J184 – 6/19/2006

A dream about coolness: “air conditioning, a swimming pool, a long cool lemonade with ice cubes.”  It’s time to get up and forget about dreams.  At 49° Celsius, Serge is crimson, on a burning road with not one bit of shade. He moves ahead with difficulty, in a rather mechanical way, mouth open.  At the 35th kilometer, he put on his knee support bandage for the first time.  This morning he admitted that for the last three days his knee has been hurting at the end of the stage.  It’s the famous right knee that won’t let us forget about the two falls. We will have to have it examined when we get back to France.

Here we are in the heart of the Shaanxi Province, of which the capital is Xian, the end of the Silk Route and which was, in ancient times, the capital of China.  Shaanxi is a destination favored by tourists and there are more than 35,000 archeological sites there.  The population of this province is 38 million people, half of the French population
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We had two visits along our road: the local TV from Xianyang and the Shaanxi TV, which is based in Xian and will spend a few days with us.

For us, the organization has not changed.  The job of the people manning the camper consists of getting water for bathing and laundry, filling up the water tank of the camper, stocking up on mineral water, connecting to the Internet and when we are in towns or cities getting food for our lunch and last but not least finding a camp site.

Once we have set up camp we straighten up the camper, organize the shopping, do the laundry, prepare the meal and set up tents and tables.

This evening, we are 50 meters from highway 312 and have the impression of being on the Paris ring road.  We benefit fully from the noise of motors and honking horns.  Our one consolation: across from us on the other side of the road a guy is selling drinks out of a refrigerator which is set up under an umbrella.  Thomas came back with very, very cool beer, which became a delicious nectar to soothe the balls of fire we had become during the day.  Nightfall has brought no relief, there isn’t a breath of air or any coolness.  The night will be hot: don’t move, breathe as little as possible, think of something else and especially don’t think about the French soccer team, whose results disappointed its fervent supporters.