KallMeKris

So the funds arrived at a Los Angeles branch he had no practical way to access.

And he found himself in the United States significantly short of what he had budgeted for.

So from Las Vegas on July 21st, staying at the Treasure Island Hotel, he faxed Heike Weber's, Georg's mother, or his ex-partner.

partner requesting that she wire additional funds to cover the shortfall, but she would not respond.

And the exact nature of that silence is not documented anywhere.

But what is documented is that the money never came and that Egbert and Cornelia pressed on without it.

So Egbert had just asked the woman at the center of his ongoing custody dispute to help him on a trip he had specifically planned as an escape from that dispute.

And she said nothing, which isn't

Totally surprising.

There's some bad blood there, I think.

But nonetheless, absolutely sucked for Egbert and his family traveling in a completely different country.

But what's weird is that her son, Georg, was there with him, with Egbert, his father.

So you'd think that she would at least want to take care of him and make sure he was good, but she just didn't answer.

So the rejection had to land on multiple levels at once.

And this matters because of the decisions it shaped later.

So when the family arrived at Death Valley and at the Furnace Creek Inn, which is the park's main lodging option with its reliable amenities and proximity to ranger services, it was beyond their budget.

Because at the moment they were camping and looking for a spot at a higher elevation where the temperatures would be more bearable because this is literally the hottest place on earth in the middle of July.

And they would do this camp rather than staying close to the park's established infrastructure.

So they arrived at Death Valley on July 22nd and stopped at the visitor center.

And they picked up guidebooks printed in German because the park offers materials in several languages for international visitors.