It became clear to me last winter that I must get a new vehicle that is easier to drive in the snow. My Nissan pickup truck had been great in warmer climates, but here in Spokane where the snow is frequent in winter, it is not so great. But one feature I loved about the …
Damage Report
All in all, the bikes arrived relatively unscathed. However, there were some minor issues discovered when unpacking. Luckily, it is easy to deal with these things from the comfort of our own home. On the scale of things, these are pretty small issues. We’ll have the bikes up and running again in no time. Jennifer’s …
Back Home
The train ride to Frankfurt was relatively uneventful. We arrived just after 4AM, and after some coffee and pastries we had a smooth ride in the dark to our hotel. Luckily they let us check in very early, at about 6AM. Jennifer had her bike packed very soon, so we went out to look for …
Racks and Signs
I’ve posted two picture galleries, one showing all the Bike Racks I photographed in Europe, and another of the various Signs we saw. Perhaps not very useful, but I enjoyed collecting them, and perhaps someone will enjoy looking at them. To find them, follow the links at the top of the blog page, or click …
Off river, in Leipzig
It took us two and a half days to reach Leipzig from Dresden. The first day was spent riding down pleasant paths along the Elbe river. We stopped midday in the town of Meißen, which was dominated by a large medieval fortress called Albrechtsburg. There we were able to stock up on some important supplies, …
Czech national cycle route number 2
We set out from Prague on a rather cold and gray afternoon. After climbing a steep hill we were rewarded with some nice views of Prague and the Moldau river. Heading through the suburbs, we passed some pleasant parks and some nice paths, and finally got back down to river level. We hit a brief …
Baths, Mud, and Goulash
For the final leg of our Danube trip we rode mostly in Slovakia, but ended up spending our nights on the Hungarian side of the river. The road conditions are somewhat dicey. We encountered various grades of gravel – some mixed with grass, and mud; more about that later –, small roads of varying quality, …
Vienna
Vienna is the biggest city we’ve been in so far, so I was a bit overwhelmed by all the crowds and the transit system. Nevertheless, the first night we made it in plenty of time to figure out how to get to the opulent Musikverein concert hall for a performance by the Wiener Mozart Orchester …
Into Austria
We made it into Austria this morning, and noticed several differences right away. The river valley is closed in on both sides of the river, leaving little room for roads, bike paths and towns. The railroads have disappeared, and the bike path is nice and smoothly paved, with very little car traffic. We’ve noticed an …
Along the Danube
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, and runs from the Black Forest in Southern Germany all the way to the Black Sea. We are planning to ride only as far as Budapest in Hungary. There is some debate on where the Danube actually begins, but the official source is located in Donaueschingen. …
Into Germany
On the third day riding north from Elsau, we finally reached the start of the Danube bike route. We rode north from Elsau to reach the Bodensee in Steckborn. Riding in Switzerland is fun, and as we were following a national cycle route, we didn’t have any trouble figuring out where to go. We saw …
We’re on our way
After all the preparation and packing, the departure date has finally arrived. We’re off to Europe! Expected arrival time in Zurich at about 7:35AM local time Thursday. We’ll unpack the bikes, ride to nearby Winterthur, and hopefully the next blog post will be from Europe.
Packing the Scorpion
Even though the HP Velotechnik Scorpion Fx is a folding trike, its still a bit large and unwieldy, so some additional dissassembly is required in order to make a small enough package for airline travel. I was able to purchase a large double-walled box from the UPS Store (30″ x 30″ x 30″), which I …
Shakedown Cruise
We decided we needed to take a Shakedown Cruise to make sure all our equipment was working as planned. So, after looking at some old local guidebooks, we settled on a loop trip through Snohomish, since neither of us had ever biked past Bothell or Lynnwood in that direction. This would give us a chance …