Day 170 through 172

Square dancing through the French countryside and a cultural fall from grace.

The sad truth is that I now rate the habitability of a hotel based solely on the availability of a free WiFi connection.  I am currently "plugged in" at a Good Western in Lourdes, France.  While perhaps not the "Best" Western, it will do.  We find ourselves on the eve of a long holiday weekend and having favored the coast over the past several, we decided it was time to revisit the Midi-Pyrenees.  We have visited this area on one prior occasion, but it was really just as a whistle stop on our way back home from a long trip along the southwestern coast.  We were met with heart break on our last adventure here as the sole reason for the side trip was to cross over the Pyrenees on a route made famous, in my mind, by the Tour de France.  We were here a bit early in the season and the pass was closed due to the remaining snow of late spring.

The mountains are the focus of our trip this go round and we are here to do a little backcountry hiking with the little ones.  I imagine this will lead to my physical collapse when I have to carry our youngest down the mountain, but we will give it our best all the same.  We let our lady Garmin set our route which is usually a mistake.  She somehow finds a way to turn the shortest of trips into a 3 hour tour.  That being said, we had nowhere to be and found her meandering route quite pleasing to the eye.  Winding our way through the French countryside, we quickly shed ourselves of endless vineyards in favor of rolling hills of produce.  The most notable passage was the winding road leading through Condom, France.  With tears rolling down my face, I was insistent on my wife taking my photo humping the sign for Condom, but we never found the opportunity.  And yes, I am that juvenile.  I couldn't contain my laughter when I realized that one of the main crops being grown in the area are melons.  There are so many fruit stands that I imagine you can find yourself a nice set of melons almost anywhere in Condom.  I ended my stand up comedy hour by telling my wife that I was going to change my name to Richard Nathan Butz and move to Condom.  She seemed less than impressed with my crude sense of humor.

The sun soon set on our picturesque drive and the last hour or so ended up being a terrifying blur of hairpin turns in pitch blackness.  The rally driver blood running through my veins loved the first half hour or so, but in the end, the increased concentration required to keep our Renault starship between the ditches pushed me to the edge of exhaustion.  We are finally nestled into our bunks at the Good Western and I look forward to a weekend of outdoor adventure.  I will make the most of the extended period of internet access, so look for several other posts in the coming days.  The promise is that I should have a dedicated internet connection at home by the 23rd of this month.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Speak again soon.  R.