27 May 2009 Omaha Beach France

I awoke at 7:00 a.m., cold and damp. I got up and staggered around trying to shake off the shivers. It didn’t work. I walked back into the truck stop, ate some breakfast and purchased 300 Euros. People were giving me a funny look and I didn’t know why. I took my money, jumped on my motorcycle and continued to Bayeux. I needed to find someplace where I could pull out my computer and hook it up to Matilda. My computer battery was also less than 20 percent, which is bad. I needed to charge that battery. I drove into Bayeux City Centre and saw "Tourist Information?". I thought that looked like a good place to go. They’ll show some sympathy for a drowned American. Well it turns out I lost the Tourist Information Sign and ended up in a pay parking ramp. I thought to myself "this is good spot to diagnose Matilda." I pulled out my laptop and 110 volt inverter. I plugged my inverter into the dash I built in the fairing of my motorcycle and plugged the computer into it and Whalla! my laptop is up and running. My $20 inverter just paid for itself. I hooked up Matilda to my laptop and checked to see if the European Maps were loaded. They were. So what do I do now? I was just stumped. Matilda was my navigational aid and she was now brain dead. She led me out of so many unknown areas flawlessly and now she doesn’t know what road she’s on and can’t find the town she’s in. I was devastated and hugely let down. I wrapped up $1000 in this GPS unit and it’s absolutely worthless and I can’t get it fixed. What to do? What to do? To carry on I must do all my own navigating, plan my own routes, watch all the road signs, road numbers, not get run over, and to top it off I'm in a strange country that doesn’t speak my language. Oh boy…….While all this was going through my head the sun came out and I decided to take off my rainsuit. I just found out why everyone was looking funny at me. The back of my rainsuit looked like I was sleeping in the mud, and I did. There was no grass on the ground and I had slept on wet dirt. The things I do sometimes make me wonder about myself.  I only do that kind of stuff when I’m extremely tired and can’t find a hotel or campground. I knew the only way I will get anywhere is to buy some maps and start planning my routes. I left the parking ramp and was suppose to pay somehow. I think with a credit card or something. Well I didn’t do it right and had three cars back up behind me all wanting to get out. They were not happy and finally the parking attendant realized I didn’t speak French, took my ticket and told me just to leave. He was mad too. So I got to stay in the parking ramp for free for two hours, out of the rain, and tinker with Matilda. I staggered around town till I found the signs showing the way to motorway. I stopped and asked a guy getting out of his car if I was going the right way and looked at my directions and said yes. That was a good thing. I was off to Omaha Beach to see the Military Cemetery. I found it quite easily. In the parking lot on the way in, I met a Belgian couple who were riding motorcycles. We talked about our travels some and where I was going to travel. We had a nice conversation, and later they invited me to their home. I was thrilled by the invitation and am sad that I was not able to visit them. Very nice people. I found the cemetery, a beautiful sight to see. They have some very strict rules on conduct while you’re there. Everything is beautifully manicured. The white crosses and monuments are in excellent condition, unlike some cemeteries I have seen. I went through the visitor’s center and was searched just like in the airport. I guess they’re looking for terrorists or something. Anyway, very informative if it’s something you’d like to see. From there I went looking for a campground for the night. After sleeping in the rain the night before I found I prefered the comfort of my tent much better. On the way to the campground I found a road directly down on Omaha beach. A beautiful sight today, but on D-Day it was a place of terror and horror. I drove the full length of the road, took some pictures and headed toward the campground. This year they’re doing a D-Day re-enactment. I have no idea what that involves but a lot of WWII jeeps, trucks, motorcycles and other equipment were being driven around and some people dressed up in WWII uniforms were walking around. It would have been nice to have seen the re-enactment. I found a nice campground right next to Omaha Beach: no wind and plenty of privacy. I plugged in my computer and charged it up and sent off a few e-mails. I sent Garmin an e-mail about Matilda going brain dead. I can’t wait to hear back from them. I ended my e-mail with "don’t tell me to buy a compass." By 9:00 p.m. there was heavy dew covering everything so I crawled into my tent and continued to type. All the trailer and tent sites had eight foot high hedges around three sides. The open side faced away from the ocean so you didn’t get beat up by the wind. It was a great campground. It had a hot shower but still no toilet paper.