Paris Conclusion: We're home!

After James’ return to our hotel on Friday the next two nights found us all sleeping more peacefully and we rested enough to get us through the 10 hour flight from Paris to Seattle. On Saturday, the day before we left, we spent the day rinsing James’ cycling gear, disassembling the bike and packing it in the bike box for the return journey. We, and several other cyclists and their families, set up the bikes at the back of the hotel in full view of the golf course and playground. The weather was glorious, the sun seeming to mock these exhausted cyclists with its return in full force now that the PBP was finally over. The weather forecast predicted a continuation of the fabulous weather for at least the next week.

Trying to be philosophical about the taciturn nature of the weather, we all enjoyed the company and the warmth as we worked on the bikes and socialized. Most of the families were Canadian and I had gotten to know the wives and children quite well during the adventure of the PBP. Now it was time to finally meet their men and introduce them to James. Ashley and Caitlin enjoyed playing with the older girls in the group: Teresa, Kaysea and Erica. As all five of them played in the playground James and I could relax knowing they were in good hands and it was a good opportunity to wind down from the ride, clean away the last of the evidence of this challenging feat and share stories that tied together the week that the cyclists and their supporters had each endured in varying ways.

One of the cyclists, Tom, brought wine, calvados, baguette, cheese, prosciutto, pâté and grapes for everyone to share. We moved a large table to our area and gathered around it to enjoy this al fresco meal as we continued our leisurely conversation and finally welcomed the sun now that all the bikes were put away. After a couple of hours we slowly disbanded and James, Ashley, Caitlin and I took a walk, originally intending to eat our final dinner at a local restaurant. In the end we decided to buy a picnic dinner from a nearby supermarket and settled on a bench in a green space we had discovered where grandfatherly gentlemen played Boules, while we looked on as we ate. A family out for a stroll passed us and greeted us with “Bonjour”, James and I returned the greeting and smiled as we heard Caitlin’s little voice follow ours with her own sweet “Bonjour”.

Back at the hotel James settled the girls in bed and read their nighttime stories and then we finished our packing. After a couple of phone calls from family members we turned out the lights early and prepared to get as much sleep as possible before our 4:40am start the next morning. As our bus left the hotel in the dark to make its way to the airport, Ashley and Caitlin were sad to leave because they said they had really enjoyed being in France. Caitlin wanted some reassurance that we could come back some time and, once given, they quickly transition to excitement at returning to Seattle. The wait at Charles de Gaulle airport, while long, was very pleasant. It is certainly one of my top airports now to wait in. It is spacious, clean and fresh, with a good deal of character and the little play area entertained Ashley and Caitlin as we waited to board our flight.

The direct flight home was certainly a much appreciated route. Stopping anywhere in the States for connecting flights has always been somewhat tiresome as it adds so many hours to our travel. With such friendly staff on Air France and the girls being such seasoned travelers now, the flight was straightforward and uneventful. In Seattle, Christian and Jennifer were waiting for us as arranged and we had such a delightful time catching up with them on the drive home and at our house when they agreed to join us for dinner. When they left we went straight to bed. James and I slept nine hours before our body clocks woke us up and then dozed for a couple more hours before the girls joined us in our bed at 5am.

Other than eating, napping, doing laundry and reassembling and cleaning James’ bike our day was one of tolerating jetlag and enjoying the comfort of being in our own home again. The girls in their delight of being home have quickly made short work of pulling out all their toys and craft supplies. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they can demolish all semblance of order. Given that they are happy, and we are enjoying just taking it easy, I think we’ll just blithely step over the debris for the next couple of days until jetlag passes.

As we settle back in we’ve been discussing the whole experience of the PBP. We’ve been following the emails trickling in to James’ Randonneurs mailing list about the event. There is talk about the staggering challenge riders faced this year, the accidents involving sleep deprived riders and the traffic they are cycling in, and there is as yet an unconfirmed report of one fatality. Needless to say am grateful that it isn’t James and I feel for the family if it’s true. There is the disappointment for James that he did not manage to finish. The inevitable haze of just how bad it was is starting to take over. He is trying to hold on to the certainty he felt at the time that he had pushed himself to his limits and it was the correct decision to make to withdraw from the ride. It’s going to take time…

There is a silver lining to the events of the PBP. Following our weigh in this morning James now has a dish free week ahead of him. I only put on one pound while in Paris, thanks to all the walking, but it was enough when my aim was to maintain my weight. At least James is spared the added disappointment of a chore he truly dislikes during his recovery and I can count my blessings when I’m up to my elbows in soap suds.