Where's Mike?

Section 18: Back to the Alps

Click here to see Section 17: Central and Northern Greece

Click here to see Where's Mike 2005 with more on the Alps

Saturday June 17th

Pescaro, Italy: The camping deck on Minoan Lines is quite incredible. You get to use the ships full list of facilities such as pool, bars, discos, restaurants, etc, but in addition, you get access to your vehicle, 220 volts power hook up, and shower/toilet facilities on the car deck...just like a campground but the view is constantly changing. The best part is that the cost is exactly the same.

Drove up the coast of Italy until I found a half dozen other free campers on the beach, and joined in.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 107775

Sunday June 18th

Voghera, Italy: I did a ton of driving, in blistering heat, up the flat and wide valley of central Italy. I even skipped my chance, this chance, anyway, of spending time enjoying the food and wine of Bologna. The only reason I stopped is because it's Sunday, and I could find no open gas station, although they have hundreds of the 24 hour, insert your credit card, type of station. Wish they would take a non European card....

Found one of the numerous city parks which allow over night parking in addition to providing fresh water and a dump station. The other end of the parking lot had some interesting drag races happening. These things really MOVE, and they all had their own pit, as well.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108131

Monday June 19th

Col de Larche/Col della Maddalena, France/Italy: Found an open gas station, but most, in addition to other stores, are still closed. It must be some sort of Italian holiday, but I have what I need at this stage. I headed into the Alpes de Provence and am thrilled to be here.

The humidity and thick haze of the plains has finally been joined by a few real clouds. Cooler too!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 65.5e for 55.5l at 108138/516km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 1.7e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108370

Tuesday June 20th

Le Lauzet Ubaye, France: Woke up to another very grey day after a bit of rain last night. It is starting to remind me of the Alps last summer.

I took an hour, or so, hike up to a little point near the pass and then headed into my goal town of Barcelonnette. Barcelonnette, I heard from several people in my travels, is home to some of France's best canyoning, and they also have a couple paragliding sites. The info center was a huge help in pointing out the free WiFi in the town square (just started today!) and the location of the paragliding school.

I checked in with the guys at the school and they said they were just about to take two loads of students up the hill. Unfortunately there was no room for me, but they directed me to another site about 25 clicks away that has easy paved access and is top landable. They also told me that it was unlikely either they, or I, would fly today. Feeling the sprinkles on my face as I looked up, had me tending to agree.

Regardless, I drove to check it. Yep, sprinkling and OTB on this NW site.

Found a nice spot by a lake in Le Lauzet Obaye with a dozen others at the village "free camp" and wound up talking about adventures, not yet achieved, with a couple of Brits in the area for cable climbing.

Cable Climbing, invented by the Italians to ease travel during the war, is big in this area as well. Cables mounted into steep, vertical, and overhanging cliffs are abundant in the area. Some are only 10 or 20 meters, but some are over a hundred, and, with short hikes between, you can link them together and make an entire day/s out of it. All you need is a harness, two safety leads (so you are always clipped in with at least one as you pass a bolt), and a pair of leather gloves. Sounds fun!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 10

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108456

Wednessday June 21st

Barcelonnette, France: Another stormy day here in the Alpes de Provence with no flying to be had. The wind is still from a southerly direction so St Vincent los Forts, the site I checked yesterday, would not be working.

Instead of flying, I spent the day enjoying some free WiFi in the town square, the morning market, and lunch by the Ubaye river.

I never saw one person flying, but it looked like ground school was in full swing both times I drove past the PG Shop. Maybe tomorrow, if I don't have to continue on to Annecy.

Checked out the Village Free Camp, next to the swimming pool, but heard of a music festival going on in town so found a spot only about two blocks away from the square. Three outdoor venues, and all of them were ok!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 10e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108493/108494

Thursday June 22nd

Some tiny village just of N91 on D526, France: I again enjoyed the free WiFi in the town square and checked the local weather. It is supposed to be improving, but that's what I have been hearing for the past few days. No time left to wait around, since I now have to go all the way to Lausanne to get my refrigerator worked on. No other shops can get me in for weeks.

Cutting north toward Briancon I ran into a few pilots in Savines-le-lac, but none were going up again as it was just a sled ride, and the cumulus nimbus are already starting to develop.

I continued past Briancon and then up the very steep and scenic D902 to Col du Galibier at 2616 meters. This was intended to help me avoid the heinous traffic of Grenoble and give me some nice scenery along the way, unfortunately, once I just got to the col I began realizing that the road is washed out about five clicks on the north side.

I still managed to get a nice hike from the col to a couple of great viewpoints, not that you would even need to leave your car to see nice sights, and then headed down the way I had come, and then west to D526, where I will try Col de la Croix de Fer in the morning.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 47e for 43l at 108540/403km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 16e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108701

Friday June 23rd

Doussard on Lac d'Annecy, France: The municipal camp of last night, located on the low side of a large dam, was pretty nice and it gave me a great chance to do laundry, grill, and meet a bunch of Dutch bikers. Biking seems to be as big for the Dutch as it is for the French.

This morning I continued my route through the heart of the Alps, lots of bikers to negotiate, but the end result was well worth it. Col de la Croix de Fer at 2067 meters and Col du Glandon at 1924 meters may not be quite as spectacular as the one I tired yesterday, but they are close, in addition to being open.

I like France. Most of the people I run into want to talk about Bush when they find out I am an American, but the French want to talk about Armstrong. Viva la Lance!

It seems the Tour de France came Col du Glandon and everyone was quite excited about it. Although if you believe what you hear, the Tour de France has gone past just about every French home there is, with sweat droplets, shed by Lance himself, hitting each and every French citizen. They like biking and Lance is a spectacular ambassador for the USA.

Ran into a MoHo shop just outside of Annecy and they helped me stuff my master bedroom picture window back in place, but can not help with my fridge for another month. Same old story. I picked up a few supplies from them, since they helped with the window for free, and then headed on into Annecy.

As I was coming into town, I saw a boatload of pilots crossing the lake! More than I had ever seen before...so the day must be as good as it looks. An hour later (hellish traffic) I got to the LZ and it was a buzz. Some comp is going on and this was a task day. I never quite figured if they had been totally weathered out the week prior, or if it just wasn't that great.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 10.8e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 38e

Misc: 0

Odometer: 108890

Saturday June 24th

Doussard on Lac d'Annecy, France: Since it was cloudy this morning I drove into town to check the Electrolux repair center and found a hair salon is now located there. I then tried to tap into the free WiFi in the Annecy shopping center and found it not working. I then drove out to another nearby MoHo shop (this one actually selling Hymers!) and found them closed for the weekend. I then headed back to the LZ, where I probably should have just stayed, to find it starting to sprinkle. Again.

At this stage, I didn't care, so hopped a shuttle to launch, waited out the rain, and then took an extended sled ride of 40 minutes. No rain till after I had packed up, so it was a good day! Not sure where all the comp pilots are, but don't think they're here. The day must have been called off??? Camping out right next to the LZ.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 1e parking, 5e transport up hill

Odometer: 108998

Sunday June 25th

Sevrier France: Free camping right next to the LZ made it easy to see if any pilotser were getting up this monring. It started out very calm and I saw no one get anythign other than a sledder. Around 14:00 I started hearing thunder in the distance, but still saw no clouds, and decided to head up the hill to give it a shot.

Arriving on launch I finally saw the developing cu nim's and was hearing a lot of thunder now. I rushed to get ready and moved my stuff onto the, now empty, launch and took a few moments to contemplated the weather.

It was really dark to the south and I could see flashes only about ten miles away. I just starting to unhook when the regulator came and closed the window on account of the thunder storms and strong wind in Tallories. I slowly packed, and had just finished when the sprinkles started.

I was sitting under some trees with a  few other pilots when all of our hair stood on end and there was a deafening crack and flash with the strike 40-50 meters away.

Everyone started jabbering in French and ran for the two remaining cars as a deluge of rain and pellting hail fell. I followed and stuffed myself, and gear, in the front seat with three others.

Eventually that cell moved off, but the wind was not OTB. Then it was sprinkling, then it would stop. The only reason for me to fly was to get down. The launch is wet, the grass in the LZ is surely soaking, and if I did get any lift I would probably shit. Just not a day to be paragliding.

I left two tandem pilots and about a dozen other pilots sitting on launch and it got stronger and stronger OTB as I headed down. 20 minutes later I was at the Col, ten minutes, and three rejections after that, I was picked up by the guy who runs the snack bar in the LZ, two minutes after that the clouds really opened up and we slowed to a reckless pace, instead of really fast, as visibility diminished.

I meant to head through Annecy tonight, but the traffic sucked. This is what's nice about a MoHo...I saw a dozen campers in a road-side park and pulled in for the night. BS'ed with a couple of hot French Chicks and a nice German Couple until the rain drove us in for dinner.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 5e up the hill

Odometer: 109012

Monday June 26th

Villeneuve, Switzerland: I was at a MoHo shop just west of Annecy by 08:30 knowing they open at 09:00. By 09:15 no one had shown up so I walked to the gate and confirmed the opening time. Yep 09:00 to 12:00 and 14:30-18:00 Mardi through Vendredi. In another 15 min I checked the translation to find that Mardi is Tuesday, and not Monday as I had thought. Four full days of a long and hard 6.5 hours...tough work week!

Let's see. Still raining? Yep. I headed to Lausanne where a few days earlier I had attempted to make a reservation to get the bearings on the exhaust fan in the refrigerator compartment replaced, and was able to confirm they had me down for a spot, but could not get me in earlier.

I headed back in to Lausanne for some email, learned of a PG site at the end of the lake, was told free camping near the lake is not allowed, and then took the lakeside road east. Driving through one of the towns I got trapped in the center square by hundreds of football fans cheering on Italy's win over Oz. Lots of happy campers hanging out car windows, waving flags, and honking till the roar could be heard down under.

Exchange is about .67 Euro to the Franc.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 64e for 59l at 109104/564km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 8.5e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 109224

Tuesday June 27th

Versvey Switzerland: Thunderstorms. One test pilot flew and said it was rough and strong lift. Camping at a nice homey place near Versvey called Camping Clos de la George.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 24.30f or ~16.3e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 95f or ~63e mostly at wine cave.

Supplies: 0

Misc: 5f or ~3.25 lost in the deck cracks, 1e parking

Odometer: 109312

Wednesday June 28

Etagnieres, Switzerland: BS'ed with a few Dutch biker for a long time this morning. Rain, and cloudy skies, did not inspire any of us to make an early move. Then checked out Evian for a bit prior to heading back around the lake to the MoHo shop.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 19f or ~13e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 12e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 109439

Thursday June 29th

Sevrier, France: So, my MoHo has a few little problems I needed to take care of. I had an appointment with B&W Sports et Loisirs and was really hoping they would be able to take care of everything.

#1) The fridge compartment exhaust fan squeals when hot and either needs the bearings replaced or the whole fan motor, the DC has not worked for months, and the gas starter has recently been working only sporadically.

#2) The picture window in the master bedroom has a seal that used to leak before I pulled it back into shape, but the seal still tends to slip out a bit while driving, AND the blind does not retract.

#3) I need a tank of GPL.

For the first 45 minutes the guy dicked around testing my battery, alternator, and DC connection/wiring, until he concluded I needed a new alternator since mine was only putting out about 12V, and therefore not charging my battery, and THIS was causing my fridge DC to not work. I am no mechanic, but I had to wonder how I have been starting my MoHo for the past three months if my alternator was not working.

He contemplated this question as well and, after seeing my alternator puts out 14+V when the engine is revving, replaced the 10f sealed fuse I asked them to check from the very beginning. Problem solved, and, at 130f/hour, who wouldn't call that a bargain?

He then gave my fan a shot of lube and it worked, and sounded, beautiful. I asked if that would really fix it, or if he should replace it like I wanted, and he told me this stuff is magic and will solve all my problems.

The gas starter was at a point where it was functioning correctly, so he did nothing to repair that, but he did clean the gas jet, which I can do, and have been doing, myself for the past few months.

He glued my picture window seal in, only getting several globs of glue on the bed, and perfectly fixed the blind.

It pained me in ways unimaginable to pay the 300 francs, but se la vie.

About an hour after I left their shop my refrigerator fan was squealing like a banshee, and that was the prime item I wanted fixed.

I found a nice scenic road back toward Annecy, stopped at that French MoHo Repair center that was closed on Monday and they confirmed my thoughts that I either needed new bearings on my fan or, better yet, and new fan. Unfortunately they can not get me an appointment for a month.

Free camped  next to lac Annecy and had dinner and drinks over at Michael and Rosie's, the Germans I met a few days before, place next door.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 40e

Supplies: 5.9f or ~4e for plumbing elbows

Misc: 300.7 francs or ~210e on MoHo repair attempt.

Odometer: 109586

Friday June 30th

Chambery, France: I met Bruno, a French guy I sold a Smile to when he was working in the USA a couple years ago, at the Doussard LZ and we headed up for a morning flight. No one was soaring, but we decided to launch anyway and then go explore other sites near his home in Chambery.

Before he launched, he managed to snag a shot of me chatting on launch, and then I followed him a few minutes later.

I made a clean & easy reverse launch and then a right hand turn into a bump that got me over launch. The first for the day. I began working this tiny bubble and it took me a few feet higher on each pass. Unfortunately I could see several others scrambling to launch and knew if they come out now, we would all sink out. Of course that's what happened.

After landing, we head out toward Bruno's home town...my slow MoHo, following his quick bike. Great drive with no worries of checking the map, and Bruno did a great job of going slow enough for me to keep up.

We met up with three others in the LZ of some site I forget the name of, and piled in their car. The site/sight, between St Hilaire and Annecy, is beautiful with it's lake views and the surrounding Alps, but it was also in rough lee-side conditions

For a couple hours, Bruno and just BS'ed on launch about everything and nothing. It was good fun, and while we were relaxing, several pilots launched, with more than one not making it far before whacking back to earth. Bruno eventually decides not to fly on account of the strong conditions. I decide to go for it.

One FUTO later and I am in the air for a great flight of 3K+ over, lift everywhere, great views of the valleys on both sides of the range, and about an hour of airtime.

Bruno and decide to head off for another flight at a new site, but stop by his home first. His Wife Barbara is not keen on driving for us, and I have had my fill anyway, so he invites me for dinner and offers a place to crash. It was great having a real shower, but I felt like a bum not being able to bring anything for dinner. Beautiful wife and kids, very nice family, and a gorgeous home on a hillside overlooking the valley.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 74e for 61.2l at 109672/568

Tolls: 6.2

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: ???

Saturday July 1st

Thonon Les Bains, France: This morning Bruno and I decided we had time for a flight before heading out to pick up Rich in Geneve. We headed up to the Indian Club's Launch and watched a while as a fly-in and tandem introduction day was happening, and then set up for a sledder. By the time I launched, a couple of people were stratching around in various areas and I too gained a bit off launch. I tried to stay away from everyone else so we all had room to maneuver in very light lift.

I was the low man on the totem pole when I hit a boomer of about 30fpm up! Topped it out at about 100meters over launch and then watched as other came in below to join me. The first was a blue tandem who was turning the wrong way. I never changed direction, since I was there first, and neither did he. We were watching each other pretty closely as he got closer, and I started to worry that maybe today was supposed to be a specific turn day and I was all wrong??? When he was about 10 meters below me, I headed out, thinking that he is either ignorant of the airspace rules, or an asshole. I guess the other option is that I screwed up on a specific turn day/site, which would make me the asshole.

After finding one more nice (strong and maintainable) thermal I spiraled down for a landing, and the tandem pilot came over to apologize. Not a huge big deal as I had to get to Geneve anyway. We headed back to Bruno's place for lunch with Barbara and the kids and I then headed north. Crappy traffic in Annecy slowed me to a crawl, and then construction near the airport slowed me further. I got in about an hour after Rich's flight landed and we headed out of town. He is wiped out from the flight, but we still managed to BS till late.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 2.4e

Food/Drink: 23e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 109877

Click here to see Section 19: Rich Visits the Alps

Click here to see Where's Mike 2005 with more on the Alps