July 7 – More War Memorials and then on to Lahr

Started today off by packing up our car and leaving Seclin. The hotel here was a great central point for us to explore the area except after being there we realized we may have been in a zero emissions zone so may have been breaking the law by not having a sticker on our window but as it was a rental car there was no way to buy one anyways. So glad to be out of that area without getting a ticket…though Patrick may have gotten “flashed” coming home from the train station on Friday night. Will have to wait to see when we return the car to the rental agency.

Once on the road we went to one last memorial site. This time it was the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. Driving up this location we saw our first wild poppies growing on the side of the road. This again was a very well done site that makes you realize how large the war was. Driving from site to site and seeing the distance between them puts everything into perspective.

Back on the road again, we had a 6 hour drive to our next stop…one I think will be very meaningful for Patrick…Lahr, Germany. After we crossed the Rhine River and got on the highway, we were greeted with a notice on our car we were officially on the Autobahn…meaning no speed limit. Patrick got our rental up to 138ish before moving back over and letting faster cars go by. About 20 minutes from the Airbnb we have rented (which is fantastic except there is a bar outside) we came to a complete standstill on the highway..no moving, trucks all pulling over to the side and lots of smoke ahead. As it has been very hot here lately, everything is very dry and what we assumed as an accident was actually a field fire on the side of the road.

After a delay of about 30 minutes, we were back on the road and heading into Lahr. A quick trip to the grocery store across the road and we were able to have our first real sit down meal of the trip. After we were done, Patrick and I walked up to where old memories kept flooding back…where his school was, where is saw his mom buying a Christmas gift for him in secret but saw it early and only told her after opening it, having a foam duck race in a local dam…things he didn’t think he remembered making him smile and chuckle.

The next few days we will spend exploring this area and hopefully having him remember even more fun times.

Steps today 11,130. Not bad for spending 8 hours in the car 🙂