The eve of the odyssey . . .

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, my 25-year-old daughter Shana and I will set out on the 1000-mile drive to Sicily. My 2002 black and white Mini Cooper will be packed pretty full with remnants of the end of school here in Germany and summer in the USA. Two coffee pots, a laptop, a new CD wallet filled with music, papers, books, clothes, shoes, sunglasses, gas coupons, maps, Italian language CDs, and more . . . hopefully everything we might need.

Our plan is to just drive, sightsee, stop when when want, and arrive there in 3-4 days. Tomorrow we will stop for lunch in the village where I used to live, Kleinholzhausen, in the Bavarian Alps, just a few miles from the Austrian border. I look forward to seeing my former landlord and his family and having a great German lunch at his gasthaus. Then, one more tank of ESSO gas (the official gas of the US military) and off we go through Austria and over the Alps near Innsbruck. We plan to stop in Bolzano, in northern Italy, for a look at the famous "Ice Man" who was discovered in the high Alps just a few years ago. He's kept frozen, and it's a great exhibit. Then, back on the autostrada and we'll see how far we get until we decide to stop for the night.

Hopefully, I will figure out how to post from my cellphone. Otherwise, it will be several days before this is updated. Arrividerci! Auf Wiedersehen!