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A Weekend in the Northeast Kingdom, Part Four: Bread and Puppet

Saturday, August 15th, 2015

Back in college (a decade ago, somehow), I majored in sculpture. During that time, my art was inspired by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Julie Taymor, the Weta workshop, and Bread and Puppet Theater. Once, I made a gigantic fabric sheep*. In another a...

A Weekend in the Northeast Kingdom, Part One: On Our Way

Friday, August 14th, 2015

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, we did not spend our weekend building anything together. This was a big deal. Instead, Tyler took off on Friday, and he and I drove up to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont for a three-day vacation. I...

Riding to La Sirena de Camp Bay

Sunday, March 22nd, 2015

Today, we're ditching diving in favor of exploring the island on two wheels! Many of my favorite memories from our bicycle tour involve riding scooters or motorcycles with Pete and Natasha. On this bright, sunny afternoon in Roatan, I'm ...

Bike. Camp. Cook. Events!

Saturday, November 30th, 2013

Tyler and I are currently in Illinois, staying with my family for a few weeks before the holidays. While we're in my hometown, I'll be putting on three different talks about my new bicycle touring cookbook, Bike. Camp. Cook. If you live in the midw...

Paying it Forward

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

This evening, just as the skies were darkening into a milky pink dusk, we turned on to route 7A, headed to our friend Jenna's house for an evening of board games and camaraderie. Rounding the corner, we passed a pair of touring cyclists, their hel...

Character Building

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

It's January in Vermont, and we're smack dab in the middle of a major learning curve. Once again, we're settling into a more rustic lifestyle, and once again, the transition is more intense than we anticipated. Emotions run high, silly little thi...

Black Ice

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

We planned on driving through the night in order to reach Deanne's place in time for our postponed reed-collecting workshop tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, there is no way that is going to happen. Just a few hours into our road trip east, our me...

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...

Switching to Strawbale, Part Two

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

When we arrived at Hap and Lin's cob cottage in Fairfield, Iowa, we were greeted by a barefoot woman happily pottering around her outdoor kitchen. After shaking our hands in warm greeting, Lin told us she was putting the finishing touches on suppe...

A Rainy Day in Canada

Friday, May 4th, 2012

Last night, after our camp was made, a dark blue truck appeared, chugging slowly towards our campsite. Oh shit, I thought, as I felt my stomach drop. It didn't matter that I have a wealth of positive free-camping experiences under my belt, I was s...

Working on the Move

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Today was a long day of driving. Most of it was spent with Tara behind the wheel, piloting us across Manitoba. Meanwhile, I was stationed behind my computer screen, busily programming. Apart from the fact that I was sitting in a car instead of a...

Hittin' the Road

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

We have enough snacks to feed an army packed in the cooler, our suitcase is stuffed with worn-out marino wool "work clothes", and our iPod is jam-packed with new music. As we put the final pieces of our car-packing-puzzle in place, we hug Tyler's ...

Land Hunting, Part Eleven: A Rainy Day in Vermont

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Tyler: The sun is hiding behind a sheath of steel blue skies this morning. A damp chill hangs in the air, leaving the world without any measure of doubt: fall is here. As we lay in our tent, listening to the rapidly escalating sound of raindrop...

Land Hunting, Part Ten: Re-Engaging

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

As the sun sinks toward the horizon, we pull off the road, wheels crunching over the rutted dirt drive of a lakeside "Fish and Wildlife Area," hoping to find a secluded place to sleep. There's a truck parked near the shore, so we sit for a few min...

Sheila, Kai, & Their Tiny House

Friday, July 29th, 2011

After land-hunting our way through most of western Vermont, we ended in the state's largest city, Burlington, at the home of Sheila and Kai, the thoughtful, socially-aware, and environmentally-conscious couple behind the website, 2cycle2gether. We'...

Happily Nearing the End

Friday, March 4th, 2011

I'm feeling quiet and introspective as we prepare to leave, on this, our second-to-last day of cycling. It is a morning like any other, filled with tasks we've performed hundreds of times. As I mentally run through our morning checklist without e...

Freezing in a Bamboo Shack

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Tara: "Tyler," I whisper, trying not to wake our friends. "I can't feel my toes. Let me in!" I'm trying to squirm my way under his legs for warmth, but he's enviably asleep and his leaden body refuses to budge. I let out a huge sigh and stare...

Wild Camping With Friends

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

A golden sun is sinking fast behind the mountains, urging us onwards in our futile attempt to reach the highway before dark. At the crossroads we're looking for, where dirt meets pavement, there is sure to be a guest-house. But the road ahead is ...

Resting in Luang Prabang, Sort Of

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

The last three days have been intense. They kicked off with a truly awful ride through Hanoi, which lead directly into a nauseating and exhausting twenty-eight hour bus trek through the mountains of Vietnam and Laos. Immediately after, ready to...

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...

Free Camping Again

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Pedaling away from the tiny mountain shop, we round yet another bend, revealing a foreboding indication of more climbing: there is another wide, sweeping curve of a switchback before us. Well, I guess that little village wasn't at the top after al...

It's All Downhill From Here

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

We're mentally prepared for an easy day of coasting, excited to reap the rewards of our labor. But as we cycle out of town, a freakishly steep hill looms before us, and I am caught off guard. I thought we were leaving the mountains—why are we sti...

Coffee Country

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

The ride out of Bao Loc this morning is a lovely one. Instead of starting the day with switchbacky mountain climbs, the early part of our route is full of easy rolling hills. As we pedal through the winding picturesque scenery of coffee plantatio...

Our Process: Automation & the GSDB

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

This entry is part of an ongoing series about how we've documented our adventure. When we left on this trip, neither of us had an inkling that we'd be documenting our adventure in such exhaustive detail. The original idea was simple: a fli...

Peaceful Ride on Phú Quốc

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Tyler: The sound of waves lapping against the shore rings in another sleepy morning at our beach side bungalow. As the sun rises, we slowly rouse ourselves from a deep slumber, gently awakened by the warm light filtering in through the bamboo sl...

Making Calendars

Friday, November 19th, 2010

I've been busy making our 2011 Photo Calendars this afternoon. In the process of looking at the thousands of photographs we've taken, I find myself pleasantly side-tracked, suddenly steeped in our stories, awash in the rich memories evoked by each...

Slowly Going

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Thailand is lulling us into a comfortable laziness. Our desire to see the world has somewhat been put on hold, not because we don't want to explore, but simply because life is so great right here. Yes, of course we could leave, but why would we w...

To the Bungalow

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Without the constant mental mantra of find water, find food, find a free-camp running through my mind, I find I am more relaxed. Here in Thailand, there is abundance. Food is plentiful, in the form of vendors and markets generally only a few step...

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...

Farewell to the Swift

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Matt and Tom gave it their best shot this morning, but the Swift's bent connecting rods couldn't be repaired. When they went to make arrangements to leave their car with the Mongol Rally, they discovered another Suzuki Swift at the drop point. If...

Into the Great Wide Open: Part Two

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Being free of this sand pit lasted roughly five minutes. While we were able to maintain humor and perspective the first time, this is too much for both of us. Composure is lost. Curses fly. We are exhausted and upset but it doesn't matter. The...

Into the Great Wide Open: Part One

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Our life has become a Choose Your Own Adventure book. This morning, as we flip to a new chapter, the one where we drive across part of Mongolia alone, a twinge of sadness overcomes me. Waving goodbye to the early risers of the team, I think about...

Herding Cats

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Sometimes, getting anything done in this convoy roughly resembles herding cats. This morning, we are packed and ready to hit the road before anyone on our team is even awake. Hoping they'll be up soon, we head into town to purchase supplies for o...

To Hovd

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Tyler: We awaken with joy this frosty morning, overcome by an intense sensation of relief. We're still incredulous about the bizarre circumstances which reunited us – it will be well into the evening before we're through exchanging wide-eyed loo...

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...

Back on Track

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

With a reluctant squeeze, we left our little puppy friend to frolic in the flowers and sleep in the shade. We packed our LRC, and headed back the way we'd come, driving past the same scenery for the fourth time at least. This time, though, we rea...

To the Cabin

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Back when we were planning our trip, Russia was this mammoth lumbering place I wasn't excited about visiting. Tyler always wanted to go, but I saw the vast landmass as something to "get through" in order to travel from my comfort zone of the roman...

Camping on the Katun

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

This morning, our car caught the fallen evidence of changing seasons – it is getting more autumny here in Russia by the day! Amidst orange leaves drifting softly to the ground, we left our farm field free-camp, and pointed our trusty LRC in the di...

Fire on the Border

Friday, August 20th, 2010

I messed up when publishing our previous entry, Racing Through Russia's Heartland. It is fixed now! Tyler: While making our way back to the highway leading into Omsk, we spot a grey plume of smoke in the distance. I'm excited, because Russ...

Yekaterinburg

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

We're on a major road in the outskirts of Yekaterinburg. The main highway has morphed into speeding city traffic – Tara is navigating as we make our way to the city center. "Okay," she instructs, "You're going to turn left in two hundred meters… ...

Kungur Ice Cave

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Destination: Kungur Ice Cave. With an epic-sounding name, and the mystique of being located in what one would think is the middle of nowhere, we spent the morning entertaining fantasies of arriving to explore the vast, icy reaches of a publicly ac...

Distractions

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Tyler: I possess a strange affinity for taking unassuming vehicles to places where they might not belong. For reasons I can't really articulate, I was ecstatic about driving off-road in our trusty little econobox this morning. Maybe it is an ad...

VIGILANCE!

Friday, August 13th, 2010

We milked our expensive hotel stay for all it was worth, working in the lobby on their wireless internet connection for most of the morning. After we published a few entries, we struck up conversation with an Indonesian journalist. She was here r...

Down for the Count

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

When I am writing, I sometimes imagine that we are talking to our families, to our friends, or maybe even to ourselves in twenty years. Occasionally, I like to pretend that our future offspring will read this one day and think, "Mom and Dad are so...

Russia's Golden Ring: Suzdal

Monday, August 9th, 2010

The tiny town of Suzdal is purportedly the home of more than one hundred architectural monuments (and fifteen monasteries too). We're still a little unclear on what actually constitutes a monument, but all of them are packed into the space of a fe...

To the Swimming Hole

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

We start our morning by returning to Hundertwasser: Coffee & Blah Blah Blah to enjoy a few more cappuccinos. Not exactly eager leave our climate controlled surroundings, we procrastinate, putting off our departure into the scorching day. Inst...

Camped on the Volga

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

We slept in this morning, awakening when Russia's heat wave gathered enough steam to smother us inside our tent. After yesterday's accidental twelve hour marathon of sight-seeing, we wanted to take it easy. The plan was to drive to Kostroma, our ...

Russia's Golden Ring: Yaroslavl

Friday, August 6th, 2010

We leave the Kremlin of Rostov, and hop in our LRC for some more driving. The next stop in our Golden Ring tour, turns out to be too big a city for our tastes. To do it justice, we'll have to spend a few days exploring it all. This means finding ...

Russia's Golden Ring: Pereslavl-Zalessky

Friday, August 6th, 2010

In spite of the difficulty, getting out of Moscow last night was an excellent plan. We're told the smoke, smog and heat (caused by the forest fires covering Western Russia) escalated to new levels of awful today. Apparently the haze is so thick n...

Absurd

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

We dismiss Evgeniy's wise warning about traffic, and our own rule about not rushing, and leave Moscow at precisely the wrong time. We've stayed in the city until five o'clock, and are now running around to drop off Evgeniy's key, buy groceries, an...

Wild West: Moscow Bound, Part Three

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

We're on the M10, the only major thoroughfare between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Night is slowly descending. We've decided to cover another hundred kilometers or so before stopping to find our first Russian free-camp. We want to make our drive t...

Russian Border Crossing

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

I had butterflies in my stomach as we left our free-camp this morning. As Tyler drove, I made doubly sure that we had every thing in order. Passports, drivers licenses (international and US), car registration and insurance, all accounted for! ...

Hanging Out With the Hannus Family

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Our host Matias has a habit of signing up completely unprepared for long distance races. He isn't in them to win, just to prove to himself that he can do it! A year or two ago, it was a lengthy cross-country skiing event where he triumphantly too...

Christmas in July

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Santa's Village in Roveniemi, Finland was our big attraction for the day. Apparently, it rests right on the line where the Arctic circle begins. At first we were pretty disappointed, it was mostly shops selling cheap souvenirs and jewelery. ...

Norwegian Countryside

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

We woke up this chilly morning to the interminable call of seagulls and other goofy birds circling around the bay. While packing up camp, Tyler and I took turns photographing some of them. Here are the results: Having reached the easte...

Coastal Drive to Norway

Friday, July 16th, 2010

In an effort to duplicate Swedish Pancakes from one of my favorite breakfast places in Champaign, I made crepes this morning, served with Lingonberries. My results were much smaller than the restaurant's due to the size of our saucepan. They were...

Roadside Oddities

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Here we are, just drivin' through Finland, when we come to an abrupt halt because we've officially reached reindeer territory. There are loads of them, just milling about on the highway. Here they are, calmly oblivious to the incessant honking di...

Lake Hopping

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Today, we are making ourselves at home in Finland. We've ditched the itineraries we found online, and are simply winging it as we head north towards the Arctic Circle. Feeling as free as we did on our bicycles, we poke along, likely to the annoya...

Sandcastles and Lakes

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Today, we left Helsinki and headed into the Finnish countryside. It was a relief to leave the expensive city behind, watching metallic cityscapes transition into woods and forest. For our route, Tyler found several driving itineraries from a Scan...

Into Estonia

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Tyler: As I checked us out of our campsite this morning, I sheepishly handed a note to the woman working in the office. Before packing our tent, I had torn a piece of paper from one of our notebooks, consulted google translate, and carefully scr...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 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...

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 ...

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...

Altmühltal Cycle Route

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

Like every other night in recent memory, it rained heavily. This morning, our well-shaded forest free-camp was very chilly and very wet. Thanks to a perfectly timed downpour last night (which caught us unprepared, and lasted juuust long enough fo...

Fields of Green

Friday, May 28th, 2010

We packed up after eating a breakfast of hearty meusli, and hit the road at the late hour of 12:30. Our string of late departure times for the last few days continues. On the road, everything felt distinctly German. You know you're in Germany wh...

Leaving Dachau

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

We biked away from Dachau, once again at the late hour of 2PM. Feeling saddened from all we'd seen, we took to the German bicycle path leaving the site for a quiet, grey afternoon of meditative cycling. We wound our way through green fields,...

Dachau Concentration Camp

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

I'm not sure what I was expecting when we decided to visit Dachau Concentration Camp. I can, however, say one thing for certain: I was in no way prepared for the enormity of the memorial. We spent over six hours reading the exhibits before we wer...

Leaving

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

It was difficult, and a little sad leaving Felix and Nadine's cozy apartment. I wonder if it will ever be easy to pick up and go again once we've settled in somewhere for a few days? Along with being bummed about leaving our new friends, we were ...

Sheep

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

What a beautiful day in the Carpathian mountains! As if the sunny skies, verdant vistas, and homey horse-drawn carts galloping alongside us weren't enough, our route was almost entirely downhill. …which was good, because we left our hotel at...

Pedaling Upstream

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

With everything we needed to thrive at our hard-to-reach Romanian forest free-camp, we almost decided to stay another day. Instead, we packed up, said hello to some horses grazing in a nearby pasture, and set off on our 30 minute trek back to the ...

Draculas & Gypsies

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

We awaken to the sound of horse's hooves clip-clopping outside our tent. Smashed together in a furrow of a field, our sleeping mats in a comical V shape, we're genuinely surprised by the restful night of sleep it provided. I groggily poke my head...

Ridges & Troughs

Friday, May 7th, 2010

As he has every morning during our stay in Bucharest, Rob made us a delicious breakfast and gently rebuffed all offers of help. He even made us two extra breakfast sandwiches and packed them carefully in tinfoil so we could have them for lunch! W...

Lazy Saturday

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Let's just face facts. We never get on the road before 10:00 AM. Okay, not never, but rarely. Even in the sweltering hot summertime, when it is prudent to get moving early to save ourselves from the brutal afternoon sun, we still stay up late wo...

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...

A Chance Encounter

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This morning, while I was securing our camera to the back of my bike, Tara announced, "here comes a flock of sheep!" A shepherd and his menagerie were approaching, complete with several barking dogs. The sheep didn't seem to mind us, they must've...

A Life Less Ordinary

Monday, April 26th, 2010

The first day back on the road after a brief interlude of buffet breakfasts and silky sheets can be a little difficult, especially when it looks like rain. As we wheeled out of the Hotel Anna parking lot Tara was more than a little wistful. I was...

Hotel Anna

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

The first hotel we tried when we arrived in Târgu Jiu was pretty blah: on the outside it looked tacky, on the inside it was overly fancy, and the prices were exorbitant. The reception area was also filled with a group of sharply-dressed business p...

Tismana Monastery

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Before leaving our riverside free-camp, we breakfasted on Valentina-Carmen's bread and very salty homemade cheese. While we dusted off our mud-splattered clothing, she was probably attending to the permanent appointment she holds with every sunris...

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...

To the Danube

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

As I unzip the vestibule of our tent this morning, I let out a small gasp of delight and rouse Tyler to take a peek with me. Our free-camp is enveloped in a thick, billowing white mist! A nearby church looms in the fog, and the atmosphere is so d...

Mud

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

I spent the bulk of the morning giving our bikes a rare and thorough cleaning. The muddy excuse for a bicycle path we'd pushed and ridden along yesterday had left them several pounds heavier, comprehensively caked with gloopy dirt which had dried ...

Rainy Riverside Ride

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Getting out of large cities can sometimes be a pain. Thankfully, that was not the case today. After a quick, easy exit from Belgrade, we were back on the road once more. It felt so good to leave, extricating ourselves from the blocky concrete bu...

Strawberries

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Today was one of those days that went on a little too long. Though we enjoyed our flat ride, we were ready to be done after 60 kilometers (we are slow). Unfortunately, no good free-camps were presenting themselves. So we continued, waffling be...

Homesick

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

It being a sleepy, rainy morning, we almost succumbed to the desire to stay put for one more day. Thinking better of it, we slowly pushed ourselves to motion, dutifully packing our things in a half-awake and hungry daze. It took some time, but on...

Morning Has Broken

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

8:00 AM I wake up feeling happy and Easter-y with the Cat Steven's tune "Morning Has Broken" playing on repeat in my head. Birds are chirping, frogs continue their belchy song from last night, and the sun shines warmly through our tent. Tyler i...

One

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Wow. I cannot believe we have been gone a year! This time last year we were just arriving in Scotland, and I remember thinking to myself as we put our bicycles together in the airport, "what the hell have I gotten myself into?!" A little lat...

Hello Serbia

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Three hundred and sixty five days of travel. Nine countries and fifteen thousand kilometers covered by bicycle, foot, ferry, train, mobylette and camel. More than four hundred journal entries. Fast approaching one hundred free-camps. I wanted a...

Springtime in Macedonia

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Riding out of hilly Stip was a wonderful thing. Once we left the city limits, we were treated to a ever-so-slight downhill that lasted almost all day. A sky full of puffy clouds vacillated between looking gorgeous and somewhat menacing. ...

Macedonian Mountains

Monday, March 29th, 2010

The day dawned bright and clear, though the headwinds from yesterday were still blowing fiercely. In spite of the extra work we knew they'd bring, we were in good spirits. With a spring and summer full of adventure laid out before us, we've been ...

Filling in the Blanks

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

We awaken to the faint sound of drizzle and the whipping of our rainfly in a hefty wind. Yesterday's brilliant sun and balmy weather have gone, leaving us with rain and a distinct chill in the air. Please let that wind be in our favor, I think as...

Hello Macedonia

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Our ride out of Thessaloniki was a non-stop parade of factories and industrial sites for hours. According to Tara, the road was full of "mammoth ferocious dogs bred with grizzly bears". Thankfully they were mostly chained up and we didn't have an...

Boxcar Willie

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Today's "ride" featured a lot of pushing and plenty of bleak-looking skies. Thankfully, the dark clouds that loomed overhead for the entire day only threatened to rain, and the terrain we practically dragged our bicycles through was (for the most ...

On a Roll

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Today was our longest on record, 110 kilometers or about 70 miles. This is double the distance we usually plan to cycle in a day. Thanks to gorgeous sunny skies and a gentle downgrade leading to the mouth of the Vale of Tempe, we cruised along ha...

Flat Roads to Kalampaka

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Since we've arrived in Greece, we haven't seen many cyclists. In Athens especially, bikers seem to steer clear of the city, except for a few brave souls who speed around helmet-less amidst the smog and traffic. Today was a pleasant surprise for u...

Macro Love

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Flowers make me happy. I don't care if it is cliché, they just do! When we got our first camera I was thrilled when I realized I could finally capture the beauty I see in them. When we get home I'm going to grow a massive garden so Tyler and I c...

That Damned Squeak

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

I love waking up to the sound of the ocean. Even more than that, I love waking up to sunny weather. This morning, I got both. When things go well out here, it really is almost more fun than I can bear! When we're in the middle of Siberia covere...

Snoozin' & Cruisin'

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

We are getting very lax about leaving free-camps bright and early. I used to set the alarm for the crack of dawn, wake up the instant the phone started buzzing, and hurredly wake Tyler so we could be up and going and packed up before any potential...

Out n' About

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Somehow, some way, no matter how ho-hum the scenery or the day, there is always something interesting to see, no matter what. Maybe we are easily fascinated, or maybe we just know how to look, but it seems we have a knack for stumbling across intr...

24 Hour Rule

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

My parents have a rule that says: If you do something routine-altering for a few days, you get a day afterwards to recover and re-adjust to life at home. It's called "The 24-Hour Rule", but the longer you're away (or significantly routine-altered)...

Climbing in Crete

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

I drift in and out of sleep, in a very cozy morning haze. I think I hear a truck crunching over gravel… probably Pietro off to milk his sheep. Before I drift back into unconsciousness, the thought: "so glad that's not me" crosses my mind. I roll...

Donkey Day

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Leaving cities is always hard. There is inevitably some navigation difficulty, as well as a handful of surprises like one-way streets, delivery trucks taking entire lanes, people double-parked haphazardly, and often steep, narrow, cobbled roads. ...

The Little Things

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

In our "normal" lives, both Tyler and I are known for our easy-going demeanor. Our friends have even jokingly referred to us as "zen masters" on more than one occasion. While it is fine and dandy to be even-keeled at home, the day to day life of ...

Lasithi Plateau and Dikteon Andron Cave

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Last night when I downloaded our GPS tracks I was surprised to find that yesterday was our third biggest climbing day of the trip! The only two rides that topped it were Julierpass in Switzerland and Verdon Gorge in France, two equally stunning da...

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...

Knossos and the Coast

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Our first stop of the day was the ancient Minoan palace of Knossos, located about 7 kilometers from Iraklion. We got a late start, arriving around 10AM, just in time to meet a group of cycle tourists on a package tour of the area! Everyone was ve...

What Matters

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

We awoke excited about our plans for the day. Last night I'd discovered that just ten kilometers away was a town with a rack and pinion railway leading into the mountains. Our guidebook said it was spectacular and not to be missed, trundling up t...

Ciao Bella!

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Though 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 dutifully started our morning routine. I rolled ...

Matera Sightseeing

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

We 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 Mark and Lisa for sending maple syrup in our last...

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. To my relief, he returned with a smile: lots of ...

Rags to Riches

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Waking up in the bitter cold at our olive grove free-camp, we ate our last few slices of bread with butter and the final spoonfuls from our jam jar. It wasn't the best breakfast for the mountainous climbs that lay ahead, but it would have to do, s...

Field Recording

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

During 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 area is. Today, we were hoping for something a litt...

Salerno

Monday, January 18th, 2010

After 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 easily fall asleep snuggled together, unimpeded by un...

Pigging Out in Palermo

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

We 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 later, we had docked and a mob was already form...

Hitching a Ride

Friday, January 15th, 2010

This morning was day two of our mad dash for Tunis. We were in good spirits, but our muscles were sore as we groggily shuffled down the stairs of our hotel for breakfast. With each step it was becoming increasingly obvious that stringing a series...

Olive Grove Angels

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Somehow, after nine and a half months on the road, we still wake up excited about a new day of adventuring—even when just the night before, we cursed the skies and wondered why the hell we were out here at all. We just want to ride our bikes, eat,...

Sandstorm

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

In central Tunisia this morning, it felt like spring was in the air. Tara was excited, snapping photos of the delicate little buds in celebration of the coming season. Here is her first "flower hour" of 2010. Shortly after 2PM, the o...

Back to Work

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Very excited about our first day cycling in almost a month, we were packed and ready to go in record time this morning. Before we left, Tyler ran over to Cafe la Corniche to say goodbye to Yousri while I jogged over to the pastry shop to pick up a...

Door Number Three

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

After much deliberation we've chosen option number three. Though we'd like to ride our bicycles, our original route to the western town of Tozeur could easily turn into a month long affair if it involved circling back to Kerkennah. There is still...

Remla Hostel

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

After a couple days of desert free-camping, we both feel the need for a shower so we're packing up and heading to Remla to check into the youth hostel. The short 6 kilometer ride from our free-camp seems to take forever due to the constant, p...

Exploring Kerkennah Island

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I'm cozied up in our sleeping bag; Tara has run off to take pictures of the coming sunrise on our little desert island. Before yesterday, my only experience with the desert was sweltering on the seat of a motorcycle with one aim: to get out. This...

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...

Youth Hostiles

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 been to a youth hostel since we were single teenag...

Out of the Orange Grove

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, I immediately sat up and began rousing Tyler so...

No.

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 our way down the road. Par for the course! ...

Back in the Saddle

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 hope) "Dear Libyan Embassy, this is our last day...

Laundry on the Road

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 shell out the exorbitant sums campsites wanted si...

Safely Indoors

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 both giddy about the prospect of not stealth campin...

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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, we occasionally felt salty spray from particularly...

Autumn in the Mountains

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. When we finally did summon the willpower to get ...

Serendipitous

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 day. Tara even tied one of our homemade bandana...

The Kindness of Strangers

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 assurance that we belong there. Hotels are a lit...

Stealthy

Friday, October 30th, 2009

This 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 kilometers of rolling hills south of Messina, we found our...

Sicily at Last

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

We 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 yesterday, the ride began with a long, slow, 500 meter c...

Southbound Again

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

We 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 there; we spent the entire morning slogging up cru...

Free Camp Fun

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Our 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 what seems retrospectively, a completely clueless...

Blown Away

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Tara: 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, we were not encouraged by the weather that greet...

Hotel Comforts

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

After 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 up on their kind offer. We've gotten used to sl...

Epic Storm

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

When 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 engaged in an epic battle between sea and sky. ...

What Rain?

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Bring 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 up for the rest of the day. We rode on anyway, ...

Run-Ins

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Our 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 his best to explain that the road ahead was closed...

Feeling Capable

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

When 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 the rain with it. We swiftly packed our camp un...

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...

South for Winter

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

We'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 became imperative, we realized we hadn't fully discu...

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 ...

Noisy Naples

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Tara: 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 them decided to befriend me, hoping to get a tas...

Full of Surprises

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

We'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 few months ago this might well have scared the bej...

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...

Riding Sicker

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Last 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 proceeded to talk about various ways of hanging...

Riding Sick

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

One 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 with the rain-fly off, enjoying the view of the nig...

Taking Care of Business

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

I 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 haphazardly double-parked cars with their hazard lights fla...

Exped DownMat vs Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

UPDATE: One of our ToughSkin sleeping mats de-laminated. Click here for more information. It was clear when we started preparing to cycle around the world that doing so would require giving up countless luxuries. During our research we quic...

Six Months on the Road

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

A 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 each passing day we learn more about ourselves and w...

Ghost Towns

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Apparently 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, purchasing brightly colored beach accessories and ...

Oceanside Free Camp

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Tyler: 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 see if they were hungry enough to eat it. Sure e...

Back to the Mainland

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Since 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 ready to go. All of our panniers were packed and ev...

Climbing Elba

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Elba 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 door the day began with a steep 350m climb to...

Exploring Elba

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Packing 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 carried in one hand, and the basket he held in t...

Easy Road to Elba

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Often 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 is calculated, we can meander towards our "destin...

A Hero's Welcome

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Tara 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 arrive and where we were headed after we got the...

This is Mark

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I 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, Lidia wasn't able to shepherd us over to the fam...

Florence with Family

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The 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 complicated GPS/written direction consultations, we finall...

Homecoming

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

As 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 be in the lap of luxury with the comfort of showe...

Tuscan Thunder

Monday, September 14th, 2009

The 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 sky opened up, ruthlessly hurling down heavy shee...

Re del Po

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Tyler 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 thought in mind this morning as we packed and left t...

Working in Cremona

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

After 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 of my day was spent like this: These help...

Cremona Museums

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Packing 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 would pack up if I made breakfast. I set up a s...

More Free Camping

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

With 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 Moscow (we're looping back through Europe after a Nort...

Po River Valley

Monday, September 7th, 2009

With 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 more than a little sluggish as we packed up and and ...

Amaretto Gelato

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

True 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 we picked up on his offer for coffee much more exp...

Lago di Como

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

Our 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 was as if we were eating grape-shaped perfume ca...

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...

Directions

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

It 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 frustrated, I was completely serene as I silently rolle...

Italy at Last

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Before 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 home. Tyler bungied them rather precariously to the...

Velocity Rims

Monday, August 24th, 2009

UPDATE: One of our replacement rims failed too. Click here for a continuation of the story. I will be updating this post over the next few days as we sort out our wheel dilemma. My rear rim has failed and Tara's is on the way out in the exac...

Ascending & Descending

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

We said farewell to Chur under overcast skies, thankful for the gray cloud cover that would hopefully stick around and protect us from the sun. A long sweaty day of climbing is a lot more enjoyable when the sun isn't beating down on your back. ...

To Chur

Friday, August 21st, 2009

We started the day bright and early at 6:30AM so we could dash away safely from our relatively unhidden wild-camp last night. Breaking down was a quick affair, as we'd been careful to unpack as little as possible so as to afford ourselves an easy ...

Railway Wild Camp

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

We left Luzern today to begin our final leg in Switzerland. As we rolled out of camp it was already very hot; 30 kilometers into our ride we were feeling (and smelling) pretty sour. Dripping with sweat, Tara stopped in a tiny patch of shade and c...

Fun in Bern

Friday, August 14th, 2009

We weren't sure what to expect from Tara's dad's longtime friend, Bettina, but we were pleasantly surprised with the friendly, spunky, and incredibly generous woman who came to meet us at Bern's riverside campsite. Almost immediately after we f...

Souped Up

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

I am now the proud owner of a brand new Brooks Champion Flyer S saddle! It's a leather seat specifically designed for women, complete with sturdy springs that provide extra cushion on bumpy roads. Supposedly it won't be comfortable until it break...

Too Expensive

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

This morning we were relieved to find that the rain had stopped, held at bay by the rising sun cutting through the clouds. We took advantage of the sunshine, setting out our rain-fly and ground sheet to dry so we wouldn't have to pack them wet; Ty...

Being Tourists

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Despite the forecast for snow today, the morning dawned brilliant and sunny. Thankful for the good weather, we decided to take advantage our last day in Zermatt rather than hiding out in the tent. Tyler was exhausted from yesterday's hike, so we ...

Geneva

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

We decided early in the afternoon that we would go to Geneva, thinking it would be nice to do something productive during our rest day. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I suggested this; we definitely don't have any trouble in the "being prod...

Suddenly Switzerland

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

We awoke in a field of dew, the sun hurling down heat much sooner than usual as it rose on the east side of the mountains. Our free-camp field was plagued by flies; more than we'd ever seen in our lives. They swarmed around us and our tent loudly...

Slowly, Slowly

Friday, July 31st, 2009

We stopped at a huge bicycle shop, "Mondovelo" on our way out of town today, continuing our hunt for replacement skewers. No luck. I did find the cone wrenches I need to rebuild our hubs when the time comes though; I'd forgotten to buy them befor...

Almost There

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Some days I feel like we're "sloppy" touring cyclists. An hour after we arrive at camp we've unloaded half of our panniers, making ourselves at home in what must look like disarray but is actually a finely tuned system of organization. In the mor...

Navigation

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

We awoke safe and sound this morning, myself fitfully rested and Tara, bleary eyed and exhausted. Despite my best efforts to console her overactive imagination, she spent last night half-awake, drifting in an out of vivid nightmares of our stealth...

Free Camp Fears

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

The sun is just dropping behind the hills of our free-camp. The wind has picked up a lot, it is easily more powerful than any I have ever experienced. It roars around the tent violently; I can even feel it creeping under our groundsheet, lifting ...

Bicycle Shop

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

I enter the bicycle shop alone; Tyler is propping our bikes up outside, wishing we had kick stands. As I close the door, still wearing my helmet, two days without a shower, unknown days since our last laundry and covered with sweat and road grime,...

Cloud Cover

Friday, July 17th, 2009

After our late start and awful heat yesterday we made sure to get moving early today. The alarm went off at 5:30 and by 6:30 we were up and packing. At 7:30 we rolled out of camp and managed to cycle an easy 40 kilometers in the blissful cool of ...

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. ...

River Free Camp

Monday, July 13th, 2009

It is 2am as I write this. I have been responding to emails and working in our tent for the last several hours. Two feet to my right there is a shallow stream rythmically babbling away. Directly to my left, Tara is sleeping with her mouth wide o...

Farewell Côte d'Azur

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Holding our brakes firmly with one hand, we waved goodbye to our friendly neighbors and carefully wheeled our bikes down the extremely steep hill leaving our campsite. Less than a kilometer away we had another day of Riviera cycling ahead of us. ...

Mediterranean Sea

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Riding in the heat yesterday, we both latched on to the idea of having popcicles. Sadly, the opportunity never presented itself. Today while we were picking up groceries in the quaint coastal town of Martigues I spotted a bag of "Mickey's Mr. Fre...

Unexpected Guests

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

With three blissful days of rest behind us we bid farewell to Bluesoleil Campground and started our trek southeast to Estelle (just outside Millau). We are hoping to reach Ingrid and Yvves of BikeAway by Monday. It'll require riding 70+ kilomete...

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 ...

Camping Fermé

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Spirits were high this morning. With another budget-boosting free evening under our belts we cheerfully broke camp excited about the prospect of finding a nice place to rest for few nights. It is incredible how the possibilities of a new day on t...

Role Reversal

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Sticking to our early rising plan we set the alarm for six o'clock. By seven we were up and moving, albeit very slowly. We sometimes joke that we feel like Wall-E in the morning, stumbling out of bed, bumping things, not quite able to operate our...

Early Camping

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Sometimes the hardest part of cycling around the world can be simply getting up in the morning. Actually, I think this is true for accomplishing just about anything in the simple sense that you must first get moving to do it. Today the alarm soun...

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

We shook out our sand-infested belongings and left camp this morning to explore the island we had just spent two nights on. In search of almond croissants for breakfast, we headed to the bakery with high hopes. Unfortunately they hadn't made any....

Ile de Noirmoutier

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

We didn't roll out of our loud (but fun) vacation park until noon. The plan for the day was to bike for a little bit and then set up camp right away, having all afternoon and evening free. As usual, the day didn't go according to plan—this time i...

Wine & Pizza

Friday, June 12th, 2009

We left to cycle the last bit of the canal into Nantes today. As we rounded our first corner the path abruptly stopped. A man operating a nearby lock laughed at us and said there were two ways to Nantes from there—swim across the lake, or take a ...

Early Rising

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

The alarm went off at 6:30 AM. Its incessant beeping mingled nicely with the sound of rain falling heavily against our tent. Oh rain. We've been meaning to start earlier for at least a week and today was our first run through. In good spirits w...

Chez Pierre & Julien

Monday, June 8th, 2009

We awoke to the standard drumming of rain against our tent this morning. Yesterday Tyler steeled himself against the downpour, getting soaked to pack the bikes, while I stayed dry getting things organized from inside the tent. This morning, I was...

The Canal

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

We awoke at 6:30 AM to the sound of a downpour pelting our rain-fly through the cover of our forested free-camp and the beeping of my optimism from the night before. I reached out from the warmth of our sleeping bag, flicked the alarm clock off an...

Free Camp & Fire

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

We went to bed feeling sick. Huddled together, we tried to fall asleep but were unable to drift off over the cacophony of our own hacking, coughing, sneezing, and trumpet-like nose blowing. Our nostrils completely blocked, we lay with our mouths ...

Bee Museum

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

While breaking camp we decided today was a good day for music. At home hardly an hour went by that music wasn't playing unless we were asleep. Out here we rarely listen to anything but the endless symphony of nature sounds going on around us. As...

On Planning

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Last night we stayed in one of France's wonderful municipal camp sites. It is such a relief knowing that we can find a campsite in almost any town! This particular site had just opened for the season and we were the only people there. We enjoyed...

Bonjour France!

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

We boarded the ferry at midnight and immediately felt like we were on some sort of cruise ship. There were boutiques featuring fancy perfumes and chocolates, and a voice came over the loud speaker enticing children to buy a giant chupa-chups (loll...

Parlez-vous anglais?

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Today we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing day off in the beautiful coastal town of St. Ives. We had a nice morning walk through all the little shops before we made our way to "Pengenna's Pasties" to have authentic Cornish pasties for lunch. They were sa...

St. Ives

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Thanks to Tyler's prodding to bike extra miles the last few days, we had a short day ahead of us into St. Ives. We took our time in the morning; I leisurely broke camp while Tyler made honey butter sandwiches for breakfast and practiced his Arnis ...

Wild & Local Foods

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

As I was filling our water bottles this morning a friendly caravanner at our campsite asked me where we were headed. I replied, "in the direction of St. Ives, but we're not sure yet!" He asked where we were coming from and when I explained a bit ...

Tintagel Cliffwalk

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I woke up early this morning to the sound of songbirds and the hum of a distant lawnmower. The sun was shining through the tent, and it felt blissfully like summer had finally arrived. I let Tyler sleep while I took advantage of the free power an...

1000 Miles!

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

We woke up early this morning to the peaceful sound of the ocean and the heat of the shining sun filtering in through our tent. Feeling incredibly content we made a point to take it slow breaking camp so we could fully appreciate our fantastic (an...

Thank You

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

We often forget that people actually read our journal (outside of family anyway). We're really just trying to document the physical and emotional journey we are taking together. After a rough couple of days, feeling a bit down and isolated, it wa...

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...

Logistics

Monday, May 18th, 2009

This morning was really, really trying. The sky looked promsing as we hauled everything out of our wooded free-camp into the field we had sneaked into last night. Things quickly took a turn for the worse as we packed, when a front of dark clouds ...

Pain in the Neck

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

I woke up to the sound of the rain with a really stiff, painful neck this morning. I'm not sure what I did to it, but I could hardly move my head! I did neck stretches (while yelping) as we waited out one batch of rain. When it stopped, we quick...

Steak Dinner

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Another morning in England, another morning of rain! With spirits slightly sour about the prospect of another rainy ride we headed to the Glastonbury Abbey for a bit of sightseeing before we left town. Luckily the rain soon ceased and we were abl...

Glastonbury

Friday, May 15th, 2009

I was relieved this morning to wake up to dry skies. It was a little annoying packing as our things were still damp and icky from yesterday, but at least they weren't sopping wet. While I worked, Tyler began the slow process of giving our bicycle...

Avebury

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

It was chilly and grey when we awoke to the repetetive warbles of our arch-nemeses—a certain type of bird here that squaaaaks the same song (if you can call it that) ceaselessly: "Wuhn-waaaaah-waaah-wuhn-wuhn, Wuhn-waaaah-waaah-wuhn-wuhn" We joked...

Our New Life

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

What a great day! We slept in later than we have in weeks (10am), packed up our things, and then had a leisurely morning enjoying breakfast and chatting with Pete and Reinette. As we were packing the last of our belongings Reinette made us sandwi...

Pushing Through

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

This morning we awoke to a nearly cloudless sky and beautiful, dry, warm, sun! It was actually hot in the tent! We both forgot to set the alarm last night but no matter; we have been waking up every day between 7 and 8 mostly of our own accord fo...

Sopping Wet

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

The weather was supposed to be sunny all day today. Tyler and I packed up camp with high hopes in spite of the overcast skies. In the midst of packing, Pete and Reinette stopped by to say goodbye before driving off in their little car to go explo...

Resting at The Rook

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

While our free-camp spot was technically great, neither of us slept very well. It was extremely windy and the confined space in which we placed our tent didn't allow room to stake the rain fly down. This made for a lot of noise as the loose fabri...

Lush Life

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

We woke up this morning and started packing up camp immediately. We were almost done when a very friendly park ranger came walking up with her dog with this to say: "You know what I'm going to say—you can't camp here, but you already have and...

Fare Thee Well Northumberland

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

We are definitely getting better at this new way of life with each passing day. This morning we both had showers, made french toast, and packed up camp in the space of 1.5 hours and didn't feel rushed at all! Our average speed is increasing and o...

Finding the Right Road

Monday, April 20th, 2009

We actually got up reasonably early today—the alarm went off at 7:00 and we were up by 7:30. We're getting better at packing up camp, but all the time we save is now used to make delicious breakfasts! This morning I made thick crepes with the car...

Holy Island & Drama at Newton-by-the-Sea

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

We woke up on the beach to a stunning sunrise, packed up, and headed towards Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. To reach the island we cycled along the damp, seaweed-covered causeway that is only accessible during low tide. Upon arrival, we ...

Goodbye Scotland

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Today was our last day in Scotland. I've joked with Tara a few times that of all the countries we've visited, Scotland is my favorite. Absolutely everyone we have spoken with has been friendly, the countryside is breathtaking and we both think Sc...

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...