It was chilly and grey when we awoke to the repetetive warbles of our arch-nemeses—a certain type of bird here that squaaaaks the same song (if you can call it that) ceaselessly: "Wuhn-waaaaah-waaah-wuhn-wuhn, Wuhn-waaaah-waaah-wuhn-wuhn" We joked about having roast bird for breakfast, but I got up and made hash browns instead while Tyler packed up camp.

It seemed like a good day to find a coffee shop and get some reading/work done, so we biked down into Marlborough in search of a place to cozy up. We passed a barber shop on the way in and Tyler decided that after we set up he would walk back and get a hair cut. We found a place called Azuza that had free wireless internet and settled in. I got a hot chocolate heaping with whipped cream while Tyler went off to the barber.

While Tyler was gone I edited and posted his latest journal entry and replied to a ton of emails and comments from our website. He returned twenty minutes later with far less hair (less than he would have liked), and got to work adding a new feature to our website. Now when you look at our map, you can pull up the exact route we took on any given day, including our various navigational errors. We thought of my dad the whole time Tyler was programming—dad just loves to ZOOM IN on exactly where we are/were. While Tyler was working, I read The Two Towers. Things are really getting exciting, and I love the Ents!

It was quite late when we left, 3pm or so. It was strange to set off just around the time we normally wind down. The plan was to have a short day: cycle seven miles into Avebury, then bike another eleven miles or so to the campsite we found online.

When we arrived (in Avebury) we quickly found the stone circle. Rather than lock everything up we pushed our bikes through fields of sheep poo, and looked at the huge, really old rocks. I think if we had done some reading about Avebury before visiting it might have been more interesting, but as it was we weren't hugely excited about a bunch of rocks in a field.

It was neat to wonder about how in the heck the monoliths got there, and about the spiritual culture of the people who put them there, but we just weren't that into it. [I just talked with my dad who says that zooming in from above using google maps, Avebury looks really cool, though!] Tyler broke the rules (big surprise) and tried to scale one of the rocks before we left to cycle in the direction of our campsite.

A few miles outside of camp we passed a grocery store and Tyler went in to buy food, struck with an idea for dinner. It was going to be a surprise involving chicken! When we arrived at camp and started setting up our home for the night, Tyler gave me a clue—we had never eaten the dish he had in mind. With that piece of information and the knowlege that he'd have to use what few ingredients we had, I immediately guessed "FRIED CHICKEN!" and I was right :)

Tyler set about making what turned out to be an absolutely delicious spicy cajun fried chicken dinner. There were breaded potatoes and onions and buttery peppery corn on the side as well. It was seriosly some of the best fried chicken I have ever had. Dinner wasn't the only first tonight, Tyler bought beer and cider as well and we both enjoyed a bottle with dinner. Definitely one of our best meals so far!

After I finished washing dishes and cleaning up for the night, Tyler tore into our chocolate supplies. It is really funny watching him eat them. Obviously he's always liked chocolate (who doesn't?), but somewhere along the way since we arrived he became a chocolate fiend! I have to remind him regularly how many squares make up his half of the bar so he doesn't eat his way into my side. :-)

My parents called this evening and we had a wonderful chat as always. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful parents! Thanks guys! Tomorrow we head into Glastonbury; we're told it should be magical!

Here is a photo of a timid little sheep we saw by the stone circle: