Csütörtök, Ocktöber 11, 1928
Left after 8. Roads were good, bad and muddy, mostly bad. At noon I had chicken (flash?), mashed spuds, soup, and a good tomato sauce for 26¢. The weather was milder. Had a puncture in the back tire and walked over two miles to a town. Man was out, so I fixed it myself. Got in the hills 30 miles from Budapest. They are high and wooded, many high and peaked. Got to Budapest at 5:15 and hunted up the Poste. It was the wrong one and too late to get mail at the other. Have a passable room for 4 pengös (marked 5) in Hotel Europa. Room opens on inside courts.
You are required to give your pass[port] at every hotel where you stay and they return it the next day. In the meantime the police inspect it. Was surprised to see women employed in building houses, carrying bricks, etc. Many houses in country of a mud-and-hay composition. Have a monstrous loaf of bread tonight and cheese doesn’t bite enough. Wouldn’t give up my bread dinner even if I could afford a real one. Rode 85 miles today. Spent $1.25 or 25¢ too much. Have traveled 8,946 miles in just 3 months in 15 countries—3,372 on my bike.