I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces all day through . . .     Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal

There are so many versions of this famous nostalgic jazz ballad from the Broadway musical Right This Way, but the classic version must be Billie Holiday’s.  Earlier this year it was chosen as the final transmission to be sent by NASA to the Opportunity rover on Mars before its mission ended.  We’ll let her launch us here, on our own nostalgia-laced journey.

___________________

A few months back, in the Meseta Central somewhere north of Salamanca, we were biking through terrain that reminded us of one of our favorite landscapes: the Crete Senesi in Tuscany.  This is one of the many things I so value about traveling as Rachael and I do - the way that new experiences can bring up memories of earlier ones and help keep them fresh and alive.

As we biked along through that empty, open setting, it occurred to us that  the tours we have planned for the coming year are all to one degree or another reminiscences that will take us back for a fresh take on some of our best loved or most memorable travels together over the last 30+ years.

And like that, a theme was born: viewing the past with older, more experienced eyes and souls; Looking back with 2020 Vision.

We have six journeys of one size or another planned for the coming year.  If our health and luck hold out for another year we feel confident that we’ll see through all six of them; but just to keep you in suspense a bit we’ll reveal them one at a time as we near departure on each of them.

Part One begins in San Diego, when we arrive back on American soil fresh from our just completed three month Vuelta a Iberia.  Well, not fresh probably.  More likely horribly jet lagged and drained by the long flight and 16 hour layover in Istanbul.

This first tour will be a three part composition.  The first act, based in San Diego, will begin with a five night stay in the city to reacclimatize, have our bicycles serviced, and spend some time exploring the city and its surroundings.  After that we’ll leave town for a two week loop that roughly resembles the one we took four years ago (almost to the day - we were here for Christmas then also) on our first tour from San Diego.