ur group was together only about ten of the total 21 days of the trip. But, the original planning and focus of the trip was based on this group going to France and renting a house in the country. It was an attempt to revisit the success of our previous trip to Italy. It worked!

Thom & Lori

Thom & Lori are the catalyst for the group. They host a party every summer and that is where this whole thing got started. Lori and Peg work together and Doris and Lori are old friends. Over the years we have all gathered at various social events, but our first travel experience was renting a villa in Tuscany. Thom is a landscape architect.

Peg & Cliff

Peg fly's for United as does Lori. Rumor has it they both started on Ford Tri-motors but they deny it. Needless to say, Lori & Peg have been friends for many years. Cliff owns a printing company specializing in business forms.

Doris & Jerry

Doris and Jerry are retired but seem to keep busy with home projects and building web sites. Doris is the travel researcher of the group. She loves it.

Lori took this picture so she is absent.

It is not uncommon when people travel in a group to find they are no longer the close friends they once were at the end of the trip. Of course these built-up irritations tend to fade with time and they try it again. Twice is generally enough.

With this group we have not found that problem. Here's why:

• There are not any type "A" folks in the group. Well, maybe Thom is a "B+", but that helps to add some organization to our efforts.
  
• Everyone travels light, so no one has to wait while one couple drags excess luggage.
  
• We provide plenty of transportation. On this trip we had two cars for three couples and on the Tuscany trip we had four cars for twelve people. No one is a prisoner of transportation.
  
• The group is not tied together. No one objects if someone wants to go off on their own. With the smaller group, only six people, we found we tended to stick together but there was no compulsion to do so.
  
• There was no rigid schedule. We just planned things a day at a time and all were content with just poking around and seeing the sites.
  
• There were no prima-donnas occupying the bathrooms for hours or pouting when they did not get their way.
  
• We were all excited about the adventure.

Pre-trip party - a French dinner to put us in the mood.

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