Consciousness dawned at some unearthly hour – 4 or 5 or so. We had both just crashed out completely from the night before – no return call to Dennis at 10 or anything. Anyway, that was swiftly done and managed to get through. Apparently, journey to Troy rather tedious, so decided to hire a car in NY. Rang up Hertz + booked one, showered, packed, and set off to pick it up. Val was feeling pretty rotten. Caught a bus to 48th Street + Americas, but then had to walk all the way across. Quite a friendly guy there – funny yet helpful, and we were able to pick up a Ford Mustang despite having no return ticket to UK. He also gave us directions for New Hampshire out of NY, which proved excellent – very easy to follow. I still felt very nervous pulling out of the garage. However, journey went very well indeed, though it was quite boring – till the last 12 miles or so, when the road just seemed to peter out into tracks. I got very annoyed* – with myself, with the roads, and with Val for not asking the way. Despite this, we got there eventually.
Gap Mountain Breads turned out to be a converted house. We met Tim and Mariann – Dennis was out running – and they gave us delicious wholewheat bread and butter. When Dennis arrived we went swimming – a local disused quarry – it was fabulous – diving in and playing on a log. Unfortunately, I’d left the camera behind in the bag we left in NY – tho’ Val went to the car to look for it. When we got back, we ate a whole food meal at the table, and then went to see Sidne, a (lady) friend of Dennis. She was very nice, gave us beer, and it was pleasant and relaxing, sitting in her room drinking and listening to classical music. We came back and Dennis (being something of an astrologer) read Val and my charts, by consulting his book. It was interesting, without being stunning. And so to bed.
*The first of many times when I refer to my mental state; I was clearly somewhat frazzled by the demands of travel… which at least moves the narrative away from the merely functional.
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