Heading home is always a bitter-sweet moment. Six weeks on the road is long time to sleep in a foreign bed but the experience in being in a place we love is a gift It is always a good sign that we are already talking about our return trip next year. Since our time in 2025 is limited we are planning to return to the Dordogne for four weeks, hopefully the same place. Having the time and place already worked out means that the logistics is limited to booking flights and car rental. Simplification is an important bonus.
Packing is much simpler when all we need to do is make sure all our stuff makes it from the house to the car, the bags are within the weight limits, and boxing the bikes so they survive the return flight
The long drive to our hotel at the Toulouse airport is all on super highways once we navigate from Sablet to Orange on now familiar country roads. After a brief coffee stop at one of the fabulous rest stops (why can't these be duplicated in the US?) for a fresh pastry and coffee once a helpful lady was able to help us navigate the coffee machine.
Since today's goal was simply getting to the airport for tomorrow's flight we decided on a casual lunch in the ancient Roman town of Carcassonne. Even the intermittent rain did not discourage us from making this stop. Kim's dining request was for Greek food so we parked in the area and navigated by foot to this Taverna about the size of a walk in closet. The owner was this happy go lucky 30 something who appeared to enjoy his one man operation with zeal.
We were hoping for a traditional Gyro but pleasantly surprised by this Greek-like concoction buried inside a fabulous French bread, our last until next year. With an ample portion of frites our meal was complete with enough to "carry out" for tonight's dinner at the hotel.
Kim's was a little different but still more than satisfying. Sorry we did not take a group photo with the owner but we were on the road again before we realized the missed opportunty.
This was the first time we returned the car to Toulouse but glad that our GPS knew the way. Before you drive away after pickup the customer service person programs the return address into the GPS. Finding our way here the old fashioned way would have been a tense and frustrating experience. Once there we drove into the hotel parking garage and were able to unload and head to the checkin desk sans transport van. There is beauty in simplicity. This will be our modus operandi for future trips.
We were able to roll the baggage carts into the lobby storage room and out again the next morning for our ungodly early flight to Frankfurt
After a few relaxing hours in the Frankfort airport lounge we were on our way to Denver for a rather short 9 1/2 flight to Denver. Two movies (Casablanca and Grease) later and a short nap we landed at DIA with us and air tag laden bags having safely arrived,
After claiming our bags I fetched the car and picked them up and Kim for our drive back to Vail. Since it was still early in the day the traffic was light and we were conscious enough to make the drive home with the help of a caffeine pill. Some traditions are hard to break so we made our annual stop at KFC for a simple dinner before crashing for the night.
To recap our trip we were able to complete 27 rides covering almost 800 miles in spite of the weather related cancellations, transfer day, and several outings with our French friends. I am also happy to report that we rode all those miles without a roadside puncture or at home tube replacement for potential flat inducing slow leak. Besides the one headlight failure Kim wore out a set of rear brake pads (although they were recently installed). We were able to get replacements after a Sunday drive to Bedoin to the only open bike shop. This allowed us to take are steep and windy up and over tour from Bedoin to Malaucene on a road that we would not consider on bikes. My repair skills made the installation quick and easy. Glad it was not a more complicated repair like previous trips that required a trip to the bike shop. We were on the road again the next morning.
Well this ends the blog for 2024 with the next addition appearing in September 2025. Stay tumed.
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