After a truly wonderful, restful and peaceful time in Rättvik, where it was easy to understand why Lisa so treasures her time spent there, we encountered some of our most exciting adventures on drive to the Hamar/Lillehammer area. No Autobahn/highways, just two-lane country and mountain roads guiding us through beautiful forests (much like MN!) and vast areas of nothing but true nature. It’s easy to see and understand how Sweden must be one of the top wood producing countries in the world. The adventure that day really started when suddenly traffic stopped in the middle of a straight stretch of road during a fairly strong rain storm. We had passed the last signs of civilization about 10 miles earlier. Several big, mature pine trees had fallen and were blocking the two-lane highway; with deep ditches on both sides of the road. Now what? How would Swedes and others respond? Some turned around and drove away, others just turned off their cars (like us) and watched the rain beat on the road, waiting for someone to do something. We were thinking maybe we should just go out there and try and drag, with the help of others, the trees at least far enough out of the way to open up a one lane. Then, from behind us, an ambulance appeared and drove right up to the tree. The driver got out, recruited the help from another person who happened to have had a chainsaw in his trunk and started cutting into the trees. It was still raining pretty hard. Soon three police motorcycles appeared, then another ambulance that actually was on an emergency call, and a fire truck. Within about 20 minutes the trees had been cleared out of the way and the road had been swept, safe for passing. For the rest of our drive that day, we kept watching the outdoor temperature drop to -1 degree C, and rain turn into snow. Suddenly, without much fanfare the road sign said: Velkommen til Norge!
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