It was Sunday, and, here in Italy, the boat mechanics don't work...so neither did the crew of Moonbeam. We rented a car and set out to tour the region of Compania. The rental car did not have a map, but I was not worried. As I've indicated in prior blogs, Captain Ken has the prototype of GPS technology in his brain (a/k/a The Bardon KSD: keen sense of direction) and I'm good with maps. Armed with Fodor with its so-so map, we started out. Our first challenge was getting out of the marina. Seems like it should have been a snap. NOT. After quite a few stops and turns, we were out of the actual marina, but couldn't find our way to a main road. The area is consumed by construction, and once past that, small local roads, no road signs, no directional signs, and no one to ask. They are obviously not set up for foreign tourists. To quote Yogi Berra, it was like déjà vu all over again. Back in the early 70's, my friends, Jay, Mark and I were driving down here in this same area. Jay was driving. Mark was navigating. I was chillin'. It was getting late and dark. Mark decided to take a nap and handed over the navigation job to me....except, I didn't exactly know where we were going. Either we were going to Salerno and I thought we were going to Sorrento, or vice versa. Finally, we decided to ask for directions. I had a copy of 'Myra Waldo's Motoring Guide to Europe'. I found the phrase: 'Donde la strada per.....?' I thought I must have a great accent because everyone I asked 'fraba-jaba'd' me back in Italian. Fast forward to Sunday, there I was, 45 years later repeating the same thing, in the same area, and no...I don't have a great accent. It's that no one spoke any English!!!!

It took us 30 minutes to find our way to an autostrada, and, yes, we did eventually get to the Amalfi Drive, Positano, Sorrento, etc. although, somehow we ended up driving over the mountains and approaching it from the east. If you've ever driven the Amalfi coast, you know it is at best a challenging drive but...the ultimate challenge is driving it on Sunday....when everyone is out, walking down to the beaches, driving and parking in every direction, being passed by all manner of motorcycles and scooters, etc. Mario Andretti (a/k/a Captain Ken) once again, stepped up to the plate and covered himself with glory. The drive is still as spectacular as I remembered it and as Ken remembered it from 1967. (He wants me to add that so the blog is not all about me.) Despite its popularity, there has not been much development and it is still as pristine as ever. We drove through the popular areas, which were mobbed, but then, went off the beaten track and had a lovely lunch in the town of Massa Lubrense, which happened to be having a lemon festival. Continuing on with the goal of never missing an interesting find, we drove all the way down to Termini, to find some more locals' spots.

Of course, there was that thought: would we ever find our way back. As Billy Crystal says in 'Forget Paris'...."piece of cake". We got back early enough to find our way to the Auchon in Pompeii. No, it is not a ruin. It is the name of a real SUPERmarket chain which we had frequented in Brindisi four years ago and remembered fondly. So far in Italy, the supermarkets have been mini-markets or superettes but Auchon is ginormous. Not only does it have a tremendous variety of (excellent) produce, groceries, and wines, it also sells household goods, toiletries, and even washing machines. (No, we didn't buy one for Moonbeam.) Since we still had the rental car, it made sense to bulk up on stuff.

So, we took out the list, and plied the aisles. We are pretty much set for our incoming crew, with the exception of baking the cookies; we have to swap out gas tanks and, I was hoping it would cool down.