Day 2: Le Mans to Poitiers

Current time: 01:40 AM
Location: Poitiers, France

The day started like this:

Matt: "Charles."
Me: "What."
Matt: "It's 10:30."
Me: "Shit."

The next hour was a deluge of packing bikes, cleaning up, and lots of asking "Wait. Where are we going?"

Today did not start with the same level of awesome with which yesterday started, and I think it's because we pushed too hard yesterday.

It was 1:30 by the time we were on the road out of Le Mans, and the best part was definitely on our way out when we had lunch at the foot of the beautiful Cathedral St-Julien. I have photos to edit and upload, which I expect to do on Monday. I'll also attempt to regale you with the stories of the list items from yesterday's blog entry.

In order to provide context for today's journey, it's appropriate to discuss yesterday's final entry: GPS that is POS. The motorcycle currently known as "Black and Yellow" came with a GPS unit that has been crucial in helping to locate gas stations, and without it, one of us (definitely Matt) would have run out of "l'essence" before we found a gas station. So, I know this thing can be useful... it just has moments of where it tends to spaz out.

For example, at one point, while were trying to find our way to the A28 highway to Le Mans, GPoS suggested that we make a right down this one particular road. Picture with me, if you will, two upstanding, scholarly lads perched atop two wheeled steeds of glory, turning off of a perfectly well paved road, staring down a gravelly, dirt road that appears to cut through a field of some sort of agricultural significance. That's what this GPS does.

I know that it's not supposed to work like this. Matt and I agree that there is some setting on the unit that is the equivalent of "I am super adventurous and by no means necessary should you ever, ever, ever put me near a major roadway. In fact, take me where I want to go by finding the longest route possible." Once I figure out where that setting is, I'll be sure to write a how-to on about.com and/or ehow.com so that readers like you can find out how to make their GPS not be a POS. If any of you knows where that setting is, please write a how-to on about.com and/or ehow.com so that I can use the google to look it up.

That's all I have to say about GPoS right now, but I get the feeling that it's going to give us some good stories along this journey.

Right, back to today. The route that we decided to take was: Le Mans -> Saumur -> Poitiers. Along the way, we decided to skip Tours, and head straight to Saumur, then at another point, we decided to skip Saumur and go to Chinon, which, according to Matt, is an "excellent appelation for Cabernet Franc". Cabernet Franc is my jam. If Cabernet Franc was a jam, I'd have peanut butter and Cabernet Franc sandwiches. Crunchy peanut butter.

Chinon is a gem, and Matt gets much respect for getting us there. It's a tiny town with several chateaux built up on a hill and whose base is at the Loire river. More on the Loire in an upcoming entry.

We grabbed some cured meats and fresh bread and went to a cave where they have wine tasting.

If, by now, you're as bored of reading as I am of writing, I'll just list the highlights of the day:

• Riding on the course of the Le Mans Grand Prix
• Lunch on the Loire with Cabernet Franc
• Fantastic twisty motorcycle roads all day long
• Learning that Black and Yellow tops out around 155kph
• The hotel debacle: I may write about this one day, but probably not. Finding a place to sleep tonight was a bit stressful

More updates tomorrow.