Lisa and I have been married since the beginning of time. Well at least it feels that way. Other than those first few meals, she has always been an outstanding cook. I’m talking about the kind of chef that when our friends leave after a dinner party the husband asks the wife, “Why can’t you cook like Lisa?”My beloved has had some interesting conversations with her lady friends following our dinner parties. Well there must be something about the air in France, for Lisa has turned into a cooking fool. Today for lunch she made a Langres Tart. It’s made with Langres cheese, a town we passed through a couple of months ago. Normally I’d provide the recipe, and you can probably find it on the Internet, but I doubt if you can get the cheese outside of France. It’s a cross between a cheese soufflé and a quiche, and is it ever good. For dinner she made mushroom risotto, and once again Lisa out did herself. By the time we get back to California I’ll be too fat to fit through the doors in our home.
We are on the move again, and not spending a lot of time in each town. We did a quick walk through Digion, and found one of the stranger looking churches we have ever seen. I thought there was almost a Moorish influence. There was also an aqueduct over the Loire River. It was built fifty years before the more famous and longer Briar aqueduct that we will be traversing in a little over a week.
“The church in Digion.”
Rabelo crosses a river.”
You never know whom you’re going to meet on the canals. This little old lady came up to Wilco and started to ask questions about Rabelo. She and her husband have traveled all over the world. They now have an RV and are traveling around France. Wherever they stop they take the bikes out and go exploring.
“A sweet old lady talks to WIlco.”
How about this little guy? Don’t you just want to take him home with you?
“Rabelo almost had an extra passenger.”
Rabelo tends to attract a lot of attention. We get our picture taken by everyone from the six-o’clock news to even the lock keepers.
“A lockkeeper takes a picture of Rabelo.”
We are now on the Canal Lateral a la Loire. Built in the 1800’s, most of the locks on this canal are manual. We always try to help when there is just one person to operate the lock. Lisa has been handling the lines lately, which also entails helping the lockkeeper. We haven’t moved the boat yet without Wilco, unless my son Randy was on board. Lisa is a quick learner, and when she is feeling confident that she can handle the lines we’ll try moving Rabeloalone.
“Lisa opens a lock door.”
“Sometimes the canals get a little narrow and twisty.”
“Here is an idea for those that happen to have a spare grape press lying around.”
-Tom Miller
Author of “The Wave” – a Chuck Palmer Adventure novel
OCT
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.