le tour de france

---

apparently the travelblog server crashed and all of my previous entries were lost - if anyone happened to save any, please email them to me and i'll repost. (mom and sue, could you please copy and paste these into word so i have a backup copy?) i'm currently in munich, eating lots of cheese and nutella, so much for the 6 pack happening in europe, it'll have to wait until africa.

....leave barcelona for basque country, high pyrenees. camp in heusca spain for the night, rent a mercedes benz (yes a mercedes, it was the cheapest car) buy lots of heavy food (we have a car!). drive into the pyrenees, lots of sheep, cows with huge bells, pigs in the road, cheese for sale. castles, waterfalls, forests, tiny switchback roads, villages with less than ten houses. drive to the top of the col d'pierre saint martin for stage 16 of the tour. park the car and make friends, hike around in the pyrenees! snow, fog, farmers milking sheep, herding dogs, cow bells all night. buy cheese from a basque farmer. sleep in the car at the top of the climb, curled up in the back seat. lock the doors (if we get up to pee in the middle of the night and go out the wrong door, we fall off the edge of the mountain) dream of the tour. wake up, cold milk for breakfast, hike more, eat more cheese, people painting on the road. sheepherders move sheep, down the road, le tour de sheep, bells ringing, people laughing. the tour caravan drives through, dancing, music, shirts and flags and keychains being thrown out of the cars. decorate the car with basque colors. wear our euskatel shirts, wait for the riders. helicopters, stand on the roof of the car, eat with our french neighbors, wait some more, bull horns and yelling, riders can be seen. leaders fly by, yell and cheer for them....wait...wait...more riders....wait.....more riders, open champagne, cheer more, all the riders are through, pack up, neighbors leave, traffic jam, wait...leave the mountain. drive the rest of the tour route, traffic, traffic, baguettes, car sick, camper stuck in a ditch, more writing, end at the col d'aubisque. drive down, find a bathroom, curl up and sleep, wake up at sunrise, more cows and sheep and horses, national park, waterfalls, eat cheese, back to heusca, return mud covered car, walk through town to camping, shower, pitch tent, sleep, eat, sleep. huge dinner of salad, pork chops flan wine, sleep, pack up and leave for san sebastian.

---