I had just finished a 2-month project in Georgia. It was the end of August. The new job didn’t start until late October and even had high potential to bump to a November start. So it began: A 3-month solo road trip of roughly 7,268 miles in an old 1989 Buick Regal. Zero of those miles would be traveled on an interstate highway (Sorry, Ike!) and not a single hotel would be booked.

It’s an overcast Tuesday. We awoke in the nick of time to reserve our room for tonight. Stacy wanted to see gardens, but for me, I plan to spend this overcast day getting some things done–a haircut. What a “perfect” day to get a haircut.

Noon finally rolled around. I talked to the guides and they made some phone calls…it was on! They were going climbing! I was about to go rock climbing in the Swiss Alps! It was surely the best news all day. I ran to the luggage room to throw together my daypack with some climbing supplies.

Our next plan was to circulate through the markets—Mercato Centrale—north of the Duomo. We didn’t have any plans to buy anything, but you’d never know it if you had seen us walking away from the place with armfuls! The markets supported some pretty good deals, but you had to search for them.

I slept surprisingly well on the 9-hour ride in 2nd class, however, I was still anxious to search München for what we’d call home for the next two adventure-filled days. The tourist office didn’t open until 11:00 AM (it is Sunday, remember?) We managed to kill some time in a small pub just down the street from the terminal. Hmmmm, we really are in Germany, aren’t we?!

We even received a call from the front desk early this morning. We obviously had no idea what the party on the other side of the line was saying. Therefore, the kind manager, unable to express his wishes to his boisterous western patrons, had nothing left to do but make the universally known “shhhhhhh” sound into the phone.

It was Wednesday, May 31 when our trip began with a luxurious ride to Newark, New Jersey in the ’84 Buick Skyhawk furnished with a cornucopia of foodstuffs from Mom & Dad. What a car! What a ride! What a day! This will be the last ride in the ‘Hawk for at least seven weeks.