Good Day of Riding

After saying goodbye to the wonderful staff at Hotel Augustus, I stopped in Cossato to thank Giacomo at Donato Motors again. 

Then I headed south out through the rice fields to the Autostrada, my home for the next several hours. 

Chiara, one of the receptionists at Hotel Augustis, took many pictures of the moto to show her husband. He rides a BMW R1200GS, and is not quite sure what I'm doing. He heads off to France soon for a few weeks of riding. 

Chiara was so helpful, as were these two ladies. 

The owner I met, Dario Tosseti, was busy at the other hotel, so he couldn't make it over to say goodbye, but he is a really great guy. See you next time, Dario!

Maria-Granza came down from the Villa to say goodbye, but Gaetano was busy with guests and couldn't make it either. Bosses. They are always busy. 

Hey, Bosses!  Retired is better!

The only real event on the ride today was I got stopped by the Polizia. But only so they could take my picture. They got a real kick out of me traveling by myself at my age. How old is 67 anyway?  And I forgot to ask to take their picture. 

Near Verona the hilltops started sprouting castle and church types of buildings again. Very beautiful. 

Past the turn-off to Venice, the land along the highway is really farmed, with many tree farms in various states of growth as well. I love these rows and rows of trees. In the more mature farms, which may cover many acres, the trees are tall, straight, with no lower limbs for up to maybe 25-30 feet, and their tops create a complete canopy. What wonderfully cool and shady places they must be in the heat of the summer here. 

I asked Mr. Garmin to find me a place to stay, and I wound up at Tenuta Primero near Grado. It is on the beach across the Gulf of Trieste from Trieste itself. Check this out:

 

On the deck above the beach!  I watched the big Roll-on-roll-off ships leave Trieste and steam off into the Med. And I had dinner:

Those shrimp were a lot of work!  And I don't care for shrimp brains/heads, so a lot of work for very little. 

Off for Slivenia and Croatia tomorrow. I don't know a word of the language!  Should be great fun. I hope the police there only want to take my photo for fun, not for booking.