Craig's blog

This morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel and then packed and caught a couple of taxis across town to the meeting spot with Backroads.  Our guide, Mercedes met us there and got us on the bus to the Pyrenees.  It was a 2 ½ hour ride.  We had a nice lunch at a very small restaurant, had our safety talks and started riding.  They five of us rode together under threatening skies.  We made it to the place where the kids have the opportunity to get in the shuttle (about 10 miles in) just after it started raining.  We all considered shuttling the rest of the way, but at the last minute all but Jessie decided to ride the last 5 miles, so we did.  We got very wet, but nobody got hurt (which is what I was most worried about).

We showered and dried out and then had a group meeting where all the Backroads families met each other.  Oddly, two families were from Massachusetts and two were from California.  The two from Mass live only a few miles from each other (but don’t know each other).  And then Diane & Jim from Portland.  The kids from the families range in age from 9 to 18 and our kids are right in the middle.

We walked to dinner in the little town we’re staying in (Llivia) and took over the little restaurant.  Oddly Llivia is in Spain but is completely surrounded by France.  Only Llivia remained Spanish when the French conquered this region a couple of centuries ago.

Sunset today was at 9:33 PM although it still wasn’t dark at 10:15!