The Next Departure, Tuesday, June 8

Monday morning at the crack of 8, Alain showed up with the repaired head and assorted gaskets. He set to work and by about 3 pm was ready to fire up the engine. It started right up and never sounded so good! We ran it in gear for about an hour, churning up the water in the upper basin to make sure the overheating problem was solved. After the test, everybody was satisfied, Alain made up his "facture," (the bill), euros were exchanged and Odysseus was considered repaired.
While Alain was working, Peter the port captain and (and tow horse) had graciously given Cathy Jo a ride to the grocery store for provisions. We were ready to go.
A little before 9 Tuesday morning we started the engine, gave it 10 minutes to warm up, cast off the lines and headed up the Canal Rhone au Rhine once again.
We originally intended to make Dole our first stop but since we'd been there by bicycle just the week before, we decided to stop just a couple of kilometers before the town in the village of Choisey, where there was a very nice new pontoon. No services on the pontoon but the village is very picturesque and has a sign at the halte advertising "tous commerces" (all shops). We followed the sign, expecting to find maybe a boulangerie and a little grocery store. Instead we found a giant Cora, kind of like an upscale Walmart, along with a huge development of large retail outlets. We picked up a couple of things and retreated to the boat to wait out some pretty heavy showers.


Choisey
At 9 Wednesday morning we were underway again, Dole just an hour away. We were tied up on one of the finger pontoon just after 10 and set off for town. We were pretty familiar with the layout of the streets by now. No such thing as a grid in these medieval towns, especially if there's a hill and church involved.
Luckily, at least in the morning, the weather was a little better and the light was good for some pictures.



One of Dole's major industries of old was tanning of hides. The old "Tanner's Canal" has had a makeover.
For dinner we had been advised that the pizza from the pizza barge was pretty good; cooked in a wood-burning oven, according to the sign. It was just across the canal so we took advantage of a brief pause in the rain showers to dash over for a pie. It wasn't the pizza of our dreams but pretty good.