Thursday

It always amazes me when I do the math thing and figure out that it has already been "x-long" since vacation began.  In this case, I was in San Mateo with Sister Margaret two weeks ago today sipping wine on the patio.  How did that time go by so quickly?

Today is my pal Roy's birthday.  You are Pal of the Day, friend.

Congrats to 2 for getting through the home inspections for both the sale and purchase on her move to Iowa City.  She will be a busy girl over the next couple of weeks.  Good luck, Kiddo!

And "Safe Travels" to 3 and 3.1 on another coast-to-coast trip this weekend for a wedding in the Great Northwest.  They be wracking up the frequent flier miles.

August 8th is the three-year anniversary of 4 and my departure for Bilbao.  Talk about time flying by the wayside!  This is a shot at the top of the Tourmalet, the most-storied climb in the Pyrenees, that was on the TdF route again this year.  Been there, done that, eh Kiddo?  Next week one day, we'll be celebrating Tourmalet Day on the blog.

Speaking of cycling, I've pretty well decided that my riding at Tahoe next time will not include any of the roads that go around the lake.  The rides on the road to Sand Harbor and the road from Truckee to Kings Beach were just too thick with traffic to make the trips anything but exercises in stress.  I'll do the short side of Mt. Rose, but otherwise, I'll need to find some off-the-beaten-track roads to dial back the excitement.  (All readers:  Please remind me of this commitment if I announce any rides next time that aren't traffic-friendly.)

I'm giving our wine selections for the vacation an over all grade of a B+.  The bottles that we consumed in San Mateo were all from our normal Top Shelf categories here in the QCA.  I mean, Safeway and Hy Vee are pretty comparable stores and their wine inventories are very similar.  Then the case that I bought at Total Wine in Reno and the bottles that 3.1 brought in from their weekend in Napa were all above the Top Shelf category.  Very smooth.  I'm glad that I bought all my purchases with a debit card.  I really don't want to have to look at the cumulative cost on a credit card statement.

Finally, in the For What Its Worth Department, Budget Rental Car seems to be a bit behind the curve on the information processing of their contracts.  Hertz generally has a copy of the final bill in my email by the time I hit the gate for my departure flight.  I still haven't got anything from Budget except the surveys on How'd We Do?  (I'm not going to beat them up on a comparison of the rental experience since I have that Number One Club thing with Hertz and can normally just walk to my car.  This rental choice was all about price, and Budget was a winner by $1500+...unless the final bill has a surprise included!)

Hope it is a Good Friday in your neighborhood.

BCOT