Italy Entries
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Ciao Bella!
Monday, February 1st, 2010Though the day dawned brilliantly, the sun wasn't providing much in the way of warmth. Amidst millions of shimmering dewdrops in our churchyard free-camp, we groggily blew into our chilly hands and ...
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Coasting
Sunday, January 31st, 2010According to our database, after ten months on the road we've ascended 108,469 meters and descended 108,215 more. Imperially speaking, that is nearly 70 miles in each direction. We have officially ...
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Matera Sightseeing
Saturday, January 30th, 2010We started our day by making french toast with Matera looming in the distance. It was very windy and we were downright cold as I packed up camp while Tara prepared breakfast. Once again, thank you ...
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Matera Sassi
Friday, January 29th, 2010"Please don't be raining please don't be raining please don't be raining"... I repeated over and over while waiting for Tyler to come back from a quick trip outside to check the weather this morning....
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Sick Day Observations
Thursday, January 28th, 2010Though I woke up feeling a lot better than I had last night, Tyler insisted we take a day of rest so I could fully recover. We passed the morning and afternoon laying together in our tiny, smaller-t...
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Wet and Cold
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010A sickly drizzle of freezing rain patiently waited to receive us this morning. As we stuffed ourselves during our last continental breakfast at the Grand Hotel in Potenza, we were blissfully unaware...
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Just Right
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010We've only been here two nights and two days but Tara and I enthusiastically agree; we think we'd like to live here. The city of Potenza has a particular vibe, a quiet welcoming sort of quality abou...
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Birthday Success
Monday, January 25th, 2010Yesterday, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do on my birthday. While the best parts of the day weren't even on it (an early morning phone call from my brother, Lian, the sweetest voice-ma...
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Rags to Riches
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Walking into the four-star Grande Albergo hotel in Potenza's charming shop-lined cobblestone downtown was quite the experience-- a real example of how polar our trip can be at times. There we were, ...
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Brrrrrrr
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010In an odd change of perspective, every climb was cause for celebration today (and there were plenty of them: 800 meters, or over 2,500 feet in all). In lieu of hopping around madly trying to keep wa...
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Climbing in the Cold
Friday, January 22nd, 2010The day didn't start out very cold. In fact, the first twenty five kilometers of our trek east were just beautiful; much flatter than I expected they would be too! We cruised through non-stop civil...
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Field Recording
Thursday, January 21st, 2010During yesterday's ride, we enjoyed the Amalfi scenery on our second trip through it's unforgettable coastline. Though it provided spectacular views once more, we'd forgotten how mountainous the are...
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Amalfi Again
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010When Tyler expressed his desire to return what I call "the tunnel from hell" to do some recording, I was torn. On one hand, I was excited that he'd finally be able to capture the bizarrely intense d...
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What's Next
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010For some reason we can't quite put our fingers on, we've found stealth camping in Italy to be incredibly easy and rewarding. Last night's location and the views it provided this morning were no exce...
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Salerno
Monday, January 18th, 2010After a refreshingly hassle-free boarding process last night, we made ourselves at home on the ferry to Salerno. By making a mat on the floor out of the removable seat cushions, we were able to easi...
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Pigging Out in Palermo
Sunday, January 17th, 2010We woke up to the morning sun streaming through our smudged ferry windows and were greeted with views of the ruggedly beautiful mountains of the Sicilian coastline. We were almost there! An hour ...
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Time and Pressure
Friday, November 6th, 2009Tyler 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...
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Safely Indoors
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Thanks 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...
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The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Most 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...
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Autumn in the Mountains
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Our 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. ...
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Serendipitous
Monday, November 2nd, 2009It 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...
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The Kindness of Strangers
Sunday, November 1st, 2009Last 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 ...
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Give and Take
Saturday, October 31st, 2009Before embarking on our journey, we blithely lived in the land of "everything you could ever need or want, 24 hours a day" and completely took it for granted. While preparing to leave, if I couldn't...
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Stealthy
Friday, October 30th, 2009This evening was the most blatantly public free camp we've ever attempted, easily trumping our most daring nighttime caper so far: sleeping in the middle of a highway. After a breezy fifty kilometer...
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Sicily at Last
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009We took it slowly this morning, making crepes for the first time in what felt like ages. When we set out, we were hoping against hope for a flat day but of course, it was anything but! Like yesterd...
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Southbound Again
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009We took two trips this morning, both of us pushing one bike at a time up the steep and very slick winding road we'd descended last night to arrive at our seaside free camp. The climbing didn't end t...
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Free Camp Fun
Monday, October 26th, 2009Our first free camp was on the second night of our trip. We hauled our panniers by hand through the woods to a well hidden clearing and then returned for our bicycles, trudging through the brush in ...
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Blown Away
Sunday, October 25th, 2009Tara: Lately, when we have a few days off it takes a bit of mental cajoling to get back into the groove of cycling. Already feeling a little reluctant to leave the comforts of civilization behind, w...
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Hotel Comforts
Saturday, October 24th, 2009After our highway stealth camp, Tara's grandparents sent us another donation(!) insisting that we spend a night in a nice hotel! Following an awe-inspiring storm two days ago we decided to take them...
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Epic Storm
Friday, October 23rd, 2009When the alarm went off this morning I could scarcely hear its persistent beeping over the noise outside. A train screamed by, shaking the ground beneath us, and the natural world seemed to be engag...
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What Rain?
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Bring it on nature! When it was time to pack our things in the rain this morning neither of us even flinched. Not soon after we left, the drizzle turned into a fierce downpour that didn't fully let...
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Run-Ins
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009Our first run-in of the day was with a man in an ANAS van (the Italian highway maintenance service) shortly after leaving our seaside free camp. He stopped us about 10km into a long ascent and did h...
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Feeling Capable
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009When we groggily awoke to rain pattering on our tent roof, we promptly rolled over, slept in, and let nature run its course. Thankfully by 9AM the gray sheet of clouds had drifted out to sea, taking...
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Peaceful Day
Monday, October 19th, 2009From an outsider's perspective, cycle touring may seem like a romantic, leisurely and relaxing way to take a vacation. There's the beautiful scenery, the wind in your hair, the open road, and the fr...
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South for Winter
Sunday, October 18th, 2009We've been contemplating several different routing possibilities to wrap up our tour of Italy for several days now. Today, as we approached the point where the roads diverged and decision-making bec...
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Short Day
Saturday, October 17th, 2009Saying goodbye to Melodie and Alex this morning felt very premature. We would have loved to spend more time with them but unfortunately, we're all headed in opposite directions. Before parting ways...
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Fast Friends
Friday, October 16th, 2009Surprisingly when our alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, neither of us wanted to budge from our highway free camp! Our tent had become a cozy, warm little den; a thick carpet of pine needles benea...
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Noisy Naples
Thursday, October 15th, 2009Tara: Before leaving our volcanic campground we stopped for breakfast at the bar/shop on site. As we ate we noticed there were several cats wandering around (at least seven by our count!). One of t...
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Full of Surprises
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009We've had our share of interesting rodent encounters on the road but this morning easily topped them all. While groping around for my shoes at 4am to go to the bathroom I felt something... furry? A...
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October's Bright Blue Weather
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009The warmth and manic weather (repeated bouts of sun alternating with downpours) of the past few days have passed, leaving a distinct drop in temperature and crisp, clear skies. It is the quintessent...
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Making Jam
Monday, October 12th, 2009Since today was our day off, I decided to make some jam with an unfortunate batch of fruit: two mealy oranges and three mushy, tasteless prune plums. First I peeled the oranges (roughly, with a kni...
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Just us Chickens
Saturday, October 10th, 2009This morning began with a quiet thunder rumbling in the distance. Instead of ignoring the faint percussion, leaving our comfort to chance, I sprang to attention, shook Tyler awake and together we to...
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Riding Sicker
Friday, October 9th, 2009Last night as we were too tired to put our food away properly, Tyler said, "in the REAL wild, we'd have to be a lot more careful about what we do with our food or animals would come and eat it." We ...
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Riding Sick
Thursday, October 8th, 2009One of the few downsides to free camping near the ocean is a tent completely covered with dew in the early morning hours before the sun comes up. Our spot was so good last night we opted to sleep wi...
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Taking Care of Business
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009I was surprised to find myself enjoying our ride this morning as we made our way out of the tangled mess that is Roman traffic. The shoulder, if you could call it that, was a huge line of haphazardl...
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Ancient History
Monday, October 5th, 2009For our second trip into Rome we decided to make it a "short" day, focusing just on the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, and the Palatine. It is a good thing we didn't plan anything else! When we arriv...
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Resting in Rome
Sunday, October 4th, 2009We spent most of the day in our tent at Seven Hills Campsite in Rome today. Tara is working on a new writing project and I, as usual, had tons of programming to catch up on. ...
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Roman Holiday
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009We left from our tent quickly this morning in hopes that we wouldn't miss the 8:30 shuttle to the nearest train station. When we arrived at the "bus stop" area, it was obvious we hadn't needed to ru...
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Six Months on the Road
Thursday, October 1st, 2009A lot has changed since our plane landed in Scotland six months ago (in April- what were we thinking?!) We've packed more exciting events into these 184 days than either of us can believe. With eac...
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Ghost Towns
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Apparently tourist season is over! Just yesterday, each town we passed was bustling with people. Crowds of tourists spent their sunny afternoons eating gelato and milling about little surf shops, p...
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Oceanside Free Camp
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Tyler: This morning while we ate breakfast a pack of stray kittens wandered tentatively into our picnic area. They all seemed to be in pretty rough shape so I tossed a piece of bread their way to se...
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Back to the Mainland
Monday, September 28th, 2009Since yesterday was our day off, Tyler put off fixing his flat tire (which he acquired riding into Aquaviva Campground) until this morning. In no time at all, he had the tube patched and we were rea...
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Doing Nothing
Sunday, September 27th, 2009After yesterday's intense ups and downs (literally-- we climbed over 1,000 meters!), we decided it was time for a break. Now we're settled in to a nice campground on the north shore of Elba Island t...
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Climbing Elba
Saturday, September 26th, 2009Elba Island is one part collapsed mountain, one part volcanic remains. The resulting landscape, while stunning, is quite a workout on a fully loaded touring bicycle. Directly out our front do...
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Exploring Elba
Friday, September 25th, 2009Packing up our free-camp early this morning, a man ambled into the woods just as we were heading out. He didn't smile or wave, he just adjusted his floppy hat and tightened his grips on the stick he...
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Easy Road to Elba
Thursday, September 24th, 2009Often when we don't have a specific idea of where we are headed next, we choose a city located somewhere in the general direction we're traveling and use it as a waypoint in our GPS. Once the route ...
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Volterra and the Sea
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009A brilliant golden light filtered through the trees this morning but I was far too comfy in our tent to get up and take a picture. I will just have to commit the morning splendor to memory. Quickly...
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A Hero's Welcome
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009Tara and I were a little overwhelmed last night as we looked at our maps, trying to decide where to go next. Until today we've had a fairly clear plan that defined where we were going, when we would...
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Changing Seasons
Monday, September 21st, 2009My family packed up and left today, leaving a quiet hole in their wake. It was wonderful to have them here, and now that they are gone, Tyler and I are suddenly alone for our last night in a now sil...
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This is Mark
Sunday, September 20th, 2009I woke up early expecting to tour the farm, meet Lidia's parents, and participate in making sheep's milk ricotta, the creamy cheese Tara had used to make our tasty ravioli filling. As it turned out,...
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This is Lian
Saturday, September 19th, 2009Hi all, This is Lian, Tara's brother. I have been enjoying my week with the "Going Slowly Crew" here in Italy. We are having a wonderful time here in the countryside with short trips to the towns. ...
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This is Lisa
Friday, September 18th, 2009This is Lisa. Im Tara's mom, and I'm filling in today to allow Tara and Tyler a bit of a break from their usual discipline of daily journaling. Their dedication to daily journaling is impressive....
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Ravioli Making
Friday, September 18th, 2009...
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Florence with Family
Thursday, September 17th, 2009The morning began with some harried navigation on busy Italian roads leading into Florence. Traveling by bicycle is definitely easier than by car! After several wrong turns and subsequent complicat...
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Food All Day
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009Being the only one in our apartment that a) isn't jet-lagged, and b) hasn't been awake all night long fixing and setting up our new HP Mini 5101 laptop, I bound out of bed this morning refreshed, ful...
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Homecoming
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009As usual when free camping, we awoke early and began packing while it was still dark out. Though everything was wet, we didn't mind too much since we had only 20 kilometers to cover before we would ...
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Tuscan Thunder
Monday, September 14th, 2009The morning began with a series of short but brutal hills; a not-so-gentle reminder that the Po River Valley is well behind us. The moment we reached the top of our first 200 meter climb the Tuscan ...
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Florence
Sunday, September 13th, 2009We spent our rest day wandering around the beautiful, bustling city of Florence. Here are some photos and quick thoughts from the excursion: Thanks for the tip about Gelateria Neri, Oanh! We foun...
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Trains: A Learning Experience
Saturday, September 12th, 2009The morning started with a paradise-like sunrise which we excitedly photographed before promptly going directly back to sleep. A few hours later we awoke to lazily pack our camp and prepare for anot...
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Re del Po
Friday, September 11th, 2009Tyler often reminds me that we always find a place to sleep. No matter what circumstances present themselves during our day, we have and always will find a place to camp. I held that comforting tho...
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Working in Cremona
Thursday, September 10th, 2009After sneaking out of our trusty canopy-tree-free-camp this morning we headed to Chocolat Café so I could get some work done. With nearly a week off things were really starting to pile up. Most ...
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Cremona Museums
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009Packing up this morning, we both decided it would be nice to take a rest day and see the sights of Cremona. Crawling out of our fantastically shady and well hidden free camp, Tyler announced that he...
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More Free Camping
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009With each passing day we fall in love with Italy a little more. Maybe it is the cheap, delicious food clouding our judgment but we're almost certain that we'll pass through again on our way to Mosco...
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Po River Valley
Monday, September 7th, 2009With our late finish yesterday evening, a sleepless worrisome night of listening furtively for possible angry farmers, and a 6:00 AM departure from our not-so-hidden free camp this morning, I was mor...
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Amaretto Gelato
Sunday, September 6th, 2009True to his promise, our security guard friend was on patrol this morning. When we rolled out of the tent around 7AM he strolled over to talk with us. We did our best to communicate and this time w...
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Lago di Como
Saturday, September 5th, 2009Our taste buds are not ready for Italy. Yesterday we had grapes that were so flavorful (and cheap!) they were hardly recognizable as the fruit I've known my entire life. They had so much flavor it...
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Life is Good
Friday, September 4th, 2009Huge misty clouds obscure entire mountains from view; the world is swathed in shades of grey. It is pouring down rain, and water falls from the bridge's underside drain pipes like someone left two s...
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Directions
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009It was a bleak and drizzly morning and I hadn't affixed the rain fly properly last night. Consequently, one end of the tent was completely soaked. Where normally I would have been fuming and frustr...
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Italy at Last
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009Before leaving town officially, we had one very important task to attend to. Velocity sent us complete wheelsets for both bikes and we were left with two perfectly good front wheels in need of a hom...