We Choose To Go To France...

"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, [France]? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?"

"We choose to go to [France]. We choose to go to [France] in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Substitute "the moon" for "France" and you have a brief portion of the speech given at Rice University in Houston, Texas, by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962.

We choose to go to France this year to accept an invitation from some dear friends we met in England on our last trans-Atlantic tandem adventure in 1993. While they live in Bristol, they also have a cottage somewhere in France. My knowledge of the country is pitiful, but I'm guessing that we're going to be staying at an area SSE of Rennes... possibly an hour's drive (again, just guessing). Or perhaps it's a five hour's drive from Paris in a southwesterly direction. We'll know more once we're there, or at least I hope that's the case!

We have no set plans for this adventure. We'll probably use their French home as a hub and do a lot of day rides in any given direction. We'd like to visit the beaches and the communities where the allied forces D-Day invasions occurred for the liberation of France from German occupation. We'll probably spend the last day or two in Paris itself doing whatever it is that tourists do.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to communicate regularly via this blog to those of you who take an interest in such things. I will attempt to keep regular posts during our time abroad, but make no guarantees -- I have no idea when or where I'll have access to a computer and/or a Wi-Fi connection. I'll do what I can when I can...

"Baby, you can can-can too." ("Can-Can" 1953 Original Broadway Cast, Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter)