I like to socialize with strangers, a lot more than Nina at least. So, I struck up a few brief conversations with other guests – and connected a little with another couple over having a one year old on the road, but also through COVID. Most hilariously they were called Florian and Janina and their son’s name had been on our short list as well 😀 Seeing that as a bit of a sign, we used the opportunity to give our one year old the chance to interact with another kid their age. The Agent, at least blessed with having Number 3 for company, has met kids her age maybe a hand full of times. Number 3 at this age had some group activity on thrice a week.

The two were soon joined by a third baby on parental leave and there was all of a sudden a bit of a party. I think all of us really enjoyed seeing the little ones play with other kids for once. Number 3 joined in for a bit and then attached himself to Florian, inspecting every nook and cranny of their considerably larger RV.

In short, we took our good time packing up, mixed with a bunch of socializing and a bit of praising some of our gear. After all, we had only one thing roughly planned – to stop for lunch in Cremona and then check in at the camp near Parma for tomorrow’s city exploration day. In the end, a last round of excellent coffees was had and we said our goodbyes to everyone.

Number 3 said goodbye with a bit of a meltdown. There was a ping pong ball lying around after the kids had been playing with it in the morning. A car which left the campground drove straight over it and it explode quite spectacularly. Number 3 had started to run towards it to save it but was held back by Nina…when it was broken, he screamed for about ten minutes on the top of his lungs. It hadn’t even been his in the first place but Florian felt bad enough to give him one of their remaining oing pong ball as a farewell gift. He treasures it.

Nina

We made good time on the toll “Autostrade” and decided to combine shopping with a brief top up of Puru Hiko. Once again – if you offer a charger at your supermarket, you have gained a customer (LIDL, this time) and we got 40km of range for free out of it.

Unfortunately, that’s where the smooth sailing ended a bit. The first restaurant we tried was closed. The one Lonely Planet recommendation turned out to be a bit too posh and pricy for a pit stop and after that we struggled for a bit too long. I chickened out of a self-service place. So, in the end, we waited until 1:30pm at a mediocre café with views of the Duomo before we could tuck in. And the veggie options were … limited. Nina took it like a real hero without complaint.

Campgrounds seem to be few and far between down in the Emilia-Romagna, so we went purely for convenience for the next two spots. Tonight’s offering was, by that margin, a pleasant surprise. It had loads of “permanent campers”, sure. And the “four star” rating advertised reminded me a lot of former eastern block holiday locations in the 1990s. Loads of dilapidated charm. It was also the first campground where we could not charge Puru Hiko. 3A fuses on 16A plugs. Ah well, we are pretty topped up and there will be charging in Parma for sure.

On the plus side, they had a big play area and swimming pool and were mostly deserted of other guests. We first had some fun with the crass clown-vomit-coloured playground and then even went for a swim in the huge pool (which was actually doubling as the local public swimming pool). But we were wise enough to leave the pool and prepare to hide when we saw the thick black clouds coming over the next hill.

Sure enough, by the time I’ve had my shower, Nina had already emergency-packed the camp and evacuated all to the tent. The mightiest summer storm we had so far passed right above. Thunder cracked so loud right overhead, for once even the Agent of Entropy lost her bravery for a minute. I huddled into the tiny remaining dry patch in the center of our awning and whipped up emergency dinner with caprese and some antipasti. I even managed to get the cooker going for a cuppa tea and coffee for Nina and myself respectively.

We got the kids to bed a bit later than usual, but as the storm had passed and only left the constant patter of rain on the roof, they fell asleep within minutes. We followed soon after …

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