Paris to ??? - Day 54

Date: October 11th, 2009
Distance: 56km
Country: France
Song of the Day: Here - VAST

Today I got up and and went to Church. I could have probably used the time for other things, like sleeping or leaving sooner (which did become a problem later on). But attending the service today felt good. Connecting with other people of faith. This trip is not just a physical journey. It is mental journey as well. What do I do with my life now? The possibilities are neigh onto endless (I have given up on being Pope though.) I just need to decide what I want. What do I want to do? Doctor? Lawyer? Engineer? Who do I want to spend my life with? Where do I want to live. For most of these I really don't have a good answer. So a little divine assistance couldn't hurt. Anyway, enough spirituality.

After that I went back to meet up with Alexandra and Zaheer. I even took them out to lunch, which was only fair. I had been staying with them (and eating their food) for the better part of a week. So I was glad to repay them somehow. Also, I finally got to sit out at a cafe in Paris. (As a bonus, there wasn't anyone smoking around.) Then we took a walk around the 3rd (arrondissement). Zaheer and Alexandra are looking for a new place. But because of their work schedules they can only see them after dark. So they wanted to get a peek in daylight. We walked over to the canal en-route to two places they were going to see later. Paris is a pretty city. A lot of the architecture is just wonderful.

Back at their place, I got packed up and said goodbye. To Alexandra and Zaheer, you guys were wonderful. Thank you so much.

By this time it was about 5:00 though. So I didn't know how far out of town I was going to make it. I thought with the new GPS unit it would be easy. I must remember that it takes a long time getting into and out of cities. Even if you have good directions (which I did) there are still traffic and lights to deal with. I was also fighting with the GPS for a bit. At first it thought I was a car. So it kept trying to push me onto the freeway. I finally got that sorted out, but now it thought I was a bicycle scared of cars. So it was now leading me on crazy routes avoiding any high traffic (direct) routes.

By the time I got this all figured out, it was dark and I knew I wasn't going to get to my campsite that night. I stopped at another McDonalds to try and locate another one. There was one 20km away, another hour or more in the dark. I decided to head out. It was raining lightly when I left. Half an hour later it was just pouring. I pulled off the highway onto some unused trail. I could tell it was unused even in the dark because I ran through a patch of nettles (ouch). So I just pitched the tent in the woods (not in a patch of nettles) to get out of the rain.

-Dravis