Feeling a Little Like a Refugee

I'm sitting on the curb outside the train station in Grenoble, France.  I'm surrounded by a small mountain of bags and suitcases. We have 1 bike box (approx. 4' x5' x 1'), 2 medium sized suitcases, one enormous suitcase, and 3 smaller bags. 

The Fiat customer service representative set us up with a taxi from Le Bourg d' Oisan to Grenoble. We are abandoning the RV in the field, downsizing to a very small rental car (Citroen) with a hatchback. We gave away food in our frig to the Norwegian's staying nearby, but still had to throw a lot away.  :( 

The taxi cost the Fiat folks a pretty Euro-- over 120 Euro.  We tipped for our ridiculous number of bags. His English was better than our French (naturally), and he was extremely helpful.  We weren't given instructions on where to leave the keys-- every time we would call we would be on hold for 10-15 min.  We couldn't hang on because our phone is prepaid and running out of minutes. Our taxi driver called on his phone and helped explain it all for us so that everyone knows where the keys are at in the back of the RV. We locked the doors to the cabin and found a good spot in the "storage area." 

Our trip certainly ended on a different note than we expected, but we feel pretty darn grateful that the RV died in a safe area. I missed the Alp d'Huez action, but my honey got to see it and that really makes me happy. He is a cyclist and going there is like a pilgrimage. I'm a cycling fan, while I love the Tour de France, in the scheme of things his participation of yesterday's stage trumped mine by a long shot.  I figure, we'll do this again and I'll have my chance. If not, I can enjoy it on TV like I aways do.  

Random Thoughts

I was completely blown away at the train station in Grenoble to see a  giant publicity poster advertising the upcoming film based on the sci fi classic novel, Ender's Game ("La Strategie Ender"). I'm excited by this movie!  I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, but I loved this book.  I'm hoping that they do it justice, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford,and Viola Davis are headlining this film with relative newcomerAsa Butterfield starring as Ender.  Abigail Breslin also stars.  

Tomorrow should be interesting-- we are driving to Paris tonight. We should arrive between 11pm-12am. We'll get a good night's sleep and have much of the day to explore Paris!  I'm excited to see it sans jetlag.  :)

Sunday we head home and boy will we sleep fabulously on our own bed.  I wish I could remember if I changed the sheets before we left.  I love fresh sheets after a trip (especially camping).

Alp d'Huez or Bust?

  Well, it appears that our luck has turned; the RV has broken down. First, the good news, we are parked in a safe locale and are okay no dramatic breakdown. It did however change our plans for the day.  

As previously discussed, Alp d'Huez is the pinnacle of the Tour de France - in every tour featuring this epic climb, great physical feats and attacks happen.  It is where hearts are broken and heroes are made. It is the quintessential hill climb that separates the champion from everyone else. It has broken many men. 

Back to the RV, we tried calling for service this morning but the office doesn't open until 9AM-- I had a ticket to ride shuttle bus/gondola to the top with Mark and Todd was going to ride his bike up this beast of a mountain. Sharon  has severe fear of cliffs and this just wouldn't work for her so she was going to head into town for a viewing there. In order for Todd to get up there before the roads are closed he needed to leave by 8:30;  I essentially had to push him out the door to climb the epic mountain that he's dreamed of for so long. 

My hubby is such a good guy, he said he would stay and take care of the RV so that I could go, but I just couldn't let him do that-- this is the Alp d'Huez! He's been dreaming of this for so long. 

Baking in the sun, Borat, and new friends

July 16- outside Gap France

We stayed at Camping Napoleon

We have electricity and wifi (pronounced wee-fee by the darling girl who helped us...

Today was awesome! We went out to the road at 2 pm to await the beginning of the caravan and of course the tour riders themselves. It was flat out hot like a summer day in the broccoli fields at Shelburne Farms. To those not from Dayton, Oregon just imagine the hottest day you can remember with no shade at all. 

My sister-in-law, Sharon, and I brought quite a bit out with us. We brought beach chairs, a giant bottle of water, a small bottle of wine, 1 kindle, 1 iPad, my handy dandy Tour de France spritzer/fan, sunscreen, a camera, a cell phone to use as another camera, a lightweight long-sleeved shirtfront for each of us. We brought our American flag, naturally.

The flag brought a visitor to our little spot along the hill, his name is Jerry and he and his wife live not more than 3 miles from us! Small world to be sure.

The caravan came around to throw their treats and goodies to us and advertise their products around 3pm. We chatted with so many people from all over the world! Sharon and I never cracked open our e-readers we were just enjoying the fun and spectacle of the race activities.

Things got even more interesting; we had a surprise visitor, Borat, was in attendance and nearly got arrested by the Gendarmies (police). I will definitely post a pic of him- totally hilarious! He had a body suit that made it appear that he was built- complete with 9-pack of abs, he was wearing a green thong singlet, and a Borat mask. He was waving flags and was accompanied inexplicably by a clowns. Anything goes in Le Tour!

Will insert a pic soon

The excitement really built up when six helicopters flew overhead; we knew that the riders would soon be ascending to our spot.  The energy was over the top - kids were screaming, banging thunder sticks and pan lids, the first rider came and people were running beside him yelling "Allez, Allez!" One very tiny little girl was so excited she started running and was lucky a young guy grabbed her under the arms and pulled her to safety.  She was right in the path of the cyclist.  

The cyclists rode by fairly quickly. It was thrilling truly to see it all up close. 

Mark & Sharon have arrived! 7/14

Mark and Sharon have arrived!  We are no longer a traveling duo, now it is double the fun.  Mark and Sharon arrived in Malaucene' last night around 9pm, we supped at a cute cafe on the street.  Pizza was the main course, Todd and I had enjoyed a salad earlier while waiting. One thing that we've noticed is that the French restauranteurs are not in a hurry to turn over your table. You have to practically bed for the check, and always have to request another drink.  I'm thinking that they don't want to intrude-- but, I really like a couple of drinks with dinner.  Also, they don't have a space for tipping. Mark says it's because they don't tip.  We always tip anyway. 

Today we journeyed down to Malaucene' last night to enjoy a little coffee (Sharon) and take in the scenery. It was crazy busy! It resembles an old time festival-- for my Oregon friends kind of like Turkey Rama in McMinnville. It is fun, festive, and there are all kinds of booths to buy goods. 

This afternoon - in maybe an hour we will see the caravan pass by and they will be throwing more goodies to us on the side of the road. The riders will be making the climb to Mont Ventoux in another 3 hours probably. So, we still have some waiting to do. 

In the meantime, I'll read, blog some more.  I've been catching up on my book review blog. I have two more books to write up. Mark is chasing away jet lag-- catching some zzzz's in the shade on a sleeping bag. Sharon is reading, and Todd is on the mountaintop awaiting all the action.  He should be there by now. He left a 2.5 hours ago.  It is almost 12 miles long with a 10% grade much of the time. He will return tuckered out. 

This area is so beautiful, the deeply forrested area is just stunning. So many old, old buildings that are so charming. Yesterday we found a little chapel from the 1314 - the Pope at the time was Clement V.  Amazing!

Will insert pic of chapel

Later: 

Soooooo, here's what you missed! If I didn't mention it before, when we get together with Mark and Sharon inevitably we laugh, a lot.  Yesterday was simply hilarious; I can't do it justice, but I'll give you a small taste. 

As mentioned earlier, we were working up a little excitement and anticipation of the cyclists rolling by on their way up the "geant of the Provence." Mark had walked down to town to watch them come through and Todd left in the morning to see the mountaintop finish. Well, we were expecting the caravan to come by at 2:40 and the riders around 4:30.  Imagine our surprise when Mark came walking up. We thought it odd.  It still didn't occur to me that anything was really wrong-- Todd had researched the routes and we had seen signs referring to the Tour, and ASSUMED we were on the route.  Ruh, roh. 

We were still excited and ready to cheer, we had cold water to give riders and a spritzer to spray them. At one point, I remember wondering why the trucks were parked on the road, but I just never considered that Todd had it wrong. He had prepped a notebook with all the routes and maps. It was inconceivable. Sharon wondered why we were alone on the road. I suggested that it was because everyone was on the mountaintop- Mont Ventoux is an epic, classic finish for the Tour. We sat and chatted until Mark came upon us and took pictures.  He explained that we missed it!  It went through on the other road through town. Mark had no way of reaching us nor did Todd-- they had the phones and Todd had no service. He had tried to come down to let us know but the road had been closed.  lol It was pretty funny.  Todd wondered why I didn't suspect that we were on the wrong road when the caravan didn't come by-- well, we had reasoned that away too.  We figured that perhaps they didn't have the caravan every stage.  I just told him that it should make him feel good that I trust him so implicitly.  As for Sharon and I we just howled with laughter!  I can now say I've seen all parts of a stage. There were all kinds of trucks that brings the caravan vehicles to the staging area.  It is amazing to see what is entailed in the production of such an event as the Tour de France. 

All was not lost, I did get an unexpected treat, on my way to the shower our former camp neighbors (the Germans) were set up in the area of the showers and have a tv with a satellite dish.  I got to see Christopher Froome power his way up the final moments of the climb to the top of Mont Ventoux.  Sweet!  Froome is a BEAST.  Quintana gave a good fight all day but just couldn't withstand the attack. 

Pic

Montpellier's traffic, Target Lady Internationale, Music, and Our Awesome Camping Spot on Mt. Ventoux

Traffic in Montpellier - giving LA a run for the money

Epic engineering FAIL in Monpellier.  You have to drive through the city center to get to the main freeway and there are 4 lanes converging into two. It took about 30 min. to get through the light. The toll road that we've been trying to get to is nearly stopped.  Ugh.  We are hoping that it is due to a toll booth (grab a ticket and pay later when you exit). It looks U-G-L-Y.  

This is sure making us want to get to the Alps as we know that once there we can park and not have to go anywhere.  Mark and Sharon arrive tomorrow night so we'll have a car then to get around. We'll be parking the RV on the mountains for best access for Le Tour stage viewing.  

We just saw the funniest thing- a guy on a motorcycle just zipped by and he had two tires around his waist.  It was like he went and bought new tires and figured out the only way to get them home.  LOL  He looked a little like the Michellin man.  

Now it appears that there is an accident-- there was one crazy guys who zipped in front of some cars and shot across the lanes to the shoulder and drove down the shoulder before cutting off some more cars. He was like the worst driver that you might see at LAX times ten.  

Random Thoughts:

Todd's not loving my music.  He will be more than ready when Mark and Sharon arrive so he doesn't have to listen to it anymore. LOL I just don't see what the problem is at all, he would probably say it's Rascal Flatts, Reba McIntyre, Keith Urban, and Kenny Chesney.  Poor guy is trapped listening to a little bit of country- he doesn't seem to mind all the music I have from the 70s and 80s though. 

I just remembered that I promised to tell you all about the Target Lady Internationale experience. Some of you may know this already, but I guarantee that if I wear a red shirt when I go to Target I will be approached at least one time to assist people in finding something.  I'm happy to help, but I'm not an employee.  So today, it appears that I have this same vibe here in France. I was sitting on the cute bench pictured in the previous photo post just enjoying the beauty of the rolling hills with the blaring noise of the cicadas (at least I think that is what they are---so loud!), when this little car pulled over and this cute little old lady starts with "Pardon moi..." blah blah blah in French. I caught the word "Chateau" and thought perhaps it was the vineyard/winery I had taken pictures of and showed it to her.  But alas, it was not what she was looking for today. We smiled and said our goodbyes.

We just rolled into the best spot for camping this weekend. It is a campground with running water, showers, and toilets (that's toilette for you French lovers).  We passed through Malaucene' (our original destination) and stumbled onto the campground. We had essentially resigned ourselves to a site on the side of the road.  Yay us- bonus, it was just 10.40 Euro.  That's 1/3 of what we've been paying. 

Photos first, blog later

Friends, the photo moratorium was lifted briefly (as we enjoyed the free wifi at McDonald's and an iced tea) here are a few photos that go with the post to come.  The next post will be text only and I'll upload that on the road.  Savor these photos... it might be awhile.
I hope you're enjoying the blog-- it has been fun to write and share.

xo
Joy & Todd

Girona or Viva la France?

Road to Girona Today is brought to you by the letter "i" - as in I killed Todd's keyboard and inadvertently knocked the letter "i" piece off. For one day the "i" was simply missing, luckily I was able to find it. But now it is simply going rogue; it doesn't want to stay in place nice and straight. It's driving my hubby crazy! We are headed to Girona where many top U.S. cyclists live and train for the grand tours in Europe.

We are hoping to find a good campground that is less Disneyland playground and more picturesque. Hopefully the weather will improve, it is looking exceedingly threatening. We have had some thunder, and the sky is gray. The area we just drove through had some lightning happening too. Todd brought rain gear and will ride anyway I'm sure. :)

 One more day and we're headed back to Le Tour and France. The Alps!!!! We are so excited about getting back to the Tour. The most exciting stages are coming this weekend with Mont Ventoux and later next week Alp d'Huez. The tour will likely be decided on Alp d'Huez, the riders will be riding up both sides of it (first time ever, and that my friends will be akin to torture for mere mortals. My hubby is on Strava to track his training rides and they assess the data received (energy generated, heart rate, etc.) and assign a "Suffer Score" and doing both sides of Alp d'Huez will put the Suffer Score off the charts. The suffering will be long and hard, the climbs are 8.4% grade for 12 km. (more than 6 miles) and 8.1% grade for 8 km (about 5 miles). That is some serious hill climbing.

 Well, it is raining in earnest now. The blue skies have made way for this storm. The thunderheads are huge, we've had several close flashes of lightning as well. It looks to be a good sized storm. No blue sky anywhere, just gray like when kids mix all the colors of play-doh together.

 More later... 

Let's call this blog post, Girona rained out, on to Montpellier, France!

Viva la France. Todd and I are both pretty easy going and flexible. Change of plans is not a big deal. Onward- a point of gratitude, the rain has cleaned our windshield. Yay! The last service station didn't have a single squeegee available.

 We have been laughing a lot this afternoon; it began with a place called La Jonquera. Since I butcher all languages, it became junk... I'll leave those of you with dirty minds to figure it out.

 Random thoughts:

We have met so many nice people- Wiebe and Nicole from the Netherlands at the campground in Vilanova il Getru, Spain. It was very interesting talking to them, Wiebe was a professional cyclist and rode in Europe although not in Le Tour. He gave Todd a good workout. Previously he was a police officer. He shared that the police in the Netherlands keep teir police staffing down; they would be sent to break up a conflict with 50 people with just 2 officers. They would have to just talk to solve the conflict. He said it got rather intense.

 He also gave us all kinds of info about things we were curious about. For example, we kept seeing signs with a red stripe going through a city name. We weren't quite sure what it meant, he explained that it meant we were leaving that town. They have these signs all over Europe-- pretty smart. Where we have signs with text, they just use the slash symbol to say the same thing. Also, all the little villages and towns have drinking water spigots for public use. Not all areas have good drinking water, the communities provide it.

 I'm out of time-- more later...

Adiós Barcelona, we're going to Girona

Barcelona is a place that needs many visits!!! It is beautiful, the scenery is unreal, the architecture, textures, colors, and people are amazing! One simply cannot see it all in a few days. We will definitely be back.
We barely scratched the surface. But it is all good. The bit we saw was lovely, the food was delicious. We had paella last night and it was like a fight over a pizookie (BJ's best dessert) the forks were battling for every last morsel. lol Actually, we were quite civilized and shared nicely. Todd took a great picture of our dinner, but he's on a ride so that will have to wait. Satisfy yourselves with the photo of our beers.  Refreshing!

That dinner at 10 pm ended our visit quite nicely. The people here are kind and helpful. We caught the train, small wrinkles in that our original train was cancelled, but we figured out that another leaving shortly should stop at our destination. (We got lucky, it did stop.) We were pretty tired so that was a good thing.  Todd had a 68 mile ride and was getting pretty sleepy.

Random thoughts
It really seemed to me that the women of Barcelona are very free spirited. They are self-confident and expressive with their clothing choices. Age was of no consequence, women wore what they liked.  It seemed that nothing was off limits.  I did notice a few trends emerging- harem pants seem to be making a comeback (I'm not sure that's a good thing, comfy, but not always a good thing), flat shoes of all types (flip flops, flat sandals, ballet flats, sketcher type flats, Vans, and chucks), very few platform shoes which surprised me since that is all we seem to see in Southern California. The striped shirt with lace on the back was everywhere! Maxi skirts and dresses were seen on women of all ages, cute little skirts, flowing tops, and strappy sundresses with the gladiator type sandals.
I was just awestruck by the confidence they all exuded.  It seems to me that American women could learn a thing or two about confidence and self-love from Spanish women.
There have been several women (elderly) who are sporting the bikini (keeping the straps down to prevent lines) and their breasts are definitely post baby gravity bombs. I love their confidence, but I like to think I'm doing a public service in letting it all hang out.  lol Love their confidence and verve!
Todd gives the women of Barcelona (actually all Spanish women) his stamp of approval; he says "Spanish girls are the hottest girls anywhere. There are some hot chicks here."  I agree, I don't know if it is that confidence that the women exude but there are some very beautiful women here of all shapes and sizes.
So that closes the door on Barcelona, don't you just love the picture of the door from the NMAC? I just love the beauty of it-- the craftsmanship and time has made it all the more lovely.

Last thoughts- 
We missed Chelsea on her birthday. She is 22! I hope she knows that we were thinking about her all day and that she is loved deeply. She's our free spirit and spontaneous girl. We are excited to see what the future holds for her.
Happy birthday Chels!
That said, we are missing all of our girls. xoxoxox

Barcelona, Baby!

Barcelona, Baby!

Well, the morning came early for Todd and he hit the streets eager to experience the hills surrounding Barcelona; his excitement hit the skids (Literally and figuratively) when a truck saw him, hit the brakes, which allowed Todd to do a grand roll over the hood of the truck. He landed on the truck because his bike clips stayed attached to one foot.  I guess that saved him a little. He ended up on his back like a turtle—the bike was half on the truck and half off. Suffice it to say he’s one lucky guy. He has a busy guardian angel, for sure!

He came back to the RV and was just chatting away about the ride; he just casually slipped in the part where he ran into a truck after it stopped right in his path.  Are you kidding me?!!!! Oh my goodness!  Fortunately, he seems to be all right.  Or, how he puts it, my bike and I are okay.  Phew!  He has a little road rash, a sore back --- I’m guessing he’ll feel a bit sore tomorrow.  I’m pretty darn grateful that he’s okay.

After the ride, he showered and we hit the road. From our spot in Vilanova i la Geltrú it takes a bus and a train to get to Barcelona.  But once there we hit the streets and found our way to a nice little café on the street (get some fortification in the form of a cervesa and sandwich that we shared); we were able to find the hop-on type of bus tour.   After touring the city, we now have a good idea of what we need to go see tomorrow. We have just one more day in Barcelona—I figure that means we have to come back and check it out again at someday to finish it up. 

This sign just cracked us up-- the other sign across the street is normal - some creative person took some liberties with this one.  LOL

We found some lovely gentlemen from New York to take this for us-- he was very particular about how it was to be framed.  He clucked on and on about people messing up the shot. He was a funny guy. The couple was happy to find someone willing to take direction and take the shot as they envisioned it. 

 Barcelona is known for its spectacular architecture- here is just one very cool building. When wifi is faster, I'll put the name down. 

Tomorrow we are headed back to Barcelona after Todd and the neighbor (in the next camping spot) go on a bike ride. We are going to see all things Gaudi.  Plus a few other things we’ve been told by friends to do before leaving.  While he’s gone I’m doing some laundry, as we will not have ready access again for the duration of the trip.  They also have a spa, so I’m thinking it might be nice to get a massage.

Thursday I’m headed to the beach while Todd goes riding. I cannot come here without going and dipping my bod in the Mediterranean Sea!  It is so beautiful.

Skype with Ali – July 8th

It was so nice to talk to one of our girls tonight. We’re so used to talking to them whenever we want.  It was a treat to talk to Ali. We chatted about a little of everything. Nice!

Cute pic of Ali to come (Did I mention that the Internet is slow here??! Plus we can have only one device on wifi at a time.)

We will be talking to Chels on her 22^nd birthday on Wednesday and hopefully Jess between now and then.

Adìos friends!

From Col de Peyresourde to Espana (in just a few hours)

Todd and I decided that we wanted to get part of our drive to Spain under our belts. So, we headed out.  We got to a little town called Tella de Sin, where they have a cute campground. We’re staying for a whopping $12 Euro – running water is the big bonus, that meant full size toilets and showers (a luxury I can assure you).  We will be going to an amazing campground outside of Barcelona tomorrow that is a whole lot more than $12 Euro.  But they’ve got amenities --showers, electricity, and it’s close to the beach (although Todd’s hairdresser did relate a horror story about a very large naked woman standing over him at the beach- he was unaware that clothing was optional).

So much more to come – I’m excited. 

Finding Our Way to the Disneyland of Campgrounds

The drive over was simply amazing. Spain reminds me of Central California and San Diego (at least the parts we’ve seen). The Rio Cinca was incredible!  It was the most brilliant aqua blue—like nothing I’ve seen. Blue and green together-- I don’t think our cameras came close to capturing the actual color.

Lake pic

We drove through some adorable towns. They were quaint and just beautiful. Some of the buildings were so old, it gave me a sense of insignificance. It will continue to stand long after I’ve left this world. Incredible sights!

Beautiful town called Loudenville

Tomorrow we will be headed into Barcelona.  Todd’s going to ride in the AM and then we will go in and do a bike tour and see the city. It should be really fun. I’m ashamed to say we didn’t do any research on Spain—so we’re doing it tonight.

We arrived late Monday afternoon at the campground; it is called Vilanova Park. This campground is H-U-G-E! We are in section G and there are literally hundreds of campsites, cabins, and tent spaces. There are at least 2 pools, a full restaurant, a restaurant/bar, an ice cream bar, a pizza bar, a game room, a boutique, an Internet café (coin operated), a full grocery store, and so much more that we haven’t seen.  When we left the restaurant tonight they were setting up for a live band.

This place is insane. The couple behind us has been coming here for 5 years. He is Dutch and she is from Rochester, Minnesota (half-Dutch also). It’s nice to have a few English speakers around. They have the cutest little one and some tweens.  He’s a cyclist, we’ll see if he and Todd have time to get a ride in together.  He was admiring Todd’s bike. He’s younger and should be able to keep up (I would think) despite his older bike.

Great dinner tonight—we haven’t eaten out since Paris.  We decided to grab a light dinner at the restaurant here.  We ordered salmon and a salad. The two beers were really good. I haven’t heard of the beer before, but it was nice. Very refreshing.

One funny note- at home we have some doves that nest by Todd’s window. Today I noticed that some doves (they look similar to the ones at home) are at the campsite. LOL   It looks like Todd will have his friends here to drive him a little crazy and wake him up in the morning.

Le Tour - Stage 9 St. Girons – Bagneres-de-Bigorre and the Young Frenchman

We found a great spot about 3 miles down on the descent of Col de Peyresourde. To get a spot on the way up or at the top would have meant some serious magic since we couldn’t pick up the RV until 9 AM and Col de Peyresourde is 9 hours away with stops for groceries and necessities. We would have had to get here at the time we were picking up the RV. That’s a space time continuum issue.  J  Regardless, it was so amazing! The Pyrenees are so beautiful. There are beautiful woods all around and the scattered farmhouses look like they could be 150 years old.  So gorgeous.

Pics to com

Now, back to the Stage 9 of the Tour de France. Once we got up, Todd raced about getting his bike together. He grabbed a granola bar and was gone. The plan was for me to hurry up, make a few baguette sandwiches and walk up the Col de Peyresourde. No small task let me tell you.  I decided to take a few moments to blog and the next thing I know there is some sort of parade taking place!  There are all kinds of cars and trucks driving by and they are throwing goodies out.  Hats, candies, cookies, beer cozies, air pillows, cookies, drinks, newspapers, magazines, and keychains it’s like the French Mardi Gras around here.  So, I had to gather up the freebies and get moving. I made it about a mile (halfway), I ran in to some very nice Frenchmen who work for Skoda (big sponsor of le tour), we chatted a bit, they advised me that there would not be time for me to get up to the top and to stay and watch from this lovely shaded spot.  True to form, 20 minutes the cyclists roared down the hill and around the corner—I got it all on video. It was so cool! 

Let me tell you a little more about the Skoda guys—they were on a lunch break. They were ultra prepared, no bagged lunches at this party! They had a full lunch replete with stemware and a nice burgundy wine. Funny.  One young man was sweet enough to offer me a water or coke – I accepted and he winked at me.  I’m an American cougar—bahaha (I added that because one daughter told me that was gross and to never do it again. Lol).  He was quite a cute boy—couldn’t have been more than 25.  So, the lesson here is that the French are quite charming.

Gift from the young Frenchman

From Col de Peyresourde to Espana (in just a few hours)

Todd and I decided that we wanted to get part of our drive to Spain under our belts. So, we headed out.  We got to a little town called Tella de Sin, where they have a cute campground. We’re staying for a whopping $12 Euro – running water is the big bonus, that meant full size toilets and showers (a luxury I can assure you).  We will be going to an amazing campground outside of Barcelona tomorrow that is a whole lot more than $12 Euro.  But they’ve got amenities --showers, electricity, and it’s close to the beach (although Todd’s hairdresser did relate a horror story about a very large naked woman standing over him at the beach- he was unaware that clothing was optional).

So much more to come – I’m excited.