Vantastic Voyage

There is much to be thankful for this year, the most recent being that we made it safely across southern France and into Basque country by Christmas eve to meet our friend Ana and her family. We drove over 400 miles from Gabian, France to Bilbao, Spain without using highways and hitting many small towns and roundabouts along the way in order to avoid paying the highway tolls. We suddenly found ourselves without brakes not 50 miles into our drive. What felt like a flat tire turned into a loss of both our regular and emergency brakes while driving on a smooth road at our max cruising speed of 56 mph. We drove throughout the day and night and pushed all the way through to our destination so we could avoid encountering vehicles and traffic during hours of normal human activity. The manual transmission was difficult to manage at times trying to stay safe, make decent time and cross the Pyrenees mountains, but 17 hours later (12 driving) we made it!

Last week we were driving down the east coast of France bound for Barcelona when I received a message from my french buddy Remi, whom I met in Patagonia last January. We found out that we had just driven past his home not hours before on the road. He and his girlfriend Clementine, who just returned from their year traveling throughout South America were available for the weekend and we gladly backtracked to visit them. I had been talking with Remi since February and though I knew he lived in southern France, I never knew where, so the timing was pretty damn close to perfect. We spent a few very nice days with them and Remi’s family. They live in Gabian, in the heart of a very famous wine producing area in France and have a vineyard and winery of their own (Domaine de Cadables). Clementine and Remi’s mother made some amazing homemade cuisine. Wild boar, crepes, meats, cheeses and apple turnover were some of the highlights. They live in some beautiful country, make great wine and live simply. They were very warm and we felt right at home.

We made a wreath (90% Ratha), ate lunch with Remi’s brother Benoit and sister in law Elise in a house that’s over 1,000 years old, did some 4X4 driving, hiking and touring the local area with them. They were great tour guides! Remi turned us lose in their residence for the few days we were there, took us to a couple of local watering holes, and even to a birthday party for someone he didn’t know. Remi’s father Bernard, the wine maker of Cadables, needs help in September for their harvest and something we will consider as we move throughout Europe. It was surreal seeing Remi and Clementine after speaking about our families vineyards and wine making a year ago. They are great people and are fortunate to have met them in South America.

Our original plan was to continue down the east coast of Spain and use some of my hotel points I accumulated the past few years while traveling abroad for work. Two days before we left Remi’s place I heard back from another friend Ana, whom I met in Bolivia last February. She has been all over the world the last 2.5 years and had not been back one week when I heard from her. She invited us to spend Christmas and New Years with her and her family. We happily accepted the invitation and had a handful of meals with them at their house. We delivered the wreath we made at Remi’s for a Christmas gift and were happy to see it hung from their door the very next day. They had not decorated their home or put up a tree in 4 years, so we were happy to bring some homemade, organic Christmas decor their way. Her family is very sweet and her dad has an amazingly hilarious laugh. Once they found out how tickled Ratha became, her dad kept his jokes coming as did Ratha’s uncontrollable grin.

We were very lucky with the weather here as this time of the year, clouds, heavy rain and winds are typical. We have had sunshine and Ana took us to some beautiful places around the coast including a few good walking trails. She generously offered us her friends entire apartment while she was out of town for vacation. It made things very easy and comfortable and in a great location. We managed to prepare a meal for their family (butternut squash chicken curry over couscous) which turned out damn good if you asked me. Ana has been a great tour guide, friend and very giving in her time. She is quite a popular woman in town and seemed to know everyone here. Her positive energy and spirit lit up her friends and we got to spend time with them. We were able to enjoy the food and drinking culture here and at less than 2 Euro for a glass of wine at any bar, it was an affordable luxury for us.

 Ana connected us with a mechanic through her contacts after trying in the previous 2 days to help us find a shop that would work on our van. We spent half the day diagnosing, waiting for him to return with parts and putting things back together. It was a good learning experience and I got to disassemble and reassemble drum brakes. The problem was an O ring had busted and all the brake fluid had drained into the brakes. The pads in the wheel were completely shattered and covered in fluid. With some calling and driving around, our new friend Carlos seemed to find the only pair of drum brakes within a 30 minute drive. He also had some loose hardware lying around that enabled us to put a fix on the inside handle for the sliding door. The damn thing was broken when we got Mac and it would fall off every 3 door closes or so. A friend discount and a nostalgic feeling from Carlos, as he remembered his time spent traveling in a van, set us back 150 Euros, including a hands on education. We worked together in English and Spanish to solve the problems and it was quite fun. We were told it would have cost 400-500 Euro in a shop. He took care of this quickly for us though he had other projects ahead of ours. We appreciated it big time.

 Recovering today after dancing in the street and bars until 7:00am with the lively Basque crowd. Our intermission was a big dinner with Ana’s family which included eating 12 grapes for the last 12 seconds of 2015.

We are planning to get to the port in the next week to head to Morocco, with possible stops in Madrid and Seville. Looking forward to 2016!