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Favorite Days Entries

Mission Accomplished

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

It is 12:41 AM on November the 3rd. The year is 2012. Tara is snuggled up next to me, fast asleep. I am awake and programming, busy overhauling the internals of our website in preparation for the upcoming release of Tara's first book: Bike. Cam...

A Family Visit to our Land

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

Brimming with anticipation, we wend our way through rural southwestern Vermont, passing scenic farms with red barns nestled at the feet of breathtaking mountains. As we draw near to our land, fiery-colored trees line either side of the road, creat...

An Alan Family Vacation

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

A few months ago, my grandmother mentioned wanting to see Vermont again. Years ago, she and my grandfather went on vacations to New England, taking trains to see the fall color. She wanted to go again, and to see Tyler and my land in person. So,...

Mud Girls Natural Building Cob Workshop

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

For the last five days we've been camping in the woods on a piece of land near the coast of Salt Spring Island, attending a workshop put on by the Mud Girls Natural Building Collective. The week ran a mere $185 dollars per person, and included thr...

Riding on the Rooftops of Indochina

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

If I only had one week to spend in Southeast Asia, it would be here, in the mountains of northern Laos on a motorcycle. If someone asked me a month ago what I thought about riding here, I wouldn't have had much to say beyond "sounds fun!" Now, I ...

Dirt Tracks to Nowhere

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Tara: Brilliant blue skies stretch out above us, more heavenly than any magnificent cathedral's dome. The scent of woodsmoke (one of my favorite smells) drifts through the air, and I am filled with happiness, hugging Tyler as he pilots our moto...

Motorized, Again

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

I had trouble falling asleep last night. I must have lain in bed for three hours staring at the ceiling, thinking about riding motorcycles, feeling for all the world like a kid on Christmas Eve. I don't remember when I finally drifted off, but it...

Welcome to Laos, Part Three: Music & Petang

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Tyler: After the goat feast, the festivities continue with music and games. Behind our table is a long strip of dirt where men gather for a petang match, one of Lao's favorite past-times. It's a holdover from French colonization, known there as...

Welcome to Laos, Part Two: The Goat Feast

Friday, January 28th, 2011

When the soccer game is over, it's time for the feast! This party is special because our hosts are serving numerous traditional but rarely eaten dishes, all made from a single, freshly-slaughtered goat. We're honored to be included in the festivi...

Hội An Lantern Festival: Part Two

Monday, January 17th, 2011

In a small cobbled park, situated between a pair of buildings in Hoi An's old town, a crowd has gathered. People shout and laugh raucously, while a man announces something in Vietnamese through a car-battery-powered PA. As we work our way through...

Hội An Lantern Festival: Part One

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Every fourteenth day of the lunar calendar, Hoi An puts the complications of modern life to rest in favor of a romantic, nostalgic celebration of a quieter era. Once a month, instead of playing host to noisy scooters, the old quarter is reserved f...

Street Food in the Rain

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Under heavy gray skies, a steady drizzle bounces off the conical rice hat of a roadside chef—she is sitting in front of a cauldronful of embers and ash, tending to an array of pork skewers. As we take a seat next to her, she turns them one by one,...

Sightseeing in Historic Hội An

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

It is grey, drizzly and downright cold outside this morning, but the weather suits me just fine; the somber mood it brings about lends even more character to the ambiance of this already atmospheric town. In order to explore the history-steep...

Down the Misty Mountain

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Tyler: As we round the bend of our last (uphill) switchback this morning, we're greeted by an ethereal vision in the distance: a swirl of fast-moving white fog drifting across the road. As we approach the hanging mist, the chill clouds rush arou...

Morning in a Mountain Village

Monday, January 10th, 2011

I'm not sure how early it is, but I'm ready to go. As I clumsily dislodge myself from the hammock, all knees and elbows, I leave Tara curled up like a burrito in the netting, dead to the world. After I've padded around camp gathering twigs for a ...

Riding in Rice Paddies

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Tyler: Along the highways in the Mekong Delta, often less than a hundred meters from the road, there are peaceful dirt and gravel paths carving through the quiet villages of Southern Vietnam. Winding through tranquil palm forests, striking rice ...

Mekong Delta Bike Paths

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Bolstered by a colorful market experience, and a steady succession of friendly smiles from local cyclists, we're having a spectacular morning. But, after less than twenty kilometers on the road, the excruciating off-key symphony of Vietnam's horn-...

Cambodia's Bamboo Railway: Part Three

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

We slow to a stop in a small village; everyone but us has departed already. As the conductor helps us safely lower our bikes from the platform, we're a bit confused. We're certainly not in Kompong Chnang, and our GPS shows that we have a long, lo...

Cambodia's Bamboo Railway: Part Two

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Tyler is standing behind me, next to the conductor, holding our bikes upright – I'm scrunched on the platform in front of them, trying to maneuver myself off the broken slats and onto some of the strong-looking wooden beams beside me. With so litt...

Cambodia's Bamboo Railway: Part One

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Our captain is a bronzed, lithe, shirtless Khmer man in a loosely fitting baseball cap. We are crammed together on his dilapidated locomotive, with dozens of other passengers, our huge bikes, and a heavy crate of frozen fish. Sporting a proud, ra...

Slow Boat to Battambang: Part Three

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Tyler: I am digging through our backpack for some food, when our friend Genevieve stops by. She's excited to inform me that there is an enormous praying mantis on the railing at the back of the boat. As if I didn't think Genevieve was cool enou...

Slow Boat to Battambang: Part Two

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Tara: After a nail-biting ride through the streets of Siem Reap, we make it twelve kilometers to the ferry port, bikes fully intact. As soon as I emerge from the truck, it's show time – women carrying baskets full of food and water descend upon ...

Slow Boat to Battambang: Part One

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Tyler: It's another 5AM morning, but we're not cycling to the temples for a change. Instead, we're sitting on the front step of our hotel, waiting. We could have easily ridden to our destination, the boat dock for our sailing to Battambang, but...

Artisans d'Angkor Silk Farm

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Saving the temples of Angkor for tomorrow, we backtrack sixteen kilometers out of town in order to see the free Artisans d'Angkor silk farm and workshop. I love most anything that involves crafts and textiles, especially when it's a behind-the-sce...

Bangkok Canals: Long-Tail Boat Tour

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

Tyler: At our friend Neisha's suggestion, we've booked a trip on the rivers and canals around Bangkok. Normally, our guide leads twenty or more people on this tour, but for reasons unknown, we are the only people with a booking for this particu...

Tumen Ekh: Mongolian National Song and Dance Ensemble

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

This evening marks the third time we've set off with Neisha and Rob to find the theater where Tumen Ekh performs. Jake, one of the Mongol Ralliers that gave our cycling friends a lift in the steppe, has all but demanded that we see the show. He i...

A Guitar String, The Jimny Saga: Part Nine

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Over dinner we discussed options. We're not going to leave Richie and Freddie out there in the desert, but the question of what to do for them still remains. For now, we're thinking that one of the teams could go pick them up tomorrow, or at leas...

Towards the Edge

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Our breath hangs in the air like clouds this morning as we emerge from our tent and notice the white horse still quietly sharing our camp, munching away on grass now laced with frost. There is something almost mystical about him, something unearth...

Number One

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

We've seen some truly incredible landscapes on this adventure. Over the last year and some months, Mother Nature has served up wonders like the Amalfi Coast, the fjords of Norway, the Swiss Alps, the Italian lake district, France's Verdon Gorge an...

Home in the Woods

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Yesterday, we left the Kungur Ice Cave and headed eastwards, driving until dusk. When we spied what looked like a tractor's path snaking into the hills nearby, we pulled off the main road with high hopes that we'd find a good place to call home fo...

Heaven on Earth

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

After a day of working, our hosts Jurgita and Tomas pack their car with food, bottled water and picnic supplies. Then, we all ride together, fourteen kilometers down the road to Tomas' parents' weekend cabin. As we step out of the car, we enter a...

A Ride in Munich

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

This morning we met Felix and Nadine at the "Rathaus Glockenspiel", a famous attraction in downtown Munich. Every day at 11AM and 5PM, the clock tower in the town hall comes to life with bells, chimes and animatronics. As we watched old...

New Friends

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

When we got back from our resupply mission yesterday, we had an email waiting for us from Nadine, a really nice cashier at one of the outdoors stores we visited. Before we made it back to our hotel, she'd visited our website and invited us to a ba...

Sounds of Sibiu

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

I was roused this morning around 7AM by a raucous, twittering racket just outside our tent. The early birds in the trees surrounding us were tweeting and chirping so loudly they may as well have been in our tent. I felt like my eight year old sel...

Precious Cargo

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

For the really important decisions in life I've found that no list of "pros and cons" will help. Logic doesn't really apply, nor does rationality. There's simply a knowing, a gut feeling that what we've chosen is the right thing to do, and it req...

The Universe Provides

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

There are times on this trip when I question my abilities. Am I really capable of doing this? What are we even doing here? Why am I doing this? What is the value of this? These thoughts generally make a pronounced appearance when we are somewh...

Pushing Through Paradise

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

We were thankful for the shelter of our tiki hut this morning when we discovered it had rained in the night. We really and truly no longer take having a roof over our heads for granted! Since the area was rather deserted, and we rarely concern ou...

Celebrating Sunday

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

I would never have imagined this to be true, but many of our favorite days involve slowly climbing mountains. As long as we bring copious amounts of food, start the day with a positive attitude, and make sure to take our time, it almost always mak...

Star Wars @ Ong Ejamel (Mos Espa Set)

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Today we set out with our Motobecane Mobylette 88, Habib, back to Nefta after my mom discovered Ross Pringle's account about a major Star Wars set just hanging out in the desert only a few kilometers further than where we were yesterday. Thanks mo...

The Road to Tozeur

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Backpacks, food, water, camera, and an extra liter and a half of fuel strapped to the newest member of our team, a Motobecane Mobylette, model AV88, we wave farewell to Giovanni and Lorenzo and "speed" away v e r y s l o w l y in the direction ...

Motorized: Part 1

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Yesterday, as we boarded our louage to Douz, it occurred to me that the used, run-down scooters we've seen everywhere in Tunisia couldn't be very expensive. As we sat down for the two hour journey, I jokingly mentioned to Tara that we should buy o...

Festival of the Sahara

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Arriving in Douz under the blistering sun, we leave the louage station and join a whirlwind of activity. As we walk through town it is easy to imagine how colorful and lively this place must have once been when caravans passed through, rejoicing i...

To Tataouine

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Louage- nf. def: A Tunisian shared taxi van that drives REALLY fast. It is white with a colored stripe indicating where/how far it goes (yellow=local, blue=county, red=intercity). There is no set timetable; drivers depart when their louage seats...

Under the Spell

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

We're not sure what to expect as we purchase tickets for the ferry to the Kerkennah Islands off the coast of Sfax. It doesn't really matter what it's like, though, the total cost is 1 dinar 800! We board the boat, bungee our bikes to the cargo ar...

Peaceful Day

Monday, October 19th, 2009

From 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 freedom of having the whole world at your fingertip...

Fast Friends

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Surprisingly 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 beneath us provided some extra cushion to our bed and ...

October's Bright Blue Weather

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

The 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 quintessential example of what my grandmother calls "October...

Life is Good

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Huge 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 showers on. We are surrounded by slowly encroachi...

Conquering Julierpass

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Today is the big day; our highest mountain climb ever will take us over Julierpass! For breakfast, I make us a large pot of muesli with cooked apples to keep us well fueled. Feeling full, we hit the road! 8:30 AM / 850m It is beautiful an...

Gorgeous Climbs

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

After sleeping in rather late this morning we packed up our river-side free-camp and carried our belongings over to a steep embankment leading to the road. Once we were mostly prepared, we took the opportunity for one last frigid dip in the pond. ...

Thank you, Dad!

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

We have been biking 80-90 kilometers a day lately; quite a bit more than our usual 50-70. When the phone rang last night, we picked it up and were greeted with the cheerful voices of my parents wanting to chat. Relieved to be home, but tired and ...

Hearth & Home

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Once again, we waited out the rain this morning. When the alarm went off we promptly turned it off and rolled over, the sound of the raindrops in our ears. Tyler was fed up and decided that if it kept raining, we could stay another night at the c...

Hedgeley Hall

Friday, April 17th, 2009

We coasted into the Hedgeley Estate around 5:30pm. Affixed to the door of Hedgeley Hall was a note from our host, Katie, letting us know that she had run to the next village to visit her mother. The note also included instructions to make ours...

The Cove

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

StumbleUpon Readers: Please click here for a message! Thanks for stopping by! This journal entry is the first of ours that has ever been "stumbled upon" and we wanted to say hello. As best we can tell, if you're reading this, you like c...