Day 35 - Nakusp, B.C., Canada

Packed the bikes at 06:00 and were over at Angelina's for breakfast at 06:35. Couldn't pass it up, neither could Rosie and Jim.

We were on the road to Hope at 07:35. From Hope Jim and Rosie headed up to Kamloops and I headed East for Naksup. It was a 400 mile day of mountain roads, but what beauty plus twisties. Have to admit that by the end of the day they did get a bit old. The highlight was the ferry from Needles to Fauquier, all ten minutes of it.

There was a real range of temperatures today. Low of 68 starting out and the 93 degrees heading through Kelowna. It's a very long city and there must have been twenty or thirty stoplights, and a lot of truck traffic.

Got to Nakusp at 16:30, ninety minutes earlier than I'd expected. Must admit that I had some fun on the twisties.

Day 34 - New Westminster, B.C., Canada

We're taking a rest day in New Westminster, B.C. to partially deal with jet lag, ie, changed nine time zones yesterday.

Enjoyed breakfast again at Angelina's Pannekoeken Restaurant. Good as ever.

Day 33 - New Westminster, B.C., Canada

Today as we departed Paris it was yet another blue sky day.

Sara flew back home via her favorite airline, Iceland Air and I along with Jim and Rosie flew to YVR (Vancouver, B.C. for our non airline friends. We were on Air Transat with our bikes. It was a remote load, ie off busses, so I was able to ask one of the ramp guys if the motos had been loaded. He gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. A relief.

Only a 9 1/2 hour flight, short compared to 15 to 17 hour flights to Asia, with us actually arriving nearly one hour early. Must not have encountered an high westerly headwinds.

Waited at Swissport, the cargo handler, for about an hour for the bikes to show up. Then walked about 1/4 mile to the Canadian Customs Office to have the bikes cleared to Swissport could release them to us. No damage and the cargo guys helped us unstrap them from the pallets.

A twenty-five minute ride, in rush hour traffic, to the Met Hotel in New Westminster, B.C. We stayed at the Met on our way 'out of town' a month ago so felt right at home. After a quick shower we were off to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Must admit that the lasagna wasn't as good as the lasagna we had in Hamburg.

We'll take a rest day tomorrow, here in New Westminster to adjust somewhat to the 9 hour time change. We know full well that we'll wake up at 3AM regardless of what we do.

Day 32 - Paris,France

Another rest day in Paris and the rain of yesterday has passed. Woke up to blue sky day.

Mary Ellen took us on a walk that she does that deals with WWII and the French Resistance.

Day 31 - Paris, France

Here we are in Paris and actually enjoying a rainy day. Maybe it's the fact that today we don't have to ride in the rain. And the bikes are safely tucked away with the freight forwarder and ready to fly with us on Monday.

We walked over to Mary Ellen's for dinner. Jose must have spent the better part of the day getting everything ready. Typical French dinner, started at 19:00 and finished at 23:30.

We were joined by Sylvie Villard and Patrick Lailliau. When they were in the States two years ago we took Mary Ellen and Sylvie to a hike to the top of Mt. Rose. Patrick was under the weather so didn't do the Mt. Rose hike.  We're trying to get them to come back to Reno and we'll do another Mt. Whitney backpacking Adventure.

Day 30 - Paris, France

Our luck with the weather ran out today. We departed Caen, in the rain, at 07:00 for a  149 mile ride to Paris and the Ibis Paris Gare de Lyon Reuilly. Jean Loup, the day manager, knows us from previous visits, so let us park the bikes in the garage to shuffle luggage before taking them to the airport (CDG) to be turned in for processing. I have to admit that riding fort 2 1/2 hours in rain, heavy at times, is not much fun. Especially on a freeway with traffic.

Jim and I got to the freight forwarder at 11:00. He didn't expect us until tomorrow so we dropped off our paperwork and were told to come back at 14:00. Fair enough, so we found a restaurant a mile or two away and had a long lunch. Got back at 14:00 and at 14:30 a guy lead us to the warehouse where they'd put the bikes on a pallet etc. and clear them through French Customs. It took until 16:00 to finish the process and the thirty minutes waiting for taxi to take us to our hotel in downtown Paris. We were back at the hotel at 16:50. Everything was done in a professional manner but slowly.

Monday Sara will fly to Reno and I'll fly to Vancouver, with Jim and Rosie. The bikes will be on our plane. So, three days in Paris to visit friends and sight see. After all the days on the road a day or two of doing not much of anything looks pretty good.

Day 29 - Caen, France

Today we slept in and had a lazy breakfast before heading over to tour the Normandy Beaches. Sobering is the best word to describe what happened here. What a generation. This is our third visit here and it's still an emotional experience.

Tomorrow we're off to Paris and after lunch have to drop off the bikes at the airport for clearance by French Customs. Fingers crossed.