Reflecting on the tour is a good way to fill in the hours at the airport. We have lots of them to fill - 5 hours in Madrid, 2 in Philadelphia, 2 more in San Francisco; so I should be able to dump my brain before we get to PDX at 1 AM.

This must have been as close to a perfect vacation as we are ever apt to have. Basically everything went well, the itinerary was terrific and interesting everywhere, and luck was with us. We had what was probably unseasonably great weather, maintained perfect health, and our only equipment problem came at a convenient place where we could get assistance without being detained long. My advice from this is to plan well, be flexible, and be lucky.

We have been to Andalucia twice now. This time was a vastly better experience for us. My advice from this is to visit the region when it isn't too hot, don't get sick, and don't lose your passports.

The Bike Fridays worked great for us on this trip. We still get surprised questions from people about whether such funny looking bikes work well for traveling in the mountains, but we were very pleased with them. I think they were probably better for us than 'normal' bikes - with their shorter wheel base and smaller wheels they are more nimble, and the wider tires ride better over sometimes rough surfaces, cobblestones, and the occasional sand dune.

Everywhere we stayed, we were welcomed in with our bicycles (even in Merida, when we arrived completely wrecked by the rains). I'm sure it helped being here late in the season with many places having few guests, but there was never any hesitation about finding a place for our bikes. In a few places we were sent to the hotel's garage, but more commonly we were ushered to an out of the way or unused space - in the bar, laundry room, broom closet, under the staircase, or just leaning against a wall in the lobby.

I am really happy with the camera I'm carrying around now - a Panasonic Lumix LX-5. For what I'm looking for in a camera it is about perfect. It is small and lightweight so it fits well in the pocket of my bike jersey and is always with me. It starts up and focuses quickly, has a bit of a wide angle so I can take more in, works well in low light conditions, and has an intelligent automatic function that is much more intelligent than I am. For the most part I just pull out the camera, aim in the right direction, and focus. Best of all, it consistently produces good quality images that help me remember and relive some of what we've experienced.

This is the first time I have kept a public journal during one of our travels. It is a bit time consuming - I've never read so little on a tour before - but I really enjoyed it. I'm sure I'm going home from this adventure with a record of experiences and places that I would have forgotten otherwise, and I enjoyed the activity of reflecting on and relating about the day's ride at the end of each day. Making it public also caused me to be more disciplined and consistent than in the past, when I used to keep a written journal but would gradually drop the habit as the trip wore on. And, it is a good outlet for insomniacs like me - it gives me something to do when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I was surprised to find that Internet access is now universally available in this part of the world, even in the smallest, most out of the way places we stayed. We had sufficient access everywhere we stayed to maintain the journal and upload photos, although there were places where it was frustratingly slow or only worked in the lobby.

Traveling with an iPad works great. We save a lot of weight and space now by not hauling around a bushel of novels and travel guides, it was nice to be able to be able to research restaurants and such, and I really like being able to offload, review and cull through photographs as we go along. And, of course, it supports maintaining the journal.

This was the first tour Rachael has brought her new video camera along on - it's a handlebar mountable Contour II that she received as a retirement gift. She's learning what works well and what doesn't, and we are both enjoying the experience. It is a lot of fun to be able to revisit a memorable stretch of road, complete with the bumps in the road and the sound of the wind.

I think that must be it - brain's all dumped, for this trip anyway. Thanks for following along!

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