Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter. To bring you up-to-date
concerning our plans: we expect to leave Monday morning, March 15,
at 6 a.m., drive the 750 miles, or so, to northern Ohio, stay
overnight in a motel near Fremont, and on Tuesday morning drive
the additional hundred miles to Detroit; there, pack the minivan
to the gills with what I hope will be the remaining contents of the
storage areas, and start back to Belmont, staying overnight again
somewhere in western Pennsylvania.  I believe I mentioned in a recent
letter considering a trip from Detroit to Virginia, which could take
us through Hilliard. I thought I might have an initial conference with
the probate clerk at the Abingdon Circuit Court; but I've abandoned 
that idea, because I will be in a stronger position later, when I
arrive either with a will in hand, or with a letter stating that the
will cannot be found. The initiation of the probate proceedings must
wait until Margrit's lawyer, Ute Wigley-Mueller returns from Germany
in July. What little probate estate there is, will have to wait; and
if the court officials give me a hard time, such as requiring a
co-trustee who lives in Virginia year round, or a bond which seems
too expensive, I might just abandon the probate estate, especially
if Margrit has left it to members of the anti-family to which she
had defected. Am I wicked?

You asked about the route we travel: Since 1997, we've been taking
the Mass. Turnpike and the NY Thruway to the Canaan exit, then
the Taconic State Parkway south to Interstate 84 near Fishkill,
and following Interstate 84 across the Hudson through Matamoras PA
on to Scranton from where Interstate 81 takes us about 580 miles
south to Chilhowie, VA. When we go to Detroit, we take Interstate 80
west from Hazleton all the way to Toledo. Coming back, we follow the
same roads. On at least two occasions in the past several years,
when we were early and the weather was good, I've left the Interstate
at the Canaan exit for a quick drive up Bristol Road to refresh my
memory of the landscape. Of course, even driving past in such proximity
on the Interstae stirs many memories, even though the view from the
Turnpike is very different from Route 295.

There's no news on the legal front. That will come soon enough once
the Appeals Court panel has hatched its answers. They have 130 days
from February 10; so we may have to wait. But I'll let you know
what they have to say. I'm not optimistic. Give my best to Ned.
Stay well and enjoy the spring.

Jochen