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13.3.60
My Darling,
Golly I'm sorry the letters have been so sparce in the last four days, but the
time has really been tied up. Also with now traveling as unpredictable as it is each
day, I can't always get a letter written, so I may goof again during the 3
weeks. Also the post conditions will vary according to the size of the city we stop
in (and airline flights, etc) So I'm afraid mail will be irregular even if I
get it off regularly. So don't worry abour me, sweetheart, if it doesn't come, and
don't forget on those "dry" days that I love you just as much.
I got a letter before leaving yesterday, so I have it to carry with me these [?]
[?] days until I get a perfume booster in Hamburg. Tell Arlene if you want to
that I'll be sending a copy of Fritz's picture after vacation; it takes several weeks to
have them made. Does she also want others? I'm planning to take some anyway
this spring and can get copies for her.
We didn't get away yesterday morning as hoped - I decided a good nights' sleep
was more important, so I went to bed without copying the anthro paper or packing.
These jobs took all of the next morning, and by the time we got all put together.
down to Beutelsbach, [?], bikes packed, etc, it was 3:30 before we
left. We biked to Schondorf, then turned north on the general direction
of Schwübisch Hall, out planned goal for the evening. But we ran into some
pretty rugged woodland country (a lot like the Schwanzwald) and had to walk
and push our bikes uphill. Needless to say it was pretty tough going, especially for
the first day. We would finally reach a summit, coast speedily down the other
side into a small town, only to find another hill ahead to climb. Finally at 8 pm
we stopped exhausted at a gas station, got directions to a nearby farmhouse where
the farmers showed us a covered porch (outside a locked up summer house) where
we could spread our sleeping bags for the night. As tired as we were though,
we did see soem pretty country. We rode through many small villages similar
to Beutelsbach, but each differnt, across open rolling farmland, up wooded hills
with small creeks. And we go slowly enough to really see what we pass - to watch
people working in the fields, to hear the birds, and smell fresh fertilizer or [?]
wood. It's really "down to earth" travel, and hard work sometimes. But already
we're getting stronger and it's a little easier.
Adter eating a quick cold dinner (sandwich, egg, piece of cake, water) on the porch
we spread out our sleeping bags and crawled in and even with my jacket over my
head to keep out the air, I almost froze all night - it was a few degrees below
0ºC and there was frost this morning. Thank goodness we weren't on the damp ground
at least. From now on we'll probably avoid sleeping outdoors - we need the better
rest to keep our pace anyway, and it's too dangerous for health besides. After
10 hours in the sack we returned out at 6:30 and we packed on the way
soon after. We had about 2-3 kilometers more of uphill walking in the dense
woods, and then mostly down hill for quite a ways (sometimes coasting for 5
or 10 minutes at about 30 mph!) gradually it leveled out again into farmland
and up and down roads (even a little rise is work and energy spent). We