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Entries made in June, 2010

Over the River and Through the Woods

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Tyler: Stopping to take photos is definitely easier when you're on a bicycle. But, we don't let that deter us. When there is no shoulder, we just hang our camera (or, if you are me, yourself) out of the car window to snap pictures as the scener...

In the Map

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Tyler: We leave Janka's apartment this morning, supplied with two big boxes of Polish chocolates, ham and cheese sandwiches, heartfelt hugs, and enthusiastic well wishes. As we pull away, waving wildly, Tara and I feel simultaneously overwhelmed...

Warsaw with Janka

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Yesterday, we received a nice comment from a Polish woman named Janka who lives in Warsaw. Though she wasn't sure if we would be passing through her hometown, she generously took the time to offer us a place to stay, just in case. Conveniently, w...

A Walk in Warsaw

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

By the time I woke up this morning, Tara had already gone running, tidied the hotel room, and planned our day of sightseeing in Warsaw. Wow! She picked a museum about Marie Curie, the old town, and a park where we might hear free classical music ...

On Running, Rest & Routines

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

What started as a simple desire to move my body, is slowly transforming into something much larger. I've decided that I want to love running. More to the point: I want it to be one enjoyable part of my now active lifestyle. While reading abou...

Running Start

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Last night, I told Tyler that I was feeling like a schlub. Our adventure has really changed how I feel about exercise; over the course of a year, I've grown used to lots and lots of physical activity! Since we started driving, I've missed moving ...

On Driving

Friday, June 25th, 2010

After more than a year spent living out of a bicycle (and writing about the experience nearly every day) many aspects of my worldview have changed so dramatically that I often find it difficult to relate to the motives of my younger self. The most...

A Walk in Kolobrzeg

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

One of the most enjoyable parts of this trip (for me) is traveling to places I have absolutely no preconceived notions about. Poland is definitely one of those locales. Just as it was with Macedonia, Serbia, and Romania, I feel the same intangibl...

Working in Poland

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

We spent the majority of our day cozied up in the tent, pleasantly overwhelmed by what has become our typical rest/work day routine: responding to a zillion emails, writing, and programming. While Tara tapped out a few journal entries and responde...

To the Baltic Sea

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Good morning, Poland! This morning, as we broke from our first-ever car-based free-camp, Tyler finally lost it about "that damned trunk." It is no secret he has a bit of OCD when it comes to organization. Despite his best efforts to ign...

Why Are You in a Car?

Monday, June 21st, 2010

The shortest answer to this question is: to drive across Russia! Here is the long answer: In the broadest terms, our plan for this adventure was to travel from Scotland to Malaysia by land and sea. As we plotted our route (originally intended...

Road Trip Begins!

Monday, June 21st, 2010

We spent our last day with Nadine and Felix checking off the final items from our to-do list. These were mostly our shopping-related chores. Namely, finding them fun T-shirts, and finding us the things we'd need for our little red car. The co...

Berlin with Friends: Day Three

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

It has been my desire for quite some time now, to have a relaxing, fun-filled Sunday like we would at home. Today, with the best company a woman could ask for, I got my wish. First things first, we rented bikes from our hostel. After driving aro...

Berlin with Friends: Day Two

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

We started the morning off with yet another excellent cappuccino from Felix and Nadine. Then, we all drove into Berlin for a day of sightseeing. Today, Nadine had a Plan. This was really nice; it feels like we're constantly organizing what to se...

Berlin with Friends: Day One

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Guess who came to Berlin to visit us? Our dear friends, Nadine and Felix! They drove six hours north from Munich in their big green VW Transporter to hang out with us for a few days in the city. Following a series of molasses-like traffi...

Driving Around Town

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

We said a heartfelt goodbye to ba noi today (little did she know she would be whisked off to the airport soon after we left, as a surprise birthday trip to Paris!) and hopped in our little red car. Our plan for afternoon was to find a nice cof...

Berlin with Ann

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

We were hot and tired when we finished packing our bicycles into the trunk of our new car. Back inside, we enjoyed glasses of cold water, and chatted with our friend Tony's aunt, uncle, and cousin who had stopped by to see us off. Before everyone...

Roadtrip Ready

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

This morning, we left ba noi's house bright and early, heading in the direction of the car dealership. This was it! We were about to get a car! It is hard to believe that this entire chain of events stemmed from a seemingly innocuous comment mad...

Goodbye, Blogger

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Goodbye, blogger! I have officially migrated all five hundred and twenty of our journal entries, and nearly two thousand comments to our own server. This journal is now stored in our database, and displayed with my new, written-from-scratch publi...

Puppet Museum

Monday, June 14th, 2010

We're saving most of our Berlin sightseeing for when Nadine and Felix come to visit in a few days. In the meantime, we're working (a lot), sorting out car logistics, and very occasionally venturing out into the city. Today, we took trip to see a ...

Working in Berlin

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Today, we spent some time designing a new website for our road trip. It is going really well! As was the case when we made Going Slowly, there were some frustrating bits where we stared at the screen cringing. It's especially difficult for me, b...

Buying a Car in Germany

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Last night, after some hunting on mobile.de, we found a candidate car for our Siberian roadtrip: a 1991 Toyota Corolla from a single (retired) owner with 60,000km (37,000 miles). The asking price? A paltry €1,300! We promptly called the dealersh...

Cooking with Ba Noi

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Life with ba noi is good. She is a kind-hearted grandmother who enjoys growing orchids and pedaling away on her miniature stationary bicycle, among many other things. She also loves to watch Korean soap operas (dubbed in Vietnamese). Occasi...

Crank World Cycling Blog Honors: 2010

Friday, June 11th, 2010

We won Cranklisted's Favorite Commuter/Travel Biking Blog for 2010! Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us! To see the winners in all of the categories, check out this post by Darryl, the friendly guy behind Loving the Bike and Cranklist...

To Berlin

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Normally, when we take any transport faster than a bicycle, we feel like we're missing out. Today, we were happy to watch the world go by without having to pedal through it. As we hurtled across the German landscape, we weren't pining away for an...

Just a Bike Ride

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

For the last few days, we've been taking some much needed rest. For us, this means cooking less, eating out more, "staying in", and leaving the camera behind when we go out. This welcome change of pace is definitely having the intended effect of ...

Dresden Thunderstorm

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

It rained on and off all day. Nice, warm, summer rain. This evening, we enjoyed our most dramatic thunderstorm yet! ...

Train to Dresden

Monday, June 7th, 2010

After a thoroughly enjoyable break in Bamberg, it was time to move on to our next destination: Dresden. So, this morning we packed up one last time from our three-night river-side free-camp, and rode back into town. When we reached the station...

Home from Work

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

After a relaxing day of working, eating ice cream sundaes, and enjoying delicious, cheap Chinese food, we cycle back to our riverside free-camp along a string of nice bike paths on the outskirts of Bamberg. It is a nice change of pace to arri...

Spargel!

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

This morning we packed up from our free-camp, commuted into town along smooth, shaded bike paths, and headed straight to McDonald's for work and lots of ice cream sundaes. When we're done, we'll scope out a promising Chinese restaurant for dinner ...

Sunny Sneezefest

Friday, June 4th, 2010

At long last, the day dawned bright and sunny. The inside of our tent was hot this morning! Off came our knitted hats, along with our tent's bone-dry rain-fly, but not before we donned our sorely neglected spandex riding shorts. If someone had t...

A Little Help From Our Friends

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Us: The rain that falls on our tent this morning doesn't faze us. Our friends are here! Donning our rain jackets, we run over to their bright green van, and climb inside where they are already making breakfast. Safe under the metal roof of ...

This is Nadine & Felix

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

We have decided to meet up with Tara and Tyler in Nürnberg. We have been missing them since they left Munich, and with a holiday coming up we will make good use of this possibility. They will be cycling from Rothenburg towards Nürnberg today, and...

Something's Got to Give

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Tyler: We couldn't bear to leave our tent this morning. Safe and warm in our secluded forest free-camp, listening to the constant patter of water pelting our rain fly, all motivation to start the day eluded us. The skies were dark and unwelcomi...

Into the Woods

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Before leaving our pension this morning, I decide to visit one last thing before we leave Rothenburg—The Craftsman' House. This is the oldest building in town, dating back to 1270(!) and is now filled with antique goods, appearing as if it belonge...