23 July 2014
Linz to Mauthausen, Austria (18 miles; Total = 193 miles)

Today’s goal: Let’s not get wet. We probably should have been a bit more specific and added something like “at any point today,” which explains why we had a dry bicycle ride but are now standing beneath a tree, seeking cover from another downpour thundering through. I really thought I was making a good decision leaving that travel umbrella at home, not wanting to carry the extra weight on the bike. But now that my water-soaked clothes weigh 8 times as much as that umbrella, it’s clear that my decision-making process could use a little brushing up.

We’re walking from our pension to the Mauthausen Memorial, the site of a concentration camp from 1938 to 1945. During the course of World War II, the Mauthausen camp detained nearly 200,000 people, with about half of those inmates dying there. It’s a wonder anyone survived this place, particularly given that the camp was set adjacent to a granite quarry and starving inmates were forced to carry heavy stones up the “Stairway of Death.” This was just one of the many inhumane ways in which people were treated here until the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army on 5 May 1945. Seems awfully silly that I’m complaining about a little rain after walking through such a sobering memorial.