For the past three days we have been immersed in the grandeur of the French Alps. Each hairpin curve brought a new vista of snow capped peaks that while similar to our much loved Cascades, are uniquely shaped from any mountains in the US. I caught a glimpse of the Matterhorn only once, but once is enough if you can find a place to stop the van and capture the shot.
Village chalets that dot the valleys and mountain sides are constructed to withstand avalanches and the bitter cold. My imagination concluded that the prevalence of intricately carved balcony banisters on the chalets probably originated from men having to occupy their time in the long winter days and nights. Now, the locals are busy servicing summer tourists and winter skiers. However, the melody of cowbells drifting down from a high meadow above our chalet brought to mind memories of the movie Heidi and affirmed that despite modern times, some things in the Alps never change.
On Thursday, Dale and Roy biked only half a day so after a gourmet picnic lunch provided by yours truly, we spent the afternoon like real tourists exploring the winding street of Grenoble.
The exciting news was we were able to find a new auto adapter for the Garmin. Hopefully the new connector and a bit of tweaking that Dale is doing will eliminate the difficulties I’ve been having of keeping the device from running on battery and consequently losing power at critical moments, such as in the heart of Lake Genève during rush hour traffic. The Garmin is supposed to run seamlessly off the car battery. With the intertwining complex French road system, I’m blindly dependent on the Garmin to find my destinations. Even a 200 page detailed road atlas of the country doesn’t show the connecting one lane roads we must take. So as not to give Gamin a blanket bad reputation, Dale’s bicycle Garmin has worked perfectly. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a solution.
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