Beautiful town.....followed by a parking lot.

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Geo: 44.0466, -0.651112

We got a relatively early start, as we were trying to get into the feed zone of the next stage before the roads were closed. It turned out that we were more worried than we needed to be (which may have given us a false sense of security/ease that might not serve us well in later stages). Perhaps there just aren't as many people in this part of the country? Or everyone who was going to watch the stage was doing so from higher up on the mountains of this climb?

Regardless….we found a spot right in the middle of the feed zone activity, and pulled over next to some other cars/camping cars, and settled in. We did a little recon by foot, walking into the nearby village, while both enjoying the amazing scenery, and trying to piece together the puzzle of a feed zone. Where does it start, how far from that is the collection zone, how far does the collection zone go, where would the soigneurs set themselves up to hand off musettes, etc. They had a PowerBar sign set up, announcing 500 meters until the feed zone, so that seemed to be the start of it all. Then there are "balloons", or inflated columns, showing the start (and later, the end) of the collection zone (where the cyclists are encouraged to throw stuff out, so that it's easier for the cleanup crew to find everything). Unfortunately, not all cyclists pay attention to the zones.

We spotted the Garmin-Sharp soigneur hanging out in his car with his door open, and -- figuring he'd speak English (which he did, being British and all) -- we asked if he had an idea as to where the guys might start tossing their musettes today. He reckoned that they'd drop them pretty early on, being a bit of a climb. He suggested we might move 100-200 meters up the road.

Since our sense of how long 100-200 meters might be was sketchy, we got out the Map My Walk app on the iPhone, and measured out about 150 meters. Dejo decided to do a little more recon, and see what was up the road -- more on that in a moment. We hung out for a little bit, until we saw the aforementioned Garmin soigneur walking up toward us, to find a spot from which to hand out his musettes. Remembering his previous mention of 100-200 meters, we picked up and moved up the hill (around a switchback) another little ways. Soon, we could hear, and then see the helicopters that always accompany the peloton (and breakaway, if there is one).

Side note: If you're watching the Tour in person, just be aware that there seem to be many more helicopters than just the ones you're expecting. There seemed to always be 3-5 birds in advance of the peloton – we reckoned maybe they were VIP trips? Then there's generally 2 actually filming the race. You'll also hear (and maybe see) the fixed-wing planes that circle high above the race, serving as go-betweens for the TV feed. So, helicopters signal that the race is nearby, but the first usually aren't the Right Ones.

So. We hear, and see the helicopters, and then the cyclists started making their way past us. Some had their musettes already, and indeed, a few started discarding them on our part of the hill. One got thrown a couple of meters from me, but a small child ran up to it first, so I decided to not mix it up with him. : ) It was a great vantage point overall, because the cyclists were relatively slow as they turned that hairpin curve. I didn't get any other throwaway chances, but Dejo had decided to go up to the next curve, and he managed to snag an Astana musette – with 2 energy gels and 2 bars still inside. Guess that cyclist was just after the Coke.

By the time the race went by and we walked back to our van, the traffic had just about cleared (this really was a small, somewhat isolated town). What Dejo had seen as he did his recon earlier was that not all team cars were staged at the corner where we'd parked. A few were, but many more were staged around the next bend. Duly noted, for next time. But the big discovery was this gorgeous little town, and a lake, set in a valley that was just bee-yoo-tiful. He decided that we should go explore it a bit, and as the next day was a rest day (for the race) and we had no particular schedule, I agreed. What an adorable little town! Loudenvielle, I believe. Set at the south end of a lake, and nestled in some unbelievably green hills, it was straight off a postcard. We walked around a little, and when we found the tourist office open (on a Sunday!), we popped in to buy a couple of jetons for the Euro-Relais service stations.

We did need to keep moving on, though, so back into the van it was. We drove a couple of hours before deciding what region we'd be in for the night, then aimed for an aire at Mont de Marsan.This book we've been using, “All The Aires” has worked pretty well, but we did have a strikeout this night. We drove on the road out of this town one way, then the other way, and couldn't find this bleedin' aire. We were tired & starting to get frustrated. I looked at the overall map, and saw that there was an area of national park nearby. Since we saw signs for campsites bout every 10 feet in the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, I figured “Hey, there are probably lots of campsites around there, we'll just pull into one.”

Ha.

After driving down a pretty sparsely populated road for about an hour, we finally spotted a sign for Parking, and pulled in. It was a pullout for trucks, so didn't have any services, but it was a place to stop, and hey, there were toilets nearby, so this was home for the night.

Side note: Yes, I hear you asking, “Doesn't that Motorhome thingy you're driving around have a toilet?”
Yes, it does. But it's more of a backup plan than a first choice. It smells kinda funny from the chemicals (and that's before anyone uses it), and if you're a shy bladder kind of person, or would rather not have your traveling companion hear everything your body has to say, it's not ideal. So having an overnight facility with actual toilets is sortof a luxury….even if you do have to bring your own toilet paper in, which you usually do. Plus, as you may recall, our water tank wasn't holding water, which makes flushing (okay, rinsing) the toilet more challenging.

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Photos

Aha -- a collection zone balloon!
Now we know what we're looking for