Today's stage finished in Canterbury. We rode in a car with Christine's step-mom, and her brother rode in a car with some of their friends. What a cluster f*ck. Everything is an ordeal (and a slow one at that) when you're dealing with a couple 8 year olds and their associated entourage/menagerie. Once we got to Canterbury the whole parking thing was a treat. Christine and I were content to park and walk, but since we had to try to coordinate with another carload it was difficult. Then, of course, after an hour+ ride there's an amazing amount of organization that needs to happen before the kids can do anything so Christine and I are just hanging around in the parking lot shuffling our feet. We were really glad to separate and do our own thing once we made it to the race area.
We started by getting a little snack and coffee to push the crabbiness out of us. Then we walked down to the race course to check it out. It was getting close to the scheduled caravan time so we parked it to watch. At the prologue, I had gotten a Skoda hat from the caravan for Christine, and she accidentally dropped it somewhere today. Ironically, the Skoda car came buy and literally set the identical hat right in my hands. The Skoda hat is back. Life is good.
After we grew tired of the caravan, we walked over to the center of town. There was a market set up, so we got a crepe and some fresh strawberries (2 pt's for 1 British pound - a sweet deal). There was a large TV screen setup there too, so we watch as the racers got closer to town.
When they were about 20km's away, we walked over to the finish. It was crazy over there. Instead of trying to push our way through to the race course, we stayed back and watch the finish on France 2's big screen. Somehow Robbie McEwan managed to win the stage after being off the back of the main field with 8km's to go. That guy is amazing.
Tomorrow we head back to the states. I've decided that taking a vacation while visiting family isn't nearly as much fun as getting away with your wife. I'll note that for the future. As we were sitting in a pub enjoying a beer last night, I couldn't help but think that it will be nice when we can go backpacking again.
I'd like to confirm that, contrary to what you've heard, London Bridge is not falling down, falling down, falling down. Goodbye London. It's been real.
ha. I try REALLY hard not to mix family and husband. Way too stressful.
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