The first exit

The first test shouldn't take too long, just a few days to get acquainted, hopefully this year! But not too far away. Who knows! When would there still be time? It was already October.

Maybe during Reformation Day, a Tuesday? With a bridge day on Monday, we could camp-test for three to four days.

Where to? To Pouch?

The old Poucher RZ 85 folding boat should anyway go in for repairs at the yard. A few years ago, during a paddling trip on the Saale at low water, it had run aground a bit too hard and had got a leak. Since then, the canoe had been cruising around with a light blue repair patch on its otherwise gray hull, whose glue was slowly becoming brittle and was about to break sooner or later.

So, said and done. Sebb found a campsite nearby, not one of those huge luxury campsites with all sorts of amenities, but rather something smaller. The prices were also reasonable, and so we booked: 2 nights at the campsite in Löbnitz on the Mulde.

Gary was loaded up, first at home with camping gear, drinking water, food, clothes, sleeping bags, various tools, and everything we needed, and then during a brief stop in the garden with the boat, watering can, extension cable, vacuum cleaner, and all the accessories.

By the time we set off, we had everything on board that we thought we would need and still plenty of room in the trunk. Had we forgotten something important? Despite thinking long and hard, we just couldn’t remember what we might have possibly forgotten, so the journey began.
Of course, we could have just taken the highway, but the purpose of the venture was to get to know Gary a bit better and for Sebb, particularly to learn to assess the dimensions of the bus. Consequently, we drove across the city and promptly found ourselves in a 1.5-hour traffic jam at the Haus Auensee just before the concert began because we were on the access road to the parking lot. But why should we get upset, we had time. Then there was a bit of country road, and after about 50 kilometers, we reached our destination.

To our surprise, the campsite was located behind the Mulde dike and was not visible from the road, so despite the signage, we ended up making a big loop around the site. On the second attempt to approach, Ines prevailed with the words, “Just drive up there!” and Sebb drove up the asphalt path to the dike saying, “Behind this is just the Mulde, there’s nothing more, that’s the river.” And as he spoke, a victorious grin crept onto Ines's face because apparently, the municipal administration had decided that during the next flood, the campsite was not worth protecting, could simply be flooded, and the site had been diked.

It was 6 PM, and there was no site manager left, calls to the phone number posted on the notice board were fruitless, and the site was otherwise empty. Another motorhome was already parked in front of the barrier, and the driver said no one had come here for two days. We didn’t care; we were fully equipped; only water was necessary because we had indeed set out “dry.” At the outdoor tap of the locked sanitation container, we took three watering cans full of water for general use and half a can for the toilet flush, and with that, we were supplied and found ourselves a nice spot in the parking lot in front of the campsite.