Saturday

Another day in paradise!  Good ride this AM in the country South and West of Vitoria-Gastiez.  Weather remains very favorable.  I don't get the impression that this area would be categorized as arid, but we've seen no rain in our time here, and there's not an abundance of streams and ponds near the roads that we have ridden.

Here's today's pic of the Daughter of the Day.  She broke out the Hawkeye colors for Saturday.  (Is there football in the air?)  We chose a route South of the town where we are staying.  If we were hard core, we would have taken to the bigger hills that jutted onto the road that we had selected, but decided to bypass that work.  This area is jigsaw-puzzle pretty, but does get a little old after a few hours on the bike.  I'm thinking that the Pyrenees will kill me if I find these "bumps" imposing.

Just to remind us that we are not that far from home, here is one of the pieces of local faming equipment.  The "green machines" have been frequent sightings in the farming areas that we have visited.  (It appears to have been just past harvest here of either oats or a similar grain.  Many of the fields are littered with large bails of straw, bailed after the grain has been harvested.)

And here is a sample stack of the bailed straw.  I mean, Tahoe Phil could have done this in an afternoon, easy.  Imagine Grandpa H. throwing that last bail from the wagon while he was standing on it!  With these size of bails, that would be quite the trick.

4 and I enjoyed a quiet picnic in a park near the hotel just a while ago.  We found low-quality substitutes for chips and salsa at the local grocery mart, and opened a bottle of Rioja to pass the late afternoon.  Not a bad choice.  I'm guessing that we have the low 70's, little humidity and generally, top-shelf weather.

We are now headed out to find a dinner location.  I'll report on our success later.

Hey to the fam in NYC and the TC.  And 2 and The W back home.

BCOT