Munchen and the End

August 25, 2009 (Connor's 22nd Birthday!)

Just woke up in Orleans. We arrived here around 1PM yesterday. The ride from Tours on Sunday was probably the best weather we have had all trip. It felt like a crisp, fall day in the morning, and then Indian summer in the afternoon. About 20 clicks into the ride, I started seeing signs for the chateau at Cheverny. This is where the famous water lilly paintings were done by Degas. Having plenty of time to get to Orleans we took a detour. Once we got off the main road along the Loire River, the countryside got a lot more interesting. We got to Cheverny around 2PM and toured the chateau and the grounds. I would say the hilight for both of us was visiting the dog kennel. They keep about 50 French hounds for fox hunting. The smell was a little strong, but we are both missing our dogs at home, so we go nuts whenever we see any. It is kind of interesting that the chateau is privately owned. The family lives in the upper part of the right side of the chateau. The husband and wife were married there in 1994 and they have three children. I cannot believe the tourist money does any more than defray some of the operating costs of the place. I would say he is more than "nuvoue riche"!
We biked on to just south of Chambord and camped. The next day we biked into Chambord. I imagine this is where they make Chambord liquor, which tastes like an alcoholic berry pancake syrup. The chateau there is beautiful, too. We took pictures of the outside but did not stop. Continued biking to Orleans and arrived around 1PM. It is a beautiful city. I am not sure how big it is, but it has an interesting tram system. Very few cars in the city. The statue of Joan of Arc is right in the middle of the city.
We hop on our train to Paris in an hour and then catch the TGV to Munchen, where we will arrive at around 9PM. I found a place called Tent City about 6 clicks from the train station where we can camp. It looks like a huge outdoor hostel. It should be interesting.

This brings the biking portion of the trip to an end. Biked over 2,000 clicks. I just broke another spoke yesterday for a grand total of 5 broken spokes, two flats, one destroyed rear derailleur, and one destroyed chain. Jordan had no flats and no broken spokes. The only work I had to do on her bike was minor adjustments after she would crash. It is ironic that the only serioius bike mechanic problems (derailleur) happened on the very first day of biking. One other bike maintenance task I did on the Italian Riviera was rotate my front and back tires. The back was getting pretty worn, which is normal since most of the weight is on it. All in all, pretty lucky in this regard.

Some pratical tips... Three pieces of equipment were crucial. The GPS (Garmin with Europe chip) was fantastic once I got the hang of it. About the only time it had serious problems was when you were in cities that had confusing roads. It would sometimes lead you in circles. In those cases, I would hit the out button to see a wider area on the screen, and then just bike in the general direction I wanted to go. The GPS came in very handy when choosing campgrounds. We used it to see where the closest restaurants or grocery stores were in relation to available campsites. I am looking forward to future versions which access the web and let you actually see more information about the sites in question. We would often use the GPS in conjunction with the next crucial piece of equipment to make our choices...
The netbook computer, although we could have done the trip without it, was a great piece of equipment to have. As mentioned previously, we would use it to check on ratings of hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, train schedules. But one of the best aspects of having it was the ability to communicate with people back home. We met a lot of interesting people on this trip, but there were some lonely points, too. It was always a high point of the day to find free WiFi (usually at McDonalds) and get on-line. It obviously was necessary to keep the blog updated in pretty much real time. I ended up getting the Dell Mini, refurbished, for about $260 (based on a recommendation by Chuck Shull, who really researches his purchases!). I also purchased a "sleeve" for it and a plastic case designed for bathing supplies (from The Container Store) to insure that I kept it dry. It was always in my handlebar bag.
The last crucial piece of equipment was our lowly cargo net begs from LL Bean. I originally decided to get these because we were only allowed two pieces of checked luggage per person on the plane. Our bikes were one of these, so I needed something strong and light-weight to carry our bike bags, tent, sleeping bag, etc. The cargo net bags were perfect. What I did not count on was how handy they were when we started travelling by train or checking into hotels. Most of the trains make you remove all panniers from the bike and then hang it vertically from the front tire. Since the amount of time you have to board a train is very short in most cases, unloading all our gear from our bikes and putting it in our cargo bags made entry and exit from trains much easier.

Another thing I highly recommend is hooking up with any friends you can while travelling. The second day of the trip, we had dinner with Ben Gifford and his mom, Klaudia Shaw. We had a great time seeing familiar faces in England. Next, we spent several great days in Paris at Paul and Danielle Zilk's home. It was great being joined there by Rob and Cheryl Crim and their kids, Haley and Jack. Lastly, we rolled into Lugano, Switzerland after rough biking in the Bavarian Alps and squatted for a full week with Vic Rush and his boys, Jordy and Keenan.
But the big thing we learned is the same thing Dorothy learned in the Wizard of Oz... There is no place like home! Barb, Connor, and Donna Madlener are meeting us in Munchen in a few days for a tour of eastern Europe. I wish Ian could have made it, too, but he is going to spend this time on Hilton Head watching Aslan, Wrigley, and Hallie. We are really excited to see them. Then it is back to the good old US of A! I may post some more on this blog of the eastern bloc portion of the trip, or I may not.

Au Revoir, Arrevederchi, Auf Wiedersehen, So 'long, Good Bye!
Jordan and Mark