Update to Dusseldorf

Okay...last post I was in Lille, France. I think that was about a week and a half ago? I beleive it was Friday the 4th of September and John decided to stay in Lille another night. I was getting itchy to be back on the road, so I headed out and we made plans to meet in Brussels on Sunday.
Friday was nice weather, a bit cold and a few rain showers. Made my way north to Roubaix first. Had to see the famous bike city. Checked out the velodrome but never went as far south as to see any cobblestone sections (they were a couple of towns over). Continued north Friday afternoon not really knowing what I was doing. My map had pretty much ended and I didn't break out another one thinking I had an idea of where to go. Ended up going way too far north and found myself in a city called Kotrich, about 100km west of Brussels. Started the journey eastward that evening but found myself in the small-ish city of Oudenaarde about the time to start looking for a bed. Decided the best course of action was to stop into a bar. Of course, a great decision. Delicious beers and very budgetable. Struck up a conversation with a very kind Belgian man who offered to drive me over to the campsite and check it out. We did, but they wanted 12€ just to hang my hammock, so we went back to the bar. Took part in a birthday celebration, had perhaps one too many tasty belgian beers and then set off for the woods. A little handling error on my part resulted in a dip in a nice deep mud puddle. I promptly got to the woods, stripped off the wet muddy clothes then setup and crawled into my hammock.
Woke up Saturday with a pretty raging hangover, naked in a hammock with a pile of muddy clothes attempting to "dry" underneath me (this seemed totally feasible the night before).
Somewhat disgruntled I packed my belongings and headed out to find Waterloo. Supposedly somewhere just south of Brussels. I still had all of Saturday before I had to meet John on Sunday, so it seemed like a reasonable idea. I fought my way straight through the hilly countryside relying on my compass and signs. Eventually I got to a place called Beersel which is very close to Waterloo. I asked the tourist office (I think they are purposely staffed with cute girls just to throw me off a bit more when I already feel like a jerk for only speaking English). I was told that Waterloo was "in Wallonia, that's French" and therefore she knew nothing about it. She'd never even been there and probably lives within 20 or 30 km. I figure it must not be worth the fight, so I just went one town up and slept in a cheap campground with a sleazy bar (albeit the best beer selection of a sleazy bar ever).
Got up Sunday, rode up through Brussels and found a hostel for John and I. I had a few hours to kill so I tried to do laundry, but the massive amount of mud in my chamois from 2 nights before just totally negated any attempts. Went down to the meeting spot and found John. We checked into the hostel and wouldn't you know it, but the Belgian Beer Festival happened to be in town that weekend. We promptly stored our belongings and headed down to the Grotsplat or whatever the central square is called. Sampled a few beers at a slightly premium price before we struck out to find beer mecca, Delirium. Some of you may recogniye the name from their tasty beer or from the fact that they got into the Guiness book of records for most beers on list (2006). John and I had some good ones there then went back to the hostel and cooked dinner. Went out for a few more drinks and exploration after dinner and then crashed.
Monday we rode north through Antwerp and into the Netherlands. Rather peaceful day cruising through the Netherlands. Never seen anything like it...EVERYONE is on bikes. Little 3 year olds, grandmas, workers, moms, it is insane. Found ourselves a nice little secluded camp by a fort Napoleon had constructed, cooked enough pasta to choke, i dunno, something that doesn't choke easily. Hung the hammocks in the swamp and called it a night.
Tuesday found us pushing straight up the coast, through Rotterdam and on towards Amsterdam. Things got a bit hairy around 7 PM when we rolled into Amsterdam without a place to stay, breaking our own rule of never doing so. Lucked out and found a decent hostel at 22€ a night, ut would have to find a way to store our bikes. Fortunately, this is Amsterdam and they have massive, secure bike storage for like €2 per day. Spent all day Wednesday exploring the fine city of Amsterdam, enjoying strong coffee and tasty beers along cute little canals. Packed up Thursday and headed south, shooting for the De Hoge Veluwe national park. A national park in Ntherlands isnt cute what I think of national parks as. It was 7€ to get in and probably another 10 to camp in the one designated campground. Illegal to sleep anywhere else. The guy sent us through to go to the north gate and get someone there to pay for our fees. We just slept right on the edge of the campground and were gone by the morning. Sorry Netherlands.
Friday we continued to push for Dusseldorf by taking a ferry across the Rhine into Germany. Slept in another little park/nature area just outside Alpen (I beleive).
Saturday we did the last 80km or so to reach Dusseldorf, arriving at the Kiefer household around 5 or 6 PM.
These folks are great. They welcomed us with open arms and have allowed us every luxury and convenience that we've been missing for 2 or 3 weeks. Went out into the city Saturday night, spent Sunday lounging about and checked out a sleepy little pub closer to home. Monday we drove around and hung out with some of John's old friends a bit. Today we've been trying to plan our next steps and just kind of cleaning our shabby selves up.

Speaking of the next steps, there have been some developments. We've been riding roughly 2 weeks and done about 1400km. That means we are averaging about 88km per day. We are allowed to stay in the EU-Schengen states for another 69 days. That means roughly 6000 km is our range, but that would be cutting it close and using every last day we are allowed. Getting from here to Gibraltar is about 3000km. Going to Croatia is about 1600km. We are probably going to go to Croatia is what Im saying. For one, it would allow us to go to Oktoberfest. Another thing is it gives us more of a buffer if we get derailed. The last reason is that if we do go to Gibraltar, our only option is Morocco. Morocco isn't bad, but 3 months with no option out other than applying for a Libyan visa or getting a flight is no good. In Croatia we could always go to Bulgaria and onward to Turkey. So, in summary, alot of this stuff is up in the air, but here is my rough plan:
Andi will drive John and I down towards Munich. From there we ride to Salzburg, over the Alps into Italy (Venice?) then south to Florence. After that we ride east to Ancona and get the ferry to Croatia.
What do you think?

All that being said, things are going well. Hope this message finds all going well with you folks, whether you are reading from this side or back home or somewhere further abroad. If you are further abroad, let me know and we'll start trying to work out some plans ;) Time for me to go get some food, so until next time, soul rider for life.