Getting There From Vail To Castelnaud

 Let the fun begin. It seems like the preparation is endless but knowing the rewards to come we collect our checklists, and checklists to keep track of the growing number of lists. Constantly adding and subtracting and hoping what we need will find its way to France. If not, being a civilized country almost anything we need can be bought in the area, except for Crest Toothpaste which is only available in the US; go figure. 

Of all the essential stuff the bikes and accessories are of greatest importance. We bring our bikes and biking kits to insure that pleasant rides are assured. Second is the electronics (computers, cables, power adapters, etc.) which would be impossible to replace. We bring two computers to insure that we have a backup should the primary take a hike or just crap out. Besides communicating with the outside world all our biking routes are designed on the Ride With GPS site then downloaded to our Garmin biking computers to show us the way. Also along with us is our photo frame iPhone so we can watch the slide show when sipping the bubbly in the evening, and also our movie disk (~700 of our favorite films) should we not be able to access our various streaming services. Got to love technology.

Our Durango is loaded with the two bike boxes, three checked bags, and two carry on bags. We have scaled back over the years but replaced the non-essentials with nice to haves for our stay. A lot of that stuff will be used or left behind so the return load is a lot lighter. 

First flight is from Denver to Frankfort. This follows the drive from Vail to DIA. We gave ourselves plenty of time to accommodate the endless construction on I-70 - our tax dollars at work. First round of bubbly before takeoff but already in our traveling PJs preparing for the overnight flight. 

After our layover in FRA we boarded our flight to Toulouse in the southwest of France. Not this plane which was a favorite for all the kids milling around the terminal. 

After arriving at the airport we had a bit of panic as our bags arrived but bikes nowhere to be found. The first inquiry of the baggage agent indicated that they did not make it out of Frankfort but might be coming in a later flight - not good news should be have to return the next day to fetch them. After several radio calls to the baggage handlers the good news; they made it off the plane and were finding their way to the oversized baggage area. 

With all our stuff collected we walked to the hotel to fetch our rental car - a brand new Peugeot 5008 SUV. The last leg of our 24+ hour ordeal is a two hour drive to our final destination. With two GPS to show us the way we still got lost in the winding hill country roads arriving at the house around 8PM. Our AIRBNB hosts were anxiously waiting to unlock the door and give us a tour of our abode for the next five weeks. More to come on the details but the space and views exceeded our expectations.