Day 47: Saturday, 25 June 1983

Start: Hostel, Beegden, Netherlands

End: Campground, Groesbeek, Netherlands

I sleep late but decide not to stay another night. My Irish buddy goes off to do some busking with his guitar. Maybe we'll see each other in Amsterdam. 

I ride north and suffer a flat, my first since the second day out of Athens. Patch it up and back in the saddle. Not quite so hot today. I discover that in many places I can't ride on the road. Bikes are usually required to stay on separate, paved bike paths. These are fine, and it's nice to be away from cars and trucks, but the paths don't always parallel the road and they're not marked on my maps, so it's tough to know where they're going. There's also the problem of swarms of happy Dutch folks toodling along on heavy black one-speeds.

In one place a crowd of youths sees me go by and for no apparent reason one of them yells out, "Fuck you, American!"

Just before I reach the campground at Groesbeek I have another flat. Fresh puncture. Not a good sign.

It's a clean, grassy, suburban kind of campground. Next to me are two high school kids, Erich and Mat. "Mat," he says, stressing the pronunciation. "Not like Matt in English. More like Mott the Hoople." These guys speak great English. They're from a nearby town and this might be their first camping trip on their own -- they've just arrived and they'll be here for about a week -- so they're really excited, especially when they discover what an exotic neighbor I am. They insist on fixing dinner for me. Who, they wonder, would possibly go to a restaurant while camping? 

We sit around their campfire long after dark and they tell me everything they think I need to know about travelling in the Netherlands. Then they have a long list of questions about travelling in the States, which they hope to do as soon as their parents will allow them to go. They're shocked when I confess I've never heard of a high school in the USA where students can study Dutch. 

Conditions 

Distance: 80 km  

Weather: Hot 

Road: Good 

Traffic: Very light 

Terrain: Very flat 

Mechanical: Two flats 

Physical: Strong