It was an early rise, shower, shave and run out the door to grab a taxi to the airport (actually he was waiting for me). My strategy was to stay awake to the bitter end to avoid jet lag. It was going to be a long day Madrid, Munich, Toronto, then home....had a long layover in Toronto and I would see if I could bump it up once I got there.

Got to the airport and went to the Lufthansa lounge...kinda barren no real food per say just some cappuccino. They give you a wifi card when you go in...its only good for 30 minutes...I got 2 hours sighhhh. No worries...I have pictures and stuff to sort through..wow I take a lot of stoopid pics it would seem.

When it was time to go....the gate was plugged again...what is it with people standing in front of the gates like that...they all had seats assigned...sheesh. So again can't pic seats with Lufthansa...still not sure why but got on the plane and they gave me the exit row....wow.......talk about leg room...very sweet. Full bus and talk about ironic....if you only speak Spanish you can't sit in an exit row....German or English only ...they kicked out the folks beside me to a different row because of it. Bit weird I thought. Either way off we went once the doors were shut. Got to Munich....uneventful.

Got to the gate with about 10 mins to spare and its kid travel season....its so noisy at the gate you can't hear yourself think, finally the gate guy did his best AUCHTUNGGGGGG!!!!! That seems to have made a difff as they quieted down a bit then we could hear it was time to board.

Front of the bus time and some pampering I lucked out. The pods are great. So some Champagne to start and it went rather down hill from there....too much food ending in too much port. But the time flew....I stayed awake the whole flight watched some movies and pontificated about the trip I just had.

Wow what a trip....totally fell into it with a lil too much rum and a net connection on the laptop. It seemed to be a bit of a blur I had seen so much it is a bit messed up in my head. Bit of overload I guess. I really discovered the way to travel Europe. I had always wanted to but was never sure how to as there is so much to see. With a bike you can easily maneuver, and park anywhere. Pick off one or two countries at a time...seems smart.

I covered a lot of km's and me butt was telling me...so was me shifting toe...and foot. If you are a history buff....what can I say but yup.....there is some serious history there...the new buildings are 12th century LOL. The first time you walk into a cathedral will surely take your breath away. They spared no expense on the wow factor when you walk in the door......and even when you see it from outside for the first time. The best HD show just doesn't do it justice.

The spanish and portugese people were awesome. Made some good friends and not much effort required. The food was amazing......but a big part of the trip was obviously the ride....well I was not disappointed. Some of the best roads I've ridden.

How often do you get tired from too many curves LOL pretty rare in my books.   To add to the fun they were fairly empty for the most part. I lucked out and discovered the Michelin maps....that was the secret....it really identified the great roads. Diego gave me an idea of where to go....but me having a cappuccino in the morning looking at the map is what sealed the deal for the day.

I only got in a pickle a couple of times but trick is to not panic...and it should work out in the end. Only a few holy frigs on the road too... takes a bit to get used to different tires and roads. I had the tires slip on me a few times in the corners and it adds to the pucker factor. Always assess the road. I found that some paved roads were so nice...they were actually slippery even when dry.

Very unusual.....so had to slow it down a bit and after a while I was able to pick those roads out. But once traction was back whaaaa hooooooo. I even lucked out in the weather department only had one day of not great stuff but even it wasn't bad. If I waited to later in the year it becomes high season and it gets way too hot. 47, 48 degrees not uncommon in the area. Only thing was it was too risky to get into the Pyrenees mountains too deep.   There was a lot of snow and a great chance the weather would suck. Got a taste and a desire to go back and check them out. The only bike I would do it with would be an RT...what a way to travel. it almost does it all...cept climb sand dunes.

Got off the beaten path and really managed to avoid tourists for the most part the only tourist buses I saw were the ones I blew past on the hiways when I was on them....off the beaten path is the way to see all the cool stuff me thinks. One regret I was only 9 miles from Andorra, a small country on the french spanish border that I had never heard of.....and I didn't realize how close I was till I got home...would have been cool to check out.

Well I finally made it to Toronto....no hope in hell of moving me flight up....so sat around for 6 hours and got on me final flight home. So again an uneventful flight and landed around midnight....all me bags made it back..and they were the first ones off the plane wow.......Andy and Jackie picked me up.....and Zoe was already waiting for me at home. Thanks guys really appreciate what you did for me and so does Zoe!

After a whole lot of petting and getting slobbered on once I walked in the door....it was time to hit the hay .... long day.

Signing off from home......

Stay tuned got another one coming up pretty soon....gunna be a hoot!