Day 10

August 13, 2003

Pirksdorf See, Austria to Unterhaag, Austria

69 Kilometres

On Wednesday it was a short ride to the Slovenian border. They were the only ones who ever checked our passports. Later I checked, and discovered they were also the only ones to stamp our passports.

We rode to Ravne. I went in to a grocery store and asked if they took Euros. They did, so I bought groceries and paid in Euros. But my change was in Slovenian money. From there we passed Dravograd. Then it was up the Radlpass. It was nice, because there was hardly any traffic, but again, way too hot. We got to the top, and passed back into Austria after being in Slovenia for three hours. We stopped at a rest stop on the way down the other side, and had lunch and a nap.

From there it was downhill all the way to Ursula's mom's. We got to Oberhaag. According to the address Ursula had, her mom lived on Unterhaag Street. We asked a local, but he said there was no Unterhaag Street. He suggested riding the two kilometres to Unterhaag, and asking there.

We got to Unterhaag, and stopped at a little store. Ursula asked the clerk if he knew where Lilo Meier-Frank lived. He didn't. She asked about Christa Meier. He didn't. Finally she asked about Heinz the baker. Ah, Heinz and Christa. She said she was Christa's sister, and Lilo was her mom. Ah, Christa's mom. He gave her directions to her mom's place.

We've arrivedOn the way we passed her sister's place, but decided not to stop. We rode on a dirt road past the edge of town. We spotted Ursula's mom's place by the moose crossing sign. We knocked on the door. There was no answer. We listened. Vacuum cleaner. We walked in and surprised her mother, and they had a joyful reunion.

After a while, Christa, her husband, Heinz, and their two year old daughter, Larissa, arrived.

We got cleaned up, and then headed over to Christa's for dinner. Ursula's mom stayed behind to bring the cats in, eventually joining us. She had another cat locked in a room at Christa's, because it had turned against her other cats, and chased them away. She tried to get me to adopt it, but I didn't.

After dinner, Heinz went to bed, because he had to go to work at midnight. The rest of us walked Ursula's mom's dog, Taina, and Christa's dog, Mandy.


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Last updated: January 11, 2006