Paul and Amie and Lenny and Karyn are getting situated in their sleeping bags at the Wheel Of Big Gaudy Lights when Dave and Margaretta arrive. Warm greetings ensue. Paul zips Amie into her bag, making a remark (actually relatively amusing) about how much he enjoys shutting her into an enclosed space where she can't talk as much. Aaaaaaand it's my first Liking Paul Moment ever. (What is HAPPENING this week?) We next see the six who are currently at the wheel -- Lenny/Karyn, Paul/Amie, Dave/Margaretta -- lying out under the stars. Amie giggles wildly (Liking Amie Moment #2 -- they're coming fast and furious!) as she glances over at Davey and Margaretta, who are under what looks like a stunning gold lamé duvet. My friend Snowmobile Boy, incidentally, tells me with some enthusiasm that these "emergency blankets" fold up to be extremely teeny, like half the size of your wallet -- ah, so it's probably one of Davey's clever flyboy tricks. (Of course, I haven't asked Mrs. Snowmobile Boy whether she's ever been stuck under one and how much good it did her.) As they stare at the sky, Margaretta flashes a smile so magnificent that all of under-40 America concludes that if its future holds even one smile like that, it's nothing but good times ahead.

Unfortunately, the members of the Under The Stars Brigade are not quite as lucky as they were starting to think they were, because it starts to rain. All cower under their assorted raingear. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Paris, Team Guido ducks into a little coffee shop. Joe refers to what he's sipping as "very Frohhhhnsh." Ick. You know what I think? You can't really go into a competition like this thinking you're necessarily going to win the money. The odds are against you, no matter how good you think you are. So you've got to enjoy the experience. What, you may ask, is the purpose of All This Useless Background Philosophy? Well, to point out that, all things considered, I'd rather spend the night under even a rainy Paris sky with Team Ensure, Lenny and Karyn, and even Paul and Amie than spend it holed up in a coffee shop with the Guidos. Honestly, if I wanted to hang out at Starbucks, I could do it without going to so much trouble. I think the rain-endurers are probably having more fun, even with the part where they have endure the rain. ["It'll work better in the telling later, at any rate. I mean, everyone has a Paris vacation story about going to a café in Paris. Sleeping outside in the French rain? Now that's a Paris vacation story." -- Sars]