Wow, a great day!! What energy you have! Sorry about the duck. :)

What an epic day! We took that ride (by canoe back then) 25 years ago and still think back on how amazing it was to look up the cliffs at the castles. The idea of stopping along the way for a meal or exploration never occurred to us though.

Steve, you nailed it on the motivation for doing this. I'm also gaining appreciation for the discipline of writing every day, although it took me 3 weeks to finish the latest entry. I'm a slow learner and a slower writer. Thanks for the tip on data plans. I haven't dug into the forums yet, sounds like another great way to kill time ;)

You've zeroed in on my tendency to pile on Mike. Feeling good about passing on the cave tour.

Steve, clearly I need to spend more time in real French coffee shops to further my education in this regard. Adding this to my list of why we need to go back sooner than later.

Doing a blog is surprisingly costly, in time and money. For time, each evening, after Dodie has said "Sorry hun, I just have to crash" I just keep plunking away. Plunking for me means using a real keyboard, I would have no hope on anything else. The real keyboard is always a Bluetooth one, connecting to what has been a variety of devices. However I seem to break these keyboards, and I have a pile of defunct ones in my desk. If you have to go to FNAC for a replacement, they are not totally cheap and of course the keys are placed funny. Then there is internet. 30% of the time hotel internet is a screwup, so a data plan on your SIM is needed. There is a Forum topic active right now on Cycleblaze about the best and cheapest data plans for Europe. Each time out I ask myself about the blog "Am I really going to do this?" so far the answer has been yes, for two reasons: 1. The feeling that you are not alone, trying to pedal all those kms and 2. The fact that you will soon forget it all, and will appreciate reading your own words in future years.

Ah, checking their web site, I see that the founders got their ideas in the US in 2002. The attraction of this "French" coffee shop in France is actually that it is not French, but rather American. Go figure.

What a busy day!

I think I would take exception to the cafe name, based on the following deviations from French standard: muffin not croissant, canned vs fresh juice, no foam art on latte, no table service. But wooden fork = aok!

That sounds more manageable Mike. I guess whether I'm doing it in the moment or weeks later there are always distractions. Gotta work on my focus.

You're right on about the notes Keith. My handwriting is so bad I can barely make it out, so I've started recording voice notes and using Otter to transcribe them. It's a huge help, just gotta do it every day.

We'll get back to Europe eventually but have a bunch of things we want to do stateside next year. My latest crush is a tour around Idaho, Washington & Oregon. I'm deep into your Northwest Passages journal, enthralled with the pictures of the Palouse.

Welcome to Cycle Blaze Janice.
When we toured it was only for a week at a time and we always completed the journal when we got home.

Absolutely yes!

There's no substitute for contemporaneous notes, at a minimum. Even if you can't get an entire day's entry posted, notes of the highlights of the day will help you remember later, when you're writing.

Highlights can be anything. What matters is to capture your thoughts and feelings in the moment. If you're including photos, key them to your notes so you know which ones you thought you might include, and in what order and context.

I carried a small notebook. It was useful not only as I reviewed my days in the evening, but also for taking notes throughout a day's ride. It was especially valuable to get the names, Instagram / email / blog information from the people I met during a day's ride.

It may be harder to keep journals current when riding in company than alone. I had very few other distractions most evenings and early mornings, so there was a window of opportunity to write.