November, 2009 Open School English Language Class G Monday, November 30th, 2009 After an uneventful day of working (Tyler) and grocery shopping, knitting, and reading (me) we decided to walk to Cafe Jazz for dinner. I had a cheeseburger and Tyler had a chicken pizza. We had fi... Youth Hostiles G Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Since our disturbing encounter with Mohammed, we've been slow to re-enter the free-camping world. Instead, we've been exploring other lodging options. Namely, the Youth Hostel. Neither of us has b... Mixed Feelings G Saturday, November 28th, 2009 I've been thinking a lot lately about accepting the culture of the areas we travel through, both to better understand them, and at times, simply to stay sane. I was in high spirits as we rode this m... Eid al-Adh: Festival of Sacrifice PG Friday, November 27th, 2009 The first thing we noticed about Monastir when we rolled in this morning were the numerous soccer games being played by all the local boys. As Tyler found out when he joined in on one of them, they ... Happy Thanksgiving G Thursday, November 26th, 2009 Tara Sometimes it seems odd that we should be out in the world going ever onwards, when my instincts tell me it is time to hole up for the season and hibernate. The coming winter and approaching hol... Mahdia G Thursday, November 26th, 2009 We left our empty hostel around 10AM for a day of walking around Mahdia, hopeful that we'd witness some of the festivities of Eid al-Adh firsthand. Tyler Leaving Hostel Neptune Restaurant It was... Sousse G Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 Last night we checked into a hostel, a first in many years for both of us. The simple room was relatively cheap and we both wanted some time to relax so we decided to spend another night. With a cy... Kairouan G Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 We left our hotel this morning after a very long, deep sleep, with a fresh positive attitude about being in Tunisia. Excited to see Kairouan, we spent this morning wandering around the medina. The ... Out of the Orange Grove G Monday, November 23rd, 2009 I lay awake on "high alert" for most of the night, listening to the surprisingly busy traffic, and keeping my ears perked for any sounds of the gate creaking open. When the alarm went off at 5:00 AM... No. PG-13 Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 It is good to be on the road again. Everything has quickly fallen into sync: we had crepes for breakfast before breaking from our secluded free-camp this morning, saw a giant spider and then made ou... Back in the Saddle G Saturday, November 21st, 2009 The man at the reception desk of our hotel wrote a note for us this morning before we ventured off for one last futile attempt at acquiring Libyan visas. The swirly, scribbly Arabic writing said (we... Touched G Saturday, November 21st, 2009 Most days the first thing Tyler does is check our email. This normally mundane task of ensuring that nothing has blown up at work has now become the highlight of our morning! As kind words pour in ... Libyan Visa for Americans G Friday, November 20th, 2009 The Libyan Embassy has been stringing us along for two weeks. Each time we visit, they tell us to return in increasingly shorter time frames, saying everything is fine and that our visas will be rea... Computer Geeks G Thursday, November 19th, 2009 Last night I got to spend some time with Carla's 15 year old son Youssef working on the family computers. One of them no longer boots and they had several documents they needed to recover from it. ... Reaching Out G Thursday, November 19th, 2009 We had a look at our website traffic yesterday and were completely blown away by what we saw. In the last 30 days we've had over 15,000 hits from more than 50 countries, all coming to a website writ... Laundry on the Road G Thursday, November 19th, 2009 At first it was pretty easy. In England and France we'd just use the washers and dryers present at most campsites. After a while though, especially upon entering Switzerland, we weren't willing to ... Libya Update G Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 Thankfully, Tyler felt better this morning, and we headed off to the Libyan Embassy in Tunis for another round of trying to get our visas. The first time we visited, they said to come back in 1, 2, ... Sick in Tunisia G Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 Two nights ago, Tyler came down with the flu (swine maybe, who knows). After one of at least twenty trips to the bathroom he weakly told me he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Poor guy! We thou... Cookware: GSI Outdoors Pinnacle vs Glacier G Monday, November 16th, 2009 There are a lot of options to choose from when considering what cook-set to bring on a world tour. Stainless steel for "expeditions", aluminum for pretty much everything, titanium for the weight wee... Sidi Bou Said G Sunday, November 15th, 2009 We walked to nearby Sidi Bou Said today and were surprised by how touristy it is compared with the shady little residential neighborhood where we are staying in La Marsa. Here are some photos from o... Website Additions G Saturday, November 14th, 2009 I finally spent some time this weekend working on integrating our Bicycle Touring Database with our website. Most of the changes were to the google map on our home page. Each marker now shows photo... Tunis Medina G Friday, November 13th, 2009 Shortly after exiting the TGM station called "Tunis Marine", we walk by these flower markets on our way to the center of town. Tunis Flower Market Our first major landmark is the Place du 7 Novembr... Shipments Received G Thursday, November 12th, 2009 We've developed a pretty good system for getting things we need while on the road. First, we place orders online and have the items shipped to my parents house. Then, when we are planning to stay s... Easy Translation G Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 Last year for our anniversary we spent the day getting vaccinated for our trip. This year we spent it in Tunis! Rather than getting jabbed by needles, we used our time preparing as best as we could... Researching G Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 We spent the entire day researching route options for leaving Tunisia. Here are a few more photos of Tunis from yesterday: Sparks We Are Crazy Becool Tunis Street Kebab ... Dear Libya G Monday, November 9th, 2009 When I was a kid, I loved adventure games. Growing up, I spent untold hours in front of my Dad's computer playing (and replaying and replaying again) LucasArts classics like Indiana Jones and the La... Getting Acclimated G Sunday, November 8th, 2009 We spent most of the today researching visas, looking up embassies, and getting to know our hosts. They are fairly private people so we won't post much about them, but here are some photos we took t... Welcome to Africa G Saturday, November 7th, 2009 We walk around Palermo this morning, absorbing our last bit of Italian culture before we leave. Our final stop is a pastry shop where we buy four cannoli for our future Tunisian hosts. The man behi... Time and Pressure G Friday, November 6th, 2009 Tyler It is hard to fathom that we're taking a ferry to Africa in less than 24 hours. Every now and then, one of us will turn to the other and say, "Hey guess what? We're going to Tunisia!" Outsid... Safely Indoors G Thursday, November 5th, 2009 Thanks to a very generous donation from fellow touring cyclist we've been corresponding with, Fred Bouwman, we booked a hotel room in Palermo during our trip's worst free-camp last night. We were bo... The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day G Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 Most of the day wasn't bad. We narrowly escaped some rain while packing our olive grove free-camp and then had a lovely uneventful ride along the coast. Cycling just feet from the crashing waves, w... Autumn in the Mountains G Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 Our frosty free-camp at 1,400m (4,500ft) was so cold we blew off our 5:30am alarm this morning. Cuddled in our toasty warm tent we hoped the sun would come out sooner rather than later. It didn't. ... Serendipitous G Monday, November 2nd, 2009 It took a lot of willpower to leave our cozy sleeping bag this morning. Fall doesn't mess around in the mountains. It was cold! We both layered ourselves like onions in the tent before braving the... The Kindness of Strangers G Sunday, November 1st, 2009 Last night's campsite was just what we needed. Free camping is fun, but it comes with a slightly tiring set of challenges: lack of bathrooms, showers, sinks, garbage cans, and most importantly: the ...