The Real Beginning

it was indeed the 28th of december, and both rich and i were past being ready to leave. we put the bikes, fully loaded, onto ege's beautiful little motorcycle trailer and Douglas started driving us south. we decided to stop at Schultz's house, in Clear Lake Iowa, when we were an hour away. it was about 3 hours until dark. we arrived at the Schultz's and, after brief conversation, we began loading and putting on every single layer of clothing that we had. we left just after dark. it was 36 degrees. prior to departure, richard said to me, "you know, this is probably not one of the smartest things that we have ever done." i cannot count how many times he has said that to me throughout our lives. i am not sure if at the time, he was saying it about leaving on motorcycles in 36 degrees, or about the entire trip. within an hour the temperature had dropped to 26 degrees. the next 8 hours were as close to outerspace as i have ever been, and indeed, it was not the smartest thing that i have ever done. we made it into kansas city at 2:30 a.m., wired and confused. that was the beginning.

woodrowguthrie