The long journey home and back

We are back in Bijou now having arrived just over a week ago. It seems much longer because we’ve had a lot going on.

Unlike our trip to the states, our return travels went according to plan. Our first flight out of Lisbon to Heathrow was at 7:00 in the morning. We had gotten to the airport in plenty of time, only to find out that Steven, who was traveling on his Irish passport, needed a visa to go to the U.S. We had no idea. But wait, he also has an American passport! Unfortunately, it was safely tucked away in Bijou, at a campsite 30 minutes north of the city.

Steven dashed out of the airport to find a cab driver to take him there, only to be refused by the first two. The third one, however, was up for the challenge. He flew down the highway to get Steven to the campground, only to find the entrance gate was locked tight! He tried to squeeze through a side gate which woke the guard and caused a scene. The taxi driver, who spoke English, came to his rescue. Steven got his passport and made it back to the airport, through security and met me at the gate with just a few minutes to spare! Lesson learned, from now on he will carry both passports with him!

We had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. All our kids came to the ranch for Christmas along with the girls’ significant others, so with us and my parents, sister and cousins, we had quite a crowd. It makes me happy that everyone makes the time and effort to be together when we can and we always have a good time. Our three weeks at the ranch flew by!

Steven and I also stayed busy catching up on doctor and dentist appointments as well as getting some shopping done. We bought a few new clothes but mostly we brought back food. Well, spices and a few packaged things, like taco seasonings, cornbread mix, and black beans and rice. It’s not like we can’t get stuff to make these things over here, we just wanted our favorites. I brought a year’s (maybe two) supply of shampoo and Steven brought some stuff. LOL, I don’t even remember what all we got, but our luggage weighted 165 lbs. when it was all said and done! As always, storage in Bijou is an issue, but I inherited my Mom’s ability to condense big things into small spaces and I got it all organized and put away! Steven doubts me every time, when will he learn? 🙂

While we were at the ranch our friends Bill & Kelly stopped by on their way from Florida to the San Antonio area and we were sure happy to see them! We enjoyed a few movie nights and even managed to stay up past midnight to ring in the new year. By the time they left, with a little encouragement on our part, they had adopted our favorite barn kitty and named him Simba. This little kitty is quite unique, in that his parents are feral cats. He was born into a large litter, and he is the only one anybody could even get close to, let alone pick up and cuddle. And he is sure a cuddlebug! I think Simba just decided he wanted a better life than that of a barn cat, so, as my Mom says, he tamed himself! Now he’s a fulltime traveling kitty, loved and well-cared for. Who could ask for more?

My friends Dave and Jeanne Lowenthal also came to see us at the ranch. Steven had never met them and I hadn’t seem them in 20 or 25 years. I mean, it’s been a really long time! Jeanne and I served in the Junior League together when I lived in Plano. They followed along on our Camino journey and Dave was inspired to walk the Camino Frances this spring! So he had lots of questions and we had lots of answers and, of course, lots of advice! We are so excited for him and can’t wait for him to get started. It brings joy to our hearts that our wonderful experience has inspired someone else to make the journey. We wish him the best and will be following along as he makes his way across Spain!

Our trip back to Bijou went according to plan but, 22 hours of travel is just brutal no matter how you slice it. By the time we got back to Bijou and got the bikes out and the luggage in, we were wiped out. I managed to sleep a bit on the plane to Lisbon, but Steven didn’t at all. It took us a few days to get ourselves back to normal.

We were very happy to find Bijou in great shape. It’s always tough to leave her behind, but she was just as we left her, bikes and all. A spider about the size of my fist managed to get in, but for all we know he could have already been aboard before we left. That’s the second one we’ve found so far, so I am on high alert. Once we had all our luggage inside and secured, we stayed one night and then headed back to Turiscampo in the Algarve. This is the place where we sat for a month before Christmas and we were expecting a couple of packages. It was great to be able to mail things there and know the staff would hold them for us.

The first thing we got was our 2020 ACSI camping discount card. This is important for us so we were happy to get it before taking off on our travels. The second thing was new front springs for Bijou. The box was gigantic! Although there was nothing wrong with the ones already installed, we wanted beefier springs to better handle the weight of the rig and also give us a smoother ride. We are overweight, there’s no doubt about that. There is almost no carrying capacity in European motorhomes and when fulltiming, it’s nearly impossible to stay within the limits. We figured if we can’t be legal we should at least be safe.

We had the weekend to get ourselves unpacked and settled before taking Bijou into the shop Monday morning. The installation of these new springs was an all day affair. They had to take out the dashboard inside, which turned out to be quite a chore. Steven and I took off on our bikes and buzzed around Lagos and Luz, stopping to read by the water, or have a coffee or a bite to eat. We really had a lovely day. It’s always a pain to be displaced from our home, but wow, it was so worth it! The ride in Bijou is so much better, much less banging every time we run over even the slightest hole or joiner in the road. Another great benefit is that Bijou is raised in front by a good few inches, which is so perfect! Even on level ground she’d be down in front, now she’s level and rides perfectly. We are so happy to have this modification done!

Tuesday morning was our departure day from Portugal into Seville, Spain and we were ready to hit the road, but during our “pre-departure check” Steven noticed the blinker was out on the back passenger side. So we stopped by the shop again to see if they could change the bulb, but of course it was not that easy. The bulb was not actually the problem. They thought it was probably a wiring issue and they needed more time. Could we come back at 3:00 pm? Ugh, there went our travel day out the window. With over five hours to kill we decided to drive to IKEA in Faro. We had planned to stop there anyway on our way out of Portugal, so why not? Even if you only need one item, a trip through IKEA is never short, plus we had lunch there, too. By the time we returned to the shop, we were actually a few minutes late!

Anyway, long story short, at some point during the day I happened to notice a wire hanging from the back of Bijou and figured it was related to our issue. On the underside of Bijou there is a metal bar and on the way out of the shop’s parking lot the previous day that bar had dragged a bit on their steep exit. Steven pointed this out and they were able to fix it right away. By then it was nearly 4:00 pm, so we decided to hoof it back to Faro for the night. We were so ready to get on down the road! We didn’t make it out of Portugal, but at least we were on the road again! Next stop: Seville!

UP NEXT: Seville, Cadiz and preparations for Morocco!

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