We’re in Europe again! This winter, I applied for (and received) travel funding to attend a Drupal conference in Montpellier France, and since it takes so long to get to Europe, I decided to expand the trip a bit, and of course Zach wanted to come too. So, last Sunday we embarked on an 18-hour, …
Prius V Sleeping Platform
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 …
International Selkirk Loop, Aug/Sept 2014
We decided to do a bike tour at the end of the summer of 2014 on the International Selkirk Loop, which meant that we could leave and return from our front door. It sounded pretty nice, and we thought early September would be a good time for the trip. So in July, we sent off …
Continue reading “International Selkirk Loop, Aug/Sept 2014”
Planning Rides for the Garmin Edge Touring GPS
Garmin recently came out with the Garmin Edge Touring, which is a combination GPS and cycle computer unit that is specifically made for the recreational and touring cyclist. I decided I needed a new toy… I haven’t had it for long yet, but it seems to do a great job of showing me a map …
Continue reading “Planning Rides for the Garmin Edge Touring GPS”
Upper Missouri River
The week of September 14-21, 2013, Zach, Jennifer, and Jennifer’s dad Alan took a canoe trip on the Upper Missouri River in Montana, which we all really enjoyed. This section of the river is a designated national “Wild and Scenic River”, and it is within the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, administered by the …
Riviera Maya
On Thursday, March 7, 2013, Zach and I (Jennifer) left the house at about 4 AM for a short but very pleasant Mexican adventure, courtesy of Zach’s employer. We flew from Spokane to Cancun via Denver, and were driven to our very posh home for the next four nights: the Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a …
Allerdale Ramble
I was in London last week to attend DrupalCon, where everyone who works on the Drupal software open-source project (Drupal is the software I use to build web sites for my clients) gets together. Since it is very tedious to fly to Europe, and I was going to have to adjust to 8 hours of …
A Moving Adventure
We have just moved across the state, from the Seattle, Washington area to the Spokane, Washington area! The place we left was a pleasant 1500 square foot house built in 1960, located in a hollow in the city of Shoreline, Washington, about three blocks north of the Seattle city limits. It was in an urban …
Highlights and Lowlights
People keep asking us what our favorite part of our recent cycling trip to Central Europe was. It’s a tough question to answer, since we both enjoyed the trip quite a bit, and each day brought different experiences. But I thought I’d gather a few thoughts on the high and low points of the trip. …
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 …
Thoughts on Equipment
At this point in our trip (i.e. the end), I think we’ve been touring long enough to form definite opinions on the bicycle/tricycle/trailer equipment we are using. There are certainly pros and cons to each of our setups. Here are some thoughts: Description of our Setups I have been riding a Bike Friday Sat-R-Day recumbent …
Berlin: Lessons in Recent History
After arriving in Leipzig, we counted up the number of days we had left before our flight home, the number of days it would take to bicycle to our next destination, and the couple of days we needed to get to Frankfurt, pack up our bikes, and catch the flight home. The conclusion: more long-distance …
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, …
Jakobsweg
Several times during our trip, we saw directional signs pointing out “Jakobsweg” (Jacob’s Way), with a distinctive starburst on the signs. We saw some in the first few days of the trip in Switzerland, and then later on when were were in Germany on the Danube. I was curious about who this Jacob was and …
Two National Parks and One City
When we were planning this trip, one of the reasons I wanted to try ride the Elbe River route was because where the river crosses the Czech-German border, both countries have national parks — Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic, and Saxon Switzerland in Germany. They sounded like pretty nice places (descriptions such as “the …
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 …
Budapest and Prague
We have spent the last few days exploring Budapest and Prague. My impression of Budapest: pretty and gritty. There are many pretty buildings, monuments, etc., and at the same time the city has a kind of an edgy feel to it, and many of the buildings are greyed with soot, probably from an earlier, more …
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, …