Automotive

Sept 4\5

After the mountain tops, we drove through Bilbao to Logrono. This town is the heart of the La Rioja region-napa of spain.

Joe lets me drive-on open highways. He even closes his eyes and when he makes a comment, I tell him I will wake him up when we are in a ditch.

The north of spain is green-because it rains all the time. Since we entered Lisboa to Porto to Galacia-rain and gray. We decided to go south again(devra take your mind out of the gutter).

Logrono was the perfect place. I was so excited about another wine encounter- forgot to get gas. Freaked out when light went on. I exited the highway and drove 6km- I'm metric_of course found gas station-out of gas too. Just my luck. Drove back to highway and tense 23 km until we found gas. We arrived and settled in before 7. The weather was warm again.

I decided I needed to do laundry-we even looked for a laundramat??? Can't even spell it-I'm a dry cleaner girl. No luck so we sent it to the hotel- for 200 euros-not even going to convert it-lots of ice testing- the cleanest clothes ever.

After the ledge-I have restricted my wine visits to bars and restaurants. Note-if really want to do wines-must go on professional tour. This town had a great town plaza-tapas and great vibe. Of course Pepe found the Romanian bar-which actually was great. Amazing how well he speaks romanian.

By the way-pepe-aka Joe-is growing a mustache!! He looks at the growth all the time. Also, he LOVES the hotel products-he has taken all the samples from just about every hotel-so proud of himself. He loves to stock up on freebies-have no idea where he inherited this habit from-only insiders know. He actually brought cheese and crackers from the ambassador club on plane with him.=

Sept 3

first just a little information about the trip. Joe and I are very different people. We like to drink together and socialize with other people.

Im a morning person and Joe not so much. He loves that dinner starts at 9:30 pm and he parties on afterwards.

With that said, we are trying to cover as much ground as possible. I have done the research and he is still searching for Ibeza. I wanted to tour all the wine regions and after Porto, we were heading to heaven-region of white wines. I have maps and memorized all the 'wine roads'.

Also, I hate to drive. We rented a c class mercedes. Very cute-silver. Gas is 1.5 euros per liter. The car has a great trunk for our luggage-probably 120 pounds.

I wake Joe up early to start- he went out and was pissed that I woke him up- not a nice start. I drove. We passed the border and my white wine tour was to begin. I followed my map-he was sleeping. So proud of myself. Visions of ordering tons of cases home. I try and follow a vineyard sign-totally lost- now Joe is up and we are just driving. For all I knew, I could be back in portugal. After 20 minutes-I come to a dead end in someones driveway. I use my great spanish to chat up the woman- who could not image how I was soooo lost. They said I could wait an hour or so and I could follow them out. By the way- green spain because it rains non stop.

I could not wait-I was on a mission- so as I backed up to attempt to get on road again- totally rolled off a concrete ledge. The back passenger tire off the pavement and in the air. The front driver's tire in air. 120 pounds of luggage-joe gets out-like a see saw. We were fucked. The entire family comes out-mom, big dad, deaf grandfather, the adult children and a grandchild. Thought we would be stuck all day- tow truck would never find us. Big papa and grandma-neighbors- lifted car up while joe steered. So lucky-I have pictures. Guess waiting isn't so bad-in the rain-in barn- they have 2 cows for milk. I look around and grapevines all over- they make homemade wine. Thought I hit the jackpot.
Crossed wineries off list for rest of trip-and meeting real spanish family. Joe drove for a bit.

So now we are going to Gijon for night and hitting picos de europa tomorrow -logrono and towards valencia-need sun. J =