the days near L'Alp d'huez. Now I am in Colorado with no internet
access, but some time to sit down and put down a few of the highlights.
On Monday we got up early for breakfast and finished off our packing -
it was the day we would leave Provence and travel to Bourg d'oisans to
see some of the mountain stages. This was a good day for a break as
the riders of the Tour were taking a rest day as well. On our way to
our next bed we would stop and pick up Tim from the TGV station.
Before we could pick up Tim we had to buy a bike rack for our van as
we calculated that there was no chance of getting all of our bikes and
boxes inside that thing.
Dave and I set off for Auvingnon to a sports store we had noticed
previously as a good possibility for a rack purchase. We found our
way to the store after about 10 roundabouts and finally got inside.
Decathelon turned out to have about everything but what we needed. We
then drove by a bike shop - closed, a store kinda like Target - nope,
then when we were trying to get out of the parking lot of the Mall we
drove by some guys installing a rack on top of their car. I asked
where they got it and they pointed to the car parts store behind us.
Turns out the car parts place is Rack Central. We had a ton of
options and picked one we thought would work - and it did after about
an hour of installation. Bikes, boxes, luggage and bodies were
finally put in the van and we took off.
We hooked up with Tim and were on our way to Grenoble and then down to
d'Oisans. The Alps were huge and impressive. About 5 we arrived in
d'Oisons and it was like entering bike Mecca - there were bikes and
riders and bike shops everywhere. Half of the people we saw were
decked out in some kind of kit - in this town wearing jeans and a
shirt looked stranger than wearing spandex shorts. We stopped for
some dinner - the usual ham and cheese, then headed for our hotel - a
place called a Gite. It is a place where hikers and travelers can
stop in as they traverse the Alps and get dinner and breakfast and
then head to the next Gite. We were a little concerned because we
had only let the owner know we were bringing three people and we
didn't want to get rejected so we went in with some fear. Only two of
us went in to check out the situation.
Turns out the owner greeted me and said - we are so glad you are here,
we weren't sure when you were arriving. Do you have 3 or 4? Are you
ready for dinner? Would you like something to drink? .....so it all
turned out OK.
A second dinner with four courses was on the table for us in a few
minutes and soon we were eating with about 10 new friends. This Ten
was a group of from a running club in Marseille. We had some good
laughs and we spent a couple of hours together. They were hiking 15
to 20 mile days through the Alps and staying at Gites (which is what
we were in) overnight. At dinner we aslo learned that the chef was
from Oklahoma! She had grown up somewhere near Tim, which probably
wasn't hard because in the 50s there were only two or three towns
inhabited by caucasians in the whole state. Tim didn't know her but
they were probably related. Anyway, she had definitely learned to
cook somewhere special because the food was outstanding. When we made
the booking we thought we might get breakfast with our stay so this
was a huge bonus to the trip.
After dinner our host showed us our room which was in the far end of
the Gite. It was like a rustic apartment with two bedrooms upstairs.
We felt like kids because our room was like a treehouse - all wood
with big beams going across the room at strange angles. We moved our
stuff in and got a good nights sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment