Well we got a second wind once we got off the plane and headed to pick up the rental car. Our only concern was getting out of Rome alive as we had heard so much about wild Italian drivers who followed no rules of the road but their own – within a few minutes of being in the car we realized what that meant. Thank the Lord, however, we had listened to Cathy and Keith who had an Italy GPS and said “take it along in case you need it”………and we very quickly set it up and were on our way. We had decided to avoid the autopista, or whatever the super duper highway is, and take the more rural roads although I might add they were nothing like the road from Amherst to Tidnish!   We knew we wanted to head towards the Adriatic so put Atri, a town close by, into the GPS and from there it was clear sailing. We drove for about 4-5 hours, well Jim did, while Marilyn and I chatted in hopes we could keep him awake as we drove through unbelievable countryside and national parks. Traffic, for the most part, was not heavy and as the sun started to set we though that’s enough and settled into a Town called Teramo in the Abruzzo region of Italy, which actually was not too far from where Cathy Hunter’s roots are – maybe her GPS brought us there! Followed  signs to a hotel called Gran Sasso which was just right there, but where? We must have passed by it ten times before one of us actually spotted it and Marilyn and I jumped out to check it out and left Jim to find a parking space which was very much like finding a needle in a haystack!   Anyway it was great, clean, safe, affordable and central so out come the passports and the assistant was off to help Jim squeeze the car into the eye of an needle!   We knew very little about Teramo but knew we all needed a good night’s sleep and a bite to eat before we crashed…….so pizza and wine from  the little take out/eat in did the job……..and before we knew it the sun was up and we were off on another adventure.   Worth mentioning, however, that our hotel was great and Terramo, with a population of over 300,000, is a university town with a fabulous market, great hiking/biking and bird-watching.    We decided to head out of town towards the Adriatic as the temperature was 20C and we were looking forward to being on the beach.    Fill you in tomorrow or the next day as I am starting to fade……..sleep well.