France'99 - Day 2 (Thursday, Aug 19)

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Today, we pack. In the evening, we drop off Eleanor (8) and Joshua (5) at an other uncle & aunt of mine in Gorredijk, Friesland, where they'll also be well looked after for the break - I should know, I used to stay with them myself when I was a kid. While in Gorredijk, we pick up the tent that we'd previously brought there, and put it into the car. Then we start the long drive. The plan is to at least get to Belgium tonight, and spend the night in the car somewhere by the roadside. Since my company only pays my fuel while I'm in the Netherlands, we fill up in Maastricht, just before the border, squeezing in a few extra drops. I briefly consider filling up a few jerrycans for along the way, but one look at the overfull car quickly clears my head.

Soon, it gets too dark to see much, and the driving gets to be no fun, so we end up trying to sleep in the car, somewhere off the main highway in Belgium, just south of Bastogne. Lucinda apparently has no problem getting to sleep, but I'm stuck with my feet under the pedals and my knees against the steering column. Total sleep; I reckon, 4-5 broken hours, max.