European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Biking dutch treat Netherlands tour features Friendly people soggy cycling by Ken Tauson Bremerhaven Bureau the dark Brick Road was Slick from a Light drizzle As we carefully rolled into Bellin Wolde the Netherlands. It had been raining most of the morning and the sky showed no sign of Clearing. My legs were wet and my shoes squished but i did t care. The Crystal Clear rain washed september air seemed to bring the quiet town into Sharp focus. Colors were hyper real saturated and everything looked new even the old rust red Brick houses trimmed with sparkling White paint sitting neatly on dense Green manicured lawns. I glanced at Doug Ide my cycling partner from the 2nd army div fwd in Karlstedt Germany. He looked As satisfied As Donald Trump announcing he d just bought another hotel or airline. I probably looked As loopy As a lottery Winner myself. About 20 minutes earlier we had peddled into the Netherlands from Germany thus accomplishing our Basic goal. A couple of weeks before Doug had said Quot let s ride our bikes to Holland and cruise around for a week or  we did. We strapped sleeping bags tents bags of dry clothes and a Little food to our bikes and headed West. Sticking to secondary roads it took us a Little More than a Day to ride from Bremerhaven to the Border. We could have done it in one Day but did t want to push too hard at the Start of the Trio. Besides. I had in Bellin Wolde we stopped at a Corner Deli to pick up some fresh bread and cold cuts and to get a feel for the prices in the Netherlands. Not much different than Germany we discovered. The Man behind the counter and nearly everyone we spoke to in the country were very Friendly treating us As if we had lived Down the Street for our whole lives. We packed away our food and cycled off through the Mist happily ignorant of the fact that the morning s rain was Only a foreshadowing a Mere whisper in the wind of what was to come. By late afternoon we reached Linschoten and headed Down the narrow pedestrian shopping Street in search of hot food and a break from the increasing continue Don a ii it a -4 july 4, 1991 stripes in Gatine 3