Tour

I discovered then that with the wind-shield and the front wind panel, as long as I kept moving I would not get wet. The rain would blow over the top and around the sides, so I could ride in the rain and stay perfectly dry. I passed through small towns and little shuttered villages, which might slow me down, but usually they were so small I was through them in a blink.

This storm chase was my favorite experience of the whole trip. However I had another similar race through the mountains of Wales after taking the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead probably in August. And there may have been another in northern Scotland: remembering the remembrance of such an event, but not the occurrence itself.

I think it was about mid-day when I reached Grenoble site of the 1968 Winter Olympics. I was early this being '67. I was really cold when I came into town. After nothing but picturesque mountain villages and hamlets, in Grenoble I ran into a shopping plaza and I went into this great big food store. It was warm and big and busy and they were playing jazz over an intercom system, and I shopped for about an hour. I didn't buy much, but I got warm and the people were curious of me with cowboy boots and beard and rain coat and gloves, and girls were very friendly. I am having the time of my life. The weather was better from then on, only cloudy and the clouds were way above me, and I was not driving through them."

This store was more like a modern day supermarket. It was the first big store I had been in - except for the Athens PX, since I had been in Europe.

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