Tour de France group travels through Alps in three countries

April and Frank Ripple, Diana Storm and Ric Landvatter have a snow fight in the Alps along the way following Tour de France. Stanwood business owner and stage-four prostate patient, Ric Landvatter, 58, is following along the path of cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong during the 22-day Tour de France bike competition, along with his fiancée, Diana Storm and friends April and Frank Rippel. They are traveling in a recreational vehicle (RV), called a camper car in France.

Bonjour, welcome back to the Tour de France route with the "FourLeTour," now in the land of cheese and chocolate, Switerland!

As soon as we crossed the border a café was found and hot chocolate was ordered.

The countryside is beautiful and "everywhere you look is like a postcard photo," said April.

The first evening was spent right at the tour's "feed zone," in hopes of souvenir water bottles and other goodies discarded by tour bike racers.

The weather was cold, but clear, and another brilliant sunny day was the setting for our venturesome four to find the spot to collect their booty.

Frank was the lucky one with a Garmin/Slipstream rider, in a breakaway, throwing a "musett" (a small bag bikers use to pass meals) directly at his feet. It was filled with two team water bottles, sports bars and drinks and some sort of potato.

This was a true prize and surrounding fans were duly impressed.

It had been a long day in Switzerland and upon returning to our RV a fellow Swiss neighbor came walking into camp with his two young sons. They were very disappointed at not getting a single souvenir.

Our group quickly whipped out hats, toys and candies to share. The older of the boys (maybe 4 years old) kept saying "thank you" in English over and over. Then he rewarded April with a huge hug!

The next morning we tackled the Swiss Alps, which are magnificent. Once there, snow was found and a snowball fight quickly ensued. What fun, to have cold snow put down your back in the middle of July in the middle of Switzerland!

Then we unexpectedly crossed into Italy. Could the day get any better? It was a short stay, but long enough for postcards, lunch and some visiting with the locals.

Then it was back into France for another whiteknuckle ride though some of the French Alps, three countries, three sets of Alps, all in one day.

We were thrilled, and that didn't even include getting to see the Tour de France riders. The town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice was reached, which was the setting for the next tour stage.

We got to see Lance Armstrong come flying into town off the mountain with a large group of breakaway riders!

Don't miss the conclusion, as our group ends up in Paris for the final tour stage.

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