14C and overcast.
Dau in law Jen arrived and had a good visit after the Tsawassen Tournament. Everyone here for supper.
Tomorrow is the Novice Tournament.

  By noon they had reached the point where a narrow wagon road branched off from the road they had been traveling. “This is the road that will take us to the river.” Doctor Pearce panted. “When we get along it a few yards we’ll have a rest and a bite to eat.” When he unhitched himself he sank with a groan onto the ground. In answer to his wife’s look of concern he said, “I’m alright it’s just that tending to patients and preaching sermons didn’t quite prepare me for being a beast of burden.”

  After luncheon and a few miles further the two little girls began to tire and began having trouble keeping up even though the pace was slow. “Can the little ones ride?” Mrs. Pearce asked. “The rest of us will help with the cart.”

  “Of course,” Was the reply. “I’ll have a short rest while they get settled.”

  They walked until evening, occasionally meeting others traveling in both directions. That night they took shelter with a rice farmer and his family.

 

  The next day and the next and the next they carried on, the only real change was that the Doctor hardened quickly and although he kept to a steady but slow pace, the need for rest breaks became less and less frequent.

  On the evening of the fourth day they reached the bank of the Yangtze River and a small village of a half dozen families. For a small sum arrangements were made to take them across the river by sampan; they would leave at first light.

  The crossing was without incident but the river being very wide at this point, the journey took all day. The ferry man decided to stay for the night and allowed them to sleep on the deck of the boat. 

 

  The rest of the overland journey took eight days, they could have made it in seven but the third day after they left the river was a Sunday and Mrs. Pearce insisted that it was to be a day of rest. Finally they arrived at a large village of perhaps five hundred people and the headwaters of the Zhujiang River.

  Although airplanes had been seen and heard, there had been no bombs or strafing and the villagers were aware of the war but were complacent and relatively unconcerned.

  The family found that there was a small medical outpost and for a few hours of the combined services of the two elder Pearce’s, an unused building was provided for their use.  There was no furniture but some straw was found for mattresses. They stayed there for two days working and looking for a suitable boat to take them downstream.

  Doctor Pearce looked at several boats but realizing his expertise was vastly challenged decided that a guide with knowledge of the river and of boats might be the wisest way to proceed.