and his 2010 RK. Also, he said his wife rides a Sportster 883. My bags and fuel gauge caught his attention on her behalf. He said that with a trip to Denmark coming up for them he'd like for her to have some bags of her own. He has a sissy bar and luggage rack in addition to his bags, so he usually has a duffel he straps to the sissy bar so they can pack more. We'll probably see them at the Harley rally at Leopoldsburg, Belgium, this coming summer.

Of course we're thinking of a trip to Denmark now. When I checked, it looked like an nine-hour (by car on a good day) trip. For us, that's at least two days on the bikes, probably three.

In Apeldoorn, Kevin and I rode around a bit and found a Best Western hotel in a nice section of town on Loolaan. It's at the same corner at het Kleine Loo - the gate house to the Het Loo Palace, I think. Maybe next time we'll explore more in that direction and visit the museum in the palace. There is also a monument to the Canadians at that corner. I'll try to snag a photo of it from Kevin when he publishes his pics in FaceBook.

Our accommodations were nice and dinner at the restaurant was excellent. Kevin had the Cajun chicken and I had salmon. These were served with fries, vegetables, a salad, and some sort of potato (and something) cake that looked like fish stick wedges.

Our ride back home wasn't quite as pleasant as going to Apeldoorn. About half way home it started sprinkling. Although it was just a light sprinkle, it was enough to make seeing through the windshield a bit of a challenge. Also, the wind had "kicked up" and was annoying.

Even after one night away, it's so nice to be back home. Have to say, though, even after being back less than a half hour we were already discussing where we might go next time!