Finish 2010 tour de France

The best of the best-1km from the finish line-2nd floor luxury balcony-absolutely amazing end to the trip of a lifetime-will post more photos asap. We fly home tomorrow-27th. Judy turns left to San Diego- I turn right with the Baxley's-to Visalia - always good to come home-KADALAK

Finish Stage 20

5:00 AM Bus transfer to Bordeaux-bullet train to Old Paris to our luxury suite to view the finish of the 2010 Tour de France. This stage is a formality -Contador wins today- big question- who will win the final sprint?? Hope for a better connection in Paris to share some more pictures-KADALAK

col de Tourmalet

Rain,thunder,lightning-last night-today-all day. We climbed 10.3 km of 18 km col de tourmalet in a blinding rainstorm where the french police shut down the road and turned us around and back to our hotel. After a haircut and lunch we climbed up to a castle with friends and proudly displayed the american flag and the fsu bulldog flag to the world as the tour de france helicopter circled above-let us know if we made the broadcast! Out for now kadalak

Friends, rain, chocolate milk

We are in the final stage of the mountain climbing today for the tour. We have a major storm that rolled in yesterday, rain thunder and lightening. the police have closed the road to the top of the Tourmalet so looks like Phil and Paul will only be able to ride 1/2 way up. The President of France is arriving here also so could be part of the reason for the road closure. Phil is promoting his product here in France, chocolate Milk. He has

everyone convinced it's what they need! Phil with riders from, Canada, France, Holland! This is a busy town with people from all over. So our plan is to climb up to the castle today with our Fresno State flag and usually the helicopters sweeep down and cover the terrain especially the local castles, so look for us in the town Luz St
Sauveur, right before the climb to the Tourmalet at the end of the race day! Leaving tomorrow for Bordeaux for 2 nights and then into Paris for the finish! Bon Jour!

Pyrenees beware Kadalak & Bax are here!

We have connected with the Baxleys in Toulusse! It only took us 1 hour to go 1.3 K, had a little trouble finding the hotel, WOW what's wrong with those GPS systems, Philly's scenic tours.

We met up with our new group at the airport on Monday and bused over to the village of Luz St Sauveur. Another great group, mostly couples about our age and the spa girls! (more on them later oh my) Even a couple from Grand Rapids! The setting is spectacular, we will spend 4 nights here. The cyclists left early this morning about 7:15 to get back before the tour passes thru the village about 2:00pm. Roads will be closed and the activities begin! Phil and Paul will attack the Touramalet on Thursday, don't miss this ride on your TV's at home, it's quite famous.

Alicia and G-pa it was nice to hear your voices again, and Linda don't worry I'll call soon. talked to all my girls now thankful for safe travels to Fiji and Michigan. (Beau don't worry about the telephone bill, I've got it covered) following your games too, nice to see the #'s going up! Thanks for all our faithful followers and the comments, if is fun to here from all of you, looking forward to connecting soon in San Diego! Carter Philip, keep praying for uncle Phil, he likes that! and don't forget to look for the Bulldog flag!

Sophie, Alicia and baby Ella Gracelynn

Alicia, this post is for you! This is part of my tour group!

Sophie was so fun, she used to work in a factory and now her and her sister bought this black van and have started a tour business. She was so happy and wanted to show us her country. We would stop for a baguette and cheese and patisserie shop each day for our picnic! Saw a local cheese factory in Les Saise and a bought some cheese.(Some good competition for Bravo Farms.) Alicia (pronounced Alisha) and Ella were so great to travel with! Alicia gave her husband Jack the Tour de France trip for his 30th birthday! We made alot of new friends and now we will head to the Pyrenees to meet a whole new group tomorrow! Can't wait. TTYL

No room in the Inn

We picked up our rental car in Grenoble France and headed out with our map of France and a few highlighted points of interest that were suggested to us from Sophie. We headed west towards Toulousse were we will meet the Baxleys on Sunday pm and continue with the tour. We enjoyed the beautiful country side and after driving for 5 hours stumbled upon this 2 star hotel. The owner told us there were no rooms, but when we sat down with him to watch the end of the tour stage on his Tv and Phil told him he was a cyclist and showed him his tan lines, he said he actually did have 1 small room we could look at. So wahla we were in and had a lovely meal which he cooked himself. Phil ordered the steak and was served a RAW piece of hamburger, WOW and some

RAW egg yoke to go with it, and of course he ate it and is still up and running 2 days later. WE are in Espana now, I haven't been back here in 30 years since I lived in Sevilla for 4 months in 1980. So nice to understand the language and communicate with everyone a bit easier, no more raw steak for dinner since we can read the menu! Overlooking the Mediteranean and a few groceries for breakfast! Adios Y Vaya con Dios!