Time to Kick the Bucket (List)

Ah, the bucket list. I can't say that I've really spent much time writing down all the things I have to do before I die. Ultimately I intend to be around quite awhile and if I really want to do something I generally get around to it that much faster. Regardless, the Tour de France always sounded like a dang expensive trip and complicated to follow, so it would've made the list but not been crossed off so fast. I actually got to cross it off a couple weeks ago, watched it roll through Brussels in stages 1 and 2 while visiting some great friends and meeting their new bundle of joy.

But that felt almost too easy, and it wasn't even technically France. So tomorrow my wonderful girlfriend will sadly drop me off at the Dublin airport to fly to Toulouse, France; about an hours drive from the following day's stage in the Tour. But I won't be driving. I'll be packing a touring bike, camping gear, cameras, memory cards, and batteries; and I'll be listening to an audiobook on French on the plane there. So hopefully I don't have to ride the whole way, as the pro peleton would be a nasty pace to follow with 50 lbs. of gear on my bike. So, one way or another, I'll make my way through the French Pyrenees and on to Bordeaux as a bike groupie. This was a bit last minute, and I don't have everything all planned out, but what better event to start my first blog? I'm in the midst of hectic packing, and saying goodbye to my girl for almost two weeks, so I'd best not blog too long.

Slainte! and Goodbye Ireland!