Happy Birthday, and congratulations on catching up with me at 76, at least for about 2 months anyway. I can well associate with your sickness, as I am also recovering from a faucet nose and ugly cough. Stay warm!

Happy Birthday Scott, and welcome home both of you! Looking forward to reading that final wrap-up, and maybe some tiny hints as to the next tour?

Five stars to Suzanne and Janos 🧳 🧳

I'm confident you will soon bounce back to your real age of 36.

Thanks, Lucky Lellman. I am feeling better if not quite whole yet. Being sick does make you feel old though - for a day or two there it felt like I was76!

Happy Birthday, Scott!!

I'm sorry you got sick, am happy you are recovering and happy you found someone with upper body strength to pull that sucker out . We have never had that much trouble and our pedals always come off easily. Maybe we aren't peddling hard enough. I'm sorry I'm not there in Portland to greet you and to have coffee with you but today we had the best coffee of our tour and we dedicated it to you.

I'm so happy you two did a nine-month tour safely! You guys are amazing.

Happy Birthday! I hope you are up to celebrating after the long flight. I hope it wasn't too arduous and that you are both feeling ok, except for the invitable jet lag.

Get rested and then tell us how it feels to be back home after that long absence.

The seat post on mine was stuck very firmly in the mast, but the mast itself came free of the frame without a problem so I could take it up to my preferred shop for separation. The post is now well greased, after a thorough scrub with steel wool. I also scrubbed the inside of the mast before reassembly.

Looks incredible! Nice work, Scott!

Thanks so much for following along again, Carolyn. It’s been an exceptional experience for both of us, one that worked out far better than we could reasonably have hoped for. A few days of sickness and a few minor mechanicals are a small price for these nine wonderful months.

There will be a recap coming once we get back and caught up, but I think the short answer is that it bordered on being too long for being constantly on the move. It’s not like we’re all that anxious to go back to rainy Portland or our unhappy country right now, but we’re ready to stay put somewhere for awhile. If we could we’d probably head off to someplace like Valencia and get an apartment for a month but Schengen has other plans for us.

And yes, barring unwelcome surprises there will be another tour. We’re not talking yet, but we’ve already bought our flight for next spring. I’m not sure yet if I’ll keep a journal of our activities between now and then, but stranger things have happened.

It was a great relief when they arrived, alright. We’d discussed this in the past but then set it aside when we thought we had our solution. It seemed easier than imposing on them to ship them down.

And thanks for the comment about the villages. They were amazing - so distinctive from each other and from different perspectives. I really leave here wanting to return and explore the other villages tucked into this country, and to spend time walking through them. We should just come back and spend a month in the region.

What an amazing tour it's been and what a wonderful time it's been catching up with it every day. I will sorely miss it. Hopefully it won't be too long before the beginning of the next one. Was this tour too long, not long enough? Did you continue to set off every morning with a shot of excitement or did that wear off somewhat. Hope you've recovered for the long haul back Scott. And good news about the suitcase. So many stars have aligned on this trip! The two of you are amazing!

I was very happy to read about the Suzanne/Janos solution. It's so great when people can help each other out.

By the way, the photos of the villages around Vence were outstanding, all of them!

Fish and chips? Sete and Hyeres seem like long ago, but the UK could be in the last century. It’s amazing how travel distorts time, isn’t it?

Thanks for following along, Graham! I’ve appreciated your input.

I guess you're about ready to return home. It's been quite an adventure. Having fish and chips in the UK must seem like a long time ago already.