I’ll get to how we slept in a moment… I first have to tell you where we are right now. We’re relaxing on the porch of a delightful Airbnb in a town about 50 miles away from where we slept last night, and it couldn’t be more different than last night’s accommodation. Our Airbnb last night was in the heart of a big city and there was hustle and bustle until 2 AM. Natalie and I had gone shopping in the evening and found ourselves harassed by a drunk man in the store and he kept following us. Eventually we had to ditch him, and almost immediately we were harassed by a different drunk person. We quickly learned to never say anything to them, because they pick up right away on the fact that we are foreigners, and then we are a target. We ended up hustling through the streets of Besaçon to ditch our new friends. We didn’t want them to know where we were staying. It was a serious adventure. Tonight we’re staying in a town of about 900 people. Our Airbnb host left the keys to the gate in the gate and the keys to our door in the door. It doesn’t seem like crime is a concern here. I’m sitting on a porch overlooking a small pool. (A quick swim felt great after our ride.) I can hear someone’s hedge clippers in the near distance. I can hear a few neighbors talking quietly. It is peaceful. Most of our wet clothes that didn’t fully dry yesterday are hanging on a clothesline in the sun. I may have found Nirvana.

We did sleep pretty well last night, even with the noise of the city. It helps to be exhausted. Our Airbnb was on the fifth floor and our bed was in a loft, one floor above that. It didn’t have great air circulation, so both of us were warm through the night. But as I said before, we slept well. The Airbnb was definitely a guy apartment. No extra pillows. No foofy stuff. Just a couch, bed, kitchen, shower… All really modern. Just no soft touches. It was fine and clean and actually very newly remodeled, but a big contrast to our home tonight.

We rode for 6 to 7 hours today. The weather was perfect, just the right temperature. It was so nice to not be riding in the rain. I am hopeful that for the rest of the trip we will be able to avoid all-day rain rides. It’s OK to deal with rain for an hour or two, but for the entire day…

We are riding on parts of the trail that we rode on last year. It is so beautiful here. We spend much of our ride on paved paths next to canals through which relatively large boats travel. Think of the boats  as the European version of motorhomes. The canals are not so much for distributing water to farms, but for providing transportation pathways for these boats. There are locks and dams every few miles.

The town we are staying in is small enough not to have any restaurants or supermarkets. For this trip, I searched for supermarkets months in advance and wrote notes on the spreadsheet. And so we knew that we needed to shop about 5 miles before arriving at our Airbnb. When we  shop early, we take out a backpack and fill it full of food, and then Natalie wears it backwards on her stomach as we ride. She had to put up with that for 30 to 40 minutes today.

We were able to have a FaceTime call with Amy when we arrived. It was fun to see her and talk to her. A few days ago in the middle of our ride we were actually able to have a video call with Bryan and Olivia. Technology is awesome and we are grateful for it.

The plan for tonight is to rest and relax, eat dinner, let our stinky clothes dry out and air out a bit. (We have a washing machine in our airbnb tomorrow night.) Tomorrow’s ride should be similar to today’s, but it’s supposed to be a but.