I’m rolling along…well really hauling ass on the train to Grenoble. I'm on the high speed train from Paris to Grenoble. It’s raining hard. The landscape is rolling countryside with these beautiful old farms. There are groves of trees and I saw my first vineyard. I think I read somewhere that the French are supposed to really be into wine. Then I saw lots of white cows in the pastures and I remembered they were into dairy products as well…cheese or kefir. I can’t remember which.

The trip so far has been uneventful. The flight from Salt Lake to Paris was without delay. I had brought my own food and gin so I was self-sufficient. I had an exit row seat and had plenty of legroom. The woman sitting next to me was in her early 20’s and wasn’t talkative at all. That plus the fact that she had a normal BMI made her pleasant to sit next to. It took about 10 ½ hours from gate to gate. We got in early, which was nice. It gave me a little time to figure out the train situation and have a bite to eat.

The trains were easy other than lugging the bike box around. When your sleep deprived and hungry, i.e. irritable, it seems like a major pain in the ass. I had 14 minutes to change trains in Lyon and I stopped to ask someone (in fluent pig French) how to find my connecting train. He told me and I was off. Halfway there I had this sense that something wasn’t right. What wasn’t right was that I had left my suitcase on the platform. So with bike box in tow I ran back to the platform to retrieve the bag. It looked so sad sitting there it's handle extended begging someone to grab it. An empty platform all alone. There was only 14 minutes for me to change trains so I was in panic mode. This is why at my age I should be traveling with a nurse.

After the train came the bus ride. The bus dropped me off in front of a small hotel in the town of Le Freney d’Oisan in the heart of the French Alps. I prayed that it was where I was going to be staying. It wasn’t. So I dragged all my gear 3 blocks down the road to the Hotel Cassini and sat down in front of the establishment and demanded food and drink. They knew the bus schedule and in anticipation of my arrival had a 5 course meal waiting to be served. Twenty hours later I'm satisfied.

Le Freney is in this valley.