Monday, September 21 I would have liked to linger in Belton Chalet for as long as it would let me, but I’d reserved a spot on a nine o’clock Red Bus Tour of the west side of the park. Though in my sickish state I cared …

Sunday, September 20 Earlier today (on the day of this writing) I was reading the AAA New York Car and Travel (C&T) magazine, a perk, if you could call it that, of AAA membership. It is of course not a good magazine, though it’s surprisingly …

Saturday, September 19 On many of the days I was alone I listened to chapters from Le Grand Meaulnes, a coming-of-age novel much beloved in France, that Andy had recorded for me. He’d started reading it to me during his leg of the trip, and I found it so …

Friday, September 18 Around two a.m. I woke up in a mild sweat, my throat sore. “Aw crap, here it comes,” I thought. I knew I would get sick at some point on the trip. I hadn’t been ill all year, so I had it …

Thursday, September 17 I woke with a Christmas Day flutter in my chest: in a few hours I was going to ride a horse for the first time. Everyone I told about my impending first-ever horse ride seemed, to me, less excited than they should be. …