31 August '05, Wednesday.
This is the first time we have been able to communicate with you since my computer gave up. We have had to go out and purchase a new one. We debated for quite awhile before finally making up our mind wheather we really wanted to make a major purchase like this or not. It really is amazing to see just how the price of the computers have come down and with that the more power and accessories that you get. Unfortunately, the big problem with this whole thing is we have had to buy this in France. Not that buying anything in France is a bad thing, it's just that with a laptop computer EVERYTHING is in French... The keyboard is the first noticable thing, as just about all of the keys are different or have a different meaning. Then comes the basic usage areas of the computer, such as the "START" button..it says "démarrer" instead. Then it is all the rest of the catagories that sit above the start button, from programs on. Another interesting thing that I hadn't thought about was the "Spell Check". As you might assume, I can't write a word with out it underlined in red (for a misspelled word). And then, you will just have to put up with all the misspelled words I will be writing because I'm not going to the dictonary everytime I feel I might have misspelled a word...sorry. After all the conversations that Louise and I had prior to finalizing on this purchase, like do we go back to England or maybe The Netherlands to get an "English" keyboard and etc... We are going to continue as best as we can, and ask for your understanding.

24-27 August '05
The sun is out bright, the wind is slight, a gentle surf, perfect sand... Yes, we have been putting this off too long. We are located right on the beach and within an easy walk to some beach type restaurants, stores, etc. At the campground we have a beautiful swimming pool, restaurant, bakery, wine shop, and a whole lot more. In the evening we even have a different entertainer that comes in and produces a good show for everyone. Right now, we are geting spoiled and loving it...

Yesterday as we were passing through the southern side of the Pyrenees, the weather cleared up and openedf the skies to a beautiful blue. The whole terrain has changed as well. It is kind of like going through a mix of Az and Mexico. Thre are things that wake us up to the fct we are still in Europe, and the Villa Franch de Confluent is one. We were traveling a little road that as I had mentioned may times before, was testing my ability to handle curves, and all this was inside of a long passageway between one mountain and another. I thought we would be doing this all the way to the Med. All of a sudden,we were comiong around a corner and sitting i front of us was this huge medieval fortress...Villa Franche de Confluent. It was a walled town that was even today as it was centuries ago. Yes, the products sold there and the people buying and visiting we much different, but there wasn't much other change. We walked the narrow streets and walkways for about 2 hours and enjoyed this opportunity very much. Back on the road again, we finally pulled into Perpignan and then turned and headed up the coast to find that perfect campground right on the water of the Mediteranean. Finding our spot, we have settled in for a few days...Saint Maries del Mer

22 August '05, Monday
Can it be true that everyone in France and Spain head for Andorra on Mondays??? It has to be true. When we left our campground this morning the weather looked a little overcast, but that didn't disturb us one iota. We were in to seeing one more "Principality" and Andorra we were going to see. The roads didn't disappoint us, as they were one switchback after another just as we had anticipated. one thing we did't anticipate was that Andorra was the destination for half of France and Spain. We hadn't but made it halfway up the mountain and the traffic got so bogged down it came to a total stop. From that point on we would go a car length or two and then stop again and again. The handwriting was on the wall...if we continued doing this, we would be over heating very soon and overheating was something we diffently didn't want. So, on the narrow road, on a curve, traffic stopped (going up hill annyway), we made a decision...we go back down and go all the way around the mountain and come in fromn the other side. So down the mountain we went, found the road to Barcelona, went through a very long tunnel, paid the toll of $10.20, and made it around to the otherside. All this took us about another hour and a half, but we thought it would be worth it. Now we headed off to find the road from the otherside. Finding the right road was no trouble. This time up it wasn't near as twisting or as steep. But on the other hand, there were many more heavy trucks and just about as much other traffic. We stayed with it though and finally made it at Saint Julia, Andorra, which was about 6 km away from our determined distination. In finally getting there and seeing what we had in front of us, we looked at each other and said "we've been and we've seen, let's get the heck out of here"...
Back down to Pugcerda and from there onto Perpignan and the Mediterranean.

21 August '05, Sunday.
After some early morning "last minute" shopping in Lourdes, we headed out. We had tried to get some gas (petrol), but all we could find in Loiurdes was those stations that use credit cards only...ours doesn't work for gas only. It could have been a problem, but fortuntely we still had half a tank and that will get us as far as we need. We have decided to visit a "Principality"...Andorra. Hell, I had no idea where it was until this morning. I think it is Andora that follows the host nation on the opening parade of the Olympic Games. Our route takes us east to Foix, France from Lourdes and then turns south for about 50 miles to Andorra la Vella. About 3 this afternoon, we decided that we had traveled enough, so we found ourselves a campground for the night. We are located in a very remote area of the Pyrenees with a small river at our door. The mountains go straight up from here and there is a small village hanging onto the hill above us. Tonight we are going to barbecue a felet magnon of pork, and compliment that with a 4 cheese ravioli and wine fof choise...man do we eat good, and I'm beginning to show it. The further we get away from Paris and deeper into France, we see more and more vehicles pulled to the side of the road for the "French Potty Break". Now some are very discreet, and then there are most of the others. Louise told me this afternoon that "apparently that man knows us because he is "waving" at us"...It wasn't too much further and we had the pleasure of 2 ladies who just hd to stop...bare butt and all... Don't they know they have roadside stops that provide potties? It is amusing, and it makes uis even more curious about what we may find once we get bck to the states and travel the roads there. Tommorrow's drive will be interesting. Normally when Louise is reading a map, the map shows the road to be straight with maybe a curve here and there, even when we are winding all over the place. Well, for the trip to morrow we may be in for a winding and twisting road trip from what we have never seen before...the map shows nothing but hairpin curves and almost straight up to the 7100 foot elevation to get into Andorra. My job driving will be tested and I can just hear Louise being "very silent" as we negociate the narrow roads with all the curves.

20 August '05, Saturday.
i am very proud to say that today is our 45th Wedding Anniversary, and we will be spending it together in the back of a 1985 VW Van. All this and we are in the French Pyreness...it can't get any better!!! To test out our new ride (new tires), we drove up into the Pyrenees to see what was at the end of route N27. The day started out partly cloudy with the possibility of rain, but it was perfect for what we wanted to do. Our destination was a little village at the end of a valley deep in the mountains called Cauterets. Louise had heard and read somne interesting things about this village. As a lot of our drives, it was a winding and twisting roadway all heading up and up. There were timnes where the road was very narrow...so marrow that I would have had to stop if another car had been coming at us. The outside curb was a rock wall about a foot tall that you wouldn't want to bump. As you made your way up the mountainside, you did so very carefully. As you might imagine it was a little white knuckle and absolutely beautiful. Cauterets is a "quaint" French village that is nestled at the convergence of 3 mountains. All th area around is a natural hiking, climbing, skiing,and biking habitat. It is also known for the hot springs that abound in the area. unfortunately, we didn't take the opportunity to enjoy them this trip. All the buildings of the village were beautifully old and of course, up hill...our walks never seemed to go downhill.. Seeing as how we were in the mountains and it was cool, we decided to find a restaurant that served the best Onion Soup...we found it...wonderful soup, baguette, and a carafe of wine... Oh yes, we found it !!!

19 August '05, Friday.
We've stayed in Lourdes but found a new campground. This one is much smaller and further outside of town. Unfortunately, it is a long walk into town and the grotto. I am still fighting the stalling problem with "Bumble Bee", so I took the carburetor apart again just to see if I had missed something. i did find a "jet' that I hadn't found befoe and that has helped a little ...still isn't perfect, but close... WE tried to find a garage again, but they are still telling us they don't have time to look for us... They would however change our oil and filter and sell us $380.00 in tires... Oh well, it will all work out. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but Lourdes is located right in the foot hills of the Pyrenees Mountains. The Pyrenees seem to be a little smaller than the Cascades, but I know that they are much deeper and divide France from Spain. Lourdes is a year around area for the pilgrimage and they have about 5 million visitors a year to this area. I did't mention earlier that at the base of the Basilica is a spring that was found just after the first vision of the Virgin. This spring is still running forth and has had many ""healings" of the "faithful" and the ill. Inside the Basilica of the Rosary, we saw some of the most incredible mosaics of the Virgin and other saints. There is no doubt, this Basilica made a stunning impression on me, and others around me. Candles...they are sold at vending machines all around the grotto, sold in every store, campground, and...amazing.. I must say, this was an amazing experience

18 August '05, Thursday.
W left _Pau first thing Thurday morning and headed for Lourdes. I know I should have stopped many times when we saw a service garage, buy "I" didn't, and now I'm in deep trouble with Louise... We are still fighting the stalling problem and now we can't find a cechanic that will take the time to even look at our problem. One thing I did do before we left Pau, was to take a look at the carburetor myself. I unloaded al the "stuff" we have in the back end and got my screwdrivers out. I was expecting to find a ton of "junk" in the bowl of the carburetor, but that wasn't the case. I did a little cleaning and blowing out of the jets, and then put it back together. It started up ok, but after it warmed up it just wouldn;t idle. Pissed, I put everything back into the back and said "let's go". I was hoping to find a mechanic here in Lourdes. When we pulled in here, we were overwhelmed with what we saw. On the road we saw a fw cars, caravans, and camper, but when we pulled into town...Geesss...You could hardly move towards town, and when we looked down into this huge field, we saw approximately 5-600 caravans and campers parked in this one open field. our first guess (and it proved to be right), was they must be "Gypsies". Actually, I think there was a mix of "campers" like us, and the "travelers" that filled this field. As we had the opportunity to see the rest of the town later, we saw that every little area where there could be a caravan or 12, there were "Travelers" living there, at least for a while... Electrical cords were strung to the telephone poles to just about every corner you could imagine. Cars and the "Gypsie" vans were goingin and out like it was a major highway. The young people were dressed to the hilt and were wondering the groiunds, the streets and the town throughout the day and late night. We found a campground right next door to this field and decided to stay at least one night. After setting up, we walked into the area of the La Grotte de Massabielle (The Grotto of the Virgin Mary, where the Virgin appeared to Bernadette in 1856. We were camped only about 300 yards away, so it was a short walk. This was the first of 2 walks to this area today/night. It's an amazing site... There were many church groups and individuals by themselves, that were on a pilgrimage to the Grotto. They had set up lines to go into the Grotto of the Virgin Mary and let me tell you, they weren't short... It was also humbling to see all those in wheelchairs and hospital beds making their visit. We tood this opportunity to go into the Basilica of the Rosary and the Highter Basilica. Mass was being said throughout the entire complex including the basilicas most of the day and night. For some reason I wasn't expecting too much out of the town of Lourdes, but what a surprise ...The commercial areas right around the grotto was as you night expect. These stores were offering all the metals, books, p[ictures, and all else religious. As you walked further into the town, it changed to a more modern commercial outlet. After our usual visit to the TI and a few of the "shops", we wondered on back to "Bumble Bee". Our plans were to take in the candle lit procession of those on the pilgrimage at 9:30 tonight. In getting back to the campground, we met a fellow from Seattle that was backpacking for 3 months. He has had quite a story to tell... interesting... At 9:30 we excused ourselves and went to the procession. As we walked around the corner of the basilica, we were taken back by the sight of all the pilgrims coming down the "Boulevard de la Grotte" with candles in hands. We wandered around and I took pictures for a while and then we just had to find a curb to sit on for things to see and things to hear.

17 August '05
Today was a travel day...Cognac to Pau. We try to stay off the main highways and "Toll" roads, but in doing this our time on the road is extended (otherwise, we don't make any time...). We left Cognac about 10 this morning and didn't arrive in Pau until afte 5 this evening. As in the last few days traveling, we were still in the fields of wheat and corn for the first half of the day and then as the terrain changed to rolling hills, we were into the grape fields again. This time we were traveling through the "Burgundy" area. When we were in the "white" district, it was hard to see the grapes unless you were right there with them, but now that we are in the "red" you can see them quite easily. We did find a store to stop at to pick up our lunch just before one, but as we drove on we couldn't find an appropriate place to stop. Finally we passed a restaurant that was out in the "middle of no-where" and because it had a lot of trucks and cars out in front, we opted to stop there instead. Big mistake, it wasn't that theis was a bad restaurant, but it was that we both ordered salads and the lettuce wasn't washed well enough...sand... Back in "Bumble Bee" and on our way again. Oh yes, we are having a fuel problem again. "Bumble Bee" just will not idle. When we come to a stop...she quits...I start her and drive a little, comt to a stop light...she quits..We were told that it would happen again when we had her fixed last February and sure as heck... As we approached Pau this afternoon, we entered into a thunder and lighting storm, but now...just rain. Finding our capsite was a little challenging, but her we are for the night. We are hoping for sun in the morning.

16 August '05, Tuesday
We were a little lazy this morning wo we didn't get the ealier start we had hoped for. For some reason, neither one of us have spept all that well for a few days so we didn't get all-over ourselves for not getting up. Turning "Bumble Bee" back around we headed up to Montreuil-Bellay and then from there we were to head due south to Niort and then Cognac. In Montreuil-Bellay, we planned to make a stop to see our last chateaux in the Loir Valley. The Village of Montreuil-Bellay is very small, and the chateaux that sits above the river, is quite large. The Du Chateau de Montreuil-Bellay is privately owned. The owners use tha castle at least once a month for their personal use, but other times they have most of it open to the public. We enjoyed the tour, although it was only in French (we had our own cheet sheet). It was in the decor of its time and even though, there were personal pictures arouhd that made it more personal (even for us). We saw things like the "sweating room" (kind of like an early version of a sauna) a huge kitchen, drawing room, "Her" bedroom, music room, the fortified "ramparts" and fth formal gardens. The furniture was from the 17th centure and looked like new. After a bit to eat, we headed off to Cognac. We decided to make our first stop in Cognac at Hennessy, "le Coeur du Cognac". Did we make the right decision??? Oh Ya... I'l just let you know that we had a sample...and then...we as we arrived at the campground...they were there having a "Tasting"...Life is Good !!!!