And Away We Go!

1 Blizzard
2 Scarves
4 Countries
5 Goals scored by FC Barcelona
10 Things Crossed off My Life Goal list

14 Days

15 Cities

65+ Driving Hours
6000+ Kms on the Rental Car

= 1 Unreal European road trip.

After leaving Barcelona on such a high the next day was nothing short of ridiculous. If there ever was a day which would want to make me return home it probably would be this one. Although it didn't get under my skin as much as you would think.

The day started off with my GPS dying in the middle of Barcelona. Having no way of understanding how to get out of the city i proceeded to drive around for an hour before locating a suitable store where i could buy a replacement. The good news is that it was only the chord that was broken and so I didn't have to buy a whole new unit.

I then continued on to what should have been a 7 hour drive, but more on that in a minute. i was driving down the highway minding my own business when all of a sudden i see a flashing pair of lights behind me. Now i have never fully understood what exactly the rules are for driving. no one drives the speed limit so im not really sure whats allowed and whats not. I assure you i was not testing the boundaries of this when being pulled over, I was doing 5 above the limit. After being pulled over four cops got out of the car and began to ask me questions. I then realized what was going on, i think they were some form of border patrol since there is no official border between countries. They began to question me while i was standing in the rain and looking through all of my stuff for drugs. When they had determined that i was not a threat to French National Security they let me go about my way.

My drive actually took me back over the Millau Viaduct which was a nice surprise. On the other side of it was a tunnel about 2km long. I was currently driving up the mountain in a rain storm, and all of sudden as i exited through the other side of the tunnel BAM! Snow! I though i might see some snow on this drive but what then took place was not cool, not cool at all. It continued to snow, and snow, and snow. It was like i was back home. Except instead of being on the road with experienced winter drivers i was stuck on the road with the French. These people drove like it was the end of the world, stopping on all points of the road so that those still driving had to maneuver around them. They even close one lane of the high way during the snow which made matters even more slow. So what was supposed to be a 7 hour drive ended up taking 13, with close to 5 of it being stuck on a mountain. I had to pee in a bottle, for the first time. let me tell you that took some coordination.

I am less excited with the actual snow than i was with the though of it, but thats usually how it works out. Tomorrow i return the car to Paris and take the night train to Rome to begin my final leg of the journey.

Song of the Day. Had my Ipod on shuffle which is somewhat rare. Oldie but a goodie.

"Live The Life" By Michael W. Smith

Good Day.