From: noemi@maui.cs.ucla.edu (Noemi Berry)
Subject: The European Adventure, Day 3
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 08:29:29 GMT


This is the next installment in the tale of my 9-day
motorcycle adventure in Europe during the summer of '92.
I apologize for its length and hope that your news/mail
software will allow you to skip over it easily if it is
of no interest to you.

noemi
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10/1/92
The European Adventure
Day 3: The Day of the Rain

    Rains vomited forth from the heavens and his people were sent unto the 
    storm riding the Daemon Adnoh.  Such were their struggles, that they 
    beckoned to the heavens.   The calling of the promised land echoed 
    through the valley.  Thus began the second trial of his people.  
                                    -Demonthenese

Saturday, August 29
Heidelberg, Germany

I woke up late to the sound of pouring rain.  So _that's_ why Germany is
so green: it rains all the time!  I called the person I was going to visit
in Nuremberg and told him that I wasn't coming, and spent the better part
of the morning chatting with Bill, waiting for the lightning to stop and
looking over maps, determined not to get caught in yellow-light hell again.

I decided to head straight south to Austria, but was in no hurry to
leave since it was so pleasant hanging around with Bill, and I wasn't
excited about the prospect of a 400km ride in pouring rain.  Bill and I
went out for a late lunch, and by then I was convinced to relax and
stay the evening and leave first thing on Sunday morning.  I could
call Claude and ask him if I could keep the red FT one more day.

Late in the afternoon, it stopped raining, so Bill and I went for
a two-up ride.  Bill rode, even though he hadn't ridden for 3 years
and didn't have a German motorcycle license.  We figured this was
better than me never having taken passengers and not being used to
a tall bike.  The FT's suspension was not at all happy about this
arrangement, but took us through an hour's ride in some hills a
little north of Heidelberg, where we could see castles and tool
through small towns.  Heidelberg and its surrounding areas are
really beautiful.  The roads were still wet in some places, but
there was nothing terribly difficult, and we were in no hurry.
Bill did really a nice job of inspiring confidence in me, which
says a lot since I am now a rather experienced passenger, as well
as being a rider myself.  I hope the ride motivated him to take
up riding again!

The ride ended abruptly when we realized we were late for a movie
Bill had talked me into.  We rushed back to Heidelberg just in time
to catch Lethal Weapon 3, and I watched it in my leathers.  Though
the movie was full of trite dialogue, it had an impressive motorcycle
chase scene, where Mel Gibson is on a cop's Kawasaki, chasing a car
through 3 lanes of *oncoming* traffic!

My biggest challenge that day were the restrooms in the movie theater.
The restrooms were marked "Sie" and "Er", so I had to go back into the
dark theater to ask Bill which one I was!  (Sie).  Luckily for me Bill
passed up this golden opportunity for a practical joke.

I planned a route to head straight south, out of Germany and into
Austria, with the single-minded goal of finding an Alpine pass.
I found a road on my map of Switzerland that looked like a
seismograph, and decided that was as good a goal as any, though it
would take me two days to get there.  I called Hesh to ask him
where he had been when he'd done his Alpine tour, and found that
the area I'd chosen was indeed in the neighborhood of the Alpine
passes with numbered hairpin turns, and on the route of the
organized tours.

Tomorrow, no fooling around: I'm getting serious, leaving early
and boogie-ing down the Autobahn to get out of Germany and find
the good riding in the Alps.  I spent hours poring over maps
and finally tore myself away to make an effort at sleep.

End of Day 3.

noemi
*---------------------------------------------------------------------*
noemi@cs.ucla.edu (for now)     				KotSBL
DoD #443  						'82 KZ 305 CSR
							(hang in there!)
	Next Motorcycle (NM) countdown: $3000 and/or one job
*---------------------------------------------------------------------*
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