Month: May 2020

May 10, 2019 Breighau GE

Today was supposed to be an easy day.  We only traveled 70km’s and the only chore for the day was to fill the LP gas.  That was where the easy day unraveled.  

We had our first experience of German Autobahns as we left Kehl we traveled for about 50km’s on the autobahns and for a 15km stretch there was no speed limit.  So we were puttering along in the right lane at about 90kph (roughly 55mph) while cars were blasting by in the left lane at least double that.  The roads are really good though and free.

About 20km from Freiberg we saw a sign advertising LP gas at the next exit so we whipped in for what I thought would be a quick fill.  Our LP gas system that we use for cooking, heating, and running the refrigerator when we are not plugged in is British, and a bit unusual for Europe.  Most RV’s carry cooking bottles and they exchange them when you run out.  Unfortunately the bottles and the regulators are not standardized in Europe.  To get around this problem we bought this British fixed bottle gas system, and you fill it from a pump like the US.  The pumps are pretty common at gas stations as a fair amount of the cars and vans here run on LP gas.  The only problem is the pumps are not standardized there are 4 different systems, one for France and Spain, one for Germany, and one for Britain, I am not sure where the fourth system is used.  The system came with 4 different adaptors so I could hook up to the pump depending on what country we were trying to fill up in  Now that you know way too much about LP gas in Europe here is the story.

We have filled up in France on multiple occasions so I thought no big deal as I pulled up to the pump.  When I opened the bag that I keep the adaptors in the German one was missing.  After digging around hoping it had come loose and was rolling around in the back I remembered that in Spain I was sorting thru them the first time I filled up there.  I am certain I forgot it in Spain.

We need gas so I said some bad words and got in the car, confessed my stupidity, and as I drove on to Freiburg Ton began researching propane stores.  We tried one RV dealer without success, and when we arrived at the campground I asked the receptionist if she could help.  She was kind enough to call around to ask.  After a couple of calls she told me there was a place that had it, so we were off.

When we arrived they realized we were talking about something different than they thought.  They took a look at our system and said the words I did not want to hear, we do not have these in Germany.  But the two of them had a further conversation and asked me to wait a minute.  A few minutes later one guy walked out and handed me a sticky note with the address of an Esso fuel station.  He said the owner had a box of adaptors people had forgotten in the past and I was welcome to go see if one that would work was in the box.  Well to make a long story short there was a well used one in there and it works.  Even better he would not take any money for it.  So we are not faced with calling England and arranging to have one shipped to us here in Germany!

The well used replacement adaptor.

To make penance for my stupidity I took Ton to two groceries store for some recreational shopping.  We always say we are traveling not vacationing, so today was a day for traveling not sight seeing.

May 9, Strasbourg FR

Today was a day of rest for François but not us.  The weather is starting to wear us out a little.  We shut in yesterday to let the heavy rain pass thru.  Yesterday the weather app was saying it would be better today.  They were wrong, today was just as miserable, we had periods of very heavy rain mixed with showers, and the temperatures were in the low 50’s.  

Our Stellplatz (German for Aire) is located a few hundred yards from the Rhine, so we decided to head down there to start the day.  The river was flowing pretty fast and there was a large river cruise boat parked there.  It was a nice park, but after talking about it we decided to go ahead and head in to town for the day despite the bad weather forecast.

A German Post mail bicycle.  We followed the mail lady down the road for a while on the way to the Tram.

As we stepped off the tram in the center of Strasbourg we saw a “Free” tour going buy so we decided to join in.  It was a good tour though I think everyone’s motivation dropped when the rain and wind really started kicking in.  Strasbourg looks like it has a lot to offer.  It is an interesting blend of French and German architecture.  

The old town of Strasbourg is built on an island in the Ill River.  
Another view of the Ill River.

We ended the tour in a windy downpour, so we dived into the Tourist Information Office with about 100 other Americans.  We were debating whether to call it a day, but decided to spring for a boat tour as the weather app said the rain was going to let up a bit later in the day.  The boat trip would have been great except for the pounding rain but at least we were inside.  We went by the European Parliament which is quite an impressive modern building.  We did not get any pictures due to the heavy rain.

Our last stop for the day was the Cathedral.  It is another very beautiful building.  The highlight of this cathedral for us was the astronomical clock.  The gold hands on the clock represent the solar time, and the silver hands the local time.  It also figures that rotate around at certain times of the day representing the different phases of life parading past a figure representing death.  

The astronomical clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral.
A modern version of the last supper from the interior of the Cathedral.
The exterior of the Cathedral.

After the Cathedral we called it a day heading back on the tram to Kehl.  We had a short sun break where I leant a young group of Belgians our water can so they could fill their RV with water, one of the guys told me that he had recently hitchhiked from Miami to Houston, (never got the reason why) and could not believe how generous the people were on that trip.  Shortly after that  another band of rain drove us into François for the night.

May 8, 2019 Kehl GE

Today we left France for the day.  We are parked up in Kehl Germany as it was the best option to visit Strasbourg France.  The problem was that when we woke up the weather report had gotten much worst.  They were now calling for heavy rain and high winds due to a “Bomb Cyclone’ that was hitting southern France.  I think a bomb cyclone is a new more dramatic way to say cold front, but it certainly gets your attention.

As we learned yesterday Colmar was the home of Frederic Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty.  All of the guide books said there was a replica of the statue in Colmar, but we never found it.  As we were leaving Colmar on a four lane road thru an industrial park, there was the statue in the middle of a traffic circle, so we circled around a couple of times so Ton could get a good picture.

A replica of the Statue of Liberty in Colmar, the home of the sculptor.

We had a quick drive over to Kehl as the roads were mostly freeways, and arrived before the effects of the bomb cyclone.  We decided on a quick trip into the town  to see what was there.  Like many border towns the center seemed to cater mostly to day trip shoppers from France looking for bargains.

Downtown Kehl, mostly consisting of shopping aimed at French day trip visitors.

We did get to visit a Woolworths Department Store which while they became extinct in the US about 25 years ago are still going strong in Mexico, France, and Germany. After a quick walk thru downtown Kehl, and our first visit to a German grocery store, the rain was starting to set in so we hustled back to François.

Some days we tour exotic medieval cities, and some days we hunker down in the back of François.  This afternoon we hunkered down and watched a good Netflix Movie with Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson.  

After a lot of time looking for a good French beer we have now discovered one.  We have tried two different types of Fischer Beers and they are both excellent.

The Fischer Three Alsatian Hops Blonde, a really good beer.

May 7, 2019 Colmar FR

Colmar is by far the largest city we have stayed in so far on this trip while it is only 65,000 people most of the places we have been staying have populations less than 2,000 so it felt quite big.  The camp site we are staying at is about 2km’s from the center of the city so we even wimped out and bought day bus passes.  It turned out to be a good idea as by the end of the day we had walked 10 miles despite taking the bus into town.

We really enjoyed Colmar as it had a lot to see and do in a pretty compact area.  We started at the tourist office and picked up a map for the walking tour of the town.  Colmar is the home town of Frederic Bartholdi who is the artist who sculpted the Statue of Liberty.  

The metal pointers used to guide you as you follow the walking tour of Colmar.

Colmar also had a great selection of half timbered buildings but on a little grander scale than the smaller villages we have been visiting.  After a week of touring towns and villages of these half timbered towns we are still enjoying them.

Some more of the beautiful architecture of Alsace.  They do a nice job of decorating them also.

Colmar also has a section called little Venice with some small canals with homes built on the canals.  It is a pleasant area that they maximize the tourist value of the canals.

Some photos of the little Venice area of Colmar.

Up to now on the trip we had not eaten out except for our Chinese the first night.  There were two Alsace dishes we wanted to try.  The first was Bretzel, which is a pretzel with toppings.  For our mid-morning snack we had Bretzel with Munster Cheese which is a local cheese.  It was very reasonable at €1.50 and made for a nice snack.

Many variations of Bretzels on display.  We recommend the Munster.

The other dish is called Tarte-Flambeê in French or Flammakueche in Alsatian, we decided to go with the French as we could pronounce it.  It is flat bread covered with cream, onions, and other toppings.  It is very similar to pizza but quite a bit lighter.  We decided to split one for lunch and choose a simple one of cream, onions, cheese, and ham.  We were both very happy with our Tarte-Flambeê.  Ton says Trader Joes has frozen ones at home so we will be looking for them in the future.

Our Tarte-Flambeê/Flammakueche  lunch.

After covering our 10 miles on foot we decided to head back to François for a little break.  Ron took a little nap, and Ton made a nice dinner of sausages potatoes, and Choucroute which is Alsatian sauerkraut.  Something we will be looking to stock up on before we leave France as it is quite good and now a super food that helps our digestion.

After dinner we went for a little walk and watched some canoes in the river next to our campsite.  It was a nice way to wrap up a good day here.

May 6, 2019 Eguisheim FR

Today we shifted a whopping 10km’s to Colmar.  We did make a side trip to another Alsatian town on the way to Colmar.  

We both woke up about 5 am smelling smoke.  I lay there wondering if something was burning when Ton also woke up and asked if we were on fire.  This motivated me to get up and check to see if anything was burning in François.  It turns out that we were not on fire, but the smoke from the wood fires in the town next to us had settled into the little valley the campground was in.  Once we determined we were safe we went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

We finally got on the road to our primary target for the day a town called Eguisheim.  In 2013 it was voted the most beautiful village in France.  I had punched in a free parking site on the soccer field, but when we got there the town had blocked access due to all of the rain, so we headed over to the municipal parking.  The parking was brand new and high tech with bar code readers, but the area designated for RV’s cost €6 for 4 hours.  It seemed excessive but I didn’t see any other options, so I gnashed my teeth and ponied up.

The most beautiful village in France in 2013 is full of wineries of course.

Eguisheim is indeed a lovely village.  Originally a double walled village.  It is built in a circle which is unusual in France.  We walked the space between the two original walls, over time when security became less of an issue the space between the two walls was built up with homes and work spaces.  These half timbered buildings are really well preserved.  The colorful paint is from the 20th century.  Up until then the buildings were earth toned.  We had a great walk enjoying the variety of buildings.

The road between the two walls .  The houses on the left are built into the old outer wall.  The houses on the right are between the outer and inner walls.
Another view of the circular road around town.

Many of the towns we have visited in the last few days still have Easter ornaments up.  Apparently the Easter Bunny is a big deal, and in addition to a lot of bunnies the French decorate trees and bushes with colored Easter eggs. The displays remind us of the Christmas and Halloween displays we see at home.

Easter bunnies overlooking the entrance to a winery.
Not an Easter theme, but a home with nice decorations,

As we were wrapping up the walk thru town we came around a corner to finds a very imposing man dressed in medieval clothes and doing a vigorous sword dance.  It turns out he was the owner of a coffee shop who had no customers so he was filming himself in the ally.  We decided we would have a coffee.  He was an interesting character, originally from Germany, I asked him if it was a traditional dance, he said “nah, I just make it up as I go, maybe in 100 years it will become a traditional Alsatian sword dance.”

Our final stop for the day was at a nice winery recommended by the sword dancer.  

As we went to pull out of our expensive parking I inserted the barcode paper I was given when I purchased the ticket to the machine that controlled the gate.  It said reading and then did nothing, I repeated this several times without the gate opening.  Finally I got out and tried several more times figuring it might work if I was standing next to it looking irritated.  As I was about to give up and go looking for help, a guy in a parking attendants uniform walked up and took the paper, he tried a couple of times, then punched my code into his electronic device to make sure I was not trying to get away with something.  He finally started muttering about technology in French while he worked on getting the gate to open, it finally did and with a Voila and an apology we were on our way to Colmar.

May 5, 2019 Riquewihr FR

The weather had gotten a little better overnight after heavy rain as we fell asleep.  While it was still pretty cold and cloudy it was not raining.  Today we visited Riquewihr and Ribeauville.  They are both listed as must see villages in Alsace.  

The first stop was Riquewihr as we could walk there from our campground.  As we were walking into town Ton stopped me and pointed at what I thought was a wineshop. It turns out she had read about this excellent microbrewery in Ribeauville and we had found it.  We went in sampled their IPA and a Belgian Dark.  Both were excellent.  Refreshed, we headed into town.  The town was as beautiful as the guidebooks suggested, but very tourist oriented.  

The entry into Riquewihr.

As we were walking up and down the streets we saw a large group of Asian tourists and presumed they were Chinese.  It turns out they were Thai.  After spending a couple of hours in town Ton had killed the battery on her iPhone taking pictures so we decided to head back to François for lunch and to charge her phone.

After lunch we headed over to Ribeauville.  It was a short drive over in François.  Ribeauville was supposed to be larger but less picturesque than Riquewihr according to both of our guidebooks.  Since it was Sunday the parking was easy.  Our first site on entering the town were two storks nesting on a large timber building.

Storks are a big thing in Alsace.  They build these stork nest platforms in towns and fields to keep the storks from nesting on chimneys and utility poles.
Ribeauville is in a valley surrounded by vineyards with three castles overlooking it.  The combination of colorful timbered houses, the vineyards and the castles make for some great views. 

In fact despite the guidebooks Ton and I liked Ribeauville a little better.  It had more of the timbered homes, and it felt less like a tourist town and more like a real town that had great views.

A collection of half timbered buildings from Riquewihr and Ribeauville.

As we were walking thru town we came on a different group of Asian tourists, and much to our surprise they were also Thai.  It is a rare day when the only Asian tourists you meet in France, are Thai.  This time I could not resist and one of the Thai couples were taking turns turns taking pictures of each other so I asked them in Thai if they wanted me to take their picture.  They were pretty startled to have a pharang (white guy in Thai) speaking Thai to them.

This little guy was in the field next to where we parked François, who can resist a cute lamb.

May 4, 2019 Riquewihr FR

The weather has been pretty mediocre.  Nearly every day has had some showers and most days the highs have been in the 50’s and lows in the low 40’s so we have been using more gas than normal.  Today was supposed to be particularly bad with rain pretty much all day, highs in the low 40’s and lows around freezing.  When we woke up this morning the weather app had a pretty ominous warning in French about a chance of snow.  We got on the road early to cover about 120 km’s to Alsace before the worst of the weather set in.

Our Garmin did pretty good routing us for the first half of the trip until near the end she decided to take a short cut over a winding mountain road.  We were in the Vosges which are a pretty major mountain range and even the main roads were twisty.  

Ton tried to talk me into ignoring her and stay on the main road, but I figured what the heck.  The road was a little narrow and steep and ultimately pretty but while it may have saved 10 km’s it came at the cost of about 20 km’s at 40 kph as we negotiated hairpin curves while going up and down various mountains, so we did not come out ahead.

Views from our “shortcut”, note the snow on the mountain in the background.

We are planning to spend the next few days in the Alsace wine region.  The Alsace is on the border with France and Germany and over the last 250 years has changed hands between the two countries 4 times.  It is an interesting mix of French and German cultures.  

After we settled in the temperature dropped the wind kicked up and the rain starting pounding.  Some days you just need to hunker down and wait out the weather.  In the evening we did get a little walk in to break the cabin fever. 

A view of Beblenheim the little village next to our campground. 
Ton likes this because my coat matches the poppies.

May 3, 2019 Essoyes FR

The main goal for us today was to visit the village of Essoyes.  Essoyes is famous as the summer home of Renoir.  He did a lot of his later paintings there, as he spent a lot of senior age years there.  

Last night we parked up on a winery in the area owned by the Lameroux’s.  It was a nice parking spot for up to six campers including water, and a dump.  We walked down to the winery when we arrived to check if it was ok to park.  The wife of the owner met us and she did not speak any English, we managed to mime that we were in the camper aire, and she said good.  We decided against a tasting and she looked relieved.  This morning as we were pulling out her husband happened to be pulling into work.  He stopped and thanked us for staying and invited us back if we were ever in the area, and you could tell it was heartfelt.  Our experience in Les Riceys was really exceptional, and if an area ever motivated me to learn French it was here, as the people were fantastic.

The road from Les Riceys to Essoyes is on the Champagne tourist route.

The drive over to Essoyes was short, and we parked up next to a new museum for Renoir.  In fact it was so new that the main exhibitions were not open yet. The museum included a video presentation about Renoir’s life in Essoyes.  It was quite well done and helped us understand the rest of the tour.  We followed the walking tour thru the village, and as we approached his home we realized we were going to run into lunch.  We went in and did a quick tour, but decided to come back for a more extensive tour after lunch. We saw one of the curators and tried to ask in broken French if we could return after lunch, and he smiled and with a proper English accent said of course.  Later we learned he was from the south of England.

The River Ounce as it cuts thru Essoyes.
The same view as painted by Renoir.

The home Renoir lived in was exceptionally well restored and supported by one of Renoir’s great granddaughters so a lot of the furniture is family heirlooms.  Essoyes is a beautiful village, and if you like impressionists and particularly Renoir it is worth seeking out.

The living room in Renoir’s home.
The actual bed that Renoir used, he preferred simple country style furnishings.
Another Renoir to finish the day.

It was still pretty early when we were done so we decided to keep heading east.  We picked out the town of Contrexeville in the Vosges as it was generally in the right direction and had a couple of parking options.  The GPS said it was 130km so we figured about 2 hours.  The GPS had lately been picking pretty good roads where the speed between towns is about 80kph (50 mph), and most towns were bypassed.  Today she decided to send us down little D roads where top speed is about 65kph (40mph), but there are lots of little villages where you are creeping thru at 30kph.  Our two hour drive turned into 3 hours.  We did not mind that much as the countryside was really beautiful, and the roads were nearly empty.

A typical view on our drive today.

Contrexeville is a spa town with a small Casino.  They are trying to develop some tourism, but the Vosges do not seem to be attracting a lot of tourism.  The campground tonight is really nice and an incredible bargain at €11.

Ton likes sheep almost as much as she likes cows.  When we crossed over to look at them they were a couple hundred yards away, they all came trotting over to check us out. The Rue de September 11 commemorates the day the town was liberated from the Germans in WWII.

May 2, 2019 Les Riceys FR

We are still a bit jet lagged so we find we are falling asleep late and then sleeping in.  This morning we were not up until 9am.  The plan for the day was to return to the little village we stopped in yesterday.

Les Riceys is actually a combination of three villages that were at one point the border fortresses for 3 different principalities.  In the distant past before France was a country there was a Riceys in the Duchy of Sens, another in the Duchy of Burgundy, and a third in Champagne.  Each of the Riceys have their own fortified church.  They are now happily together as Les Riceys.  

The wine in the area is Champagne, though it has only been allowed to be called Champagne recently due to the strict French rules about these things.  It was restricted because some of the vineyards are in Burgundy, so it was not purely from Champagne.  Now they are allowed to call it champagne as the village mostly resides in Champagne.

A interesting store front in Les Riceys.

Today we stopped at two wineries.  At the first winery Pascal Walczak the owner welcomed us with open arms, but he did not speak English.  Luckily for us there were two other visitors from Luxembourg who took us under their wing and translated for us.  We learned a lot about Champagne.  We were also able to get some tips about places to go in Luxembourg and Germany from our impromptu translators.  It was a nice stop.

The weather called for hard rain in the afternoon so we rushed over to the Tourist Information to try to find another place to visit before the rain set in.  The office recommended a place called Morize Pere & Fils.  She called ahead and said that they were beginning a tour shortly and we needed to  head straight over.  When we go there it was a tour in French, with no helpful Luxembourgers along to help with the translation.  The tour guide was one of the sons, though he was our age.  The tasting was also nice, and the champagne was good.  The problem is neither Ton or I are big fans of champagne, and while we recognized it was good wine, it still was not to our taste.  

The sign board for the winery Champagne Morize Per and Fils.
Rose de Riceys, a very interesting wine unique to the area.

Les Riceys is a nice little village with a well kept feel, and a lot of wineries specializing in Champagne.  If you are a fan we highly recommend you try it.  Right after the second tour the hard rain arrived, so we hunkered down in François for the remainder of the day.

May 1, 2019 Troyes FR

Today is labor day in France so we knew we were going to be limited in our sites as most everything was closed.  Since we are in the Champagne region we decided we should go to some wineries. Ton did some research and while Chateau-Thierry is in the heart of the high end champagne country she decided we should go to southern Champagne as it has smaller family run wineries vs the big world wineries like Dom Perignon.  We aimed for a town called Riceys as it has a lot of family run wineries.  

After an uneventful run over very quiet roads due to the holiday (no trucks) we got to Riceys and found two free aires on winery sites.  But it is a small town and as it was a holiday everything was closed.  After a little poking around Ton suggested we head to Troyes which was only about 45 minutes away.  

Ton made a great call, as Troyes was a beautiful town to walk in, even though almost everything was closed.  Troyes has one of the best collections of half timbered homes in France and most of the city center still contained these wood timbered building.  While many of them have been modernized and turned into name brand businesses they still bring a great feel to the town.

A sample of the wood timbered homes in Troyes.
The cathedral in Troyes.

We also toured the cathedral as it was open.  As our first cathedral of the trip it did again impress us.  It was interesting as it has a lot of 20th and 21st century religious art on the inside.

The three wise women inside the cathedral in Troyes.  A modern interpretation of the three wise men, we think, the sign was only in French.
A gargoyle on one of the churches in Troyes.
Troyes is also the home of the founder of the Knights Templar and the local tourism office uses the knights  to help you on the walking tour of the town.

As we continue to find; often times the best days on these trips are ones you did not plan on.  

April 30, 2019 Chateau-Thierry FR

We slept in a bit as we are still fighting jet lag, but around 9am we decided to get up and get going.  We had a quick last chat with Thom and Kathy before they took off, we hope our paths cross again on our tours.

We decided to hit the Lidl on the way out of town now that we had taken stock of everything we had left behind, we had a few more food items we needed.  We also stopped at the €2 store for a USB splitter for our cigarette lighter, Ton was skeptical but so far it is working great.

Our plans for today was a place that I have wanted to visit since we started visiting France.  Belleau Wood is one of the most famous battles that the Marine Corps has participated in.  The battlefield is located near Chateau-Thierry.  During the battle the Marine Brigade which was attached to the Army 2nd Infantry Division was assigned to first stop a German advance on Paris and then regain some of the ground that had been  lost including a hill top forest/hunting preserve called Belleau Wood.  At the end of the 15 day battle the Marines had over 6000 casualties including 1060 dead.  They fought so ferociously the Germans said it was like fighting Teufel Hunden, which got translated as Devil Dogs, a nick name the Marine Corps carries until today.  The French were so impressed with the valor of the Marines that they renamed the wood, and when you enter the memorial the entrance says Belleau Wood in English, and Bois de la Brigade de Marine (The Wood of the Marine Brigade) in French, as it was renamed.

Ron standing next to a French 75 gun in Belleau Wood, this was also the main artillery piece for the American Forces in WW1.

For a place with such a violent history the wood today is a quiet park, there are some remnants of the trenches that were hastily dug during the battle, and some impact craters from artillery rounds.  Other than that it is an amazingly quiet place with beautiful vistas of the countryside including a wheat field that the Marines had to advance several hundred yards thru under machine gun fire to reach the wood.  The story is that when they were faltering in the wheat field Sergeant Major Dan Daly rallied them by shouting “Come on you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever!”

Next to the wood is the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery which has 2289 graves of Americans killed in Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry including 3 sets of brothers.

The graves are simple Crosses and Stars of David with the name of the man, his unit, and his home state on them.  They tell a very simple story quite movingly.  The most haunting are those that say here lies an American Soldier known only to god, for those who could not be identified.
The chapel on site on the side of Belleau Wood overlooks the grave sites.  Inside is a simple chapel with the names of over 1060 soldiers, sailors, and Marines, who are missing from the battles in this area.  

The final stop for us on the day was the Chateau-Thierry monument which is on a hill overlooking the city.  It was built after the war to commemorate the Americans and French who fought together.

It is a relatively simple monument listing the battles and the major units of the American Expeditionary Force in World War 1.  It was designed by a French-American architect Paul Cretics who served in the French Army during the war.  After the war he returned to the US and designed a war memorial for the state of Pennsylvania before designing this one.

As with every one of the American Cemeteries we have visited in France they are immaculately maintained, and the French staff obviously takes great pride in their work.  Everyone on site that we spoke to including the security guards immediately switch to English when they realize you are American.  They bend over backwards to help you with your questions.  It is really a moving experience.  Tonight we are parked in an aire in Chateau-Thierry but the monument is visible on the hill above town.

April 29, 2019 Sens FR

Today we slept in until a little after 9am, and then headed over to Veron.  Our first linguistic adventure of the day was with the front desk clerk.  Her English was very good and she had spent a year in the US as an exchange student.  We asked her for a taxi and she asked where we wanted to go I replied Veron, she did not understand, so I tried again and she did not understand, so I wrote it down and she giggled and said oh the village next to hers.  I was pronouncing it Ve-RON, and it  should have been VER-on.

We picked up François and settled up our storage bill for the winter.  Next stop was Auchan where we picked up a few groceries to get us started, with a promise from me to Ton to return tomorrow to finish up.  We moved over to the aire in Gron which is conveniently located to all of the shopping and Ton spent the afternoon setting up the van with minimal help from me, I mostly tried to stay out of the way.

François settling in with our American and French neighbors.

We were in the middle of our meal when a van similar to ours pulled in to the spot next to ours.  As they were backing in I heard the directions being given with a distinctive American accent so we stuck our heads out to say hello.  Thom and Karen Metcalf had picked up their new to them Knaus a few days earlier and were getting some last minute things taken care of.  We had a nice conversation with them and enjoyed their stories of traveling the world.  They had a cool portable washing machine that Ton is interested in hearing how well it works as finding places to wash clothes is her pet peeve.

April 28, 2019 Sens FR

The flights today were courtesy of Alaska and American Airlines.  Both flights were quite full, and the American flight had the tightest seats we have seen in quite a while.  Ton managed to get a little sleep while I was up the whole flight.  

To get from the airport in Paris to Sens is a fairly straightforward.  You catch a subway into Paris for about 40 minutes, you then transfer to another subway that takes you to the train station.  From Paris to Sens is about a one hour train ride, unfortunately it is not one of the cool high speed trains but just a little local.  The most difficult thing about the trip is lugging the suitcases thru the subway and on and off the trains.

We arrived in Sens about 2pm, checked into the hotel and slept for a couple of hours until supper.  We had a Chinese Buffet as it was the only option near the hotel besides McDonalds.  The Chinese was interesting as in every country the food is adapted to local tastes. In this case this means in addition to the usual suspects of fried rice, and noodles, fish, and calamari, there were “Chinese” frog legs, and snails.  The frog legs were quite good actually.

January 30, 2019 Portland OR

A pretty easy day after yesterdays marathon drive.  We woke up a little later, had breakfast, and except for a pit stop in Costco we had a pretty uneventful trip.  Our only problem was getting rid of our waste water.  There was a rest area near Burns that had a dump facility, but when we got there the valve to release the gray water was frozen so we could not dump there.  As we drove west we stopped at every possible place along the route, until we finally got rid of the water near home.  It probably added an hour to our trip.

The Three Sisters in the Cascade Mountains.

January 29, 2019 Burns OR

Today we drove across the great basin of the US.  The great basin is an old inland sea that covers most of Nevada and Utah, and parts of California and Oregon.  Ton and I have always enjoyed the area.  To give you an idea of how remote and varied this area is we drove 600 miles and the largest town we passed thru was Winnemuca Nevada which has a population of 7500 people.  Generally it is about 100 miles between towns, and in between towns there is very little to see but mountains and deserts.  We started the trip at 200 feet below sea level in Death Valley, and reached an altitude of just over 7000 feet near Austin Nevada.  We drove a ridiculous distance today, but really enjoyed ourselves.

We woke up early as we had both fell asleep very early the night before.  Since we were up we decided to head on out.  We hit the home button on the GPS and it told us it was 896 miles to home following the quickest route.  We usually pick a place we are heading for but today we decided to just follow the GPS and to find a place to park for the night when we ran out of steam.  

A desert scene near Death Valley.

Everything was going as we expected following highway 95, when we drive to Las Vegas we follow US95 from Reno to there so we knew this route, but in Tonopah the GPS told us to turn off 95 and follow US6 instead.  We decided what the heck and followed her directions.  She had us turn onto Nevada 376 which had us a little worried, but the road looked good so we decided to go ahead.  It turned into a fun decision.  We found the kind of road we love, heading thru wide open country with high mountains on either side.  Towns were few and far between.  Near the town of Round Mountain, we came across an immense gold mine which ran for about 8 miles along the road.

This picture looks like an impressionist painting, but Ton took it with her iPhone.

Eventually we came to US50 which we followed for about 30 miles to Nevada 305, another wide open road thru a valley called Antelope Valley for about 120 miles.  The highlite was another mine which was even bigger than the one at Round Mountain, but we think was for Copper.  At the town of Battle Mountain we joined I-80 for about 50 miles before turning north on US97.  We followed US 97 to the Nevada/Oregon border and at that point had about 480 miles under our belt.  We talked about parking up there, but we were on a roll and decided to keep going.

Ton is very proud of this picture, though it looks like a black and white picture it is color.

The last 120 miles were on US97 and OR78 was actually the most remote part of the road yet.  For an 80 mile stretch the only man made structures we saw were a Road Maintenance station and a military radar site.  When we rolled into Burns it was dark, and the RV park we had stayed in previously in the winter is now closed for the season. We had to scramble for a place to stay, but it was worth it.

Another Impressionist picture from the trip.

January 28, 2019 Death Valley NP

We are both still struggling a little bit with our medical issues so it is time to head home so we can see see our proper Doctors.  Ron prefers to drive home east of the Sierra Nevada mountains rather than deal with the heart of California so we left San Diego and headed north and east towards one of our favorite National Parks to spend the night.  

The drive to Death Valley was pretty uneventful, even the traffic from San Diego to San Bernardino while dense was moving pretty well with no significant slow downs.  After you get out of the southern California metropolis, you quickly get into the Mojave and go from bumper to bumper freeway traffic to almost no traffic as you travel thru the desert.

When we arrived at Death Valley we checked in to see what had reopened after the shutdown.  It turns out only a couple of the campgrounds have been re-opened so we are in a big gravel lot across from the visitors center with about 100 other RV’s.  We took a walk and Ton got some nice sunset pictures, and we had a couple of short conversations with some of out other campers before settling in for the night.

Scout at sundown in Death Valley.

January 27, 2019 San Diego CA

Today is Dylan’s birthday so we planned a big day around town to celebrate.  We started out with a seafood brunch at Point Loma Seafood.  It is part fishmonger and part restaurant, definitely a laid back California experience, but the food was really exceptional, and was a good start to the day.

Our next stop was Cabrillo National Monument on a bluff overlooking San Diego harbor. This was the first day it was open after the government shutdown and a lot of people were coming out to use the facilities.  It is an interesting place located on former military property with stunning views of the harbor and the ocean.  The monument has exhibitions on Spanish explorers, as it is believed the monument contains the landing place of the Spanish explorer who was the first European to land in San Diego.  It also has a whale watching platform, some nice tidal pools, and exhibits on the military uses of the area.  We really enjoyed it.

The Cabrillo Monument to the first European to see San Diego Harbor.

Next we headed over to another San Diego brewery located right next to Point Loma Seafood.  We had a couple of rounds of really excellent Lagers and IPA’s and were quite impressed with Epigg Brewing.  Our next stop was going to be Pariah brewery for Pizza and beer.  When we got there Pizza was not available so we headed down the road for a great Mexican meal to wrap up the day.  Thanks Dylan for a fun week in San Diego.

The shore line at Cabrillo National Monument.

January 26, 2019 San Diego CA

Dylan suggested we head up to San Juan Capistrano to visit the mission there.  It is about an hour north of here and you have to transit thru Camp Pendleton.  The Marines were out playing today.  There was an amphibious ship off shore, and we saw some ship to shore movement including some helicopters, and amphibious tractors.  It brought back some nice memories for Ron.

A CH-53 helicopter stopping traffic on I-5 as it passes thru Camp Pendleton.

San Juan Capistrano is one of the best preserved of the California Missions.  When the Spanish were colonizing Alta California in the 1700’s they built a string of missions along the coast about one days horse ride apart.  Each mission was part fort and part Catholic church.  They were designed to encourage the native Americans to convert to Catholicism.  California uses the missions as part of the 4th grade curriculum for elementary schools.  We remember helping Alex with the construction of his model mission when we lived in California.  The mission at San Juan Capistrano used to be famous for an annual return of swallows to the mission.  These days the swallows are going some where else due to urbanization around the mission.

The interior of the chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

After the mission we stopped at a couple of breweries, and swung by Walmart to by a new water hose for Scout as our old one gave up the ghost yesterday.  We have been really impressed with the quality of the breweries in San Diego.

January 25, 2019 San Diego CA

This morning Dylan came over to give us his car for the day.  We planned a shopping trip to stock up for the ride home, and to pick up a couple of things only available in California.

After spending the morning shopping on the Navy Base, we joined Dylan for a nice pizza lunch in a restaurant in his neighborhood.  After lunch we headed over to Costco to pick up Ton’s favorite noodles that are only available in California.  When Dylan finished work he joined us at the RV park for dinner and a couple of good Oregon micro brews we had brought down.  We had a nice chat for a couple of hours before turning in for the night.

The good news is that the government shutdown is over, and Dylan will be able to return to a normal schedule on Monday.  He was telling us that he attended a conference in Washington during the shutdown, and despite the shutdown they arranged for him to get a tour of the Department of Interior headquarters.  He said it was quite weird walking thru the empty building with the Christmas decorations still up in mid-January.

Sunset in San Diego.