.............
Travel Guide
The semester break is here
and it's time to leave
Ann Arbor, for a while.
The Lake Michigan shoreline breeze offers some of the country's finest hang gliding. Flights of over an hour, and of few
miles distance are not uncommon. In addition, the National S oaring and Hang Gliding Festival, at Frankfort, Michigan, will
bring together top pilots from all over the country. The annual e vent will be held in late June. Near Ann Arbor, the Chelsea area
boasts of nice inland hills, for those who don't wish to make the tred to the Dunes, For those who wish to pursue hang-gliding,
Eco-Flight Systems Inc., of Ann Arbor, offer sand dune and local training. Pictured is John Volk of Ann Arbor flying a 17'
Eco-Flight Standard Rogallo near Chelsea, Mich.
itch hiking as a necessity
ks cheap adventure
By DOC KRALIK Gainesville, and I was already was of an R & R he spent in was to know about him. He was
It was almost noon, a hot dry worrying about getting another Australia. born in Canada, and had been
unday in Florida's National ride. "Whah me and mah buddies, president of a designing com-
'orest. A student type, about Larry (for that was the driv- we whas drungk the whole pany, before losing the company
Twenty years old, stood by U.S. er's name) was on his way to damn tahm," he told me in his to his wife in a divorce suit.:
0, a back-pack over his shoul- the drag races. Actually, Larry friendly Georgia drawl. Since Then he spent six years in Eur-
er, a cardboard square from a thought he was in the drag leaving the Army he had divor- ope driving rich couples on
izza box in his hand. Two let- races. About four miles up the ced his wife. Now he was saving tours. He acknowledged that he
ers were printed on -the card- road we piled up behind six cars up enough money to get back to never had to worry about money
oard: "MI". A banana colored in a no-passing zone. Larry Australia. because the wife usually took a
orvette swished down the hot swung the banana-mobile into: At Valdosta, I-75 was searing special interest in him. He mi-
avement. The guy with the the opposing lane, pushing it up hot. I started counting the cars grated to Atlanta, where he
-ign stuck out his thumb. to 90. After we'd passed two that went past. I counted 342. soon owned two nightclubs. He
That was me. cars, a pick-up pulled head-on Then I spotted the azure bubble sold them when a friend of his
The Corvette screetched to a around the corner. Instead of of a Georgia State Police car. shot three men in his club. "I
top, fishtailing in the gravel of melting into the traffic, Larry I swallowed hard: from all re- decided that wasn't for me,"
e shoulder, almost clipping off floored it, passed the remaining ports this would cost me $25 and He became an alcoholic and a
mailbox. cars and jerked abruptly into: posisbly two days in the tank. drug addict. His second wife
"How far you goin'?" the other lane. The driver of the But the cop just went by slowly, left him. And then . . . he was
"Michigan." pick-up, quickly perceiving he speaking through his loudspeak- saved.
"I can take you to Gaines- was dealing with a madman, er: "Get back up to the exit The preacher would get car-
ille." pulled off the road. ramp." Well, I picked up my ried away sometimes. His arms
I'd been waiting for a while, We pulled into a gas station to pack and headed for the ramp. would wave, and his head bob
the Sunday morning church fill up. I went inside and bought When the cop was out of sight, up and down. The Impala would
crowd doesn't exactly line up to a Tall-boy of Schlitz malt. Oh I put my pack down and stayed slip onto the shoulder. The
ick up hitch-hikers) and Gain- well, I though, at least we're where I was. preacher kept the car at about
esville sounded just fine. But I not going to waste any time get- Before too long, a Chevy Im- eighty. Sunday drivers made:
wanted to move still farther; I ting to Gainesville. pala pulled over. The guy who him angry. "Move over suck-
anted to get on. The purpose Larry didn't talk much. Peo- was driving it announced that he er!" he shouted, temporarily
of this trip was to get untangled, ple who are under 30 and pick could take me to Atlanta. I was lapsing back to the days before
to get the knots out of my mind. up hitch-hikers hardly ever say overjoyed. The driver turned his salvation.
nots come from staying in one anything. People over 30 usually out to be a Southern Baptist The preacher left me at the
place too long. As far as I was tell you their life story, and this minister. He had just been of- Atlanta bypass, and it was here
concerned I was already in is important. If you look inter- fered a church in Valdosta, and that I made my first serious
ested enough, and the older per- had come down to finalize the, mistake, electing to take the
son hasn't finished his story, deal. The first thing the preach- western bypass. As it turns out,
he'll take you a couple more ex- er said to me was: "You know most of the people going north
iranceits. the last time I picked up a take the eastern bypass. Thous-
At Gainesville, I was quickly hitch-hiker in Valdosta, he was ands of cars went passed me.
picked up by a Vietnam vet who saved by the time we got to At- The sun went down, a red Geor-
few ..~ was on his way back to Valdos- lanta. He even gave a testimony gia sunset that lit up the red
ta, Georgia, where he worked at the service that night. We all Georgia soil.
in a pipe factory. He gave me a pitched in and bought him a bus An hour passed. I was getting
By DAVID GARFINKEL lot of cigarettes (which by this ticket to Tennessee." scared. I hadn't had anything to
Joni Mitchell may have been time I must have looked like I The preacher was a great eat all day. I hitched up the;
"Free Man in Paris," but the needed), and told me of how he talker. Because I kept refusing road into a construction area
lest of us usually have to pay had spearheaded the drive into to go into the saved or unsaved and decided to walk past it. My
hrough the nose. If you're will- Cambodia. His most vivid re- status of my own soul, he told feet sank deep in the mud. I
n to see other narts of France, collection of the Army, however, me just about everything there (please turn to page 2)
editor
Saturday, April 17, 1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY - TRAVEL SUPPLEMENT Eight Pages
7
\\
/ \
Barbados on big bucks
zowever, it need not be that
;xpensive.
Is it worth it? You bet it is. I
:alked with five other American
;tudents and three French stu-
Lents recently, and their experi-
,nces prove that a vacation in
France doesn't have to be as
,xpensive,, say, as a semester
it the University. And there's
)nly one "exam"s after you're
inished: U.S. Customs.
Once you've got a few hun-
ired bucks and your passport'
ogether, you have to ask your-
;elf a few questions:
1. Do I still want to go? (Mais
ui!)
2. How will I get there?
3. How will I travel within
rance?
4. Is there really anything to
ee in France oWtside of Paris
nd the Riviera?
You must answer "yes" to
Pestion no. 1 before proceeding.
As for how to get there, it is
sually cheapest to take a stu-
ent charter flight. For this you'
rill need an International Stu-
ent I.D. (ISID) card, which
rill pay for itself in Europe.
'he International Center, right'
ext to the Union and immedi-
tely in front of West Quad, has
frig-.,A, et0ff whc'n can ll
Bike a bicentennial route
i
By JEFFREY P. SELBST
11
All a good idea needs is a reason. Despite
an obvious lack of purpose, in this 200th
anniversary year, there has sprung up a
Bikecentennial.
Working out of a hotel in Missoula, Mon-
tana, Dan Burden and 27 bicycle touring en-
thusiasts have plotted a transcontinental
bike trail that stretches from Oreogn to Vir-
ginia, and are just finishing the support ar-
rangementsaforjuthegexpected 10,000 bikers
who will pedal the route.
Like many of the Bicentennial projects, the
Bikecentennial has little connection with
1776, since bikes, and Oregon didn't even
exist 200 years ago. But whatever the Bike-
centennial might be, it is certainly a non-
profit corporation, concerned solely with max-
imizing the enjoyment of the participants, at
a minimum cost. Rest assured that all fees
will go toward the services provided.
A grant was Tecived from the Bicentennial
Commission earlier in the year to start Bur-
den's group off. And inquiries have been
arriving in Missoula at a rate of about 1500
a week. The Bikecentennial address is P.O.
Pox 1034. Dent. T.A.. Missonla, Mont. 59801.
to the riders. Also, organizers wanted to avoid
urban areas, and heavy motor traffic.
With this in mind, the Bikecentennial route
leads across Oregon, over the Cascades,
through Montana, and then turns south into
Yellowstone Park. Then, through Colorado
and Kansas, moving north of the Ozarks
across Southern Illinois andhKentucky, finally
tackling the most difficult part of the journey,
the Appalachians, before coasting into Vir-
ginia.
Scattered along the route, never more than
one day's ride apart will be campgrounds and
Bike Inns. Not exactly Michelin Guide ac-
commodations, the Inns will be high school
gymnasiums, college dorms and the like.
Nothing more than a roof and a bed. The
Bikecentennial will offer bikers a variety of
meal and lodging plans.
The standard Bike Inn plan includes lodg-
ing, three meals a day, accident insurance,
and a guidebook. The cost is $965 for 82 days.
The camping tour calls for roughing it out
of doors but everything else is included, for
$685. Cyclists may sign up as independents,
ani use the Bikecentennial facilities on a
nav-as-you-en first-cnme first-serve hsis for
Dashing off to the Caribbean
usually means the Bahamas,
Trinidad, or (at least) Jamaica.
With great masses of people
moving in herds as they do,
small spots with less overt tour-
ist appeal tend to be less crowd-
ed, less expensive, and more
completely delightful. Right?
Then consider Barbados.
Please. Here is an island that
has iteall-lovely tropical weath-
er, never rising above or below
78-83° F., white beaches, and a
tres Internationale mix of vis-
itors.
Deluxe accommodations come
in three major hotels: the Hil-
ton, Paradise Beach, and the
Sandy Lane. Besides room and
breakfast, these hotels offer, for
a sizable sum, some fine enter-
tainment and events for their
residents. The Hilton, where I
stayed, had dancing every night,
duplicate bridge every Satur-
day (a must), and enclaves of
residents from Germany, Swe-
den, Italy, England, France, and
all the various South American
countries.
The island was, until 1966, a
o_; . - ninni .Cin a h a n .-
and discounts to great numbers
of people. Hence they come,
from every country, in large
bunches. It is not unusual to
find whole extended families
staying at one hotel. At our
hotel, it was the Italians. Best
Tours of Milan had, it seemed,
booked half the Hilton.
Elkin Tours and Worldwide
Sportsmen's Club of Detroit of-
fer -Barbadian holidays. The
price, however, is not cheap.
A TYPICAL DAILY
SCHEDULE
Morning begins fairly early,
around 8:30 or so. The first
thing, an absolute muust, is
breakfast. That usually comes
with the tour price and it's a
long time until lunch. At the
Hilton they have a sort of snack
bar-liquor bar next to the beach.
With a lovely terrace on which
to sit, this is the place to
manges. The hamburgers are,
perhaps, the best I've eaten
abroad. Drinks are mostly rum,
but costlier items include scotch
and all those sort of bouvantes.
Down the street from the Hil-
ton, near the Holiday Inn, is{
another popular lunchery - the
Pebble Inn. It'too has a terrace.
the water is both warm and
wonderful,, though quite salty.
One emerges c o v e r e d with
sticky brine, nq showers after
swims are de rigeur.
Tennis is another way to pass
the time, but it costs money to
rent out the courts for a half-
hour or watever. Public courts
are available, but again, for a
fee. Shopping is available in one
of Barbados' two cities of note,
Bridgetown. Speighstown, at the
northern tip of this tropical par-
adise, is more or less a resort
center./
In any case, Bridgetown of-
fers many fine shops for your
convenience, some of which are
duty-free. The best way that I
found to spend the days, how-
ever, was bicycling.g
An old English gentleman l
rents bicycles for the remark-
ablly low price of $5 Barbadian
bucks for the whole day. This
comes to approximately $2.50
American, and is well worth the
price.
NAME-DROPPING ON THE
OLD CARIBBEAN
Claudette Colbert makes her
permanent home on the island
f RnrhAdc i n e cnnin,,mail-
and dancing spots on the island.
Booze is plentiful and cheap, as
I have said before, and the Bar-
badian government doesn't seem
to be overly strict about whom
(agewise) they sell it to. But
dope is a definite no-no: the gov-
ernment is always on watch. You
Can't bring any into the country
(airport security is very strict).
and you really can't buy any
inside.
But, especially during peak
resort periods, such as Easter
or Christmas, there are a wide
variety of attractive vacationers
to hook up with for those quickie
holiday romances. The Holiday
Inn is locally known for the
young; the Hilton for the older,
moneyed set.
RESTAURANTS
Le Bonne Auberge is known
to the natives as one of the best
spots on the island. The food is
remarkable, and the best meal
I procured on the island was
there. But it is very expensive,
and the restaurant requires res-
ervations. On top of that, it is
situated far out into the sugar
cane fields, so at taxi must be
taken. And watch out for those
rahhi:c-n Rrhna. i ,, o