The Hobo Highlander

Sorry for the anti-climax

2010-11-18T15:33:00.005-05:00

I have to admit that I got a little caught up in all the friend-and-family visiting at the end of my journey and failed miserably to update the blog and explain how everything panned out in the end. While this probably comes as no surprise to anyone who read my sporadic posts over the last year, I feel compelled to document the last few weeks of my trip (at least as much as my hazy, faded memory will allow me to). If this doesn't interest you and you'd rather read about my difficulties re-adjusting to a life where I'm a contributing (and stationary) member of society, bear with me a week or two.
The last entry had me arriving in Akron, Ohio. Most of my extended family on my mother's side calls Akron home so needless to say I was well accommodated and catered to. Ohio in July is not the most pleasant riding weather but I was fortunate enough to find a route which lead me into town along an old canal; though the temperature was unpleasant the scenery was at least verdant and enjoyable. I rolled up to Grandma Paulette's house and after a quick shower was whisked off for some drinks and food with my aunts and their friends at a swanky restaurant called Ken Stewart's. Both of my aunts work for Clinique cosmetics and most of their friends are involved in beauty/retail; obviously I felt a bit funny (or awesome) crashing a "girls' night out" of attractive retail ladies. After a few appetizers at Ken Stewart's I walked across the street to meet up with Gamma P and my two young cousins for some delicious Chinese food. At this point I was feeling pretty stuffed and was grateful when we finally retired to the Kapper's house.
Upon arriving at the Kapper household Uncle Chris (or half-uncle ?...more on that later) gave me a warm welcome and told me he had stocked the fridge in preparation. I reluctantly (not really) got a cold beer and we all sat about on the porch catching up and talking about all sorts of things. Cousin Charles was present with plenty of witty insights as well. The next few days were filled with similar back-porch music (Chris has the most astounding music collection I have ever seen) and conversation sessions interspersed with watching Charles play Halo and making some great meatballs with Grandma. Cousin Francis and I made an attempt at going to the pool one day but gray skies and drizzle made the outing a pretty dull affair and we gave up after only about an hour. At one point as the Kapper family and I were driving back from downtown Akron (after having just seen a totally rockin' Moody Blues cover band) we got into the aforementioned discussion of half-relatives. I'm still pretty sure I'm correct on this one, but feel free to inform me otherwise. If you get married, what is your relation to your spouse's sibling's spouse? I'm pretty sure its absolutely nothing, not even technically an in-law. Upon my decreeing this Uncle Chris concluded that he could not possibly be more than my half-Uncle. It's all a bit too confusing.
After one more entertaining evening with the family I hit the road on a muggy gray morning and pedaled towards Pennsylvania, rain threatening at my back.

Chi-town to A-squared

2010-08-17T09:51:00.004-04:00

I left Chicago by the pleasant Lakeshore Trail which continued on through South Chicago and into Indiana. The heat and humidity was as bad as in Laos; so much for any cooling lake breeze! I arrived to the town of Michigan City as dusk fell and found a small plot of trees between a bank and supermarket. Being completely soaked in sweat and having no idea what would be farther up the shore I opted to stay put. Changing clothes was a moot point due to the temperatures being in the 90s even after the sun had set. Instead I stripped down, set up the hammock and laid down to try and stop sweating. This proved to be a faulty plan for two reasons. For one, I was so dirty and sweaty that I was never going to be able to get comfortable. Secondly, without any clothes on (and being right next to some sort of irrigation pond) the mosquitoes were absolutely devouring me. Slathering on bug spray and laying in the stifling hammock just exacerbated the heat and mugginess. At one point the bank's sprinkler system went off and I took the opportunity to have a hobo-shower. I figured if I rinsed clean I could finally cool down. Instead I just resumed sweating and had to break out the bug juice again.
The next day I awoke to more unrelenting heat and parted ways with the shore as I headed inland into Michigan. That evening I was rolling into Three Rivers as some particularly nasty looking storm clouds gathered on the horizon. For whatever reason I had assumed I was in for nothing but blazing heat and had stopped checking weather reports. I bought a Big Gulp at a gas station and pedaled over to a nearby park to wait the storm out under a picnic shelter. It was only about 6 PM so I had hoped to put in another 20 or 30 miles before finding a spot for the night. As the first drops started coming down and peals of thunder rumbled out my phone rang. Sarah, my Ann Arbor hostess, was on the other end. She seemed concerned (and rightly so) that I would be brash enough to try and ride through this storm. Unlike myself, she had looked at the weather radar and saw what I was in for. Having known me for a few years now she wasn't surprised by my bravery (although I think she referred to it as "stupidity") but she volunteered to make the 2 hour car trip and pick me up. Like two heaven sent guardians, her and Meg arrived during a lull in the storm and whisked myself and my trusty steel steed to Ann Arbor. Thank goodness they did because the front of storms rolling through all evening were much more violent than I had expected. It certainly would have been some miserable riding, if not downright unsafe. Back at Sarah's place I washed the day away, donned some clean clothes and promptly passed out.
Saturday morning Sarah went to work at a nearby farm but was sent home early because of more threatening storms. We spent the morning walking through the Art Festival that was setup downtown and met up with Meg to peruse the farmer's market. We found some nice eggplants which gave me the irresistible temptation to craft some eggplant parmesan. That culinary feat had to wait as Meg headed off to Detroit for a Tigers game while Sarah and I opted to go to an excellent draft house nearby, Ashley's. Extensive polling of the bar patrons led to the conclusion that although my beard was epic and impressed all the dudes, the fairer sex insisted that it was in my best interest to shave it. I was thoroughly persuaded but still had strong doubts about placing my beloved beard under the clippers. We agreed to postpone the beard trimming and called it a night.
I awoke to be greeted by considerably sunnier weather. We took the opportunity to hike along the Huron River up to a dammed section. As we laid back on a dock to soak up the sunshine some comic relief was provided by a group of young people attempting to portage. Afterwards we gathered a few key ingredients and I meticulously labored on the aforementioned eggplant. I'm getting pretty good at this recipe so if you house this hobo you may want to request it! After dinner the girls and I mustered our courage and made battle with the beard. I have to admit, I had forgotten just how damn handsome (damnsome?) I am.
One last Ann Arbor activity that I got a big kick out of was playing "Balderdash" at a dinner party a night or two before I left. The game is very simple, pretty challenging and extremely fun. One person picks a word from the dictionary and writes the definition on a slip of paper. After all the other players write down their "definitions" all the slips are read out loud and each person votes for the definition they believe is true. Hilarity ensues and points are awarded for correct guesses and/or number of people hoodwinked. Do you know what "pip" or "variola" means? Get your mind out of the gutter...
Finally I tore myself off of Sarah's couch and out of Ann Arbor. Once again rails-to-trails projects helped make a boring ride a little more bearable. Within two days I had covered 180 miles and wound up in my grandmother's backyard in Akron, Ohio. Coming soon: Akron, Johnstown and the luxurious Custer Ranch!

(Hot) Dog Days of Summer

2010-08-11T11:03:00.002-04:00

Goodness, my jokes are great. I was recently speaking with a friend on the phone and upon hearing that I was in Pennsylvania she had the same reaction as many folks. She thought I was still in Colorado (or more outrageous, California). I informed her that it had been more than a month since we spoke and at that point I was indeed in Colorado. I'll cut Stacy a break on this; I'm sure time passes more quickly for all you folks with real-world responsibilities. In addition, getting from Colorado to Pennsylvania by bicycle in a mere month would be quite the feat. Herein lies my dirty little secret: catching one big lift and a few shorter ones.
Before anyone screams blasphemy allow me to explain. Riding the bike from Denver to Chicago would have been about 1200 miles. With a conservative estimate of about 70 miles per day this would take me about two and a half weeks. Now, as much as the scenery of eastern Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa tantalizes the senses, I felt it would be kind of silly to blow my budget and arrive back east without enough money to visit all my friends and family. So how did I close the distance?
The magic of Craigslist! With an ad out on Denver Craigslist I was soon contacted by a young lady, Jayme, headed to eastern Iowa. A grueling overnight non-stop drive delivered us to Sabula, Iowa where Jayme's father owns a really neat art-gallery/wood-fired pizza shop. If you're ever in Sabula be sure to stop in Bombfire Pizza for one of the best pies on the Mississipi. After Jayme's father treated me to some culinary samples (and a hefeweizen or two to match) I headed off to hunt a swimming hole. I eventually gave up and opted for a snooze on a shady bank. Although I hadn't actually done any driving (my license expired while abroad), I was awake the whole night to entertain Jayme and our other passenger/driver. No sleep + pizza + beer + outrageous heat = complete zonk-out. I finally awoke around 2 or 3 PM and rode my bicycle over the mighty Mississipi for the second time ever. Forty five miles later I arrived in Mount Morris, Illinois. The sight of my loaded bike drew some attention. After a little conversation and some trail magic I found myself being whisked away to spend the night with a young couple who were big fans of RAGBRAI, the annual mass party/bicycle ride across Iowa. Time and time again I'm amazed by the hospitality of strangers and this instance was certainly no exception. A huge bacon and egg breakfast fueled me up and I set out into the already blazing, muggy weather. The dull scenery (who wants more cornfields? Yay!) and oppressive heat made for a rather tedious ride but I found some nice rails-to-trails paths to cruise nearly into the heart of Chicago.
I pushed myself to finish the 97 mile ride and arrive in Chi-town around 9:30 at night. Riding through unknown neighborhoods of Chicago at 9 PM on a Friday is a novel experience but I don't think I'd repeat it anytime soon. I'm thinking my gigantic, bushy beard (or wonderful natural musk) prevented any criminals from even looking at me twice. As one might imagine, I was pretty exhausted when I arrived at Rob and Jenelle's apartment. My frustration and disappointment was off the charts when I found out Jenelle was at a bachelorette party and Rob was still at the Pitchfork Music Festival. I sat down outside their fence and twiddled my thumbs for about an hour, sending text messages back and forth until Jenelle finally asked "Well, where are you in Chicago?". I thought that I had made it clear I was directly in front of her house.
"Oh, why don't you just go in? My friends are there...sorry, the door bell is broken." Goodness gracious. If I didn't love the girl so much I could have strangled her right through the phone. I took a shower, put on some fresh duds (although at this point everything I own would make a homeless person blush) and upon Rob's return we headed out to sample the nightlife. The great thing about my arrival in Chicago coinciding with Pitchfork was that my good buddies Mike and Cary were also in town. The next few days were spent catching up with old friends and visiting a list of Chicago's fine establishments (courtesy of Matt Kelly over at pedalpanam). The highlights, for any curious or Chicago-bound readers, were Hot Doug's, Kuma's Corner, Oasis Grill, Map Room and Aliveone. Hot Doug's is a famous hot dog joint with inventive specialties such as a duck sausage topped with foie gras or a goat chorizo smothered in an artisnal soft cheese. Of course one can't leave Hot Doug's without also ordering the classic "Chicago style" dog which is quite a bargain at about 2 or 3 bucks. Kuma's Corner is another Chicago landmark and gastronomic delight which often has a (justifiably) long wait. Kuma's crafts some of the most creative burgers in the US named after heavy metal bands and accompanied by the appropriate ear-splitting music. I visited Kuma's along with Chapel Hill chums Liz and Richard. It was a real treat to catch Richard while he was in town since I had not seen him much since he was kicked out of his Peace Corps position in Madagascar due to a coup. Being an avid cyclist himself we paired up the following day to cruise the city's sights by bike. I also poked my head into the obscure Oasis Grill. Tucked away into the back of a downtown jeweler's mall, Oasis is the type of place I could never find without the insider advice provided by Mr. Kelly. They serve some of the tastiest (and budget!) Mediterranean cuisine I've ever had. The last two places worthy of a Hobo-recommendation were the two bars Map Room and Aliveone. Map Room is just my sort of place; low key music, shelves stuffed with books, maps and encyclopedias and an astounding selection of beers. Aliveone also earned a special place in my heart with a mind-blowing all-drafts $2 special which is particularly hard to believe in a city with prices like Chicago.
With my belly nearly dragging on the ground from all the tasty treats and frosty brews I finally hit the Lakeshore Trail and headed out of the Windy City. Up next, the (not so) exciting ride to Ann Arbor including my rescue by a pair of guardian angels and onwards to Akron!

Introduction to my last month

2010-08-09T20:27:00.003-04:00

I'm sure all of you loyal Hobo-readers out there are very concerned after I seem to have dropped off the face of this fine planet the last month or so. Fear not, for the Hobo is alive and thriving; a little behind on his blogging but doing well nonetheless. The truth is the riding (when it actually occurs) has been pretty uneventful and dull (see photos for evidence) and although I've had a blast in the cities I've visited, I felt that reading about my over-indulgences and gluttony would be a little tedious for you folks. In any case, my grandfather pointed out just how long it had been since an update. This observation coupled with my overwhelming guilt has inspired me to attempt a summary of the last month. Due to the volume of undiscussed goings-on I'll be breaking this into three entries: Denver to Chicago, onwards to Ann Arbor and then from leaving Ann Arbor to the arrival in Johnstown (including the blast from the past known as Akron). If you are bored and uninterested in one section feel free to wait (and most likely wait you will!) for the next installation. I'll let this introductory entry marinate on here for a day or so before the first section, just to tease my adoring audience and build your appetites for the juicy stories to come. Also I need more time to write! Hang in there and tune in tomorrow or so.

Out of the climbs, into the heat!

2010-07-14T18:34:00.003-04:00

A huge thanks has to go out to Jesse of Fraser for putting me up for a night and showing me the route for one of the most enjoyable days of riding I had in a looooong time. Jesse is a long-time friend of my buddy TK so I stopped in to meet the man and assess as to whether he was "good people" as Tyler had claimed. Jesse and his family were indeed good people. In fact I dare venture to call them great, even fabulous, people. The pass that Jesse showed me was a gravel road in great condition with virtually no traffic and beautiful views. It dropped me right above Silverthorne where I promptly called my next acquaintance, Mr. Matthew Buglione.
Matt and I had been pals way back when. Really far back. Like 17 years or something, when I was but a wee lad in upstate New York and my world travels consisted of the creek in the woods down back. Matt was living in Vail for the summer and although a recent mountain biking injury had put him out of commission a bit, he swung down to Dillon Lake Marina. We shared a couple beers and began the massive task of catching up on eachothers' lives. Before too long we decided to load my bike in his car and head back to Vail. The combination of his injury and having drank a few beers allowed Matt to convince his friend Danny to chauffeur us. Back in Vail we attempted to go see a live concert but I basically decided sitting on the river bank was more pleasant than any further movement that evening.
The next day Matt and I caught up a bit more and awaited the arrival of Besselman. Once the Bess had landed we enjoyed some pizza and World Cup before once again loading the bike onto another vehicle. Erik and I parted ways with Matt and headed south over the mountains towards Salida. We passed through Leadville and started descend alongside the Arkansas River. As the somber clouds above tore open and unleashed torrents of rain and bolts of lightning I thanked my lucky stars; I was dry and moving along at 60 MPH instead of soaked and going 15! Bess and I arrived at his trailer (seriously, he lives in a doublewide...he wanted all of our mutual friends to take note). We grilled up quite the feast with his roommate Mike and watched a couple of interesting films from the library. If you've never seen the Iranian (?) movie "The Cyclist"...well, don't bother probably, hahaha. "His name is Nasim, or the Breeze. But today he is more like a typhoon". We all soon slipped into a food coma but awoke rested and ready to attack the river. After a few strategical mistakes we finally launched onto the river at about 330 PM...just in time for the afternoon thunderstorms. The dismal weather cast a strange pall on the river, lending it a very remote, northwestern feel. I guess it doesn't matter whether its raining or not when you're whitewater rafting; it only changes the direction from which you're getting wet at any given moment. Mike, Erik and I had a good time running the limited rapids that were present in Brown's Canyon (pretty low flow had changed things quite a bit from what the guys told me). We feasted for the second night in a row and watched another strange foreign film, albeit a much better one- "Persepolis".
Friday Erik frustrated me by waking me up far far too early (8am). He gathered the river gear while I gathered my head and we struck out to meet his friend Michelle further up the river. The rapids we ran on Friday were much more exciting (and dangerous!) but with the Bess's expert guidance I knew we would have no problems conquering the mighty Arkansas. Michelle was kind enough to lend us one of her boats; a nifty 10-footer just big enough for 2 paddlers but super agile and fun. Meanwhile she plied the waters on her high-and-somewhat-dry catamaran. After we ran "The Numbers" (a series of 7 rapids with varying difficulties and strategies) we all indulged in the delicious burgers, fries and shakes of Kay's (I think...) in Buena Vista. Michelle told me if I came over and helped her with a painting project the next day she could help me with some funds for the trip.
I spent most of Saturday painting linseed oil onto a fence at Michelle's house. Much to my chagrin I was missing the Colorado Brewer's Rendezvous in the main Salida river front park. However, on second thought, without the opportunity to make some money there was no way I would have paid the 10 bucks to get into the brewfest anyways. As is often the case in my adventures, fortune smiled upon me. Michelle more than justly compensated me for my work and with a big grin I wandered around downtown waiting for Erik to get off of his river patrol shift. As I wandered about a young man approached me for directions to a nearby store. I gave him a lift on the bicycle and in return he invited me to the brewers' after-celebration. He just happened to be representing one of the breweries! I had a couple of cold ones until Erik got off work at which point we moseyed over to some of his friends' house for a little BBQ chicken. All-in-all a solid day for the hobo!
Sunday I began the 150 mile trek to Denver. That first day found me very hungry and a little chilled in the high-altitude town of Fairplay. Fairplay is semi-famous for being the original "South Park" Colorado. Had a good evening chatting with George, a cyclist from Denver out for a 8 day loop. The next ride was nearly 90 miles through lots of hills and increasing heat as I dropped down towards Denver. On my second pass of the day I met two off-road tourists from Denver who told me a crucial route update. Instead of following 285 into Denver I was to take a back way through Deer Creek Canyon. It was absolutely amazing. A small bit of work climbing led to a huge payoff as I spent nearly an hour descending the canyon.
I arrived in Denver all smiles only to be worn down by the realization that I was merely on the outskirts and had 20 miles of suburban sprawl to navigate. Cities are always a big challenge- both getting in and out. The sun nearly melted me as I fought my way up the greenway. Eventually I persevered and found my way to Sarah's house considerably more centered in the city.
For the past two days I've been pretty useless. Mainly catching up on the Tour de France and trying to do some planning/budgeting. Tomorrow evening I am catching a car ride (I know, I'm such a cheater) that will put me within 3 days easy ride to Chicago where I plan to spend at least two or three days checking out the Windy City. I'll drop you a line from there hopefully. Try not to melt in the meantime!

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-05T23:51:00.002-04:00

234 fabulous years! Wow...it was a good run while it lasted. Hopefully we can keep it up a bit longer. Anyways I hope all my readers out there had a great celebration (assuming you are American or a big fan); I know I sure did. Allow me to fill you in.
As I last left you I was leaving Burley, Idaho and heading south towards Salt Lake City. My route options were limited to taking the old highway 30 or the new interstate 84. In the interest hitching a ride and being able to spend more time with my friends I opted to stick to the more heavily trafficked interstate (even though I hate riding on such busy roads). I was just about to give up and take my next (and only) exit to get back on 30 when my saving grace appeared in the form of a Washingtonian named David. He was headed down to Telluride to try his hand at the mountain-bum lifestyle for the summer. We had a great time talking about college, travel, expectations and hopes. David dropped me off in Sandy and continued buzzing on down to camp in Moab that night. Last I checked he's loving life in Telluride.
From Sandy I just had a short jaunt over to my good buddy Adrian's house. Him and his girlfriend Cecile gave me a warm welcome and we quickly made our way up Little Cottonwood Canyon to check out the beer festival at Snowbird. By the time we arrived the beer supplies were running low but the high country scenery more than made up for it. The next couple days were followed by similar scenes of revelry and merry making including some delicious dinners prepared at my friend Chris's house and one high altitude dinner at Ted and Renata's place in Alta.
When it came time to depart SLC Chris gave me a lift up a good majority of Big Cottonwood Canyon and I finished the climb to Guardsmen's Pass on a beautiful Thursday. This let me arrive into the booming metropolis of Heber City just in time to join my pseudo-cousin Ryan for wings. Not quite on par with the famed 'Em R Wings of Apex but tasty nonetheless. I spent Friday lounging around and sorting my gear. That night Ryan treated me to one of the best damn tortas I've had (in no small part due to the amazing salsa bar with something like 25 salsas). I can't remember the name of the place for the life of me, so that is Ryan's little secret for now.
Saturday I pushed onwards over Daniels' Pass and braced myself for more "wonderful" (wink wink) desert riding. Don't get me wrong....the area does have its beautiful and breathtaking moments, but after 4 or 5 days of riding your bike in it, you're ready for a change. Anyways, I moved on through the interesting (and somewhat hilarious) towns of Vernal and Dinosaur. These are places whose biggest draw is probably tacky dinosaur statues inspired by the nearby fossil beds. I kept moving along through the scorching terrain and cranked hard to arrive in Steamboat Springs in the midst of a gusting thunderstorm. Besselman's former roommate Scott agreed to put me up for the night and after I washed 4 or 5 days' worth of road grime off we headed out in search of burritos. Unfortunately, the prime burrito joint was closed so we settled for free chips and salsa instead.
The next day Scott and I drove south and met up with Bess near Mount Evans. Mount Evans is a nice big 14er mountain which also happens to have the nation's highest road on it. We all camped out and awoke at 430 in the morning to attack the mountain. Bess and Scott dropped bicycles off at the top of the mountain then parked the car a bit lower and began a climbing ascent. I started even further down the mountain and chipped away at a 14 mile climb to the peak. After we had all completed our respective climbs we buzzed down the mountain on bicycles. The other two guys stopped about halfway down while I continued all the way down to Idaho Springs- a total of 28 miles and 7000 or so feet in altitude.
After our little side adventure I was dropped off in Kremmling (a.k.a. Krem-tucky) while Bess and Scott headed back north to Steamboat for a friend's wedding. Although I had planned to just sleep in Kremtucky I decided the park did not look all that enticing and rode onwards only to be thwarted by the most voracious mosquitoes of my whole trip and also one of the gnarliest-looking thunderstorms. I took shelter under a general store's awning in Parshall before backtracking to a river access area and ninja-camping. The rain had subdued the mozzies a bit but I was still terrified with how fast and thick they swarmed.
Yet another high-and-dry night in the hammock and I awoke refreshed to ride up to Grand Lake to meet up with my buddy Gray. Lots of shenanigans and debauchery ensued as we celebrated the nation's birthday. As I parted with Gray and my new friends I can't say I felt rested but I can say that I had one heck of a 4th.
Tonight finds me writing to y'all from Fraser. TK, architect of rock-solid wheels and friend of cyclists the world over (well, at least Carrboro right now) told me I MUST visit his old-school buddy here. I've never had any qualms with "visiting" (aka mooching) mutual friends so I stopped in to say hello to Jesse and his family. Tomorrow I'll be attacking a slightly dubious sounding mountain shortcut that Jesse recommends. I'll do my best to tune in from the other side and let you all know how it turns out.
Phew! For now I'm exhausted and going to hit the hay so I can meet Gray for a farewell cup of coffee tomorrow morn. Take care folks!

The Kindness of Strangers

2010-06-26T00:34:00.003-04:00

As the adventure last stood I was in the middle of the eastern Oregon desert, just outside of Burns. I spent the an interesting night camping along a ridge, wind buffeting my hammock as I watched a lightning storm slide across the valley below. The next day I found myself in Vale, Oregon. As I stopped at a supermarket to charge my phone and munch snacks I started talking with some younger folks who were trying to cash in at the recycling machines. Before parting ways they offered me two icy cold gatorades...a welcome treat after the high desert sun!
While trying to scout out a place to sleep in the park two reassuring things happen. One was that I met and spoke with the mayor (he happened to be coaching a little league team). Although he couldn't give me "permission" to stay in the park, he said that he didn't think that it would be a problem and he would let the proper authorities know. After speaking with the mayor I wandered over to the pool and asked if I could use the showers. The girl at the front desk said I was free to use the showers but warned me they had no doors. She said my best chance was to be quick before the pool closed and all the kids swarmed the bathroom. After a brisk and invigorating shower I decided that all that desert riding deserved a bite to eat at the Mexican restaurant I saw on the way into town.
Sticking to the budget is important so I don't take decisions like this lightly but often (as in this case) it works out to save me in the long run. As I munched on my taco salad (with lengua, mmmmmm!) the owner of the restaurant struck up conversation with me. After hearing about my crazy trip Edgar called out to his god-son Carlos. The two quizzed me with the usual questions including the "where do you sleep". When I answered that I was planning to sleep in the park, Edgar quickly offered me the empty apartment above the restaurant! If you ever find yourself in Vale, be sure to drop into Chabelita's for some tasty grub and friendly people!
The next day I struck out for Boise. After a late start (had to get more salsa at Chabelita's!) I rode the short and relatively easy 60 miles to arrive in Boise about 6 or 7 PM. Luckily I had been able to arrange a couchsurfer; big thanks go to Dan for hosting me on such short notice! Dan had an amazing project going on in his backyard following the principles of permaculture. This is something I've become more and more interested in as I first encountered it in Croatia and on other farms. It basically takes the idea of sustainable agriculture even further. Had a great salad from Dan's garden and after he retired (darn 9-5 jobs) I had a nice evening hanging out with his roommate Becki and and her visiting friend Chris. Chris made a super cool sketch of me, I'll try to upload it.
Moving on from Boise I found myself in the small town of Buhl, Idaho. I stopped by a restaurant to relieve myself and fill water bottles before finding a camping spot but was tempted by cheese tots. Once again this purchase proved wise. A young man sitting in the next booth over became interested in my strange story and by the end of our respective meals extended an offer to sleep on his couch. I pretty much always prefer a couch over the unknown perils of a small town park (bored teens are the most dangerous wildlife of all). Travis had to work early in the morning but we had a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast together and he loaded me down with lots of goodies for the road.
Working my way east from Buhl to Burley was slow going with a headwind....REAL slow going. About 15 miles from Burley I got tired of crawling along while truck after truck buzzed by with empty beds. I started the technique of thumbing while riding with hopes of getting to Burley. From there my direction would head south and the torturous wind coming from the northeast would be eased. Around 8 or 9 miles out someone FINALLY pulled over and offered me a lift. I crammed my bike into the back of the SUV and had an entertaining chat with a fine family from Kimberly. Jim, Diane and their daughter Laura dropped me off at the high school and gave me even more treats for the road!
I started my journey onward feeling somewhat apprehensive about finding somewhere to sleep in such empty desert with no size able towns for at least 50 miles. Just as I was about to leave Burley a car full of raucous teenagers gave me some cheerful shouts. I circled back and asked them what was going on. They were inviting me to come over and have a bite to eat! I followed them back to one of their houses. The Handy family was no stranger to having loads of crazy kids around and they gave me a warm welcome. A restful sleep on the trampoline and the next day I was working my way south to SLC.
In summary, this leg of the trip was characterized by amazing kindness and hospitality by people who didn't even know me. I suppose what I do is a rarity and people get a kick out of it, but I think the unending kindness I'm constantly shown is much more stunning. Maybe I had lost faith in people (especially in the US) but bit by bit, pedal stroke by pedal stroke my confidence in kindness and love is restored.
Coming in the next installment: the final leg to Salt Lake, a little R&R and the road onward to Colorado!

The Trouble with Transience

2010-06-14T18:56:00.002-04:00

As if my glorious rest with Bentley and Andi in Corvallis wasn't enough I extended my laziness for another 4 days or so. Cate, a friend from UNC who had been living in Portland, happened to be moving down to Eugene for law school. After dropping a Uhaul of her belongings she whisked my bicycle and me northwards to Portland. A couple of fine days were spent visiting old friends, making new ones and soaking in the vibes of Stumptown. I hadn't ridden from Portland to Ontario (the border with Idaho) but I had done the route from Eugene and loved it. Knowing this, I again hitched a ride with Cate down to Eugene. It felt rather funny to arrive back to the same town I had ridden through a week earlier!
That puts us on last Wednesday morning I believe. The forecast called for rain and wasn't going to change anytime soon but alas I forced myself back onto the road. After such fine companionship for the last week it was a very dreary ride into the storm-soaked hills, taxing me mentally perhaps more than physically. This is the "trouble with transience" I'm referring to; the desire to stop and hang out with good folks in a town or city you like but the conflicting urge to keep moving and stick to your "plan". I could easily have given up and lived happily ever after in the Bay Area, norCal, Eugene, Corvallis, Portland or Bend not to mention about one hundred other places I've been. Oh well...at least I know I have friends to go visit as soon as the call of the road hits!
So after leaving Cate and her awesome pup Sawyer behind in the dismal gloom of Eugene's weather (don't feel bad for her, she's on vacation in Hawaii now) I climbed into the mountains to reach Bend. Two wet, long, miserable days later I rolled into the sunny pleasant high desert town of Bend. The final leg from Sisters to Bend is a straight shot of about 21 miles on the highway but I got a bit audacious with my GPS and turned that 21 miles into God-knows-what of horrible, loose gravel forest service roads. A one and a half hour ride became 4 and a half hours. Finally rolling into Bend at around 10:30 PM, I was graciously hosted by fellow cyclist Brett on the first night. He had traveled a bit through Eastern Europe and we recounted our favorite moments until way past bedtime. Brett had to head to Portland to coach a youth lacrosse team he is involved with but I decided to stay on in Bend for one more day at least and catch the USA-England match.
Met some top-notch folks (tip o' the hat to Kai, Zach, Sean, et. al) throughout the weekend and once again was totally shattered to have to leave it all behind. Got a late start Sunday (had to visit a hardware store and grocery store for fuel and food) but the Desert Gods were with me and a tailwind pushed me about 95 miles towards Burns. Woke up this morning and cranked another pleasant, albeit warmer, 40 miles into Burns. I'd like to do another 60 or so and be halfway to Idaho but for now I'm letting the sun go a bit lower. Because the sun is up until about 830, you can ride super late into the evening here. Two more reasons to do so are that the GIGANTIC mosquitos come out at dusk (better to be moving!) and you can't sleep when its that light anyways.
I don't really know what to expect as I continue through Idaho and south into Utah. I've done sections of Idaho before, but those were farther north in the Sawtooth mountains. As much as I'd like to revisit those towns and sights its too far out of the way to Salt Lake.
From SLC the plan is to head loosely towards Denver where I hope to get a train to Chicago. The train will save me roughly 1200 miles thus extending my budget to allow more destinations back east. My apologies to all of my fans in Nebraska and Iowa. After Chicago its onwards through Ohio and PA up to NYC before dropping down the eastern seaboard to DC. This would technically conclude my trip, but I hope to also ride the Blueridge Parkway down to Asheville and then finish in true fashion with a ride through the Ole North State (brings tears to the eyes folks!).

That's about all I've got for you now folks. Hope you all are enjoying this spectacle as much as I am!

On the move again

2010-06-02T14:29:00.004-04:00

So it has been quite awhile since I've updated this here blog, and for that I apologize. I would say this is the result of a complex mixture of elements, namely laziness and spotty internet access. In any case I'll do my best to relate the last month or so to you folks without much ado.
I would say the larger part of my time here in the US so far was spent just generally bumming around the Bay area. I spent time crashing on various friends' couches and floors in Berkeley and San Francisco. A big thanks to all the folks who made that possible. I managed to find some cash flow (multiple streams of income as Benji would say) by doing a promotional gig for Comcast and a language study, both at Berkeley. The Comcast promotion was just handing out moving boxes to students in exchange for them texting in a survey. The language study was pretty interesting. I had to learn an imaginary language called Sillyspeak and then was tested on it. Good thing I was already an advanced Sillyspeaker, as anyone whose met me after 11pm would probably attest to.
The final coup de grace of my stay in the area was the sheer insanity of the Bay-to-Breakers "race" in San Francisco. Hung out with my gracious hosts of Hayes Street and watched the hilarious antics of all the wierdos, drunks and drunk wierdos. In case you aren't familiar (I wasn't) B2B is a race in its 99th year where folks run from the bay side of the city down through Golden Gate park to the ocean. Somewhere in the last 100 years its morphed into a BurningMan/Lovefest-esque self-expression celebration. If you want to walk around San Francisco buck-naked, this is the day for it. Cross your fingers though...there is talk about canceling the event because it has become such a ruckus. ING, the sponsor, pulled out after this year!
Anyways, I departed the Bay area and pointed the bicycle north. I spent the first 6 days riding up Highway 1 along the coast. The scenery was a bit austere but beautiful nonetheless. Quite a rough re-introduction to bike touring however! Continuous climbs and downhills along the coast coupled up with some pretty strong headwinds and a month of (mostly) sedantary living to make for a rough couple days. The final deathblow to my willpower came in the form of 2 days of rain-riding in the Redwoods followed by a forecast for 4 more days. However, right when things looked their bleakest, serendipity found me a ride through the rain. I was remarking (okay, okay....complaining) on the weather to the kind lady at a coffeeshop in Redway, CA and she pointed out that her son was driving to Ashland, Oregon the next day. My new friend Evyn and I cruised right on up through the weather, saving me at least 3 or 4 days of rainy, cold riding. From Ashland I had a mostly pleasant cruise on backroads northwards. One great night was spent in the Threehorn campsite of the Umpqua National Forest. Kind neighbors there treated me to chilidogs...a welcome warm meal after a long day of climbing. As I neared my destination in Eugene on the third day out the clouds moved in once again. Visited my favorite bar in Eugene (called Max's...supposedly "Moe's" in the Simpsons is modeled after it) and then shuffled off into the drizzle to setup camp for the night. The next day I awoke with a less than optimistic outlook for the remaining 45 miles to Corvallis. Packed up all my wet gear and climbed onto the bike, squinting as I rode through more of the interminable Pacific NW scuzz. Things started to look up as I had the "Champion's Breakfast" (2 corndogs and 20oz of coffee at 7-11). The skies dried up but never quite cleared. Nevertheless, the ride was calm, almost no traffic and a relative straight-shot to Corvallis.
I arrived in Corvallis and struggled to find my hosts' place due to some "transcription errors" in getting their address. I found the street easily enough but the house number I had didn't exist! After wandering around town and campus for 2 hours without any luck in contacting them, I decided to tour the street once more. I knew they had moved recently so I hoped to spot an out of state plate. Sure enough my Dick Tracy skillz paid the billz and I found the house. I apprehensively rang the door bell (looking the way I do I was really worried I would give some old lady a heart attack). Andi (Bentley's Lady Friend) answered the door and after about 10 seconds of dumbfoundedness on my part, recognition clicked and I said "Uh....hey" or something equally impressive.
I took a shower for the first time in 5 days, ate 2 giant homemade pretzels and then we were off to a wine tasting Bentley was working at! What a welcome (take notes, folks in my path!). By this time the sun had broken through the clouds and mingled with a little jazz, some Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, and a gorgeous view of the vineyard and valley. In other words, the perfect way to top off a pretty solid day. Then to really put things over the top, we had dinner at a nearby brewpub. I hadn't had a huge appetite at first but as plates of hearty pubfood were put down I couldn't help myself.
So now its raining again. And the forecast is calling for more through the whole week. I'm trying to decide whether to face the facts and get wet or to hope that the elusive summer shows up soon. I've got some rough plans for whats next on the tour and when but I'll save that post for a few days. Until then, happy reading and riding!

Getting traction

2010-04-27T14:52:00.004-04:00

The wheels have been spinning a bit here in Berkeley (both literally and figuratively). Sorry to leave all of you dedicated readers hanging for the last week or so. I arrived in San Francisco and promptly made my way across the Bay to visit my friend Daniel. The next week was spent exploring various neighborhoods,parks, restaurants (i.e. Taco Bell), and bars both in the city and around Berkeley. Pretty pleasant weather and lots of good company made for enjoyable days filled with the bliss of not having to go anywhere or accomplish anything.
But alas, all good things must come to an end and thus I've been dropping resumes at every restaurant, bar and retail store that I deem worthy of having me. With any luck I can find some work and make money for about 2 or 3 weeks until my next riding partner is supposed to join me. From there I believe we are planning on heading north towards Seattle and then cutting diagonally down to SLC. But who really knows. I'd like to see Yosemite and Redwoods but I also want to see the Grand Canyon. Yikes.
Anyways, this is just a short blurb to let you all know I'm alive and well. As plans come together better and I have some interesting news to report I'll drop you another update. Also I'll try to put some thoughts together about what the return to the US feels like after 8 months because either the US is stranger than before or I am. Or both.

One night in Bangkok...

2010-04-14T00:24:00.002-04:00

and the world's your oyster! Okay. Three nights in Bangkok. Pretty cool city and Songkhran is absolutely insane. Songkhran is the Thai New Year and is celebrated by a week long waterfight throughout the city. You pretty much can't go anywhere or do anything without getting soaked by waterguns, hoses or just buckets of ice water. When you are trying to accomplish things it is extremely frustrating but you can't stay angry very long when the people are all smiles. When you AREN'T trying to accomplish things it is probably just about the most fun holiday ever. You just run around splashing strangers and smearing flour/talcum all over them. I fully intend to ring in all of my future birthdays with a Songkhran party the week before.
Bangkok is a much nicer city than I had imagined or the travel books had led me to believe. It is not as filthy, smoggy or congested as I thought it would be. Sure, it is nowhere near the level of Singapore when it comes to glossy finish and greenery, but its not so bad in its own right. Certainly beats Athens!
Yesterday I arrived early in the morning and spent the good part of the day searching out a bicycle box. Finally got a nice one from Cannanasia, an absolutely awesome Cannondale exclusive dealer with a stunning amount of bikes on the floor (the Factory Scalpel was looking pretty nice to me...). I made use of a fancy enclosed taxi to safely deposit the box back at Peak's house (my gracious couchsurfing host) and then I headed down towards the notorious Patpong area for the largest waterfight I had ever seen. A wet, floury mass of thousands of Thais (and a few farangs) writhed and squirmed their ways through the streets and alleys to the thumping beat of Thai pop and electronic. An absolutely amazing experience. I wish I had photos to share with you but alas I have no waterproof camera!
Today I may repeat the experience or I may just take it easy, not quite sure. Tomorrow I have to get everything packed up and find a big enough taxi to take me to the airport because I'm doubtful my stuff will fit in a normal sedan type. I'm also far to lazy to deal with dragging the bike box and near-50 pound bag of gear onto and off of various trains and buses required to reach the airport.
After all this goes down (and a nice 9 hour layover in Beijing) I will arrive in San Francisco. I will travel for 23 hours or something, but arrive only 11 hours after I leave. The jet lag is going to be monstrous. Thank goodness San Francisco is a hobo's haven and I have no less than 3 couches offered to me already! Brace yourself States, the hobo cometh!

Feelin' Kinda Laos-y

2010-04-08T23:13:00.005-04:00

HAHAHAHAH. Another solid pun. I wasn't actually feeling lousy at all until a few days ago I was the victim of some debit card fraud. The series of events is probably the most frustrating and discouraging thing to happen on this trip (which I guess shows how fortunate I've been). Hopefully I can pull things together this weekend and make it to Bangkok in time to box the bicycle and get my flight to San Francisco.
But sour topics aside, I do have some entertaining tidbits for you.
Let's start with Luang Namtha, over a week ago, high in the mountains. There I had the pleasure of meeting and riding with one of the craziest guys I have ever ridden with (and I've ridden with some pretty crazy dudes!). His name is Pablo and he comes from Argentina, although he's been riding the bike on and off (mostly on) for about 8 years. You can read about his adventures from the link on my front page.
Anyways, Pablo and I decide to ride the next leg together and set out upon the 107km ride from Luang Namtha to Oudamxai (which included something like 1200meters of climbing). I had originally planned to break it into two rides but upon arriving at the base of the big climb around 4pm, Pablo convinced me we should just go ahead and knock it out. Bad choice. The climb ended up taking us until just about dusk. At this point, the prudent thing to do would be to stop in a village and ask if we could camp nearby. Of course, Pablo, being insane, said we should continue down. After all, its all downhill so how long could it take? Poor choice. The worst 25 km of my life. Dark, sketchy deteriorating road the whole way. Probably the worst road conditions I have seen. Anyways, we did survive and it made a good story, so my thanks go to Pablo for pushing the envelope.
So Pablo decided to go towards Vietnam while my path lay southwards towards Louang Prabhang. Another series of challenging climbs. At one point I finished one ascent and was greeted by a guy selling ice cream out of a cooler on the back of his motorcycle. This was probably up around 1200meters. On the way down to 600 meters we must have passed each other 15 times as he would stop, sell some ice cream, then come past me. It was pretty funny and we were both having a good laugh by the bottom. Another fun aspect of riding that day was my discovery of a little game I like to call "Tag-a-Falang" whereby all the village kids run out screaming, giggling and shouting "FALLAAANNNNGG!!!" (which attracts more kids). Whichever children can wrest the prize of a high-five from me as I fly past is ensured the envy of his or her mates. It is rather entertaining, for me probably even more so than them!
On that uplifting note, I must head out into the city. I've crafted up another hobo sign looking for some money, so hopefully I can get something going for lunch. I'll drop you an update as soon as possible letting you know how the outlook for making my flight next week looks. Wish me luck, I'll need boatloads of it!

Introduction to Laos: Mountains and Mishaps

2010-03-26T06:05:00.002-04:00

Well, I came to this internet place with full intentions of unloading some glorious pictures on you but apparently their connection craps out everytime I go to upload. So instead I present to you a verbal assemblage of the last 3 days.

Wednesday, March 25 (? okay, Ill be honest, I dont even know for sure what today is)- I awoke in Houxyai and despite my best efforts to have an early start, my comfortable hotel bed and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button distracted me until the late hour of 10am. Feeling that I was getting such a pathetically late beginning to a long day of riding I opted to get food down the road. Incredibly stupid decision. I was assuming that Laos was like Thailand (some kind of restaurant, food stand or at the least convenience store every 50m). Laos is NOT like Thailand. I didnt find food until about 30km of the hardest riding Ive done in SE Asia yet. And even then all I could find was some peanuts and some sort of chocolate-powder covered corn snack. Imagine a cheeto but more disgusting. At this point (probably about 2 or 3 pm) I was completely drained of all energy, not to mention every bit of salt in my body. I finally found a town where somebody could prepare me some real food and sat down to some fried rice. I could barely hold the fork properly because my body had been pushed so hard. I've never had hand cramps until now! This being the situation and my destination being over 50km through more unknown terrain (should have bought a map...mistake #2) I asked if I could stay there. Luckily there was a rudimentary (I mean RUDIMENTARY folks) guesthouse there because an ecopreserve was nearby. Spent a wonderful sleepless night in Don Chai due to the generator fumes drifting through the slats of my wall and roosters deciding they crow whenever they want, not at dawn.

Thursday (Okay, okay...we'll just call it Day 2)- I wake up, actually manage to get an early start this time and enjoy some cool mountain riding. That is, until I hit THE CLIMB. Probably the most brutal climb I've had since Montenegro's climb to Lovcen. One of these long, steep, neverending, demoralizing climbs. Through a construction zone. Man, I must have heard 20,000 excited cries of "Farang!" (foreigner) from construction workers that day. Finally drop into the town of Vieng Phokot and sit down for lunch around 1pm. This is where I had intended to be the night before. Oh well....find a restaurant packed to the gills with Laos businessmen from the nearby coal company (always a good sign). Had some fabulous chicken pho (noodles, broth, veggies) and a lovely lap (buffalo mixed with mint, cilantro, lime juice, chilies and toasted rice). As I was sitting there another "FARANG!!" came up and sat at a nearby table. We eventually fall into conversation and somehow end up deciding to go about 10 or 15km down the road and campout for the night. He had been hoping to camp in a bamboo farmer's crashpad he had found, but didn't quite have the nerve alone. Bolstered by strength in numbers we went down a crazy dirt footpath, he on motorscooter, me on bicycle. Beautiful riverside campsite for me while he hiked just a bit further and spent the night in the hut he had found.

Day 3- Woke up this morning, got a wonderful early start and enjoyed some of the most pleasurable riding weather in SE Asia. Cool, overcast, clearer than usually. The one drawback was the "pleasant breeze" from the morning had turned into a "soul-rending headwind". Regardless I pushed on and after one brutal 10% climb had a great downhill cruise all the way to Luang Namthon. Had a bargain lunch of fried noodles for 10000 kip(that's right, 10000 kip is a bargain) and then in a noodle, bike and beer induced buzz made the mistake of checking into the first guesthouse I saw. Mistake only in the sense that it cost me 6 dollars when I could have gone 2 streets back and found something slightly grungier for 3 dollars. That's right...at the point I am in my budget, a 3 dollar mistake is worth kicking yourself over for days.

Anyways, Im happy to be here in town...rounding up supplies and trying to figure out a few things wrong with the bicycle. I had a chain break on me the day I left Thailand (due to a hasty install way back in Ranong most likely) and due to some clunky shifting and some strange noises I'm suspecting something was a bit too hasty about the second installation. I've also got a mystery noise coming from the front wheel. It's one of those things where as soon as you pay attention to it and try to solve it, the noise disappears. Scoundrel! And then the last thing, the most important thing for the mountains to come, is that I cannot consistantly drop into my highest gear. This is THE most frustrating thing in the world as you lose all momentum attacking the hills. Many Laotian hills have suffered a string of expletives about my bicycle due to this. I hope I've at least got it temporarily working.

Okay, this has gone on long enough. If you've read this far, congratulations....your boss should probably be looking over your shoulder more! As for me, I'm off to hunt down some supplies for the mountains ahead, meet up with some newfound friends for dinner and perhaps treat myself (at the ghastly sum of 3 dollars per hour) to a massage. On second thought...I already wasted 3 dollars today....

Lovely Laos

2010-03-23T08:38:00.002-04:00

Well, I finally managed to pull myself out of the wonderful Thai border town of Chiang Khong. Made it all the way across the river and into the equivalent border town in Laos before getting distracted again. Tomorrow I will ride north and hope to find myself in Luang Prabang in about 4 days time. I've got all the time in the world but the budget is pretty dismal at this point. Might have to swim back home. I would like to recount some stories or write you all a nice entry but the internet cafe Im at seems to be shutting down. Not sure how easily Ill find more web access as I head further into the countryside but Ill be sure to check in once I reach Luang Prabang.

Failure to takeoff

2010-03-15T10:17:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, the glorious Chiang Mai. I didn't really like the city at first, on account of all the tourists, but it has grown on me. If you go a little outside of the old town there are some real neat cafes and bars. There is also a cool little bike shop and bicycle scene with a few regular fixie cruises and lots of street/BMX riding. I could see myself living here for a little while, getting to know the city better, doing some mountainbiking in the surrounding hills. Alas, I have more road to cover, countries to see and people to ride bikes with.
So its onwards to Laos. We were supposed to depart about 3 days ago, but our buddy Paul (whom we met in Ayuttahaya) convinced us to stay a bit longer. So tomorrow its up early and heading for Chiang Rai before moving on towards Laos and finding out about the boat situation.
With that being said, I'd like to take a moment to express some feelings. Lately I am beginning to feel a bit exhausted. I love life on the bike but at some point you just get tired of constantly moving, constantly being out of place. Change becomes the norm and you really desire to turn it all off for a second. Oh well, Im sure before long I will be sitting on a couch in the US complaining about how boring life is when nothing changes day to day. Just wanted to rant a little bit and let you all know that yes, i'm not a total lunatic and would like to sit still every once in awhile. Anyways, maybe Im just feeling this way because Im tired and a bit cranky about having to move on from this city when all Id like to do is rent an apartment for a month and do absolutely nothing. So I'm going to go to bed and then tomorrow get up early and ride my bicycle far away. Cheers to that!

Just our luck

2010-03-11T02:14:00.002-05:00

Well, the doc says that most likely I just had a bad virus that my body is purging out although the whole-body rash thing seemed a mystery to him. The funny thing is that while I was checking in and having my vitals taken I was describing the rash to the nurse. I speculated to her that it may be alcohol-triggered since the first time I had a few brews the night before and last night when I had one about an hour later I had some mild rash re-occurances. Anyways, I said this all to the nurse and the old lady being checked in beside me (how did she speak such good english by the way...) interjected "oh no, thats not alcohol, just singha" (a thai beer). "My husband has that problem...everytime he drinks Singha he gets a rash". What this lady said was actually coinciding with the facts but I have yet to test the theory. Not sure I want to!
Anyways, the doc saying that I don't have some crazy bug-borne illness was a relief. However, there is rarely any respite for me lately for as soon as I cleared that hurdle another one arose. Our plan was to ride from here (Chaing Mai) to Chaing Khong and cross into Laos. On the border crossing we were going to get a riverboat to take us down to Luang Prabang because there is no direct road there. Unfortunately, the largest drought in 20 years has caused the Mekong to dry up and apparently the cargo boats are not running. So now we've got to reformulate our plans. I really haven't the slightest clue what to do, so I'll just have to tell you all about it later.
On the upside, I got my bicycle cleaned to the highest level since I left for only 400 baht and I signed up for a cooking class. Tomorrow I'll be learning how to make 6 different Thai dishes! You can check it out at thaicookeryschool.com. I'm taking course #3.
Okay, I'm off to go lounge around the pool while its hot and check out some temples once the sun dips a bit. Be back soon with the updated route I hope!

Adventures in the Plains

2010-03-09T10:36:00.002-05:00

Pao (pronounced Poo) is the Mick Jagger of Thailand and now a dear friend of the hobo crew. We met Pao while riding into Singburi (which has a strangely disproportionate amount of cyclists for a town in the middle of nowhere) and he invited us over to his “house” for a drink. His “house” was actually a giant bar, in the style of a Western Saloon. How awesome…the wild west of Thailand! Anyways, he fuelled us up and rode with us over to show us a nearby hotel. After the usual process of showering and making the hotel room smell like a herd of sweaty buffaloes we headed out for some grub and then stopped back by the Gypsy Bar for live music. This is where the whole Mick Jagger bit comes in. Pao’s band is apparently one of the longest-running and most popular rock bands in Thailand. They started in the Phillipines about 25 years ago with heavy counterculture messages in their music and have kept it going strong. Pretty wild.
The next day was equally outlandish. We woke up rather woefully and headed out of the hotel with our sights set on Noi’s house, about 30km north. Noi and her friends had met us the night before and invited us out to their small village to do some fishing. No fishing ended up ever taking place. However, we were escorted to a croc farm, fed delicious Thai seafood on the lakefront and the ladies made sure our beer glasses were never anything but full! I’m pretty sure life couldn’t get any easier than the expat with a Thai wife deal. Alas, that is not my fortune or fate (yet).
Not a whole lot to mention from the day after the Noi Episode (honestly, the rest of the trip will pale in comparison to that). Found something slightly out of place in the small city of Uthai Thani. A fixed gear specialist shop! What in the world it is doing there I don’t have the slightest clue. Maybe there is a big market for strange, super-heavy poorly made steel frame fixies in the plains of Thailand. Beats me.
From Uthai Thani it was onwards to another rather quiet town called Phitlok. Not really a destination so much as a necessary stopover to help us reach the famous (?) ruins of Sukothai. I'm not much of a ruins fan and while these were certainly impressive, I enjoyed the ones I had seen further south in Ayuttahaya much more. We did have a great time riding around the park (in which all the ruins are standing) with some German girls and two great guys from England. Big cheers go out to Nora, Sina, Sam and Rufus!

From Sukothai we headed north towards Chang Mai and begin to encounter our first real consistant hills and the first challenging climb since I left Greece. Great riding due to the change of scenery but unfortunately just as the riding was getting good I seem to have caught something. I woke up yesterday morning with a full-body rash which was absolutely brutal by last night (after riding a necessary, and hilly, 100km in the heat) when it coupled up with a fever. Decided to play it safe and get the train for the last 100km to Chang Mai this morning and will be going to the hospital in the AM. The rash and fever seem to have subsided but were replaced with the most crippling stomach problems yet. I'm hoping it is just a bout of my ol' friend food poisoning but only time (well, and a doctor) will tell.

That pretty much brings you up to speed. For brevity's sake I had to leave out a couple interesting episodes but perhaps I will recant those in a future installment of Bobo's Tales of Adventure and Mischief. Until then keep all the spinny parts spinning.

I am alive...just a bit spaced out

2010-03-08T08:29:00.002-05:00

I will give you folks some updates tomorrow when I get to Chang Mai and have some time to sort out all my thoughts. Sorry for the lack of interesting stories, they are accruing, trust me!

Check out the new pics though.

Some questions answered

2010-02-24T05:59:00.002-05:00

So the last post I asked what you all would like to hear and you gave me some pretty good suggestions. I'll do my best to gather more funny anecdotes, particularly ones involving people we've met or as my mother put it "flora and fauna". Not so sure about the poetry, haikus and limericks...might be overextending my literary range there. Also per Jenelle's request there should be some more videos up later this week...have to find time to upload them since that takes a bit longer than photos. My grandparents sent along a few more specific inquiries which are pretty easy to address and others might find interesting (like, say...Ecuadorian newspaper reporters..).

Planning, schedules and budgets: To be honest, I didn't plan much. I just sort of got to Ireland then my riding partner(s) and I took it one step at a time. I generally try to have a pretty solid plan of action in place for 1-2 days out and a slightly more vague plan for the next month or so at a time. Having this loose structure means that I'm not really "ahead" or "behind" schedule...just sort of floating along.
As of right now the rough plan is to be up in Chiang Mai around the 9th or 10th. Dan's Thai visa expires then so he will be doing a run across the Burmese border to renew it. Then we hope to be into Laos around a week later. We are intending to take a boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang and then ride on to Vientiane. From there we have to figure out how to get to Cambodia. If things work out correctly I will be able to get to Bangkok around the end of April. Should have enough money to get a flight to the west coast of the US and then meet up with my friend Jon to ride across the US. I may have to find some work once I hit the US shores sicne the flight will eat up the last of my savings. Then again, I've hobo'd the US once and am confident I can do it extremely cheap this time.

Eating, sleeping, communicating: Once again most of this is last minute stuff. Eating enough food is nearly impossible. I could spend all day and all of my daily budget on food and still not get enough calories probably. I haven't gone to a hospital and weighed myself but the few scales I have come across seem to indicate I've dropped about 20 pounds. I will probably lose more by the end of the trip. I have been trying to incorporate some resistance exercises in my daily routine to keep my muscles from being cannibalized.
Sleeping in Europe and the solo stretch of Asia was a very last minute thing. I would generally ride until dark, find a spot for my hammock and just crash out. A few times if I was in an area where camping looked difficult or the weather was threatening I would find a cheap hotel or guesthouse (Albania...parts of Malaysia). Now that I'm with Dan its easier to split the costs of a room for the night so we've been doing that. He also isn't carrying much in the way of camping gear. I plan to return to a more camping-mode style in the US.
Communications with the locals is quite the task but enough pointing and gesturing usually gets the job done. We almost never know what we are ordering at restaurants. I must admit I feel somewhat guilty about my lack of effort to learn much local language. I was pretty discouraged that just as I was learning some basic Malay I crossed into Thailand and had to start all over.

Okay...so factual things aside, tomorrow I'll keep a keen eye out (and memory) for some of the smaller, funny things that happen that I usually just disregard. Hopefully I can bring you all a little more in-depth to what its like to do this day in and day out. Cheers!

Dog Days of ...winter?

2010-02-21T05:25:00.004-05:00

"...what makes the experience thrilling is the juxtaposition of the present and the past, Medford dreamed in Mandalay."-- Paul Theroux

I think that sentence is awesome. Mr. Theroux is a travel writer from Medford, MA who has been an expat most of his life. I love his work because he strikes so many common threads of my travel logic. Like he says in this passage, one of the things I find so interesting in my travels is how much more appealing home gets with every passing kilometer. I'll be lounging around on a tropical island in Thailand yet all I can dream about is a frosty night mountain bike ride followed up with some delicious IP3s pizza and a pitcher of Yuengling. The comforting thing is knowing that in all likelyhood IP3s, yuengling and Chapel Hill High trails will all still be there when I return but I may never get the opportunity to waste a day away swimming and lounging on Ko Chang again.

To bring you up to speed, Anders parted ways from Dan and I last Sunday. He headed on to Ko Tao to do his diving certification while we headed to Ko Chang for some island solitude. After a restful day out there Dan and I returned to the mainland and covered some ground to arrive up here in Hua Hin. Dan broke a spoke yesterday (after 1 week...I'm a bit skeptical his bike will make it through 3 more countries) so he was forced to take the bus here to Hua Hin, the closest city with a REAL bike shop. I would have preferred to skip Hua Hin, especially since their claims of having a microbrewery were all lies, but fate dictated otherwise. We will probably be moving on tomorrow at a slow enough pace to allow Anders to catch up. Dan has been a real trooper on the distances and surprised me last Wednesday with a 120km ride. Now we just have to get him to the level of doing 100km day in and day out. All in good time.
Next up on the agenda is Kanchanaburi (the Bridge over the River Kwai) and then on to Ayuttahaya for some temple viewing. We hope to be up in Chang Mai around the 8th or 9th of March so Dan can do a visa run to Burma and get 15 more days. Then its on to Laos!
Or so I hope. I think I can stretch the budget and stay in Asia until mid-April or beginning of May but then getting across the US should be a real interesting episode!
I feel like I am supposed to keep more vivid descriptions on the blog, mainly for my own sake and future reference. Something tells me that you guys don't really care about how excruciating riding on the brink of heat stroke is for 6 hours a day. Something also tells me that I won't forget that, whether I write it down or not. This is the problem I encounter with my writing...both here and in my personal journal. I have no mechanism for sorting the material. I can't tell the rubbish from the interesting tidbits (mainly because most of it seems to become rather mundane if I do it enough!). Perhaps you, my faithful readers, can tell me what you'd like to hear about. What questions do you have? What kind of stories would you like me to make up...err....recount? Please give me some direction here. Once again I find myself drifting aimlessly...
Yours in befuddlement, Bobo

Chang and Ko Chang

2010-02-11T01:50:00.002-05:00

My sincere apologies for the distinct lack of updates since (pretty much) arriving into Thailand. The first 4 days I was concerning myself with not becoming involved in any terrorism. The next week or so my main focus was the gastorintestinal terrorism that I was battling and for the last 4 or 5 days I've been busy terrorising people with my new partner in crime, Anders. Yesterday was the first day riding with Mr. Dan Riegler who will be my associate for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Even though he had only arrived at midnight before and must have had terrible jet lag he seems to be tackling everything with an encouraging and infectious enthusiasm (not that I've been lacking enthusiasm; how can you not be enthusiastic when your biggest challenge of the day is whether to opt for a Chang or a Singha and which beach to do so on).
Today we have about 30 or 40 more km until we reach the town of Takua Pa...or perhaps its Takuapa...or Taquapa. The signs can't seem to agree. In any case, we will most likely stop there so as not to punish poor Dan too much and then tomorrow we must decide whether to head inland and visit the jungle-clad karsts of Khao Sak national park or head north along the coast to the laid-back (i.e. no electricity) islands of Ko Chang and Ko Phayang.
About two more weeks in Thailand should see us visiting Chumpon before riding up the east coast and then northwards towards Chang Mai before crossing into Laos and then turning back south to work our way (relatively speaking) down the Mekong.
A couple things have me a bit worried about the longevity of the trip at this point. For one thing the time on the road seems to finally be taking tis toll on my gear. The bicycle is mostly holding up really well (knock on wood). Brake hoods are starting to disintegrate but still function and the drivetrain seems to be working well. Plus I still have a whole extra drivetrain! The moths appear to be enjoying the flavor of my wool shirt and riding shorts so I'll soon be riding in tatters, which honestly only befits a man who looks like I do in every other regard. In addition to that one of the clips on my Ortlieb pannier has cracked. I don't really blame the company or their worksmanship as much as I blame Belgian beer and slippery, dark roads (a couple impacts on ANY brand pannier can't be good for its mounting hardware).
Aside from my keeping my fingers crossed that my gear can hold out for another 4 or 5 months of abuse there is the issue of my dental care. I really wanted to get my wisdom teeth removed before coming on the trip but UNC's dental school turned me down (claiming it wasn't a big enough thing for them to bother teaching their students!?) and I didn't quite want to fork over 500 bucks or whatever to my dentist. Now my back left molar is "erupted" (I think thats the term, but I'm no dentist). It has been this way for most the trip but didn't bother me until now. We'll see how that develops.
The last thing I am keeping a careful eye on is the financial situation. Since I still haven't bothered to stop and try to make some money (aside from the Croatian fiasco which was never going to provide income anyways) I am starting to get down to the bottom of the honey pot, so to speak. Here in SE Asia things are cheap enough that I should be able to do Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and still have enough money to fly back to the US. This is also dependent on what old Uncle Sam demands I pay him come April and whether the airline wants to charge for my bicycle this time across. I feel confident that if I can just get back to the US I will be able to make a little side cash and get myself back across. The trick is getting back to the US.
In any case, these are all things that I have little to no control over so I try not to worry about them all that much. Mostly I just focus on where that next cold drink and shady spot on the beach is!

Feeling rather Krabi

2010-02-06T13:11:00.002-05:00

HAHAHHAHAHA. Almost as good as the Split pun. Hanging out in Krabi with my new friend Anders. Stomach has settled somewhat and I'm getting excited about meeting up with Dan in two more days. Tomorrow Anders and I are planning on riding the short distance over to Railay and seeing abotu doing some rock climbing.
Spent the last couple days on Ko Bulon Lae. A beautiful little relaxed island just offshore from Pak Bara. I loved it. Slept in the trees on the beach everynight, relaxed listening to reggae and chilling all day long.
Okay, sorry...my brain is just not functioning all that well right now and that translates into no good stories or such for you folks. I'll try again tomorrow night along with some new photos.

PS. Check out Anders blog for an idea of how a trip such as this should be properly documented. One day....when I have money and cameras and such....

Island Hobo

2010-02-03T21:36:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note so nobody is worried I died from food poisoning. I'm out on Ko Lanta hanging out and enjoying the beach. Tomorrow I will probably get a ferry over to Krabi and then begin riding over to Phuket. Internet is kind of pricey here (relatively speaking) and I want to go grab some breakfast but I'll try to do a more thorough update soon!

Food poisoning or Dengue?

2010-01-31T09:35:00.002-05:00

Well, I was warned about the Southeast of Thailand being somewhat "unstable" and therefore unsafe to ride my bicycle through. Spent three days in the area and didn't feel uncomfortable at all. There a many many military all carrying automatic rifles (there is something comical about two guys in military camo, bulletproof vests with automatic rifles...on a scooter). But as they say, everything always seems calm until a bomb goes off. Anyways I have arrived in the "safe" province of Satun but not without incident.
Last night I found a wonderful campsite by a waterfall in the jungle. Got to take a dip in a surprisingly cool jungle stream and wash some clothes. Watching the full moon rise over the jungle was a nice way to spend the evening. The jungle was much quieter than I expected and would have made for a good night's rest except for one thing. I settled into the hammock for some reading about 9 and before long started to feel nauseous. The famaliar feelings of food poisoning had settled in by 10. I was feverish, sore all over, stomach churning. I don't know what happened because I didn't recall eating or drinking anything sketchy. Who knows...maybe my water filter missed something or I had some bad ice or I accidentally ingested some bug repellent...the list goes on and on in my head. I struggled to get in about 40km today and found a good guesthouse. Spent the rest of the afternoon laying in bed trying to keep my stomach in control until about 6 when I felt like it was cool enough that I could tolerate walking to get some food. Things seems to be improving but I still feel pretty wrecked. I just hope the symptoms clear up soon (they are almost the same symptoms as Dengue...but I'm pretty sure I'd know if that was hitting me).
Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can orchestrate boat rides to some islands rather than riding up the coast. It will cost me a bit more but I can see Ko Bulon Lae, Ko Lanta, Krabi and Ko Phi Phi before meeting Dan over in Phuket next week. I hate breaking my budget but I really don't want to miss out on these amazing islands because I was unwilling to be a bit flexible. Just means more peanut butter and ramen in the future...
New pics are up in the Thailand gallery. Will try to give you folks another update relatively soon but not sure about the internet situation on these islands. Until then, enjoy the snow (if you're joining me from NC)...I'll be thinking of it as I roast on the white sand!

Slight delays to departure

2010-01-26T01:58:00.002-05:00

Well...I thought I would leave on Monday. Then Sunday evening Khaos (my savior saint of music-providing) introduced me to his friend Louis. Louis was off work on Monday so offered to show me around some of the nearby temples. We were joined by his girlfriend and sister. What a great time we had! Saw 3 different kinds of Buddha (sleeping, sitting, standing) and the Dragon Boat Temple. All very impressive. Along with that we also sampled some different local dishes. On top of all this they invited me out and treated me to an amazing dinner. I think I've been ruined for Asian food forever...nothing stateside can hold a flame to this. Especially enjoyed the fried bees.
Woke up this morning to torrential downpour but felt compelled to make my exit nonetheless. Packed up all my belongings and hit the road in a (relative) lull in the rain. By the time I got a couple hundred meters down the road the onslaught continued and I ducked into my preferred internet hideout, a neat combination of salon and internet cafe run by Betty and Cham. I've been posted up here for the last 2 hours looking for a gap in the rain but it just won't stop. It seems to finally have paused so I must make my decision now. I can ride on and almost certainly catch a dousing or I can wait one more day and see if the odds look any better tomorrow. Rain is in the forecast again but only 40% instead of the guaranteed thunderstorm of today. Its about 30km to the Thai border and another 40 or so beyond that to the town I hoped to be near tonight. That is probably 3 or 4 hours of riding.
Geesh, life is hard when faced with such grandiose decisions...

Whilin' away the days

2010-01-23T21:58:00.002-05:00

So I finally (after consulting other travelers, locals and the police) decided to avoid riding through the mountains and jungles (fear not, I will get plenty of that in northern Thailand and Laos) and instead head directly into Thailand at this border. The major problem with this plan is that reaching Phuket, where Dan and I are tentatively meeting, will probably only take me about 10 days. He doesn't arrive for about 14 days. That leaves me with a little too much time on my hands.
In order to dispose of some of these spare days I will be searching out a nice camping spot on the beach. The only spots I've found near Kota Bharu are in a coconut grove behind a soccer pitch and some kind of weird miniature town place which has been abandoned north of town. Its like Mr. Rogers neighborhood or something, with little mini roads and gas station and buildings. But there are some trees in there, so I could camp there. In any case I much prefer to find something actually on the beach with the breeze and all. I know...its a rough life, having to tough it out on a tropical beach for 4 days, but somebody has got to do it folks. And thus your humble hobo steps forward!
Let's see....other than that, not much to report. Just eating, reading, sleeping. Going to do some laundry and tweak the bike a bit today. Found some copies of my favorite bike magazine in a local store so Im considering splurging and buying those. Maybe go back to the bookstore and get the fattest novel I can find. Saw something from the "Eragon" series which was really thick. Don't know how much I want to read fantasy about dwarves and elves at this point but at least it would occupy me. I plan to leave here tomorrow morning but who knows. If things change I'll drop in and post another note. Otherwise I would expect the next time you hear from me to be in Thailand!

White Guy on a Bicycle

2010-01-20T06:32:00.002-05:00

There must be something seriously awesome about a white guy on a bicycle because the Malaysians seem to love it. The little kids are absolutely adorable when they yell "HELLO!" at the top of their lungs then giggle and squeal when I yell back with a big wave. School kids get a similar thrill although something makes me suspect the laughs may be at my expense (not a whole lot of spandex in Muslim Malaysia). Older folks seem eager to practice English but I've learned the extent is usually "Hello, Where are you going?". If I stop to answer their question they usually end up not being able to say much more. Sometimes they know much more and I've had some interesting conversations over the last few nights (but its admittedly very hard to keep focus when the mosquitoes are eating me alive).
So tonight I'm in Kota Bahru which is the capitol of the state of Kelantan. I opted to pass on going out to the Perhentian Islands even though they are supposedly some of the best in Malaysia. A mix of not wanting to spend 2 days' worth of budget on the ferry and being apprehensive about putting the ol' bike through another saltwater ordeal. I figure there will be plenty more island opportunities down the road and any diving would probably be more enjoyable if I can do it with a friend.
That leaves me wondering what to do next. I basically have two options. I can ride the 35km over the border tomorrow and enter Thailand. Or I can do a pretty grueling 200+km jungle mountain road to arrive on the western Malaysian coast and then ride a bit north and enter Thailand there. An incredibly difficult decision for a number of factors:

Going into Thailand tomorrow means that I start whittling away on my 60-day tourist visa. I have a 90-day Malaysian visa, of which I've used roughly 2 weeks.
Going into Thailand tomorrow also means I arrive in an area that travel books and advisory warnings say is unstable. Every traveller or local I've spoken to say this is all hype and the area is fine.
Going across Malaysia means I subject myself to punishing heat, humidity and all-day climbs. Stack on lack of services, loads of mosquitoes and the possibilty of an elephant or tiger trumbling through my camp at night. Compare this to the nice flat, green fields of Thailand.

I have roughly 20 days until I'm supposed to meet Dan around Phuket. The Thai route takes about 9 and the Malaysian route about 11. Also, if I go the Thai way, I have a chance at making one of the infamous "Full Moon" parties on Ko Phi Phi. Decisions, decisions.
I guess I will go mull this over while I peruse the tasty treats on offer at the night market. Once I decide I'll drop another post. Meanwhile I added a few photos, so you can check those out!

Malaysian Burgers

2010-01-15T07:25:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure I should have just eaten that. It tasted good enough, and was so cheap I couldn't resist finding out but the color was quite unsettling. Guess we'll see in a couple hours. Im absolutely starving even though I've eaten 2 meals in the last hour so I might go get something else, but then I dont have much of a control to tell what it is that will finally make me sick. A risk I'm willing to take. Good news is the supermarkets here in Malaysia are not shy on the peanut butter, so I always have that as a backup.
Managed to get a fairly early start today, hitting the road by 730am. Even so the sun still tortured me. It was mostly overcast but this equatorial sun doesn't care one bit. I was literally watching my skin blister as sweat tried to escape from under the scorched bits. No amount of sunscreen seems to be able to stay put in this hot, humid sweatfest either. The REI stuff I have works but Ill be running out of that soon. Maybe I should write to Coppertone and offer my test subject services.
Anyways, I HAD to get the early start since I had such a distance to cover. What I thought would be 140 km turned out to be 160. A couple gentle hills in the morn followed by flat coastal jungle cruising the rest of the day. Finally arrived in Pekan and searched out a hotel. It is one of the most frightening places I've ever stayed but I absolutely could not fathom sleeping out in the woods without a shower after sweating so much today. The shower was the oh-so-wonderful Malaysian bucket and scoop variety.
One thing Ive noticed lately is that Im starting to run out of brain fodder for all this alone time. I basically rehash the same topics over and over in my head. How much I can't wait to build a new bicycle when I get home. What kind of employment I should seek out. Where I want to live. Who/what I miss the most. How long I can afford to keep riding. But beyond these things, I can't seem to come up with anything creative. Shouldn't I be able to solve some of life's deep mysteries? Maybe gain some telekinesis or Professor X powers? Im a bit frustrated at this point.
Well, tomorrow is another long day...maybe I'll discover something up in the old noggin. Going to ride the *98* or so km to Cherating which is touted to be some sort of traveller's/backpacker's hangout village on the beach. From what I've seen of the mainland beaches so far I doubt much swimming will be happening. Regardless I'm looking forward to seeing how accurate Rough Guide's claims are (so far their map is not impressive). Let's just home I can cram enough food in my piehole to recharge the legs...they feel like two sacks of lead at the moment. Can't upload to this stupid computer, so the pics will come next time. Cheers!

Island Living

2010-01-14T07:56:00.002-05:00

Just arrived back in Mersing after spending 4 days on Pulau Tioman. Very nice island with amazing water and a laid back atmosphere (especially this time of the year). Met some excellent company while over there and wasted the days away snorkeling, catching some rays and swapping stories. Very tempted to just move in but since I've already told Dan I will meet him in Thailand, I'd better stick to my plan. Tomorrow will be a really long day because I'd like to make it all the way to Pekan, 140km away. Not sure that there would be any places to stay before that. After Pekan its up to the traveller's hangout town of Cherating. If I like it there, I will hang out for a couple of days before continuing my northward trek. Pretty drained right now, so don't think I will write much more. Sorry! Check out the pics though.

The Malaysian Rollercoaster

2010-01-09T09:03:00.003-05:00

Rolled out of Singapore by about 9am on Friday (I suck at early morning starts). It was kind of overcast so I had no idea that I was getting burned to a crisp as I headed towards Kota Tinggi. Finally arrived at the "waterfall" on my map to find that it had been surrounded by a tourist waterpark. It was still pretty cool...for 20 Malaysian ringgit I got a campsite and use of the facilities. The waterfall itself was still relatively untouched and emptied out into a nice big sandy pool. Cooled my furiously hot shoulders for awhile before riding back to the next small village for some mee goreng (big noodles with mystery meat and sauce). Get a huge plate and a soda for less than 2 dollars US!! I like Malaysia already, hahaha.
Today I woke up in the jungle campsite, packed up and rolled on down the road. Pretty stifling hot ride about 100km to Mersing where I found out I was too late to catch the ferry for the day. Rollercoaster hills the whole way. I really didn't know if I would survive it, I think I drank about 4 or 5 liters of water and maybe 5 sodas. Get another chance for the ferry tomorrow at 1:30. It will take me to an island called Palau Tioman for 35 ringgit (about 10 bucks). Once there I can stay indefinately, but I'm planning on maybe 3 days or so. Might splash out and get some lodging, might try to rough it if I can find a remote beach. There should be some good snorkeling and scuba diving to be had, as well as unloading the bike and doing some extreme island biking.
I've got a whole month to cover the 1500 km between me and Phuket where I plan to meet Daniel. The only trick is sticking to my budget (which shouldn't be too hard).
When I get back onto the mainland I'll let you know how its going and should have some purty pics for you. Wonder how I can get some underwater ones...

Off to Malaysia

2010-01-07T10:24:00.003-05:00

Wowsers. Singapore is a crazy city. Had a really ummm, interesting night last night with Gabriel, Bryant and Mikiko. I feel like I've had the full Singapore experience now. Which is good, because its about time I get back in the saddle.
Tomorrow I will head over the causeway into Malaysia. My plan is to work up the east coast, which supposedly has nicer islands. If the monsoon is keeping me from visiting those islands I will attempt to ride through the interior over to the west coast. Assuming the weather is nice and I arrive at the top of the east coast I plan to ride across on highway 4 to enter Thailand on its southwest border since the southeast is rumored to be a little unsafe. Dan is planning on meeting me in Phuket around Feb. 10 so I have about 1 month to ride about 1500 km. Its hotter than hell out there and Im fully expecting to lose about 1000 pounds. Should be interesting!
Going to go ahead and hit the hay and try to get an early start to avoid the midday heat. Hopefully Ill update soon with some cool pics of Malaysia. Until then, keep the cranks spinning!

Settle in...long one here

2010-01-01T08:07:00.003-05:00

Let's see....the last time I gave you folks a decent update I was in Patra planning to tour the Peloponesse for its historic sites. Well, I made it about 120 km up into the mountains that day and around 4 PM found myself in the mountain ski village of Kalavryta. It was only 4 PM, but I could already see my breath hanging in the air, which was alarming. I stopped for a coffee and asked the waiter if he knew where I could camp. He told me there was a place just outside of town which had campers and such, so I could ask there. I headed down there and arrived only to find it was closed for the season (I pretty much expected this). Finally getting back into town about 630 I had the choice of looking for a hobo-camping spot in the dark and cold or just getting a hotel. I opted for the latter, even though it set me back a pretty penny. The next morning I began my climb further into the mountains but as I got into the first couple kilometers I was thinking "Do I really want to deal with this cold weather every night for the next week so I can see some ruins?". I'm not a very historic guy, so I had to admit that I wasnt willing to do it. I found a new heading and after a long climb finally could see the coast about 20km ahead of me. Epic downhill and then smooth coastal riding and I arrived in Korinthos about 6PM. I knew it would be rather unsafe to try and get into Athens in the dark, but didn't like the prospects for camping around Korinthos and certainly couldn't afford another hotel. What I COULD afford was the 6 euro train into Athens, so I did that and called my savior, Chris the Couchsurfer. He met me at the station and we walked the bike back to his apartment.
I spent the next week hanging around Athens- exploring, bothering Chris, being a general lout. I have mixed feelings about Athens. Sure...the food is excellent, the girls are gorgeous, the nightlife is kickin' and if you are a classics person, the gravity of the Acropolis cannot be denied. For me though the city was generally an eyesore and the prices were too high (7 euros for a heineken!). Overall Im glad I visited, but I certainly don't believe the place is nearly as noteworthy as Paris, Florence, Amsterdam or Dubrovnik (or many other cities...my list is long!). In any case, Athens was a great recuperation opportunity for me. We spent Christmas in a beer garden of sorts (good, but feeble in comparison to what lined the Rhine) and I was graced with the good company of Chris and the Alex brothers from Russia.
Athens also gave me time to plan my next steps. After some discussion with Richard of shiftingears.net we came to the conclusion that riding together southwards wasn't really in the cards. He had to be at work in Beirut too soon and the weather wasn't looking like it would be worth it. Sure, cold and rainy riding would be a challenge and I'm confident I would have tolerated/survived it, but what's the point of that? I also calculated that if I rode on to Beirut or Egypt I would possibly be sacrificing my financial ability to visit Southeast Asia, which is one area I was not willing to miss on this trip.
So I booked a flight to Singapore...which is where Im writing to you from now! The flight went smooth....which is to say long and exhausting and far pricier than expected (thanks to stupid baggage rules and fees). But I am here in one piece and bike appears to be in all the pieces I left it in, so I'm happy. Jenelle's awesome mother Kathy picked me up to the airport and I'm comfortably setup here in the heart of the city.
So how does it feel to be in Singapore? Pretty crazy...I am 13 hours ahead of anyone reading on the East coast US. Ive had friends over here before and knew they were that far ahead of me in timezones, but its a really strange thing to wrap my mind around. Im here writing a blog entry at 10 at night and most of you haven't even eaten lunch yet (or gotten out of bed if you're like me). I really really like Singapore though. It is pricey like everyone says. And there are lots of strange rules like everyone says. But you can't deny that its working. The city is spotless, the crime is low, the metro system is impeccable and the food- OH MY GOODNESS- the food is so awesome. It's like I've died and gone to culinary heaven. The hawker stands are delicious and cheap. If you don't want that, name your American fastfood poison and its here too. And alongside this are plenty of French, Italian and other Western cuisine options. On top of this, if I feel like I'd rather go back to my bikehobo ways and cook rather than buy my food, the supermarket is topnotch. It has ramen galore, all kinds of neat asian quick sauce and soup packets and REAL BIG JARS of peanut butter! PEANUT BUTTER! Hell yes. This is bike touring heaven. The weather will take some adjustment, since I went from about 10-15 degrees and all-day drizzle to 25-30 and thundershowers. I think I may need to send some cold weather gear home...but Im hesitant to do so until I figure out a few more things.
So what is next? Well, Im in no rush to leave Singapore but, not wanting to wear out my welcome with Bill and Kathy, Im planning on clearing out of here in the next 3 or 4 days. I will probably head for the Malaysian peninsula, but Im toying with the idea of a quick loop through Borneo and Indonesia. The only goal in sight is to meet up with my new riding partner, Daniel, in Thailand at the beginning of Feburary. I will be thinking it all over, reading and planning the next couple days and let you know before I head out.
Big thanks go out to all the folks with encouragment and gifts over the holidays. Special thanks go to Wes and Jen, Uncle Rick and Aunt D, Nana and Pap, Mom and Dad. These kind folks are a big reason for how I was able to pay the airline to get my bicycle over here and thanks to them the stories should keep coming for a bit longer. I fully expect some really exciting tales and photos to be coming soon, so stay tuned! Okay....enough rambling for now. I wandered around the city last night in a sleep-deprived New Year's Eve dreamworld, so Im considering a bit more indepth exploration tonight. Or maybe some Zzzz's are in order and tomorrow night Ill explore. Either way I will check back in soon, hopefully with some neat pics of the city. Hobo over and out.

P.S. Athens photos are up now!

Quick update

2009-12-29T17:26:00.002-05:00

Hello folks...hope you all had a nice Christmas (or other relevant holiday). Sorry for the lack of posting...I kept putting it off thinking I had so much time here in Athens and now the day of departure is nigh. I will try to tell you a bit more about my adventures in Athens when I get back in front of a computer, for right now Chris needs to use the web. Tomorrow morning I will struggle to get my boxed bike and all my camping gear to the airport and fly to Doha, Qatar as a connector to Singapore. When I arrive in Singapore on Thursday Jenelle's mother is going to meet me at the airport. I am so excited to begin another leg of the journey, but a bit sad that I am "cheating" to get there. Okay, we'll talk about this more when I have a longer post...just wanted to let you all know my plans.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-20T17:18:00.002-05:00

Season's Greetings from Patras, Greece. Ive been spending a restful weekend here with my wonderful host Myrto. Tomorrow morning I will head out into the heart of the Peloponnese. Plan to check out some underground lakes tomorrow, head on to Sparta and Mystra the next day and then work down to the coastal castles of Monemvassia and Nafpoli. Finally a trip past the ampitheatre in Epidurus before arriving in Athens sometime after Christmas. Spending New Year's in Athens I believe and then have to decide whether to take a ferry to Turkey and continue south through Syria, Jordan and Egypt or alternatively get a flight from Athens to Singapore and start riding northwards to meet up with Dan in Thailand around the beginning of Feburary. As you can see, nothing is certain yet. I hope you all are having wonderful holidays and Ill do my best to update you in the next few days, but I have a feeling Christmas dinner might be canned tuna in the woods!

Choose a direction

2009-12-15T06:19:00.002-05:00

So Im sitting here in an internet cafe in Ioannina Greece trying to decide my next steps and it seems like a totally pointless exercise. Things change so often out here...I could barely decide whether to ride today or just take a rest. Resting is expensive when hotels are running 30 euros a night, but it is pouring outside and this is a big enough city that I should be able to accomplish a few goals (research, mail some postcards, go to a bike shop). Back to the point, Im trying to figure out where to go next. Haven't managed to meet up with Richard and Heba (shiftingears.net) yet, they are a day or two behind me. It would be cool to ride with them, but I dont know if our plans are in sync. Heba is flying out of Athens for home supposedly and Richard wants to go on down towards Beirut. I would be willing to go along with him, but the weather is quickly deteriorating- the forecast is cold rain for the next week solid in most cities I look up. Not that I was expecting the trip to be all sunshine and flowers and puppy dogs, but I dont see the point in riding down that way really. Id be much more excited to go ahead and get into Southeast Asia where a friend is supposed to be meeting me sometime after new years.
As you can see, Im kind of all over the place on this. I suppose the only thing to do is what I have been doing: take it one day at a time. Tomorrow Ill be leaving towards Patras. From there I will decide whether to do a week long loop of the Pelopennese or to just go directly on to Athens. Ill be sure to keep you all posted...keep your fingers crossed for a break in the weather so I can get some decent photos!

Albanian Staircase

2009-12-13T13:36:00.002-05:00

Well, I tried. I really tried. I thought "well, maybe the scenery makes up for the crappy roads". But then the scenery was covered with trash. "Well, maybe the food makes up for the trashed scenery". But the food has literally made me sick (I blame some late-night sweets that had probably been out all day). "Okay, but surely the people will impress me with their kindness". Im still on the line about this one. Like almost anywhere, the people range from bending over backwards for me, simply curious or nonplussed. No overly negative reactions yet, but just not feeling all that welcomed. "Alright, but surely something is nice about Albania?". I guess if there is one upside to this, its been that the place is very cheap. Not breaking the bank on being here!
Anyways...putting the last 3 miserable days on the freezing rain-soaked, smog-filled highway (including a stint of 70km with food poisoning) aside, Im happy to be moving on to Greece tomorrow. If all goes to plan, I should arrive in Ionania tomorrow evening. Then I hope to meet up with some potential riding partners before heading down towards Athens. Perhaps swinging off to Pelopennese (ala Cary Barber's instructions).
I had all kinds of deep thoughts and reflections for you folks after some pretty miserable riding, but they seem to have vanished underneath my exhaustion and general malaise. Perhaps another time. Im off to try a second attempt at regional food, this time hopefully minus the gut-wrenching effects tomorrow AM!

Albania: Let's not rush to conclusions!

2009-12-10T13:27:00.002-05:00

Beautiful riding today as I left Montenegro. Two brief climbs and then a glorious cruise through a mountain valley put me right into Albania. And man....when you get into Albania, you get IN to Albania. Im trying not to be judgmental yet, but from the get-go there were pillboxes in front yards, people walking various livestock in places one should not walk livestock, shantytowns and children asking me for 1 euro per high-five. Anyways, since my confidence wasnt quite at fullspeed with this country and its people yet, I opted to stay in a hotel in the relatively - still saw an old lady shepherding a pig on the main draw - civilized town of Lezhe. Set me back a pretty penny, but the peace of mind is worth it on my first night here. Already starting to feel at home...just got to figure out this whole old leks/ new leks thing and maybe learn a word or two. Traveling becomes REALLY intense when you know ZERO local language. No guidebook? No problems! Shyeah...right!
Spent a good part of today chasing the potential phantoms of a guy/girl duo that was reported to be ahead of me. Saw no sign of them, so I dont know whether I passed them back in Bar or what. Hoping to sync up with them soon though...would be the first bike tourers Ive met in 13 countries and 4 months! Would be stellar to have some partners for southward adventures. Maybe they have some spare warm clothes?
Tomorrow I will try to crank out about 90km to either Durres or Tirane. Durres is the better direction for riding ease, Tirane is the better direction for sightseeing and finding a hostel. Decisions decisions. The hostel thing would be nice, but I saw some pretty keen looking vacant buildings today. It seems like the modus operandi here is to get something about 75-90% built, then just abandon it.
Okay, out to rub elbows with the locals. Or just sit in my hotel room watching crappy American movies on pirated cable television. You know its a classy joint when the scrambler cuts out every 20 minutes. Take care out there and here's to the good weather holding out! Cheers!

More like Monte Rain-o

2009-12-09T08:17:00.003-05:00

So I had a pretty big mental debate yesterday on whether to continue with my plan to climb up Mount Lovcen or to just go around and down the coast. I knew the weather would be bad, and I knew it would be worse in the mountains, but I couldnt resist the urge to see what all the hype was about. Quite the climb it was...probably the most difficult so far. Twenty one hairpin turns in the cold rain. The Bay of Kotor is certainly beautiful and Im more than a bit peeved that I arrived in such crappy weather. As nice as the scenery is Im sure it would be more mindblowing in the sunshine. This whole area would be much better in one of the "shoulder" tourist seasons, when the crowds are thinner but restaurants are actually open and the weather isnt cold rain.

On the whole Ive enjoyed Montenegro. I took a detour on the way here to pass through the mountains of Bosnia Hercegovina as well. That makes this country number 12! I should be in Albania, number 13, by tomorrow evening. So far the people have been pretty friendly...lots of friendly honks and waves, no close encounters with traffic really. I can certainly see why this would be a very hard area to bike tour if you arent comfortable with narrow, high, no-barrier, twisty, heavy traffic roads. But Im fine with that.

Going to head a bit south of where I am (Petrovac) to camp for the night and hope I dont get hit with freezing wind and rain. Tomorrow I will be heading over the border to Albania. No clue what to expect down there...this will be the first true completely out there adventure. I dont even know what currency they use! Hopefully I can find an internet cafe while Im in Albania, but I expect to be in Greece by next Tuesday or Wednesday and am fairly confident to find internet access there. Until then, scope the pics and let me know what you think!

Oh, to John- I havent purged any of your comments! I know what you mean about the history in this region being crazy...Ive learned alot in the last week and a half or so and am continually amazed at the layers of history here. Where are you at? Hope you are well...its a shame there is no blog for me to check on...hahaha

Note- couldnt get all the pics up or caption them...enjoy those for now...will try again soon!

To the Black Mountain!

2009-12-07T03:00:00.002-05:00

Well, my time in Dubrovnik was wonderful, as expected. Everyone says how beautiful the city is and I figured it was overstatement but I was wrong. It really is an amazing place filled with fascinating history and extremely friendly locals. I was aided by an excellent man who housed me in his computer shop (hearkens back to my nerd days!) and his friend even gave me a personal tour of the city. Thanks Dubo and Antonija! There are plenty of photos and a few videos updated to let you see what Im talking about.
Today (in fact, as soon as I finish this entry) I am heading to Montenegro, country number 10. The Bay of Kotor is supposedly stunning, so I look forward to it. The weather seems pretty fair; a bit chilly, but that is good for cycling. Rain is in the forecast later this week...the worst kind too- just above freezing temperature! We will see how that goes. Thanks again to all the folks with words of encouragement. It is extremely uplifting to know that you all are traveling along with me. Another big thanks goes out to my Nana and Pap for a generous donation. Not only will that help keep me fat (or at least fed) and happy on the road, but it puts the fundraising up to the first bicycle purchased for World Bicycle Relief! YAAAAY.
Anyways, going to go spend the rest of my kuna on groceries (Montenegro is back on the euro). Dont know the internet situation down in those parts, but Ill do my best to check in before heading into Albania near the end of this week. Until then, keep the pedals spinning (metaphorically speaking for most of you!).
Bobo the Hobo

Time to Split

2009-12-02T05:06:00.002-05:00

HAHAHAH! That is so funny. Monday was probably one of the most brutal riding days I have ever had. Knock on wood. The headwinds pushed on the whole way down to Split and the only way I managed to push myself to the city was because I knew if I didnt make it, I would be sleeping in the woods and rain was certain. By the end of the day I was just shouting outloud like a crazy person as I did the last little stretch into Split.

Split is an amazing city...certainly one of my favorites of the trip so far. It was established as the Roman emperor Diocletian's vacation home because he was from Dalmatia. The original palace is what forms the core of the city and it is so amazing to wander through the narrow little alleyways that are over 1200 years old. The palace has been used continuosly ever since it was built and has a unique aspect of being both an ancient ruin and a modern day commercial and residential building.

Split has also done wonders for reinvigorating my will. Ive gone ahead and splurged on staying in a hostel for the last 2 nights and talking with other travelers is always bolstering. Also just being able to access the web and hear the words of encouragement from people like Mr. Freeman, Mama Clites and all the others does alot to reinforce my mentality. I feel ready to tackle the next section down to Dubrovnik, just have to figure out if I will ride on the mainland or use ferries to explore some of the islands as I ride south!

I believe Ive found a couchsurfing host for tonight, but havent heard from him yet. Since it rained all day yesterday I plan to explore the city in more detail with him this afternoon. Once I have those pics and videos Ill post them for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime Im going to go grab some food. Take care and stay tuned!

Headwinds are exhausting

2009-11-30T04:43:00.002-05:00

Trying to make my way from Zadar to Split today, but the headwind is killing me. Since I lost my computer in Italy, I have no way of knowing just how slow Im going, but I feel like it is not a great pace. Still have about 75 KM to go, so I should be able to make it before darkness falls around 430 or 5 PM. Hope to hit a hostel in Split tonight and maybe stay over tomorrow as well, but have another 250 KM from Split to Dubrovnik, so I cant wait around too long. The other option is to get a ferry from Split down to Dubrovnik, but it looks like the next one wont come until Saturday and I cant afford lodging in Split that many nights. The other factor is that they are calling for rain the next couple days, which is really not fun. It isnt quite so cold that I cant battle the rain, but Id prefer not to. Really looks like Im going to be fighting my way all the way to Athens. God knows what those mountains in Monte Negro and Greece have in store for me!
The hardest part of the trip isnt really the riding or physical component at all though. The mental battle is much tougher, and now that I am temporarily without another soul to suffer alongside, its even worse. In any case, the challenges of riding during the day keep my mind off of it, but the night is when it really settles in. I have to be in camp and setup by darkness, which is usually around 5 PM. Then I have nothing to do but think far too much until I can go to bed about 8 or 9 PM. If I go to bed much earlier than this, I cannot sleep until it is time to wake up at 630 or 7am. Arrrgh.
Anyways, Im going to go top off the H2O supplies and try to beat the rain to Split. Ill check in from there later tonight or tomorrow. Cheers!

Killin time in Mali Losinj

2009-11-27T05:19:00.002-05:00

As it turns out, Igor's info was slightly off. There was no ferry to Zadar on Thursday, so I had arrived a day early unintentionally. I figured I was going to have to sleep in the woods outside of town, but after a rousing pub session (of which I understood little to none of what was being said) I was housed for the night by an older Croatian gentleman. I still dont know what his name was, what he kept whispering to me as we crept around the building he lived in or why we had to tiptoe around..? Then he wakes me up at 530 because he has to go to work, so I end up sitting on a park bench and looking homeless. Oh...that is right, I AM homeless. I even bought a big fat permanent marker this morning and plan on hunting down some cardboard this afternoon to make a sign. Im thinking this sounds good: Attempting to ride this bicycle around the world. Ask me any question- 5 kuna!
Ill keep you updated on how being a croatian panhandler works. I figure its not really panhandling since Im going to do my best to answer the questions, no matter what subject they are on. I will probably fabricate the bits of science that I dont remember, and surely if it is a question on business, politics, law, philosophy....well, I guess Ill be making up alot of the answers. But the sign doesnt say I have true answers!
Anyways, the ferry doesnt leave here until 4 PM and it is a roughly 7 hour ride. That puts me into Zadar about 15 minutes before the silent party starts at 11. Sure hope I can get a pair of headphones and the hostel doesnt have a lockout. Check out the venue here.
Okay, Ill drop you another note when I get to some internet action...probably tomorrow afternoon! Happy Thanksgiving once again...mine was lacking turkey, but did involve some cold chicken and hard boiled eggs with a man I did not understand at all.

And then there was one...

2009-11-25T04:37:00.003-05:00

Today is a sad day. John and I must part ways. He has decided to go to Spain with his girlfriend after they spend Christmas in Bosnia. I am not quite prepared for this. I dont think Ive ever spent 3 months in the exclusive company of one person, so I expect the seperation to be a bit strange and difficult. I will probably start holding lengthy conversations with my beard.
Rather than spend all of January, Feburary and part of March alone here in Croatia I am going to move on southwards and maybe a bit east. The plan is very much a work in progress, but the rough idea is to go to Athens, Istanbul or Cairo (budget, weather and terrain being the determining factors). From one of these major hubs I should be able to get a relatively cheap one way flight. I have to decide where to.
Bangkok- warm. beaches. cheap. From here I can ride Cambodia (Angkor Wat!), Vietnam (real Pho!) and maybe get some boats to do Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia...who knows? Then I have to get a flight home, probably from Bangkok once again.
Buenos Aires- it is summer down there. I can ride to Patagonia and the Amazon. Pretty damn cheap too. Only drawback is the flight is more expensive, so I would have to ride all the way north? Not sure if I have the budget for that, but maybe I can find work.
Los Angeles/Seattle/ West Coast- not really a good option at all right now, because of the weather. The only major plus is that I would be back on the correct continent with plenty of money to ride on.
So my ideal plan, if everything works out alright, would be to ride to Athens, Istanbul and then down to Cairo. From Cairo I would fly to Bangkok, ride SE Asia and then fly to South America and ride north. This would let me accomplish 6 continents, albeit cheating slightly.
Anyways, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. John and I are going to have our parting meal/Thanksgiving at our favorite restaurant here in Cres. I may not get to eat any turkey, but perhaps I will soon be IN Turkey! HAHAHAHHA.
Hope that answers your questions Mom and DJ Wicky Wick. Ill check in from Zadar after I catch the ferry tomorrow. They have a cool thing called the Sea Organ, Ill tell you all about it!

Super Quick Update

2009-11-20T05:54:00.000-05:00

Hey folks...only 6 minutes until the library closes. Just wanted to let you all know that I am still safe, alive and relatively happy here in Croatia. As for news, I believe I will be moving on very soon to try and hit Athens, Istanbul or Cairo in the next two months. From there my rough plan is to find a boat or plane to Bangkok, Buenos Aires or Los Angeles. More details and explanations for this coming soon.

To settle or not?

2009-11-13T04:17:00.003-05:00

Welcome to another episode of Bobo the Hobo's neverending dilemmas. Let's bring you up to speed:
John and I have been here on the island of Cres for 3 weeks now. We are pretty well settled in, with a rough daily routine (get up at 7, work 4 hours, lunch, work 2 hours, dinner, bed by 9 out of boredom). Our house is still nowhere near complete with the stairs to the second floor missing, the fridge broken, the water working intermittenly and no heat or fireplace installed. But it is more than a hammock in the woods! Life here isnt exactly rough...we arent freezing (yet) and we have food (although it is somewhat lackluster...mainly tuna, rice, pasta and some greens from the garden). We get a hot shower on most days and have finally established a work schedule of sorts with Igor, which means we get one day off a week.
All that being said, Im starting to lose my mind a little. It is disconcerting that less than a month into my supposed 4 or 5 month stay here Im already antsy. I definately have an itch to get back in the saddle (is this going to be a permanent affliction? It is the same wanderlust that routed me from a rather comfortable life in Chapel Hill- Carrboro). I dont know whether I should push on southward and eastward or jsut suck it up and try to stay put until the warm weather returns to Croatia. One thing is certain: it will be much harder to get through to warmer climates as winter comes in stronger and stronger here (December, January and Feburary). My rough plan is to go south into Serbia and Montenegro then east through Bulgaria to Turkey. Originally I would ride across the north side of Turkey, but if the weather is colder the Turquoise Coast on the south side would be a better choice. From Turkey, things become very tricky. I can try to go through Armenia and Azerbaijan then get a ferry to Turkmenistan and onwards through the Stan states into China and finally down through Nepal to arrive in India. A quicker option would be to go through Iran into Pakistan and on into India. The trick to either route is how do i get the damn visas! Iran will only give me a transit visa, and then only with a tour guide (or a tour company vouchign for me). The Stan brothers are pretty much the same; visas are hard to get and dependent on having exact itineraries or tour guides. The last option is to admit defeat on that front and head back through Europe or down to Africa. Im really baffled as to what to do. I want to see Asia and South America so badly, but it seems so much easier to double back and get a flight from Europe or Africa to South America.
Logisitics aside, the trip is pretty easy going. I really do love life on the road. You wake up, mount up and head out. No concerns about working for anyone or following rules and regulations. Just ride your bike.
Im going to post some new pics and a few videos today too. Be sure to check out the one of John in a gigantic wine barrel. This is one of Igor's crazy projects. We had to retrieve this huge wine cask from a friend's winery, which involved John climbing inside to secure the rings onto it so it wouldn't collapse on the way back. This barrel dwarfs Igor's truck. You havent lived until you are racing down a windy Croatian road at breakneck speeds with a barrel the size of a VW Bug strapped onto your truck, all in hopes of making the last ferry to your deserted island home (which only happens because the crazy Croat at the wheel is calling his friend and asking him to hold the boat, leaving only one hand to shift and steer). Awesome. At least the 160-proof brandy you had back at the winery dulls your sense of caution.
Little jobs like that (or power-hammering your way through 5 feet of solid rock) are what John and I have been up to for the last three weeks. Doesnt leave a whole lot of time for recreation, but my spirits have been lifted by an offer to go scuba diving soon from one of Igor's friends. They assure me that 15 degree water is just fine with a wetsuit (well, Vladko says its fine, Robbie says its too damn cold). I dont care, Ill try anything once! The last time I went diving was in the Keys on a sunny spring day, so doing a night dive off a Croatian island in November seems like logical progression.
Okay folks....I think that is enough of a deluge of things to ponder for now. If youve got any suggestions on whether I should stay or go, or how I should go, or whatnot, please let me know. Especially if any of you know about these visas!
Also, huge props go out to the Gills for a nice donation to keep the motivation up right when it seems to be flagging a bit. We've almost gathered enough to buy our first bike for WBR, so keep em coming folks!

Delay on updates

2009-11-11T02:23:00.002-05:00

Hey folks...just wanted to let you know I still havent been able to get to a stronger internet connection and do a thorough update. I thought it would happen last Saturday, then that got pushed to last Monday and then Wednesday and now we're looking at this Friday (2 weeks later, ugh). In any case Im supposed to have the day off on Friday so I can go to the big city and give you all some stories, pics and an entertaining video involving John being sealed inside a wine barrel (dont worry, hes still alive. last i checked at least).
Big thanks go out to Momma for paying my medical bill (the Bura is a freeying Siberian wind, by the way). Also huge thanks to brother Matt and fighterjet Zak for the donations. I think the extra help should assist in getting the proper visas come springtime. Ill also try to figure out how to show you how much money we have raised for WBR soon. Until Friday, keep it real. But not too real.

Part of the system again

2009-11-06T14:07:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday Troy.
I am now part of the consumer-capitalist machine again; I got a cellphone yesterday, so if you want to skype me i think it would cost you like .45 a minute or something...check it out on their site. The number is +385955977774 i believe. I dont expect you all to pay and call me, but if you are dying to hear my voice it is your best bet. I dont know if I will figure out a way to skype from here. Hopefully in the next days I will have a chance to get on better internet and there will be a longer blogpost as well as new videos and pics. Trying to keep warm and stay out of the Bura, so Im going to go bundle up and read!

Croatian Update!

2009-10-28T11:42:00.002-04:00

Hello folks! Kind of went through a blog black-out there...busy getting ourselves to Croatia and onto the island. Finally feeling a bit more settled in at our new home in the small hamlet of Filozici. Our home is a nice, partially restored traditional two story with a big cellar. The second floor has yet to be finished as well as the fireplace. I hope we get that done soon, since winter will be moving in! You can see pictures in the Croatia folder, as well as a slew of Italy pictures. We have been helping Igor get ready for the winter; there is a ton to do. Chopping wood, prepping garden beds, distilling (and sampling!) brandy. Im writing you from the library of Grad Cres, the main city. It is about 26km from the place where we live. Not looking forward to the ride back, since 10km is straight uphill and the sun is setting!
It is not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. This is good, because I dont like being cold. It is also bad because it means we could have set our sights further and ridden more before winter settled in. At any rate, it looks like we will probably be here in Cres until things warm up in March. Seems silly to spend 5 months off the bike but I dont really know any other way to manage it. Hopefully the downtime will give me time to sort out the proper path to Asia and get the visas in the works. I am EXTREMELY relieved to know there is relatively close and cheap internet access. I was optimistic about making some income when I heard there was a griffon vulture conservation center neardby (finally put my biology degree to use?) but today I went by there and they are closing for the winter! Oh well...perhaps I can find a kitchen job or something here in the city, but prospects are looking dim. Going to have to brainstorm other ideas to increase the income. Or, as Benji would say, get multiple streams of income. Anyways, I want to go grab a drink and some dinner before it gets too dark and cold for riding home, so I must sign off! Plenty of new pictures for you to browse through, but you may want to wait until this weekend; I should have them captioned by then. Some of them definately will not make sense without captions.
I need to send out a few thanks though. Big thanks to the Cortis for hosting us and putting up with my shenanigans. Also a big thanks goes out to Brandy and Jacob, my first official donors! I will be sending part of it on towards World Bicycle Relief and hopefully I can figure out a graphic or a way to link it up and show you how much progress we have made. I think every $110 buys one bike. In anycase, if those two slackers (well, jake at least) could pitch in to keep the ride going and spread the bicycle love, Im sure some of you out there can spare a few bucks!
Okay, thats enough ramblin for now. Hope to be speaking through the interwebs again very shortly. Cheers! (Or, in Croatian, Jivili!)

Firenze and on

2009-10-19T09:42:00.002-04:00

Phew. Quite a lot has been going on since i last wrote. We left Recco, visited the Cinque Terre and came on down to visit Benji in Firenze. Cinque Terre was a real adventure in itself, involving us poaching a campsite in an olive grove on a mountainside the first night. The next night we stayed in a very nice hostel ($$$) and met a real cool guy from New Jersey, Jimmy. Jimmy is a real blast and promised to name some hotdogs after John and I when he opens up his restaurant. Sounds very cool, but I have to wait to release the info about it until he approves! It was so neat that we met him in Cinque Terre last week and got to meet back up with him here in Firenze.
We spent a couple days with Benji and his parents; it was fabulous. We ate like kings and got to sleep in real beds and everything. Visited the local fair (felt like I was back in Raleigh!) and had drinks poured down our throats by Benjis cousin, Marco. He likes to call us his "little puppies". Tonight we will probably hangout one more time in Firenze (if we are still allowed in the hostel....). We ate lunch at The Oil Shoppe by recommendation of Julia and Jimmy. One of the guys who works there was excited about our trip and invited us to hang out with him and his friends tonight. Never pass up an offer from a local!
Tomorrow it will be back to San Casciano to visit the Cortis one more time and collect our belongings. Then it is onward to Rimini to visit the Italian goddess Claudia (my favorite girl of the trip so far...she was brave enough to ride on my rear rack all day!) and catch a boat to Croatia. We have just found out we got jobs at a small island in Croatia working on a farm. Sounds like there is alot of work to do before the winter settles in!
The hard part about this blog is I have too many stories to sit down and write them all. I guess if you want the real scoop you have to come visit me or wait to see if I return home! Anyways, Im trying to multitask too hard so Im going to call this post a wrap and get on to finding a ferry, making phone calls, etc. Until I get a chance to sit down and give you guys the pics and videos and a more thorough post, take care and keep reading. I really appreciate the comments and hope I can get the donations thing setup soon so we can start contributing to WBR. Ciao!

Breathe in, breathe out

2009-10-11T17:34:00.002-04:00

Mmmmm. Italy. Definately my favorite country so far. Warm weather, warm people, warm focaccia. My goodness the focaccia. Anyways, I am writing to you fine folks from the villa in Recco where I have had the good fortune to spend the last 2 days. John and I had stopped into a cafe here for a bite to eat and a beer while dodging some rainy weather Saturday. While we were munching away we got to talking to a nearby lady. Mary is part English, but has lived in the area on and off for 30 years. She asked about where we stay and we told her the sad story that we usually are confined to dodgy parks and shady wilderness. Mary had the kindness to invite us to stay with her if we would like. Although we had only gone probably 20 km from Genova, we couldnt pass the offer up (i mean, come on...how often will this happen). Hung out for the rest of the afternoon and last evening went out to check the night scene. John was tired so I struck out alone. Gangs of hooligans were hanging around various dark corners of the city, some couples tangled up along the water (knowing well they could never do this at home). I was surprised to see so many young people when a larger city like Genova is only a hop and skip away. Anyways, I had a beer in one bar which seemed an older clientele, so I wandered around the corner to another. This one was much more my scene, with more drafts to choose from and a hilarious amount of underage people up to antics. After a little liquid courage I sat down at a nearby table and let out my meek request of "parlay inglezzi". Italians seem a bit timid to try out their English at first, but before long we were "making brendezis" left and right. Had a great night at Il Fonda and came back to Mary's. Had to climb over the gate because my fog prevented me from finding the latch. Proceeded to walk into Mary's room searching for the bathroom. She screamed, I screamed, I closed the door.
We both had a good laugh about that this morning and then Mary, John and I were joined by Mary's friend Frank for some lunch. Of course lunch ended about 5 PM and was followed by a rousing jam session (check out the video). I decided to go for a dip in the sea, so John and I headed down. After about an hour the other two joined us and we all went to the next town over, Sori. We had a wonderful time at a cafe restaurant and made many more friends here in Recco and Sori.
Tomorrow we head out for the Cinque Terres and then onward to Pisa and Firenze. I am very excited, but will definately be coming back to spend some time with these folks as soon as I can. The trip has been excellent so far, with even the setbacks (aka my shoulder) turning into opportunities to make better friends. I look forward to each day of travel, rather than dreading waking up and going through the machinations of work and living in a stable place. That being said, I sure do miss having that stability sometimes. It sweetens the few moments where I get to sit on a chair in a house and listen to music or write to you folks. And man do I miss having the ability to say "im hungry. I will go to carrburritos and fix that". Now it is more like "Im hungry. Nothing I can do will end this hunger, so I will just forget it". Fix it or forget it. Hunger aside, I think the hardest part of the trip so far is not quite homesickness, but what I would like to coin the term for; " Homiesickness". This is the state of missing ones' homies. If I could bring all the people I cherish so much to Recco, I would stop riding right away. But then again, the point of the travel is to keep things changing, so I am getting pumped up for visiting Benji, finishing Italy and starting the Croatia endeavor. We are not nearly ready for it, so I will be doing some research in my free time hanging with Ben. Must sort out visas etc. Then who knows how we get from here to Asia. It is way beyond me for now, but dont despair Wilds and Bethanne...Im still coming!
I really hope that you guys are enjoying the postings, pics and videos. I hear from some of you on a semi-frequent basis, but would love to hear from more. Post some comments, drop me an email or better yet your address and Ill send a post card. I miss you all very much and want to do my best to stay in tune and in touch. Also, for anyone feeling particularly saucy, come on over and join us for some riding!
Soon I will be figuring out how to make a donations button. The funds will help me keep riding, but 25% will also go to the charity World Bicycle Relief. They strive to provide bicycles to communities worldwide which can benefit from the amazing power of that personal mobility provides. It is super cool and can actually change lives in a way that I dont think anything else can. I plan to make some business cards in Florence and use those as a way to get people to come check out the website and hopefully get some more bikes out there.
K, I think that is about enough for now. Hobohighlander overandout.

Travel is a vanishing act...

2009-10-08T09:30:00.002-04:00

My apologies to any readers that were left hanging-on after that last post for the supposed follow up. Im afraid the deep philosophical post will have to be delayed for a few more days as I tend to more pressing matters. Namely, trying to organize a shipment of parts to come on the plane with Benji so we can redo our drivetrains when we meet up with him. Right now we are in Lecco, north of Milan. Plan to head for the beach over the next days and then hop over to Firenze to meet up with Benji at the start of next week.
Also, as Courtney mentioned in the comments, I will be working on setting up a way for you folks to donate a little bit to the ride and also at the same time Ill be setting it up to direct some funds towards World Bicycle Relief.

Alas, I must let John have a chance to contact those dear to him and Ill stare at the map and try to figure out where we can sleep tonight. Hopefully we can find a couchsurfer soon and I can get a more thorough update. Until then, keep the pedals of life spinning!

P.S. Lake Como is pretty nice.

Swiss Pie

2009-10-02T06:56:00.006-04:00

Where to start? A little lapse to the blog mainly because Ive been too lazy to update it, not because I havent been around computers. Been doing alot more couchsurfing in Switzerland, to great benefit. I hope we can keep it up through Italy. So Ill give you a recap from where I think I left off. I believe it was last Friday, leaving Basel.

Friday the 25th- Hung out in Basel until very late, about 5 PM. We only had to go maybe 50 km, so we figured it was no big deal. This wasnt a mistake really, but we did underestimate how quickly it would get dark. Got a little lost and ended up doing one uphill that we simply had to walk. Oh, also the granny gear on my bike isnt working, so I definately couldnt ride it. Must have been like a 12% or more grade. Anyways, we got over the mountain and flew down into Aarau around 9 PM. Very crazy descent in the dark (we had lights on mom). Got to Aarau and had to try to search out our host because Im an idiot and lost the paper I had written his address and phone number on. Eventually through some interrogation of locals and cryptic tidbits of information I recalled we found the place. We posted up outfront and no more than 10 minutes later Olivier showed up. Great guy, made us some tasty pasta, showed us around his flat and then gave us a TON of info on setting up a mountain bike trip up to Lenzerheide. Awesome.

Saturday, 26- Woke up, took the bike to see if we couldnt get the granny gear working. I figured it was the chain, having over 2000km on it now. Replaced the chain to no avail, so I had to ask the mechanics to look at the front derailleur. They did some mojo and got it to work, but not for long. Going to have a look at it today and try to fix that. Anyways, finally left Aarau even though we hadnt found another place to stay until Sunday night. Rode about 60 or 70 km to right outside Zurich and hobo camped in a patch of woods sandwiched between a farmers fields.

Sunday, 27- Woke up, cruised through Zurich and followed the north shore of Lake Zurich down towards Murg. Somehow on this trip we always stumble upon crazy events, and today was no different. As we were riding generally southeast we noticed more and more people out on bikes and rollerblades (hahhaah). There were refreshment booths and games on the sides of the road and no car traffic. Moms rollerblading with strollers, all kinds of goofy. Found out that the event is sort of a Critical Mass ride mixed into family sunday, called SlowUp Zurich. Got through that mess and headed down to Murg to meet up with a fellow named Lars.

About Lars' Residence- Lars had told us that he lived in an old factory redone as apartments. John pictured something like in the movie The Specialist, with a grizzled lonesome assassin living in a large, bare factory. I though of some ritzy loft housing. When we got there, I was gloating that I had assumed correctly. Then we phoned Lars and he came down front to greet us. He told us to bring the bikes around to the back where he lived. We commented that the apartments looked pretty fancy and he told us to wait until we saw his setup. He opened up two giant steel doors and we walked down a dark corridor. I kid you not, this was like some serial killer type stuff. He opens another door at the end of the corridor and BOOM. It is a MASSIVE old factory room. There are piles of antiques and other forgotten treasures being stored in one half, 2 tennis courts on the other. Along the side is a sort of shanty-esque kitchen, 2 bathrooms, shower, laundry and the rooms of Lars and Michel. Ive never stayed in such a cool place. I cant believe they actually live here. And the rent is so low I felt violated for what I had paid for the last year.

Back to our adventures, Mon. 28- Left our luggage (or the majority of it) at Lars' place and rode our bikes the 50km (which magically morphed into 65) to Chur. We were going to stay with a forester named Andri. I told him we would probably get there at 530 to 630. He contested that we couldnt ride that distance in that time and said he would see us whenever. He was closer to correct than I was. If it had really been 50km and not 65 we may have gotten there around 7, but instead we arrived around 730. We dialed Andri....no answer. Again. No answer. Starting to think he was in the shower or something. He had expected us to take longer himself, so I didnt think he would have abandoned all hope. Eventually we get a hold of him, about half an hour and probably 25 phone calls later. Gasping, he told us he was playing soccer and the girls on the sideline had failed to inform him that his phone was ringing nonstop. Went on back to his neat little studio, showered, ate, drank beers. He had spent some time traveling through central asia, so I picked his brain a little about that. Apparently getting into Russia isnt as hard as I had thought, if you know how to do it. Andri had work early in the am and we wanted to get to the slopes early, so we called it a night.

Tues, 29- Got up around 7, had some muesli and coffe and headed for the bus up to Lenzerheide. About 10 CHR saved us the 15km and probably 500m climb from Chur to Lenzerheide. Rented some sweet Specialized Stumpjumpers and headed onto the lifts. Had a great day of ripping down the mountain, eyes watering, stupid grin pasted on my face like a kid with too much candy. Check out the videos. Had quite a spectacular crash on the last run of the day (it is ALWAYS the last run it seems). Luckily nothing broke as far as I can tell, although my shoulder is pretty damn sore. We got back to Andris apartment around 7 PM, had some dinner, talked a bit more about his job with the trees, drank vodka and ate horse jerky. Pretty solid Tuesday.

Wed, 30- Andri had to go work in a forest in Davos, higher in the mountains so we got up about 6am. Because of my shoulder, we couldnt ride back down to Murg to get our stuff like we had planned. We had to take the train. Being good citizens of the world, we paid our fares and got on board. Next time Im not gonna bother....30 bucks wasted. Nobody even checked. Got into Murg about 8am and just kind of putzed around. Went down to the store, but it was closed from 12-230 so we detoured to "the garden". "The garden" is how Michel refers to the amazing piece of property that he just took ownership of. For about 200 CHR a month he has a house on the lake with a garden and a full orchard of fruit and nut trees. I could get used to living there. We chilled by the lake awhile then got some groceries and returned to the factory to make lunch. Restful afternoon of reading and such before John and I went under the blade and refreshed our haircuts. Vast improvement...I was starting to look a little frightening.

Thurs, 1 and Today- Just chilling out, eating, resting the shoulder and doing odds and ends.

So that brings you up to speed. Ill leave that to soak in today and then later tonight or tomorrow Ill do a post that talks a little more about plans for the next section, concerns, preparations and deep thoughts.

Basel

2009-09-25T08:23:00.002-04:00

So we are getting a very late start today, but have nowhere to go really, so it doesnt matter. Been spending all day trying to upload more photos...you will notice the Netherlands and Rhine albums are much bigger. I still have more to upload but it is kind of a slow laborious process and we cant stay in Basel too long. I also just ran out of space, so I had to buy more storage from Google! I think 10 GB should last for a good while.
We have been staying with a very generous guy named Mattias for the last 2 nights here in Basel. Had a very restful day yesterday, exploring the city and then sitting by the Rhine and drinking some cold beers. It was hot enough that I was almost tempted to follow after some of the few brave people swimming in the river. Today, like I said, has been spent mostly trying to jam photos onto the web and rouse up another couchsurfing spot. Neither endeavor has been all that fruitful.
We are gonna head out and try to stop by a bike shop. I need a long allen wrench to get to my brake handle bolts...the right handle is practically flopping around...very scary on the descents. After the bike shop its on to the Swiss national bike route 3. I guess we will ride like 3 or 4 hours...probably be able to get near Aarau. I messaged a few folks about couchsurfing, but at this point we will probably just end up in the woods. It is really tricky to setup couchsurfing on the bike because nothing is ever certain and even finding internet can be a hassle.
Pretty pumped about the next section of riding. We have a really good Swiss bike route map (set us back 20 francs though!!!). That is another thing. Swiss money is hilarious. Its giant, crazy colors and has weird pictures on it. Anyways, the map has great details and we will be using it to go south into Italy. Who knows from there.
Alrighty then....that is probably enough from me at this point. Im gonna go try to fiddle with my back and get motivated to mount up. Just remember what they say about Fridays..."it feels like every other day, except more people are on the bike paths". And by "they" I mean John and I.

Quick blurb from Worms

2009-09-21T06:44:00.002-04:00

Hey there...just a quick note before we head of out Worms. Got down here a day early due to unexpectedly awesome riding. The Rhine Gorge was beautiful. A touch of a mean thunderstorm ushered us into Worms around 6 PM last night. Albert had not yet arrived from Meerbusch because of car trouble, so we had to kill about 5 hours until he arrived. Hung around, ate doner, drank liters of beer. The usual hobo activities. Met up with Albert and Jan around 1130, showered, ate, went to bed. Getting a late start today, but had a good breakfast of eggs and wurst. Good to sleep inside, but its funny...I sleep better under a bush in the park! Really love having internet access for the moments I do. Music is even better if you haven't heard it for a few days. Anyways, today we ride about 80-100km to near Karlsruhe. The next two days should bring us into Basel where we are waiting to see if we can score a CS (couchsurf) finally. Then it is onwards into the Alps. The weather here is not so bad as long as it is sunny...hope the Alps are okay still. Thanks for checking in and please post comments on questions, suggestions, scathing repremands, etc. Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful Monday.

Rotations of Heavy Stones

2009-09-18T05:03:00.003-04:00

The title is what John's host parents read when he tried to write that he listened to "rock and roll". He didn't know any German at that point. Ive got some good news and some bad news. Well, really just sad news. I seem to have lost all the video coverage I had up until this point. I think I managed to upload two videos before it crashed, but they are rather unremarkable. Lost all the footage of Ireland, France and Belgium :( I am well beyond enraged right now, but seeing as how there is probably nothing I can do, I'm going to just try to let it slide off. Call it some of my zen training from this trip: don't waste time being frustrated by things you have no control over.

I guess if you want some good news, its that we are heading out of Dusseldorf and resuming our ride down the Rhine this afternoon. Getting a late start, so probably going to shoot for 60-80 km, but the weather looks gorgeous and we'll have lots of energy from resting, so maybe we can crank some km out and make up for our decadence. The plan is the Rhine River down to the Black Forest, through to the Swiss Alps, drop down into Italy and work southeast towards Croatia, either via riding through Venice and Trieste or a ferry from Ancona. No clue how easily we'll find internet access, but I'll try to keep you guys updated. I would guess we'll be getting into the Alps in about a week; hopefully it wont be absolutely freezing yet. Stay tuned for some sweet pics and maybe some friggin' video. Soul Rider over and out.

Video link is to the right, in case you miss my beautiful mug and honey-sweet voice ---->

Update to Dusseldorf

2009-09-15T12:07:00.002-04:00

Okay...last post I was in Lille, France. I think that was about a week and a half ago? I beleive it was Friday the 4th of September and John decided to stay in Lille another night. I was getting itchy to be back on the road, so I headed out and we made plans to meet in Brussels on Sunday.
Friday was nice weather, a bit cold and a few rain showers. Made my way north to Roubaix first. Had to see the famous bike city. Checked out the velodrome but never went as far south as to see any cobblestone sections (they were a couple of towns over). Continued north Friday afternoon not really knowing what I was doing. My map had pretty much ended and I didn't break out another one thinking I had an idea of where to go. Ended up going way too far north and found myself in a city called Kotrich, about 100km west of Brussels. Started the journey eastward that evening but found myself in the small-ish city of Oudenaarde about the time to start looking for a bed. Decided the best course of action was to stop into a bar. Of course, a great decision. Delicious beers and very budgetable. Struck up a conversation with a very kind Belgian man who offered to drive me over to the campsite and check it out. We did, but they wanted 12€ just to hang my hammock, so we went back to the bar. Took part in a birthday celebration, had perhaps one too many tasty belgian beers and then set off for the woods. A little handling error on my part resulted in a dip in a nice deep mud puddle. I promptly got to the woods, stripped off the wet muddy clothes then setup and crawled into my hammock.
Woke up Saturday with a pretty raging hangover, naked in a hammock with a pile of muddy clothes attempting to "dry" underneath me (this seemed totally feasible the night before).
Somewhat disgruntled I packed my belongings and headed out to find Waterloo. Supposedly somewhere just south of Brussels. I still had all of Saturday before I had to meet John on Sunday, so it seemed like a reasonable idea. I fought my way straight through the hilly countryside relying on my compass and signs. Eventually I got to a place called Beersel which is very close to Waterloo. I asked the tourist office (I think they are purposely staffed with cute girls just to throw me off a bit more when I already feel like a jerk for only speaking English). I was told that Waterloo was "in Wallonia, that's French" and therefore she knew nothing about it. She'd never even been there and probably lives within 20 or 30 km. I figure it must not be worth the fight, so I just went one town up and slept in a cheap campground with a sleazy bar (albeit the best beer selection of a sleazy bar ever).
Got up Sunday, rode up through Brussels and found a hostel for John and I. I had a few hours to kill so I tried to do laundry, but the massive amount of mud in my chamois from 2 nights before just totally negated any attempts. Went down to the meeting spot and found John. We checked into the hostel and wouldn't you know it, but the Belgian Beer Festival happened to be in town that weekend. We promptly stored our belongings and headed down to the Grotsplat or whatever the central square is called. Sampled a few beers at a slightly premium price before we struck out to find beer mecca, Delirium. Some of you may recogniye the name from their tasty beer or from the fact that they got into the Guiness book of records for most beers on list (2006). John and I had some good ones there then went back to the hostel and cooked dinner. Went out for a few more drinks and exploration after dinner and then crashed.
Monday we rode north through Antwerp and into the Netherlands. Rather peaceful day cruising through the Netherlands. Never seen anything like it...EVERYONE is on bikes. Little 3 year olds, grandmas, workers, moms, it is insane. Found ourselves a nice little secluded camp by a fort Napoleon had constructed, cooked enough pasta to choke, i dunno, something that doesn't choke easily. Hung the hammocks in the swamp and called it a night.
Tuesday found us pushing straight up the coast, through Rotterdam and on towards Amsterdam. Things got a bit hairy around 7 PM when we rolled into Amsterdam without a place to stay, breaking our own rule of never doing so. Lucked out and found a decent hostel at 22€ a night, ut would have to find a way to store our bikes. Fortunately, this is Amsterdam and they have massive, secure bike storage for like €2 per day. Spent all day Wednesday exploring the fine city of Amsterdam, enjoying strong coffee and tasty beers along cute little canals. Packed up Thursday and headed south, shooting for the De Hoge Veluwe national park. A national park in Ntherlands isnt cute what I think of national parks as. It was 7€ to get in and probably another 10 to camp in the one designated campground. Illegal to sleep anywhere else. The guy sent us through to go to the north gate and get someone there to pay for our fees. We just slept right on the edge of the campground and were gone by the morning. Sorry Netherlands.
Friday we continued to push for Dusseldorf by taking a ferry across the Rhine into Germany. Slept in another little park/nature area just outside Alpen (I beleive).
Saturday we did the last 80km or so to reach Dusseldorf, arriving at the Kiefer household around 5 or 6 PM.
These folks are great. They welcomed us with open arms and have allowed us every luxury and convenience that we've been missing for 2 or 3 weeks. Went out into the city Saturday night, spent Sunday lounging about and checked out a sleepy little pub closer to home. Monday we drove around and hung out with some of John's old friends a bit. Today we've been trying to plan our next steps and just kind of cleaning our shabby selves up.

Speaking of the next steps, there have been some developments. We've been riding roughly 2 weeks and done about 1400km. That means we are averaging about 88km per day. We are allowed to stay in the EU-Schengen states for another 69 days. That means roughly 6000 km is our range, but that would be cutting it close and using every last day we are allowed. Getting from here to Gibraltar is about 3000km. Going to Croatia is about 1600km. We are probably going to go to Croatia is what Im saying. For one, it would allow us to go to Oktoberfest. Another thing is it gives us more of a buffer if we get derailed. The last reason is that if we do go to Gibraltar, our only option is Morocco. Morocco isn't bad, but 3 months with no option out other than applying for a Libyan visa or getting a flight is no good. In Croatia we could always go to Bulgaria and onward to Turkey. So, in summary, alot of this stuff is up in the air, but here is my rough plan:
Andi will drive John and I down towards Munich. From there we ride to Salzburg, over the Alps into Italy (Venice?) then south to Florence. After that we ride east to Ancona and get the ferry to Croatia.
What do you think?

All that being said, things are going well. Hope this message finds all going well with you folks, whether you are reading from this side or back home or somewhere further abroad. If you are further abroad, let me know and we'll start trying to work out some plans ;) Time for me to go get some food, so until next time, soul rider for life.

Lapse due to Benelux

2009-09-11T06:23:00.002-04:00

Been about a week since I've managed to write; partially because nothing too dramatic has happened but also because I spend more time in countryside (where there is no such thing as an internet cafe) as I had imagined. Right now I'm in Arnhem on nearing the border of Netherlands and Germany. Today we will be jumping onto the route of the Rhine and following that towards Dusseldorf in hopes of meeting up with John's former host-family. Once we are synced up with them I plan to write in more detail about last week's adventures and updates for future plans. Until then, I'm going to take a moment to try and tag some of the photos better, so they may or may not be updated with locations and such soon. Until I get a chance to settle into a nice long post, take care and check back soon!

Lille

2009-09-02T14:16:00.002-04:00

Awesome. Rough day here in lille...never managed to meet up with johns friend, after waiting 4 hours. Hostel was booked full, but after a couple failings found a cheap hotel. Going to explore the city tomorrow and perhaps meet up with this dubious character, if she checks her email!
Rachael...where are you planning on going once you graduate? Id be glad to scout out the area as long as Im here and make some recommendations ( Im assuming youd be interested in the architecture...if i have the right rachael!)
Jake...are you working in an REI in Asheville? Didnt know they had one...hope you are riding the raleigh alot. I sorely miss mountain biking. If you get a big fat paycheck, send some this way and the bike is yours permently. Perfect bike for Tsali and Bent Creek!
Chris, glad you are tuning in. Are you still out in Salt Lake? Ill be sure to swing by on my victory lap through the US.
Off to cook some dinner and perhaps check out the nightlife. Take care folks!

P.S. Promise to get the videos posted soon...they are somewhat entertaining.

Bringin you up to speed!

2009-08-31T13:38:00.003-04:00

Alrighty....took us awhile to find an internet cafe and this one still uses french keyboards, so bear with me on errors. A quick recap of what has gone down in the last week:
Sunday- Mom and Dad drop John and I off in a suburb of Dublin called Rathmore. We check into Globetrotters Hostel, grab our bikes and go over the gear one last time. Stress over the ferry price (130 euro!) and go to bed.
Monday- Leave Dublin and ride to Arklow. We only make it probably 50 km because Im battling food poisoning all day from my last goddamn "Irish Breakfast" EVER (more meat than most families consume in one week). The effects are so bad Im fevered and constantly searching for public toilets. We have to splurge and get a B&B.
Tuesday- I feel a million times better. We do our best to push all the way to Rosslaire by 1430 to catch the ferry, but John starts to bonk out and I realize that we woke up far too late to ever make the ferry. We manage to get a taxi for 25€ and make it to port on time. I only have 20€ and the driver lets us slide. We get aboard the ferry and are thankful we have a cabin to ourselves.
Wednesday- Get off ferry. At a stop light I ask a French guy on a bicycle which direction the street we are looking for is. He tells us to follow him and proceeds to lead us on a total legbuster right over the mountain out of Cherbourg through Les Glacieres. He takes us all the way to the top of a pass, winding through many quiet backroads. Davidon points out where we go from there and then with a au revoir turns around and goes back the way we came. I think he just did it for fun...wasnt even where he was going. He didnt know any English. Amazingly kind. John and I proceed to blast down the French equivalent of a greenway or the American Tobacco Trail, the "Voie Verte". Finally roll into a small town and find a perfect pay campground just as they are closing up. Drink a bottle of wine, eat some cheese, bread,salami and pass out.
Thursday- We ride up the coast visiting the D-Day beaches along the way. I am in awe of the fact that guys my age or younger performed such heroic acts to free people they had never even met. Heavy stuff. End the day in a small town called Courselles-sur-mer qrriving too late to find a campground. We cook in a park, scurry into a nearby patch of woods and hobo camp to the max. Proceed to drink a bottle of wine each (after the experimentation I think we have determined the optimum wine consumption after a day of riding is between a half bottle and a bottle each).
Friday- Crank all the way to Le Havre. Come into the port city on the frightening and stark industrial port side. Proceed to search for a hostel and realize this place is way too grizzled for that. Find a one-star hotel and post up. John goes to bed while I search out a pint. Le Havre might have some cool bars if you arent an exhausted, broke cyclist.
Saturday- I spend about 30 minutes fixing the rear tire of the kid whose mom runs the hotel. Turns out to be a fair exchange for some baguette and coffee. John and I head up the coast shooting for Dieppe. We only make it to Saint Valery sur Mer. Standing in front of a boulangerie, looking confused we are approached by 3 French men on bicycles. They start talking to John. He begins to look more confused. I come out of the bakery and ask teh guys if they know where the 2 star campground is (no fancy stuff for these two bikers!). They say they arent sure, but we could stay in their yard, joking that it is only "no stars". Never turning down free stuff, we follow them out to their house. These are absolutely amazing people. They not only let us store our bikes, they proceed to treat us like family. It is Laurence's birthday. Laurence and David live in Paris, but this is their weekend house. There is champagne, homemade foie gras and 5 more courses. They let us sleep on the floor INSIDE!
Sunday- Morning brings an amazing spread of croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, homemade marmalade, coffee, hot milk....too good to be true. I play games with the little girls. We do a thorough check on our bikes and the folks give us tons of stuff to eat for the next few days! We get a very acceptable late start and make it to Bernard le Grand for another campground.
TODAY! Rode up here to Berck sur plage. Unsuccessful in finding a campground. One lady wanted 22 €. The second convinced us at 20€, but then told us hammocks are not allowed. It is too late now to find one probably, so I guess we'll be hoboing it which is fine by me because now I can pay for the internet cafe access for this entry!
Tomorrow we head to Lille. Probably take a day or two off there before going on up to Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and then north to Amsterdam. John has a friend who is supposedly studying in Lille, so I hope we get in touch with her. I look forward to a day of sitting around after 7 straight on the bike. We are getting better at putting in the kilometers, but still need to start earlier I think. The route is a bit intimidating lately as I wonder how long the weather will hold out. Im starting to think I may head over to Prague and then down Italy rather than back to France and through Spain. Just not sure yet.
I hope this entry finds everyone doing well. I know that as I was starting this new adventure many of you are returning from your own or beginning something new. I hope school is going well for you (Patrick, Troy and others). Hannah and Richard, hope you are re-adjusting to the States ok. Rich and Marshall- hope you guys are saving up and getting ready to come join John and I. Kees- stay outta trouble and keep honing those blood-sample skills...Ill have some real good stuff for you after all this riding!
To all the other folks, please keep reading and drop some comments on the section there. Nothing motivates me more than an audience. Love you all and until the next update, keep the rubber side down!

P.S. Photos are up, but may not be edited and sorted. Link is on the right there --->

La France

2009-08-28T09:00:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note from Cabourg France. This french keyboard is difficult to type on, so I zill be hopefully finding a better cafe and updating with pics and video soon. Probably tomorrow if we can do another 50 km today and get close to the larger port of Le Havre. Thanks for your patience as I get things rolling more smoothly on the blog...stay tuned please, I promise the photos and stories will be worth it!

Ireland...it rains

2009-08-22T15:10:00.002-04:00

So, I wanted to believe that Ireland wouldn't be totally rainy and cold, but it is. Thank goodness we'll be getting off this island soon. Next stop is France. We've decided to skip England and head straight there. The boat ride is going to be brutal...we've heard people tell us anywhere from 17 to 26 hours on the boat from Rosslare to Cherbourg. Have no idea what it will cost.
Traveling with the parents is going well...its nice to be chauffeured around and to get to live on such a high standard without breaking my budget. It is going to be a rough transition to sleeping like hobos and eating low-quality food. Regardless, I can't thank my parents enough for the support and love they have shown John and I as we embark on this crazy journey.
We've had some great treatment here in Ireland. Picked up the parents in Dublin on Wednesday morning and drove to Athlone, visiting some neat ruins at Clonmacnoise on the way. Delicious Italian food in Athlone that night and the next morning we headed to Galway. Crammed alot into that day as we visited the Connemara as well as Galway City. In Connemara John and I scrambled up Diamond Hill to narrowly beat a rainstorm at the top. Very cold, very windy.
Last night we drove from Galway to Dingle. Absolutely beautiful at the Cliffs of Moher. Great night in Dingle, staying at a super fancy hostel and enjoying some "craic". Today was spent driving from Dingle down to the Ring of Kerry. I don't know why everyone told us it was so beautiful...I found Dingle much nicer. Tonight we are in Kenmare. I'll post some more stories and photos, videos, etc. soon. Gotta jet before my 1 euro charge jumps to 2! Ciao!

Busy week behind, busy weeks ahead

2009-08-19T02:42:00.002-04:00

Alright then....out of the states and on the emerald isle. John and I drove up to DC on Friday and were welcomed with a delicious mexican cookout at Alex and Orr's house. Alex cooked up some delicious steak and chicken fajita/burritos with homemade salsa and guac while Orr made some really amazing cocktails. We went out to a bar briefly and then hobo'd all over their couches. Thank you very much for the hospitality!
The next day I was blessed enough to have my wonderful cousin Kate come down to DC and visit along with the riotous Uncle Ev and (relatively speaking) mild-mannered Aunt Linda. It was really nice of them to come down from PA and bid me a farewell, especially since I haven't been able to see them in nearly 3 years! Thanks again guys, love you very much and good luck with grad school this fall Kate!
Saturday night John took it easy at my brother Matt's apartment (who played gracious host to us the rest of the weekend, including giving up his A/C to us!). I headed back up to Columbia Heights area to go to a party thrown by Kate, a very outgoing friend of Alex and Orr's whom I had met the night before. A great party, some free Yuengling and plenty of interesting people to talk to. I even met a young lady who had just moved from Asheville to Carrboro! Made me a little nostalgic as I rattled out a few of my favorite haunts for her to go explore.
Sunday we kicked it around town, ate the most delicious burger of my life at Hellburger and John and I went out to East Falls Church on the metro to visit my homeboy and penultimate shredder of the gnar, Brad Copeland.
Monday John and I wrapped up loose ends around DC while Matt worked a halfday. Matt came home around 1 PM, we packed our stuff into the Trailblazer and swung by the pharmacy to get my anti-malarials. $150 for those pills! NOT covered by my health insurance! Damn....still cheaper than getting malaria I suppose. Won't even need them for at least 3 more months.
Got to the airport uneventfully. Everything went pretty smoothly until Irish customs kind of gave John and I a hard time. Luckily we were towards the front of the ever-growing line so I think they kinda gave us a break. Phew!
Assembled the bikes in the airport (minus some fenders as my frustration and fatigue was mounting). Rode on out into our first taste of wild Irish traffic. We were so intimidated by the whole left hand side thing and the crazy traffic roundabouts we ended up going about 20 or so km north towards Belfast! It was cool, drizzly, grey....just what I was told to expect but what I didn't want to imagaine, hahah! Eventually we asked a postman where we were headed and after some trial and error we got ourselves pointed for the City Center. A few more detours later and we arrived at our hostel, Globetrotters on the Lower Gardinier.
Globetrotters is an amazing value....a bit pricey in comparison to other hostels, but I've never seen a hostel this clean, comfortable and with so many amenities. John and I worried ourselves about finding a place to store our gear for the next week. Ate some fish and chips (great cod, who cares about some fries..), checked some bike stores. Everyone was saying they were too crowded to help us and we became slightly stressed. Finally John struck paygold at a local internet cafe/luggage storage. 7.50 for everything per day. I sure hope they are trustworthy...I had some doubts but we took some photos of our stuff in the storage room and the people working there seemed nice enough. Only time will tell I suppose!
After such ordeals Jon and I went over to a famous pub for our well-deserved Guiness. Okay folks....no matter what people say, you will never understand what they mean about Guiness tasting better over here. It is like night and day. I may have ruined Guiness outside of Ireland for myself...it is THAT GOOD! Amazing full breakfast here this morning at Globetrotters. I can't recommend this hostel enough.
Alright...we are about to catch the public bus up to the airport and try to meet Mom and Pops at the car rental place. Then it is on to Athlone. Sure hope Dad is up to the challenge of driving...this should be an interesting experience. I'll try to check in this evening or tomorrow...stay posted!

Down to the wire

2009-08-13T10:16:00.001-04:00

Oh boy...a little overwhelmed. A lot of loose ends to tie up and I leave North Carolina tomorrow! I'll be heading up to DC to spend my last 3 days in the States with friends and family. Pretty excited....cookout with Alex and friends tomorrow evening, tour of the Capitol on Saturday.
Packing up 24 years worth of belongings in 4 days is proving more difficult than I imagined. It is hard to distinguish between what is worth keeping, what is necessary to keep and what is merely fodder and byproduct of my pack-rat nature. I'm making pretty good progress however and should be all done by tomorrow morning. A few odds and ends to go out and buy today:

A pair of footwear. I don't know whether to get another pair of Saloman trailrunning shoes or a pair of Keen sandals. I'm leaning towards the shoes because they'll be better in cooler temps and the last two pairs I've owned were some of the most comfortable and durable shoes I've had.
Assorted repair kit gear: tube, chain, new barwrap, bolts
Cable and lock
Frank Sun, a filmmaker friend of mine, encouraged me to get a small HD camcorder. I'm torn on this issue. I totally agree with him that having some of this on film is almost a necessity, but then again...that equals more batteries/chargers, more memory cards- just more to be concerned with in general. I'll check them out today and decide
A international converter/charger of some sort. I've considered the Solio solar charges...I'll check those out today as well.

After I get those last pieces together I have to pack it all up. The bike is pretty much boxed...just have to throw in some water bottles, bungees, lights and whatever else I decide then tape the box up. I can't figure out how to deal with the camping gear and clothes. I guess I could do what I did when I flew back to NC from Portland. I bought a giant military duffel and just put everything in there. It is that or a box. I'm afraid either way I'm gonna get hit with charges from the airline since they changed their policy from when I booked the flight. Bullshit.
I just got back from the dentist. She was not very happy. Apparently my lack of checkups has resulted in some pretty sensitive bleeding gums, so I'd better stay on top of the brushin' and flossin' out there on the road. I felt bad because she kept saying that when I get back I should check in with her, but I honestly don't know when/if I'm coming back! Speaking of health, I've got to go try and hunt down 90 malarial pills. Apparently no pharmacies around here stock that many. Great. I may check UNC hospitals if I have to go over there to pick up John tomorrow. I also need to go make copies/scans of all my documents before I leave.
As you can see, I've got a ton to get done today! Hopefully I can knock it all out so that later I can have a few pints with a couple of folks I haven't gotten to say bye to. Also supposed to cook up some duck breast for dinner...luckily that's a pretty quick, simple recipe. Alright, that is all for now; I'll drop another post once I clear town I hope. Until then "Go n-eiri an bothar leat"!

Preparations- 3 weeks until Dublin!

2009-07-28T17:20:00.000-04:00

Hello folks! I hope some people are starting to tune in to the blog, even though I haven't posted much. Hopefully from here on out I'll be more consistent in bringing new material.
I'm only three weeks away from arriving in Dublin and beginning to piece the trip together in more detail.
Here's the rough plan so far:
Fly into Dublin on the 17th of August with John. We'll probably drag our gear outside or (if we're lucky) to somewhere in the airport and begin assembling the bike. Of course, we may be force to drag the crap onto a metro or something and go elsewhere to assemble. Regardless, once we get the bikes together, we'll have to head out and scout for a hostel and a bike shop. We'll pitch our story to whatever shop seems most sympathetic and try to store the majority of our crap there for the next week. Maybe there are lockers near the airport or public transport...i don't know.
Tuesday my parents will arrive. We'll spend the next week touring around Ireland (probably the SW) with them. After they fly out of Dublin the following week, John and I will strike eastward, ferrying over to Wales and then onwards to France. That is about as far out as I'm willing to guess right now.

I've got almost all the gear I need...a few odds and ends left. The bike is getting pretty heavy- around 65 pounds without food. The bike itself weighs in at a hefty 36 pounds so I'll really have to see where I can shave weight on the gear. Of course there are a few items I'm including right now which John and I can actually share.

Physically, I don't quite have it all together yet. I've been doing some training rides fully loaded and that hasn't been much of a problem (the NC summer heat and mugginess is quite the crucible). However, recently my right knee had been feeling a bit funny. Not downright pain, just discomfort and stiffness. I'm hoping more stretching, training and maybe talking to some folks who know more about these things will have that problem smoothed out before I leave.
I never got to finish my vaccinations because UNC healthcare is a bunch of morons and would never answer my phone calls. Frustrating, but at least I'll be in less at-risk areas for the first stretch of the trip now that my plan has altered to start in the EU. The last area of concern is the fact that I haven't had a dental checkup in like 3 years. This wouldn't normally bother me since I've never had any issues before but I am slightly worried that I'll end up in Malaysia and have to knock my wisdom teeth out with an ice skate à la Castaway.

Emotionally, I suppose I'm ready. I'm still wrapping my mind around how long it may be until I see famaliar faces again. This doesn't seem to bother me all that much, which makes me wonder if its just going to come crashing down upon my head and settle in once I'm out there. I think maybe right now the excitement of a new adventure is more powerful than any bittersweet feelings. I can't stop dreaming of all the fantastic places I'll see, cultures I'll experience and friends I'll make. However, if I've learned anything so far its that the grass always seems greener on the other side, so I'm trying to keep it all in perspective and enjoy the places, culture and people around me.

Okay, I think I'm starting to ramble here and there will be plenty of time for that later. I just wanted to get a new post up and let everyone know that I'm super excited to have readers traveling along with me. I hope that you are as excited to take part in this trip as I am...one of my largest hopes for the endeavor is that somehow I'll be able to provide entertainment and enlightenment to those of you who read along with my adventures. Cheers (or as my friend Mike taught me recently, and is more applicable to Ireland,"Go n-éirí an bóthar leat")!

There can only be one...

2008-12-26T12:55:00.000-05:00

So, thanks go to Hannah Bishop for inspiring the sweet title for this new blog. This blog will be primarily about the planning and eventually the execution of my PanAm bicycle trip. I hope this trip will be the first leg in a circumnavigation by bicycle, with some help from boats and planes. I'll make this post longer later, just wanted to get this up and running.