We dropped off Penny and Ralph after a short, but delightful stay, and picked up our friends Mike and Tigre the next day. Strasbourg was the furthest we had planned on going this summer. It was time to turn around and head back to Holland except we are having so much fun we’ve decided to make a quick detour to the Champagne region and Paris. With all these difficult decisions to make barging can be very stressful.
“Our friends Penny and Ralph arrive at the train station.”
“A hot day at the helm with Wilco, Ralph and Penny.”
“A champagne welcome for our friends Mike and Tigre.”
Our first stop with Tigre and Mike was Lutzelbourg. This was the town with the ruins standing over it that we saw a few weeks earlier on our way to Strasbourg.
“The remnants of Chateau de Lutzelbourg.”
“The view from Chateau de Lutzelbourg.”
Lisa and I are avid hikers, and when we are home we hike three times a week with a group called the Heartbreak Hiking Fools (HHF). Our leader, or as he prefers to be called, the Great Communicator (GC) is the person responsible for coordinating these hikes. This person needs to remain anonymous because we are extremely disappointed in his performance. When it comes to torturing his fellow Fools the GC is a master. When it comes to anything else he is an abject failure, especially his political views. You would think that the person responsible for 1,000’s of hikes would at least once go to the trouble of providing sustenance for his friends and companions once they reached the top of the hills that he selects. The GC has held this esteemed position for over 11 years, and not once has he provided refreshments for his exhausted compatriots when they needed them most. Hint. Hint. Hint!
“What about some wine after we summit one of those heartbreaking mountains you pick?”
“No kitchen window this week, but France’s high speed TGV flying by us.”
-Tom Miller
Author of “The Wave” – a Chuck Palmer Adventure novel
NOV
About the Author:
Tom Miller graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. He is a consummate adventurer with over 1,000 dives as a recreational scuba diver, and an avid sailor who has traveled 65,000 miles throughout the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. Miller has also cruised the canals of Europe on his canal barge and given numerous lectures on cruising the canals of Europe, as well as sailing in the South Pacific. Piloting is also an interest of Miller's, and He has completed over 1,000 hours flying everything from small Cessnas to Lear jets.