I have now returned to the US and it seems funny here now, but quickly is becoming home again! I finally prepared a map of the trip (still pretty rough). I realized later that the image I chose is an old one, but it works. So if you add Montenegro & Serbia you have the 30 countries I visited on the trip. Returning the bike to CK Moto in Haguenau was a breeze and was given the quoted price with no fuss! The total trip was 32,000 KM (20,000 miles).

Mickey Redmond once said, "You have to be lucky to be good & you have to be good to be lucky!" It has been wet and cold in northeastern France for a couple weeks, but just as I was bracing myself for it since I absolutely had to go there now, it got nice! After letting the Honda sit for 12 days (couldn't do that with the Road King in nice weather!) while hanging out at the sunny beach where I encountered a good case of skin damage, which most people call a tan, I got back on today and headed back to Soufflenheim to take the bike back and exchange it for a rental car. So on the way back I just had to get off the highway for a while and encountered the "Forteresse de Mornas", built sometime in the 11th century. OK, finally got a castle in there...

Well, here I am - done with my trip 3,000 km early & with 10 days left to kill. Rain in Austria & Switzerland in addition to escaping Italy sooner than expected isn't too bad since I am getting a bit tired of the constant pack up & ride every day. So instead of slowly heading back to the cold/wet northern France, I will be here in the south camping once again on the Mediterranean sea where the palm trees grow and the sun shines. I found something interesting in this area - bayous! (well, almost...) The ride here yesterday looked just like the Louisiana gulf coast riding (minus the oil platforms), where I have spent many weeks riding through and camping in over the years.

My quest to ride safe is costing me - in value since I see very little of the Italian Mediterranean coast and also in money. It cost me $41.65 to go 155 miles on the highway today. That's $1 for every 3.75 miles! However, I am alive to write the blog entry; very nice. When I talk to people here about Italian driving vengence, not only do they agree but in response to my statement that ItalIan roads are not safe for me, one person said "it's not safe for us!" It's too bad that this is preventing me from enjoying Italy. One other unfortunate aspect about Italy is the trash - it's everywhere! Not so much along the freeways, but along other main roads and smaller ones, trash is all along the roads and in piles at roadside areas. Highly unattractive for those of us who have acquired a respect for beautiful scenery & a clean environment. So tonight is my last night in Italy, departing quite a few days early after spending nearly a month here. Took me 19 days to travel from Switzerland to the farthest point of Sicily and 6 days to get to France on the other side. Arrivedeci...

Back on the mainland! Having turned around after reaching the most western point of Sicily, I am now heading back to Soufflenheim by way of the Italian Mediterranean coast and then Provence. I haven't quite seen all of Europe but I did visit most of the places! Yesterday, I camped in Tusa, north Sicily, east of Palermo. Lots of mountains jutting out of the sea and the roads hug the coast, as does the train. The winds were really strong & the result was high waves on the Mediterranean. The roar was so powerful I could hardly hear the train just behind me when it came by! Mountains also means tunnels on the highway and some of these are 2 miles or more. Beats fighting the crazy drivers on the switchbacks. I must say I've yet to see a mule on the road here, but I did see a goat that seems to have fallen off the edge of the hill and found himself trying to jump back up there to rejoin the herd.

I am now in Scicily and will return to the mainland in a few days. I have concluded that even though I am not fond of highways, I will use them until I leave Italy since the other roads are simply too unsafe for me - there are rules which make riding a reasonable activity, but they get ignored here way too much.

Encountered the 2nd Swiss traveler who took me by surpise yesterday - a young girl who traveled from home to Italy's toe on a scooter, of all things! Never would occur to me to do such a thing, but there she was 2,000 KM from home on such a whimpy contraption; brave I call that!

The first was actually a couple weeks ago in Switzerland - I was about 100 KM south of Zurik when I woke up to find my neighbor had arrived on a Unicycle; lives in the Zurich area. 

Another day of rain & strong winds found me even though I am now in southern Italy, but safe & dry in a campgroud. Not far from Sicily, I am on the Mediterranean Sea (more specifically the other side of the Ionian sea) with WiFi, electric, shade and good company, though not many Italians speak english, especially this far south. Odly enough I have gone from southtern Greece to southern Italy by way of Czechia & Germany. Since I have another 30 days to do about 18 days of travelling (at 200 KM per day, needing to go around the mountains in October) I have decided this is a good place to take a week off. Might not last that long, since I can get anxious to keep moving. The picture was taken a few days ago and is another "juxtaposition" of old/new. I can imagine a moat instead of grass and a drawbridge rather than a paved road for a truck - but I am North American, after all.

WOW! No wonder Venice was so crowded - the 2017 Venice Film Festival is in full swing!

Accidentally went to one of the world's top tourist destinations - Venice. Had to go out of my way to get there so I wasn't going to go, especially once I had no plans to walk around in it. However, there are few campgrounds outside of destination areas and the coastlines. The picture was taken while riding up to the island on the long bridge - odd that there is a really expensive bridge that goes to a place with no roads, but there it is. Glad I had not decided to spend the day there, there was a really big tour ship docked today. Probably doubled the population all at once. Italian drivers rank right up there with Greece & Albania - horrible (for my safety, that is). It's bad since everyone goes 30 over the limit. But once decided it's better to get a ticket than get run over & drove their way, it got better.

I am now in Italy, the last country of my trip and will be here for about 5 weeks until returning to Soufflenheim on Oct. 11th for my flight back to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Yesterday I spent the entire day in the tent while it rained in Altdorf, Switzerland. In thinking back, it is really quite amazing how stark the contrast can be between the high-tax wealthy nations and the low-tax poorer places. There just as many Ferraris in each, but the road and infrastructure quality is amazing in the richer countries. It appears these folks are in in fact getting their money's worth in quality of life improvement. An example is the picture (another in the "taken from inside the tent" series), the Swiss cable-car lift is another way to get around and see the mountains, which could otherwise be very difficult to access. I of course did not do this on such a rainy day. So I wait for the rain to end so I can walk to the store 1/4 mile away and it didn't. So I grab my rain jacket and start walking, thinking there would be a crosswalk to get across the busy rounabout. There wasn't - there was a pedestrian underpass! Awesome way to help prevent children (huh, & old men...) from getting run over by those crazy drivers you see everywhere.

Free camping in France!
Stopped in at "Le camping au petit port" near Saint-Louis just before entering Switzerland - Stella looks at the guitar and says "play for us and you stay free"! It was great & Romik even shared a very unusual dinner - pasta with pork & moose!
So tonight I am in Switzerland where there is a little rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be OK. I am riding along the rivers and so avoiding the mountains, which are very tall indeed.

Well, I am now back at Roberto's house in Soufflenheim, France. I get a new front tire on Tuesday and off I go to see the two places I have not been yet - Switzerland & Italy, maybe a stop in Leichenstein. I have now added 26,000 KM (16,200 miles) to the Honda since I left here on May 10th. The picture is a very rough draft of the trip so far; a more accurate trip picture will come later. The US/EU overlay shows the scale.

It's Burning Man season! Check out this article about some of the structures found there in the past. I wish all my friends who will attend this year a great "burn". But since I am in Czechia today, I won't be there this year.
http://edition.cnn.com/style/article/architecture-of-burning-man/index.html
I didn't follow my Slovenian friend Tomo's advice about touring the country, but instead rode through and continued on my ride to the next places. The parts I saw were in fact quite beautiful. Austria was lovely on the first day, but the next was lost in a steady rain. As a result I rode through that (highways are much safer in rain) and by the time I got to Czechia it was done. It occurred to me that this was the first rain in 2 months, after a steady run of warm/hot sunny days. I guess it is the human way to become jaded about the good, thinking it will last forever & not appreciating it as well as we should - we need "rainy days" to remind us of how to do that. (There's a song in there somewhere...)

I have a picture from Croatia, this one on the ride into the mountains after leaving the coast. While there is nothing unique here, it was in fact a lovely spot to eat breakfast. I would have commented right about now that the water level seems a little low, but the Slovenian biker I met there looked down at it and said "lake actually has water in it; 4 years ago it was completely dry". So I have left Croatia and now find myself in yet another new country - Slovenia. It is starting to get cooler now and much more comfortable. However, it has been free of rain during the hot spell; cooler may also mean wetter...

Today's ride was awesome! I was on Croatian coast road 8, north of Zadar. Ranks as one of the prettiest rides in the world in my book - in part because there are huge islands just of the coast enhancing the view. I didn't take pictures (as usual) but you can see a few here...https://www.google.hr/search?client=tablet-android-att-us&biw=1280&bih=800&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=ECmTWaTrFMKRaOLPl6AH&q=croatia+north+road+8&oq=croatia+north+road+8&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.3...120564.126911.0.129766.9.9.0.0.0.0.2632.7906.4-3j1j2j0j1j1.8.0....0...1.1j4.64.mobile-gws-img..5.0.0.QiuCfXxvx9U#imgrc=m0OZmhNSU5hDEM:

I am camping in a place tonight that not long ago, I might have said I wouldn't travel to. Bosnia was news & it wasn't good. However, it is a beautiful place with fine & friendly people. I am glad I have come here and it just goes to show how little we know of the world from what we have heard, particularly from that great distortion machine known as television. Add this to the memory box; another fine moment in life. Yesteday, I made my one stop in Montenegro (Budva), whose coast is quite crowded with tourist this time of year. I haven't been taking riding landscape pictures since I am usually settled in by the time the sun gets this low (another room, 102°F - I have learned to reserve those in the high season).

Greetings from Albania! A way-too-hot Albania, that is (102°F today). I am tonight updating this blog from an air-conditioned hotel in Durrës, after giving up on camping for a couple days until it cools down a little. I have never been in a country without a MacDonald's before, but this seems to be it. No KFC's, either. I have seen these and a few Burger Kings everywhere else. Another indication of a forgotten place is the Cellular I have - UK "3" which works everywhere in the EU (60 countries!) but not here!  I have discovered that Albanian drivers are no better than Greek drivers - these places have been the most dangerous for me to ride in since cars ignore all the rules, crowd me in my lane while passing and even pass me on the right-shoulder! Then there are the Albanian mountains! Switchbacks galore with some radii no more than a few feet. On top of that, I am trying to get around one of these and not hit oncoming cars half in my lane & then I must also avoid an unattended  mule in the curve munching on some grass on the edge.  Another adventure, I am afraid...but once again I made it!
P.S.; power out a few time, once for a while, but it comes back on. I wondered if it was going to be another hot night! I am reminded that even in the US/CAN, it sometimes does that on really heavy-use days.

I guess I picked a fine time to be in southern Europe! Good thing I am sticking to the beaches, but there is not much choice - this is where the campgrounds are...
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/world/lucifer-heat-wave-europe-1.4237714

Made it to the west coast of Greece yesterday after getting an oil change & new brakes in Kalamata (mountain roads hard on those) .  So I swam in the Mediterranean Sea this time, but more accurately it is the Ionian Sea. It has been above 100°F for days now & I am glad to be heading north. I have been camping along the sea(s) & taking a swim before setting up the tent and again after. However, I swore I wouldn't complain about heat after the Sweeden/Norway cold I experienced in July. So I looked up the picture of hail surrounding my tent taken on July 5th to remind me (it had been there for a couple hours after falling in the early morning). Next stop - Albania!

After checking out my EU trip, please visit my music site - ron-marcel.com. A link to my 2016 Australia trip can also be found there.

I stayed 2 nights at the campground near Volos, as I met some really interesting people there. I had a great time talking & playing music with a harmanica player and a Greek baglamas player. One of my new friends suggested a few places nearby that are famous as destinations in Greece. I did go to Makrinitsa, which is a small town in the foothills of Mt. Pelion. This picture of Volos was taken at about 2,000 ft elevation - there are more houses on the mountain behind me!

Having been in Greece for over a week now, I have seen a few odd-looking things. I also noticed something I haven't seen - roundabouts! Didn't think I would miss those, but the traffic lights are worse. Encountered my first one yesterday & its presence surprised me. It was so new the concrete around it wasn't scuffed up yet. Greece is in fact as beautiful as I have heard, but if you want to see that you'll have to come here or watch "Zorba the Greek" or "Momma Mia!" again. It is also quite warm, but you won't hear me complaining after Norway's cold weather (hail on the tent!), which made me look forward to this & hot is in fact enjoyable. I also appreciate the sun actually going down at night.

Old Superman comic fans? 

I am pretty sure I have spent time here...

I am in Greece tonight, camping on the shore of the Agean Sea. Went for a swim before setting up the tent - water quite warm for a sea. The temperatures are good for southern Europe in mid-summer; 88°F today (100°F in southern Bulgaria). When in Norway it was pretty cold & I was looking forward to warm - sure got it good now. The people here sure take their camping seriously; all the home decorations seem to be hanging on something. No pictures lately so I once again show you the location. The green dot at the southern point of Greece is where I am headed for the next oil change. I have now traveled 21,000 km (13,000 miles) since starting out on May 10th. The trip so far has taken me from the southern-most point of Spain thru the UK, up to Norway (midnight sun effect) and back down to Greece through Poland, Slovokia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia & Bulgaria. I am a bit ahead of schedule so maybe I'll need to slow down some...

I have been in Bulgaria for the last 3 days and tonight find myself at my first motel of the trip, even though it's a beautiful sunny day (95°F). There are few campgrounds here and I found some the first 2 nights (same couple from the first was found at the second!) but today Google screwed me up. First place I found (no website) had been closed for a while and the second (no website) was non-existant. However, this hotel suite in a fine new building could not be had for less than $120 in the US but cost me a total of $41.81 after conversion by my bank. I doubt such a deal can be found in Greece, where I will be next. Being in the former Soviet Union has been interesting - the people and their homes/businesses are recovering, but many remnants of the old ways can be seen. It also occurs to me that most of the people I see were not here then. Some roads are good, some are not. The drives through the mountains have been awesome, but on mostly bad roads. The highways are fine, with 140 km/h speed limit (87 mph!) Rap (in Bulgarian, of course) is the music of choice here, it seems - it's everywhere & it's loud.

In my continuing search of new places I find myself in the heart of Serbia tonight (blue X"). On my way here, after crossing the border from Romania, I stopped for directions and looked up to see a sign "Iron Curtain Trail". The image shows its 3,300 km length, of which I traveled 140 km (between red dots) along the beautiful and amazingly wide Danube - dwarfs the Mississippi here! Serbia is nowhere near as properous as other EU countries but it appears to be working toward that goal. As a result, I saw today a blend of depressed and afluent areas. And a lot of construction...

Greetings from Transylvania! Tonight I am (blue star) in the mountains what was Transylvania, now part of Romania. It occurred to me today as I was riding - "what the hell am I doing HERE?" But the answer is as always "riding a motorcycle in a beautiful place"! Romania is wide open riding, sorta like Montana or Idaho can be. I could almost forget I was in Europe, except for the cars which sometimes tried to push me out of the way, passing too close. No one bothers to observe the speed limits here, but they know where the cameras are & I don't. A lot less English here than previous places, but I get by. In campgrounds, I encounter people from other places I have visited - Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, etc. It's high season for vacations here & it will be even more so in August, when I will be in Greece. I continue to encounter relics of my past life - Visteon in Slovakia, Bosch in Hungary & Delphi in Romania.

After entering Hungary yesterday, I camped on the banks of the Danube. Today as I was on the usual 2-lane road I saw a sign "Hatvan 14km". As I rode by I saw a familiar-looking building & stopped to take this picture. However, I was soon chased away by security without attempting to explan that inside that building, they were most likely mass-producing one or more of my Printed Circuit Board designs. In fact, I don't miss work in the slightest and attribute that to all my travels and the marvelous people I am meeting along the way. Last night I was able to glimpse a small piece of Hungarian life as I played music for some folks and then was invited to watch a live national celebration from Budapest. My host (a mechanical engineer!) spoke excellent english and so I learned a few things about Hungary. I mentioned that in the Americas, Australia & New Zealand (there are of course many others) Europeans devastated indigenous peoples & cultures but in Europe itself, the current inhabitants are the indigenous populations. I then learned that in Hungary, it's a little different since large numbers arrived from Mongolia a millenia ago.

I am in Slovakia this morning. After 4 nights in Poland, I found that riding there is an adventure. The guy who determines speed limits in Poland is on crack - cruise control is an absolute waste of money there since a limit will change on average every 1/2 mile or so. There are cameras everywhere but they don't work so no one pays any attention to those except for the ones that do work (see what I mean?). According to the sign, Poland breeds trucks (I wonder if this one's a mongrel?)

Welcome to everyone from the "Minimalist Motorcycle Vagabonds" (thanks, Dave!). I left Sweden Saturday morning, rode through an awesome eastern northern Germany (didn't occur to me until later this used to be Soviet Union territory) and am now in Poland (sunny & 75F). I will be meandering my way to Greece in the next few weeks, trying to ride through every country on the way. I have been remarkably fortunate regarding weather - not too cold or hot, only a couple hours of riding rain (especially considering I have been throughout England, Scotland, Ireland  (& North), Wales then Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. All very green & very wet places! Not posting the usual EU postcard stuff (never mind I avoid it all anyway) and almost no scenery, I am left with unusual things. The building in England was obviously not a McDonald's in its past life but in Europe, buildings are built to last centuries and they get recycled. Then there is the translation stuff...(in this case, Swedish)

On the Sweden/Norway border tonight & the weather is cool but splendid. Sweden has something the other EU countries I have seen don't: wood/siding houses! The thing these Scandinavian countries DON'T have is the Euro; I have to stop and get each country's "Kron" to have some money! The roads here are highways (no tolls) with a few national-type roads and lots of little tiny "capillary" roads where I need to stop every 10 miles to see where I am - a bit slow & tedious. Norway tomorrow (green spot is the next campground) & I head back through Sweden & catch a ferry to Germany, then Poland. The picture is another in the "as seen from inside the tent" series.

Me & the blue dot are traveling north - now Denmark! High of 65 - compare to 80's in Alaska when I was there in early July of 2011, which further north than here. But it should be warmer next week (guy at rest area said it's 113F in Greece today) . This place is "comfortable", since it really is the closest thing to Quebec I have ever seen. More wide-open & accessible, with lots of pleasant rest areas w/toilets (I am on 2-lane roads, remember - other EU countries don't put them here). Belgium had €0.5 turnstiles @ the highway rest stop gas station! People here strike up conversations about the bike & guitar; unusual before now. Yesterday I was waiting in line to pay for gas in Germany (don't know why they don't use pump-at-pay around here) the guy in front of me buys a pack of cigarettes - US $15.75 a pack!!

Bit of rain after the bridges, raining more now on the tent. But as Roberto said, where it's green, they get a lot of rain & it's really green here in nothern Netherlands near the German border. I of course didn't go to Amsterdam, (snarly!) but saw this rather compelling route.  Those bridges were odd - looks like roads in the middle of the bay but there is no bridge, they're actually both isthmus & the 32km (20 mile) one is a 4-lane highway with 81 mph speed limit. There is a drawbridge at each end for boats & I assume these "land bridges" are total constructs. In another way the Dutch handle water, I rode at several underpasses that were not roads, but aquaducts - an overpass for a canal! On my way here is saw several Teslas and then I saw why, a huge Tesla facility! During my ride so far I have encountered lots of travelers from the Netherlands & now see it's a busy and properous place - they are obviously doing it right.

Back on the continent the last 3 days - France, Belgium & now the Netherlands. The English are experiencing "Brexit" but I saw no outward manifestation of the EU in the UK; they use miles and feet, the £-pound, drive on the left, etc. After leaving Belgium and entering the Netherlands, I drove through a town (Baarle-Hertog) that has no idea what country it's in. The picture shows a labyrinth arrangement of little sections of this town, each either in Belgium or Netherlands, even though the town itself is well within the Netherlands borders. Gas is the highest I've seen yet - €1.60 per liter at one place (that's $6.81 US per gallon!). The typical price for regular has been around €1.28/liter ($5.45/gallon). It's cooler here, rain at night with clouds & some sun during the day.

I have been resting for a couple of days at Dicky & Chrissy's house, which is the yellow star west of London in the satellite pictures. Having accepted the invitation from Dicky to come & visit, I am once again experiencing new places from a real-live setting as a guest instead of a tourist. I am once again eating well and living comfortably but I will be leaving tomorrow to continue the voyage. The picture shows Chrissy with the gaggle of dogs here - 4 of their dogs, a border and the 6 cavapoochon puppies - there are two black pups at Chrissy's knees. They make quite a bit of noise when they get going!

Ireland in good weather! Perfect riding temps with clear skies and sun - ideal. So as I get stopped by cops for a routine traveler check near Killarney, I of course respond with my trip plans. He never did ask for ID, but said "so you are headed to The Ring of Kerry?" Never having heard of this I looked it up and saw that only a few miles away was one of the world's nice rides! Others I know of would include Blue Ridge Parkway, Pacific Coast highway, Nova Scotia's Cabot Trail, Natchez Trace, Alcan Highway, Tasmania's Great Eastern Drive, etc. & all of these I have done, so of course I change my non-existant plans and do this thing, particularly since the skies are so favorable. And it took me here to the blue dot...

By the way, the star in France is Roberto's house, the two in England are the ferry and Dicky's house.

Northern Ireland! Imagine my surprise when I wake up in Scotland and find blue skies and sunshine - warm! This has continued into Northern Ireland, where it was awesome riding today (after taking the BFB over here) and a now a beautiful evening at the blue dot. People here are great and it is of course beautiful. Traveling is really all it's cracked up to be - to awaken in places you have heard about all your life & pack up and go find another.

Scotland! Finally got my tire and made it here. It sure is pretty; much the same as northern England, only bigger! And, it rained on the ride for a while afterward... It's been raining some, but at night while in the tent - no problem at all.  Not going to northern Scotland, and staying out of Glasgow & Edinburgh means I'll ride up the middle and down the west coast, where the ferry for Northern Ireland departs. So I'm coming up on Scotland and stop to check the road sign and its implications for finding the little road I was looking for. There are some strange town names around here, for sure...

Mix-up at Honda dealer means the new "tyre" won't be in until tomorrow so I am in a place called "Lake District National Park" north of Lancaster (called "The Lakes" here), where I can return for the tire in the morning. This is an awesome place & ranks as one of the prettiest I've seen. A great joy to ride through, if a bit twisty for my tastes. The "siderails" are stone, with no space whatever - don't want to miss a curve here!  A small delay is welcome in this case! Overall, the farther north I go the better England gets. Yesterday the trains came by near the campground, but they just "whished" right on by with almost no sound whatever! An iery sound indeed; electric trains with none of that nasty train whistle stuff - plus, smooth tracks so no rumbling or clacking. A strange experience for one used to noisy North American behemoths.

Well, England... I am surprised by the differences here, particularly in driving. I had to look up default speed limits online since they are not posted, only the deviations to them. OK, there are a lot of roundabouts, but quite a few have traffic lights, too! There are cameras, but everybody speeds. When in Canada, I have to mentally convert KM to miles on the Harley MPH meter. Here, it is the other way around - but I just looked in the Honda manual & tomorrow I will change the settings! And the wind continues - must be bad even for here since the Carriageway (not highway, mind you) even slowed down the default speed electronically with a warning about the wind. Went into Wales for a while today, real pretty. The picture is from last night, where I was right in the middle. North of Liverpool tonight (top yellow star) - still staying out of cities!

England! Last couple days have been horrendous for wind coming off the Atlantic - steady 45 kmh w/gusts to I guess 90 kmh. I was on my way to Calais and the ferry to the UK. Seems better this morning. I discovered that some things are as they say; the White Cliffs of Dover are just that! So now I am driving on the left again (does take some getting used to at first). I have alway answered the question "where around going?' with "wherever it's not raining". But now, I am purposefully heading into cold & wet. Oh, well...

As I entered the Fougères region, I saw the sign "1,000 years of history in Fougères". Makes the "Founded in 1815" signs seem a little whimpy. However, this being a riding trip and not an architectural discovery tour, I rode right on by. It was a nice day for riding with a bright sun, even if it was a little cool. Woke up in a campground in Bayeux, a little town in Normandy which I later learned is not far from the epicenter of the D-day beach landings. Saw a lot of commotion in the campground the night before, with British military jeeps parading around. As you can now guess, I had no clue about where I was! Turns out today is the official holiday & everything was closed. This being a riding trip, I packed up and moved on!

I found some truly original folks today - gypsies living as nomads! Actually descendants of Django Reinhardt! Called "Tsiganes" here, there are still many musicians among them. However, I was the only one today since the one family member who plays was not present. Quite an experience, as they were camped along the road, with the horse whose task it is to pull the wagon, near an intersection (I simply set up with them). The police did come by to chat, but it was friendly as their stay was already known and all they wanted to know was how long they had planned on staying at this location. Traveling as I do in order to meet people of all kinds all over the world, this was truly remarkable & goes down as an unforgettable experience. As an added bonus for me (and they said, them) my music was well received and much appreciated. As a traveling minstrel, I found kinship here. However, I must say that I am not quite prepared to join such a lifestyle - yet!

Didn't get far today - lost in 2 separate towns. I had to get another blue gas bottle so I went out of my way to go to a Decathlon sporting goods store. A road closure sent me out of my way some more & in Saintes, I encountered this really old place (middle of old town, little tiny streets) which I later discovered is called "L'Amphithéâtre gallo-romain". Amazing what you can bump into around here - one tends to forget just how old this place really is.
On another topic, my American family will be surprised I actually found food I wouldn't eat; I decided not to eat this particular can of food I bought in Spain. Looked good on the picture and I like the spicy Spanish food. However, after trying it I decided I didn't like it much and looked it up. "Callos a la madrileña" is actually tripe (cow stomach!) & since I don't eat beef anyway, it went uneaten after all - but mostly because I didn't like it much...

I am back in France now (west coast, tonight near Bordeaux). No picture today...you know, the ocean looks the same everywhere and I'm sure you don't want to see the Honda again. However, it's what I don't see that's odd; no motels on the highways! It rained last night & this morning and I thought, what happens if I need to get a motel? There were none in Spain (only hotels in town) and even in France there are a few motels but again only in towns. They just didn't get the "let's scatter ugly buildings all along the highways" bug. It all like that stretch of I-75 up north where there is nothing for miles - only here it's like that everywhere. But then, I'm sure the hotels in towns are doing well.

Another 2-lane blacktop, again in Spain now. This picture juxtaposes old & new - a 17th century farmhouse near Castrodeza with its new neighbors, the modern wiņdfarm. Houses here are stone or brick only, but the new barn is not. Nice road, too! I have been spoiled with the southern warm/dry weather, as I discovered upon ariving at the Bay of Biscay - to colder & wetter.

The choice between highway & country roads in Spain and Portugal is a choice of mountains or somewhat flatter with tunels. So I can choose looking around or clinging to the road by focusing on the center line (if I look up, I'll fall off the road as it curves again). Both countries have done a tremendous job in setting up the highway/byway networks that didn't exist here a few decades ago - Bravo! Yesterday was a really long awesome ride through the twisties south of Badajoz, Spain. Every once in a while I get to see something like this - coming up on Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal...

"An adventure is a disaster that didn't happen"   me, circa 1980 or so

And that was how today went for one reason only - wind!! I am guessing the gusts were around 100 kmh near Tarifa, the little village that is the most southern point of Spain. I went there thinking; well, couldn't get a good picture of the African coast from Gibraltar because of the wind (hell, you can barely see the boats!) so I'll go there. Almost fell over a couple times (at stops & slow corners) and was blown out of my lane a few times on the road. But hey, I made it! Couldn't very well put up a tent in that wind, could I? So now I am in a little country campground just west of Seville. Now south of there, after the winds calmed somewhat, I saw that this was a farming area which looked remarkably like north/central Iowa - with lots of wheat & corn and an amazing number of giant sunflower fields nestled in the hills. This time, 2-lane blacktop even felt like Iowa riding! Speaking of which, Granada was just another big city with snarled traffic - that does it, I'm staying out of cities. 

I promised I wouldn't post the usual European pictures so there will be fewer; here is one that caught my attention - villages on mountains (near Gandia). These all have ocean view; I had just left the campground across the road, which was actually on the shore. There are a lot of these towns, some higher & steeper. Roberto said that southern Spain looks a lot like the Texas desert & he was right - a little greener perhaps, but the same reddish hills with dry river beds. Still adjusting between highways and villages but both are quite nice. I'm not going anywhere near Madrid but rather will be riding through Granada tomorrow.

OK, I am in Spain now. And what happens? - I meet a couple Brits, Brian & Dicky and they're good guys 'cause they like my music. Made me stay another day, they did. Got to ride around this Barcelona area as a result and it's real nice here.