On Saturday, August 14th, after spending two whirlwind days with Richard learning the systems of the boat, we set out for the Ikea store in Saint Etienne, about 45 or so minutes from our home port in Roanne. We spent a few frustrating hours trying to shop for things like sheets, duvets and comforters - if they had the duvet, they didn't have the comforter or the sheets, etc. etc, so we decided to return to Roanne to shop there. Here in France, everything is closed on Sundays, and many shops are closed on Mondays as well, so Saturday is a major shopping day and many stores are open late. We could high-tail it back there in time to find some essential items for the boat and shove off as planned on Tuesday. I swear, as Randy started talking about something really, really interesting, I dozed off – for what seemed like a nano-second. It was a combination of jet lag and sitting in the warmth of the sun on my side of the car, but when I awoke, we were in a beautiful forest, the foret noir – black forest. We passed a really interesting cement sculpture, and I couldn't understand why we hadn't seen it on our drive from the Geneva airport 3 days earlier. That should have been the first clue. Several minutes later, we came to the toll booth – 10.50 euros – that's funny, it was only 3 euros heading in the other direction. I finally realized something was very wrong when none of the road signs mentioned Roanne. We had driven at least 100 kilometers past the turn off for Roanne, and were headed into the city of Clermont Ferrand. We ended up doubling back to Roanne, but my cat nap, or Randy's interesting story, depending on who you're talking to, cost us an extra day in port!
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