We said an early thanks and goodbye to our hosts and then negotiated our way back onto the A4 via a Lidl supermarket and a BP gas station. There after most of the day was pretty uneventful, just purring along a European motorway.
Around midday we entered Poland and initally the only sign of this was the change of language, and the evident newness of the road surface and the truck stops (I am guessing that the new highway has been funded bz the EU). At one of the new gas stations we stopped to get some Polish currency (the złoty at about 3 to the US$).
As the afternoon wore on we noticed some other changes. While the road stayed good the road side stops developed a more 3rd world appearance and the truck parking became less organized; a bit of a shambles really.
Towards 17:00 we started looking for a gas station or rest area and after trying one place that seemed to be total chaos we eventually settled for a large flat gravel lot on the west bound side of the motorway. We were a bit surprised by this lot, as it was almost empty when we pulled in, whereas most of the gas stations were filled to overflowing with parked trucks.