The Go-Go's - Vacation

In theory, our vacation ended yesterday as we set out for the long drive from the coast back up to Paris. Our twenty year old (and borrowed) Fiat had been acting up a bit in the last week but we were hoping it was just another little nothing that always seems to happen with the car. Unfortunately, one hour into our eleven hour drive she folded and gave up on the side of the autoroute on what felt like the hottest day of our vacation.

The highway assistance was on us within two minutes and called a local tow truck to take us away. Besides the cost (€171!!) the service was friendly and they took us back to a lot with other broken down cars waiting for a local garage to open on Monday. As luck would have it, the lot was in a mosquito infested area and they ate us alive. The car insurance company provides transportation back to Paris but it doesn't include luggage and my bike and everything that we carry with us for three weeks. No problem, our second option was to phone a car rental agency and hire a car for the day. Easy, except there wasn't a single car available within 100 miles that was available for a one way drive.

Fortunately one of our Belgian neighbors who we got to known years ago in the village drove an hour to pick us up and brought us back to the village until Monday when a rental car is finally available. There's nothing quite like a restful vacation.