let the adventure begin

Friday evening and ready for bed. Today was a long day. At work by 7am and finally closed the door on the office just after 7pm. I got what I needed to get done, so that lets me breathe a little easier.

One fun part was in setting up my voice mail - I now have a message in both english and french. Have had this for over a year, but it is a new challenge every time I leave the office - coming up with the new message's french version. I have to admit, before I recorded the message today, I actually wrote it down. I had more trouble with the english version than I did with the french version (of course the written version was in french).

Once home, I had to get some food, then it was on to the errands. The cats need taking care of so I coordinated with my excellent neighbors, then out to the pet store to pick up more food and litter

Money is transferred to the accounts in which it needs to be and all of my bills are set up for electronic pay. Copied the necessary files from my home computer to my work computer so I'll be able to make sure those bills do get paid.

Most of my stuff is sitting out ready to be packed. Just a few things still hanging in the closet. No sense in putting wrinkles in them too soon. Had to pull the pedals and the computer off my bike. I'll pack those along with me so I can keep track of my total mileage on the year. So far something around 2500 miles I think. I hope to put on some good mileage in the alpes, but we'll see. There are a lot of long climbs out there.

I'm packing two digital cameras along. One is more compact so I can pack it on my bike and actually access it while I am riding. The other is a little more complex and requires two hands to use. It takes better resolution photos than the compact one so I'll want that along for the really scenic shots.

I will be carrying a fair amount of biking gear. Two full kits (jersey, bibs), two jackets - one that converts to a vest with zip off sleeves, one that is a little lighter weight. Arm warmers and leg warmers just in case it gets too cold out there (hey, I'm a grown up boy-scout ok!), helmet, shoes, multi-tool, co2 inflation tool, mini-pump, tire levers....etc. I was planning on carrying a spare tube, but turns out I gave my last new tube away last night! Will buy one at the shop when I pick up the rental bike and I'll have to order more when I get back.

Currently waiting on some laundry to get finished then I'll be hitting the sack. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in France!.