September 24, 2018 Reims to Louppy-sur-Loison

Today was the exact opposite of yesterday.  While it wasn’t scorching hot it was sunny with broken cloud and instead of a howling head wind, the wind was hardly noticeable even late in the day.  The day was a bit longer but it seemed shorter as the conditions were so nice.

We left the hotel and were on the road at 8:30 and after a number of lefts and rights we were on a beautiful paved canal path which took us out of the city.  It was a great ride.  The wind storm yesterday had covered the path with leaves and broken branches but unlike riding canal paths in Phoenix there are no thorns and the maple branches crunch under your wheels.

From the canal path we turned down what I thought was going to be a busy main road. However it turned out that while it was a main road there was hardly any traffic.  This road was almost perfectly straight and about 17 kms long.  It went by extremely quickly as I was riding Kens wheel.  Along the road we stopped and visited a cemetery which contained the soldiers of a Polish division which had fought with the French army. 

From there we turned north through a whole series of little tiny roads.  They were great as there was no traffic to speak of with lots of little climbs a few bigger climbs and lots of lefts and rights.  It was just a blast.  By the time we got to the 79 km mark we had reached the little village of Grandpre where we found a grocery store and we ate a sandwich in the local church yard.  This was the furthest we have gotten by noon.  I was pretty pleased with our progress.

After lunch we had the big climb of the day which was about 150 meters and about 3 kms long.  From there it wasn’t far to the highlight of the day which was our visit to the American Meuse-Argonne Cemetery and Memorial.  It is the largest American cemetery and memorial in all of Europe.  It covers 130 acres and has over 15,000 American dead (including unknown soldiers). It honors those killed in the last two months of the war when the American divisions fought along a 21 km section of the western front.   It is totally amazing. The grounds are immaculately groomed and perfectly tended. The chapel is a magnificent structure. The visitor’s center pays homage to the Gold Star wives and parents who visited lost loved ones in the war and covers the American roll in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.  Yesterday was a candle homage ceremony and every grave had a candle placed on the cross.  While the ceremony was pretty much rained and blown out there were still a few candles burning in their little lamp.  It was a very touching place. I felt so sad for such a terrible waste.  

We were only 25 kms from our home for the next few days so the three of us pedalled on.  We arrived only a few moments before Agnes and the van that we had seen at the cemetery.  It is an unbelievably beautiful home. Agnes, Betsy and Sally had stopped and purchased food for tonight’s supper so we had a great feast around this huge dining room table.  We are here for two nights as tomorrow we are off to see Verdun.

We covered 126 kms and had a total climb of 726 meters. What a great day. 

Terry hot biker