hit the road and go.
Sunday
Oldenzaal-Zuid on-ramp. It’s raining and snowing at the same time, even my shoes are wet already. Waiting some 5 minutes feel like it has been 15, but according to the low traffic the waiting time is all right. A young german guy in his expensive BMW stops. Towards Bad Bentheim, (as always?) , we talk about the weather and bad hitchhiking conditions. His colorful hippie-cap doesn’t fit into the car, I think, soon leaving him.
At Bad Bentheim ramp some cars pass by, when I see an Opel Rekord A oldtimer coming down my way. The driver waves me over, stops, and there I sit in a car completely opposite to the one before. “The car has to look old, like some ‘fashion-trash-style’.”, the driver tells me. Me don’t understanding most of the technical details he’s talking about, but anyway, I’m much more fascinated by the feeling of sitting in this 44 year old Opel, the engine roaring loud, the old radio and - the speedometer! Awesome! The car itselfs is so ugly, that it’s already beautiful again. Somehow the driver is talking about old Nascar-races back in the 50’s with such cars, so somehow the car has to look like the cars back in the good old days. Later on, he let’s me out in Rheine-Kanalhafen. 45 Minutes on a rainy sunday, not bad!
Monday
11 a.m. at Rheine-Kanalhafen on a Monday morning, already the most normal thing. Traffic passes by, and somehow most people again just look bored, frustrated, well , even stubborn. I swear at those poor drivers for not giving me a ride, but in the end some truck stops and gives me a ride until the parking area Emstal. Me havn’t been here for a long time (usually getting out before at Rheine-Nord ramp), already calculating how long I might wait there this time. But, already as I get out of the car, a man in his 50s standing at the parking, smoking his cigar, offers me a ride towards Schüttorf. All right, let’s try the empty and awful ramp there. The man doesn’t talk much, and for a little bit I feel uncomfortable, but that’s maybe just me myself being tired. In Schüttdorf, I say goodbye, as 2 cars (and maybe 3 minutes) later an old Opel Astra stops. In there an even older man, for sure nearly 80, stops. Bad Bentheim only, but that’s perfect, I tell him, it’s a much better ramp there. Ok, I get over to the other side of the car, and he trying to open the doorlock. Somehow he’s too old to move that far, and as he tries to stretch his arm, his foot push down the gas, so he’s moving forward. Such a funny scene, that I begin to laugh. Nearly a minute we (well, better he) need(s) to open the goddamn door.
The driver seems to be very happy to have someone to talk with these few kilometers, telling me he’s going to the swimming pool in Bad Bentheim, usually on Sunday, but somehow - coincidence! - he decided to go this Monday.
Ramp Bad Bentheim sucks sometimes, and so today I wait quite long - which wasn’t long at all, but maybe because of the cold it feels much longer inside - a Turkish guy stops, going to the Oldenzaal ramp to work at some company next there. He’s not talking much today, so minutes later we say goodbye and I take the bus the last meters home.
Times? Sunday 45 minutes, Monday 1,5 hours. Not bad at all, if remembering that - the fastest - route with the train takes at least 2 hours and 20 minutes.
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