We SMOKIN’

Picking up a car and driving out of Paris was not so easy. Carmen wanted to join our jaunt to the Loire Valley—she’s been in Paris for a year and had not yet made it to see a chateau. However, she had to work early evening so we knew we would need to drop her at the Orleans train station.

She made reservations for the 1:30 train. That didn’t give us much time so we made a mad dash to Chateau Chambord and literally stopped long enough to take a picture and say we were there—another memory made! Turned around and headed back. About a half mile down the road we noticed smoke and quite the odor. A nice potential serial killer (psk) flagged us down to say that our tire was on fire and to get away from the car.

Further assessment: I left the emergency break on from the quick stop and burned some brake pads. Samaritan psk wanted us to stop and let everything cool down for a while; he would be willing to take those who needed to go to train station. Thanks just the same. Drove a little slower and waved him on his way then drove to get Carmen and Patti on the train in the nick of time. The memories made multiplied!

Stopped and got some food and suddenly we were no longer on a time table. Wandered around the valley finding one chateau after another. Spent some time inside and on the grounds of Chateau Chenonceau. Nice. Ended up in Beaune. Headed to Bern, Switzerland tomorrow.

My sister, Kathy, gave me a bumper sticker that pretty much summed up my day: Not all who wander are lost.