Bayonne to Paris...Panic, Sunflowers & the Loire Valley

I left Bayonne for the car rental agency at the airport in Biarritz mid-morning. Upon arriving at the Hertz counter, I discovered that I couldn't locate my driver's license. This, obviously, was a problem.

After checking every one of my bags several times, I checked with the hotel who checked my vacated room, to no avail. I sat down on a bench, took 3 deep breaths and asked the universe for help. I sat back wondering what to do when the vision of black on black came to mind. Then it hit me! My license was in a black billfold in the rear pocket of the black camera case...not very visible, but there all the time.

I expressed my gratitude to the universe and moved on. Getting the car, remembering there was a clutch involved and getting out of the town and onto the highway didn't raise my anxiety level as much as the license issue had but, finally, I was on my way!

The route from Bayonne to Bordeaux (the first town I was aiming for) is quite flat and not very interesting. They farm timber in that region so there were miles and miles of trees, interspersed with stacks of cut wood stacked along the road.
The rest areas are fun and not that different from the ones in the States, except you can get better food if you're willing to wait for it. I noticed they had something in each stop for kids, usually bounce houses. What a good idea...kids cooped up in a car get to work off some pent up energy! I would have liked to bounce a bit myself, but didn't think it appropriate so I did several brisk walks around the buildings.

One of the reasons I was adamant about driving was that I was determined to see, up close and personal, the sunflower fields I'd seen whizzing my me on the train ride to Bayonne. Wouldn't you know it though...as I started seeing the fields, the flowers themselves were all turned away from me! I thought they turned to face the sun! NOT! I was on one of the major highways too and couldn't get off easily to find a road to the other side of the fields. After an hour or so of frustration, I gave up trying to see sunflowers looking at me and figured, if it was meant to be, it would happen. I eventually exited toward my Loire Valley destination (Pontlevoy) and by then, the sunflower fields had disappeared. I was disappointed.

My destination was a small village that didn't even show up on some maps, but I followed my instruction to look for town names on the street signs and, soon enough, I saw the sign for Pontlevoy. I turned onto a small, two-lane road, went for a mile or two and, as I crested a small hill...there they were...sunflowers on both sides of the road! I found a little turn-off road, parked the car, grabbed the camera and found the visual delight and emotional satisfaction I'd sought. I'm learning more and more to "let" things happen and not work so hard to "make" them happen.

It was a very good day!