Looping through mountain borders

The Alps, between Italy and France

At a gas station at the edge of Turin, we convinced a French family on summer vacation in a small Italian mountain town to help us cover some kilometers along the road to Grenoble, France.

At a hill's curve, we get a ride with an awesome 'local' guy whose aspirations to leave the small town of his birth and upbringing have left him today ... still in his small town. Regardless of where he is from or who he is now or will become, it is so strikingly clear what great sense of humor and goodwill he possesses. He also owns the most beautiful Alaskan husky puppy, who he calls his primary love. After drinks at a bar, he drops us back on the highway.

A late-medieval fortress in the mountains

The view backward, forward, and diagonal-wise

From the stop above, we catch a ride with an overspeeding BMW driven by an Albanian pizza-restaurant owner, a set of middle-aged Italians vacationing in France, a French family staying at their winter house, and two French sisters visiting each other. We arrive at the stop below.

In the evening

Nesting, resting under the roof 

of an empty winter chalet 

in the heart of summer, 

in between the mountains,

I wake up far from incubated

The next day, on three hours of sleep, we get rides through the magnificent Alps with a competitive bicyclist collective, a Spanish physical therapist, a journalist and an African coiffeuse, all the way to Grenoble, traveling again with lifetime voyagers as the world spins its motions.

#mountain city, #grenoble, #developed country, #reconstruction, #barefoot walking, #lose shoes

From here, we start an new (un)familiar with the family...