I awoke in Andermatt, Switzerland - a great town to sample some Alpine mountain passes on a motorcycle. Lots of bikers, bicyclists and hikers and the stores and services to take care of them in this town. Typical high Swiss prices, I spent $35 on pizza, salad and a beer in a bar and $120 for a hotel room, but the access to Furka, and other famous mountain passes in the morning was worth it. In minutes I was riding in high alpine meadows, and then up to the thin air and tight turns of the Alps.
I spent 1/2 the day riding passes and then headed East to begin my ride into Italy, but I was navigating poorly and traveled way too far East before dipping down South to cross the Alps, so it was late in the day that I arrived near the base of the mountain that would take me to Stelvio Pass into Italy. I finally found what looked like a new, luxury hotel/Spa and took a room without even asking the price - then worried over a beer and snack what the price would be. The room was modern and had a fabulous view of meadows and old buildings, and there were quite a few guests. Once again, one of the most trying parts of the day was the final moments of the ride, looking for a place to stay, worrying about the coming darkness, hungry - and wrestling with the heavy, overloaded bike on an unpaved steeply sloping parking lots. I couldn't even get the bike into the indoor parking garage - the driveway was steep gravel - so I parked outside the hotel with the cars - and worried all night if it would be all right and if it would start if it got cold over night.
Things worked out fine, the price of the hotel was about Euro 40, the bike was fine and it started right up. On to Stelvio Pass - a challenging ride up a big mountain with lots of tight hairpin turns.
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