Letter from Dan Routly, Death Row Inmate, 15th February, 1984, Starke, Florida

Feb. 15, 1984

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Dear Laura,

Hi, I'd gone out to the unit-room, to talk with another guy here, and found your letter waiting for me, when I got back. I was glad to hear from you - and your photo reveals that you really are a beautiful lady. I like your hair, a lot! It look's thick, and it's real nice & long! Is it still this length? Now... to get a look at the rest of you. Think that'd be possible, Laura? You must have a nice body, to go along with the beauty you've allowed me to see tonight - correct? Damn! You're a looker!

You were in Ft. Lauderdale as a lifeguard, in 1979? If so... it's my misfortune that I didn't see you - 'cause I use to cruise the beach-front, in '79, while I was staying down there. Guess it would be useless to ponder over it. I did some looking - but ... wasn't looking for anything special. I never was on the beach, in Ft. Lauderdale, except at nite, a few times. Did you know all the 

cop's who were patrolling the beach area? There was this one cop - (can't remember his name - "Stevenson" I think) he was an older cop -
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he pulled me over, just to look at my bike, (scared me!) He turned out to be into bikes & he, later, sold me a rear fender, (after I'd been rammed into, a couple week's later.) You know where that camp-ground is, along I-95, by the airport & that grand prix racing/video building/track is?* (The campground with that small "lake" - not the KOA) - Anyway ... that's where I stayed, when in Ft. Lauderdale.
You have nice skin coloring and tone, you know that? (I like your dimples, too!)
Does your pool stick (threat? unreadable) mean that you can become a rowdy lady?
Motorcycles were part of my life, way before I'd been with a club - (and, prior to my life which lead up to the nickname.) I'd been with a club, since, I was 16 - (with a 441 B.S.A.). Have you ever been to a club-house, or partied with any biker's?

 Kathy,** I don't have any pictures right now, of myself. I wrote some people to see if they can locate my photo album's, that I had on the

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street. If I have luck with that, I'll send you some, from there. Also, the counselor, here, is suppose to be making a request about amending regulation's that prevent inmates from having pictures taken, (outside of the visiting room.) I don't get visitors so... I'm gonna have to file a grievance to get some taken. I will, let you know, as soon as I do - okay? (Oh, I might be able to get you a newspaper photo-copy - from the trial -?) Though... I don't have the hair/beard I did - ('cause regulation's prevent it). I have brown hair, wavy when it grows & with brown eyes. I'm clean shaven, now, also. I comb my hair back, with a slight part toward the middle - it's short, but neat. My birth date is June 12th, (1955).
Yes, I was married, in 1973, and I was divorced, in 1977 (sometimes). I have one son, by that marriage (Mark Edward), he'll be 10 year's old, this July 10th. I have no contact with him.

 Your typing service*** must be keeping you real busy, if it's enough to pay your way through school! Continued good luck!
Well...I'm gonna have to bring
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this to a close, so that I can get it mailed out tonight.
I really appreciate hearing from you - and, I look forward to hearing from you, when time is made available.
Take special care -
Dan

Commentary, 7th January, 2012: 
* Oddly enough, the video game parlor/race track he refers to here at one point became, I believe, the largest video game parlor in the country - they built it up greatly in the late 1970s/early 1980s as video games became really hot - it looked like a giant castle.  I spent many, many, many hours here as a teenager, avoiding the reality of my home life which had become quite complicated with my parent's divorce.  I can't tell you how many times I snuck out to go to this place, how many hundreds if not thousands of quarters I dropped into games here.  For a long time, I had the highest score on Galaxian... was devastated when it got erased due to a power outage!
** I have no clue why he refers to me as "Kathy" here - at the time I ended up assuming he must be writing to other people and got me confused with someone else.
*** When I moved to Tallahassee, Florida, to attend Florida State University, I was barely 18 years old and while I did have some work experience, I had absolutely no luck finding a job.  It was 1983, and the economy was struggling some regardless - being 18 years old in a town flooded with the annual arrival of thousands of students made it even more difficult to find a job.  So I started taking in typing work - I typed other student's papers for $1.00 a page.  On a manual typewriter at first - after a while I had so much work I was able to purchase a Smith Corona electric typewriter with the cartridge ribbon system - loved that typewriter! - then moved up to a used IBM Selectric with the ball that had all the letters on it in the middle - oh my, that typewriter was the most awesome ever!  I had so much typing work that it interfered with my ability to do my own papers, truth be told! My typing skill got so good, I eventually landed a job as a "typesetter" at a local newspaper, The Florida Flambeau, which I  eventually left for the Tallahassee Democrat, which I left after several years to move to Washington, DC, where I landed a position as a "photocomposition specialist" at U.S. News and World Report Magazine - three years later I left Washington, DC to travel Europe with a bicycle and a backpack!