Day 13 in Sicily

 There are some valuable items we are glad we brought along on this trip. Our Italian cell phone is one of them. We have had to use it when we couldn't get to the airport on time for our pick-up last week, called the company's contact when our luggage didn't show up after our first day's ride, called to discuss some bad directions and get some reassurance we could trust the future direction sheets, and finally we have been in touch with our daughter who will deliver our 8th grandchild any day! (We are all praying the baby waits to arrive until we return from Sicily on Wednesday!)

Another crucial item we brought is our odometer. Since the company's daily directions depend on kilometers traveled our odometer is necessary! To pair with the odometer is our handheld GPS with it's European road maps. When our provided directions don't match the roads, signs, or landmarks (which has been almost 50% of the time!) we pull out the GPS and make necessary adjustments. Honestly, without this devise we would have been totally lost in Sicily at least three times!!

Finally, an item we hope never to use but so glad we have it along is our pepper spray. Today we came as close as we ever had to using it. There are many dogs in Sicily, mostly for protection of property and for herding sheep in the country. Our information packet from the biking company suggested we always get off our bikes and walk past any dogs. In Sicily they are not accustomed to bikers, as they are on the main land of Italy, and a tandem is especially foreign to them. We have faithfully followed this policy and found the dogs to be very friendly and mostly just curious. But that is not the case with one particular dog today. We were traveling in the country and had just come down a gentle slope of the road when this vicious dog came racing down the lane. We immediately jumped off the bike and Hunter yelled at him to "go home", which is his customary response to a barking dog and it has always worked in the past but not this time. The dog bared his teeth, barked, growled and continued his approach. Our adrenaline was running high. Hunter had me behind him and the tandem between us and the dog. He had also disengaged the pepper spray from its holder and held it ready. (The problem with our little pepper spray is that the dog has to be VERY close before it reaches him and you have to be very accurate.) We began backing down the hill, past this dog's property, continually yelling at the dog. He followed us for quite a distance before he retreated home. We then quickly mounted the bike and peddled away, only to stop about a mile down the road to sit and rest after quite a scare. (I was bit once years ago by a dog while we were biking and I don't relish a repeat "performance"!) We are glad we had the pepper spray but Hunter would rather have had a gun! 

It was a very hilly ride today and that combined with the dog insident results in two extremely tired bikers who will go to bed early IF we can have our evening meal BEFORE the middle of the night!