Another weekly record

I was hoping for a 700-mile week, but instead we rolled up a 836 mile week. We were helped out a great deal by UGRAB, but there were great contributions from non-UGRAB people as well.

We finished off Morocco, passing through some interesting places on the way out. We went through Cassablanca, which of course is best known for being the inspiration for this classic film, and this unforgettable piece of dialogue:

From now on the essence of this hotel will be speed. If a customer askes you for a three-minute egg, give it to him in two minutes. If he askes you for a two-minute egg, give it to him in one minute. If he askes you for a one-minute egg, give him the chicken and let him work it out for himself!

We also passed through Tangier, which sounds like a pretty cool place to visit. One has to be careful when everything you know about a country comes from Wikipedia, but Morocco as a whole seems pretty neat. Did you know that it was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States of America, and that it is our partner in our longest unbroken Friendship Treaty? You do now.

We crossed over the Straits of Gibraltar, through Gibraltar itself (which I did not know was a self-governing British territory), and then made our way along the Mediterranean coast of Spain for awhile. More beaches and resorts than you can shake a stick at. We then headed north and came to rest in Manzanares, Spain. Along the way we passed the site of the Battle of Los Navas de Tolosa, where in 1212 a bunch of Christians got together and beat up a bunch of Muslims, essentially driving them from the Iberian peninsula, back to Northern Africa. Interesting to think how differently Europe may have turned out had the battle gone differently.

Rachel Hohenstein successfully completed Grandma's Marathon in stifling heat last weekend, so congratulations to her. She finished 552 out of 2273, with a chip-time of 4:17:52 (results). And good luck to Mike and Rob in the upcoming HyVee triathlon this weekend.