Peter gave us directions to Nimes/Avignon, where we initially intended to go, to grab a train to see Becca in Grenoble. The route was flat along the Tarn, but got nasty towards the end of the first day. Here are a few videos of where we've been and where we've been sleeping. Enjoy!

From Fontaussil to the mountain town of Ayssenes, France:

Watch Stealth Camping in France – Ayssenes

Traveling to and Sleeping in St. Afrique

Watch Sleeping in a Train Station

And here's where we biked:

What a wonderful past few weeks we've had!

Okay … to pick up where Kris left off, we were in Girona, sleeping in the public gardens for 3 nights. John let us use his shower and we were off to head north-west for a fun day in an old Greek-settled city, Sant Marti d'Empuries. A guy we met in a WiFi enabled coffee shop told us to go there (and he also told us about our genealogy. Weird Scottish guy, but very nice.)

The bike ride to Sant Marti brought back that feeling we get once we leave a place we've been at for awhile. During the first hour or 2 of the ride, I let out a freedom wail, like a karate chop – but with my entire body. It feels so good to be so free! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

The ride to Sant Marti was nice, and pretty uneventful. The trees were changing colors and it reminded us both of home.

On our way, we stopped for some lunch at a menu-style bar. They serve a 'menu' for a certain price, which includes 1 entree, 1 appetizer, 1 dessert and a glass of wine. Being seasoned Spanish speakers, we were able to order octopus, and it turned out to be a rubber-filled awful idea. Yuck. No more octi for us.

Sant Marti is a small town next to the larger L'Escala. When we got into L'Escala, we shopped for some food – including artichoke hearts for our delicious pasta we were planning. Some fruit made it's way into our mouths before we were even back on the bikes, and we were off.

We also picked up a jug of water to refill our 3liter CamelBak's and a little extra … NOT! What we thought was a 5 Liter jug turned out to be an 8'r. HUGE jug. Try biking with 8 liters of water hanging from one side. I felt like I had an infant hanging from my hip. Not good for balance.

We headed down to the old city and biked through the path by the water. Beautiful old ruins of Greek architecture – but protected by a big fence. It was getting late, and we were looking for a place to camp. We met a WONDERFUL Irish family who had stayed in the town the past week. They told us to camp by the Lidl grocery store, in the field next to the shooting range. Once we got there, we decided to sleep across the way, in a crop field.

When we were setting up the tent, 2 men started walking to us. We were a bit freaked, but they offered us to come inside their home and join them for some food and drink. We put our stuff away and 10 minutes later, we were in a small shed that a guy was living in. He put a box of donuts, a bag of chips, candy, and a mountain of sugar stuff on the table in front of us. All of it was making us sick, but they were really nice to us. It was a small place, but it's proof that you don't need much to be happy.

The next day, we wandered the city, took pictures, then made our way to Salvador Dali's hometown of Figueres. 56km later, we arrived in a neat looking city, not too dissimilar from Girona. The only difference was the AMAZING Dali Museum on the north-west side of town. What a cool place, with gigantic eggs decorating the top.

We decided to plop down the cash for a hotel and found ourselves at the President Hotel. I think it was a 4-star hotel, but Kris remembers it being a 3. Either way, it was nice. Not too expensive, but the kind of luxury that would make a nomadic cyclist swoon. We were given oranges in the evening and the jar of gummy candy never seemed to end – even though we tried.

The night we spent there was a bit relaxed, eating poor imitations of Mexican food — did we mention that we miss spicy food?

In the morning, we were going to leave town but *somebody* wasn't feeling too hot. We decided to stay another night because we were, after all, the Presidents.

We were able to hit the Dali Museum, which can only be described as a long mustache'd LSD trip through the weird with a vast array of mediums – canvas, plastic, living plants, even a car that was raining inside. So strange. A tip of the hat to you, Salvy. We loved it.

The next day, we left to cross the border into France. It was exciting, as we were gearing up to take a picture under a sign that would say "Welcome to France. You made it! Have some fromage!" … No luck. The town on the border was for the Frenchies who were eager to buy booze and smoke at Spain's lower prices. There were even some men hawking D&G sunglasses and watches. We instead enjoyed some granola and an orange. MMMMMM.

The trip across the border was nice and easy – we climbed the Pyrenees without any difficulty. I wouldn't ever go the other way – the ride down into France was fast and cool.

That night, we found ourselves in Perpignan. A nice hotel was on our way, and we stayed for a night — they had free WiFi and clean sheets. Good enough!

The weather was cool, but we were doing alright. We went for a walk after enjoying some falafal from the countless Doner Kabap's all around Spain and now France. Walking down by the train station, we met a German named Christoph, and 2 'travelers' who looking for some money. Weird guys, but nice enough. They offered us a mix of Coca Cola and wine, known as Kalimotxo. We declined, but they seemed to enjoy it.

The 2 'travelers' had been on the road for the past 7 YEARS hitchhiking. We both thought it sounded more like they were homeless, but they didn't seem to agree. One of the guys knew 7 languages fluently. Impressive, to say the least.

We met up with them later in the evening and I learned all about a guy's hash smuggling in Spain and how he's now on the run. Oh the people you'll meet!

The next day, we set off to bike north to our next farm, but the wet wind blew us directly back to where we started, the train station. We boarded the train and arrived in Carcassonne a few hours later. Phew!

In Carcassonne, we spent the night in another hostel because it was so late. It had been an expensive few days, but we were out of sunlight to find suitable places to camp. Our saving grace was the farm we were staying at — no living expenses!

Here's the pictures of the trip that far — more talky talky below. Don't miss it!

Sant Marti d'Empuries and Figures, Spain (38 photos)
30 October 2009

  
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After Carcassonne, we planned to bike near Mazamet where Peter and Wendy would pick us up. This time, the wind was SO AWFUL that we were averaging 3km/hr. It was nasty. Muddy, wet, hills, yuck. Kristen wanted to hitchhike (Have you seen our rigs?? It was THAT bad!) We decided to press on to the town of Villardonnel, where we found a quaint delicious restaurant/bar. There, we had hot chestnut soup (YUM), and a fish each. It was better food than everything in Spain combined.

They had WiFi and we were able to get a hold of WenPet (Wendy and Peter) and they left to pick us up.

2 hours later, we were loading our bikes into WenPet's trailer and were off.

Wendy was born on the Isle of Wight, in England. Peter was born in the capital city of Switzerland. They had moved to their farm, Fontaussil, in 2005, and had spent the past 4 years fixing it up. Now, it was a beautiful, liveable, livery of 11 horses, 4 dogs (JamiePlatz, SkullyPlatz, Rusty and Bonnie), a bunny named Sammie, 2 cats (only one was cool, hence the name Supreme Pus), 2 goats, 3 geese and 3 chickens.

We were given our own room in the Holiday House, the house next to the main one. It was nice and clean and roomy. We had our own bathroom with shower and a place to put all of our gear. Super nice place to stay.

We hung our hats there for over 2 weeks, working Monday through Friday on various things on the farm. One of the biggest pains in the butt we did was pull Broom. It's a plant that looks like long-needled spruce, and it grew all over the hillsides of the farm. Because they had been working so hard on the renovations, they hadn't had any time to look after the hills. No problem – that's why they signed up to HelpX! We were only their second workers, but they already had quite a few signed up by the time we left.

Another major project we worked on was their new homepage, www.wenpet.com. Peter helped me create it, by writing most of the content. I worked on the frame of it, and built it with 3 languages. Fun project, but very time consuming. Sometimes, working on the computer is a negative — it takes away from your time to enjoy the surroundings. Lessons for next time.

During our time at Fontaussil, Peter took us on a wonderful journey down the Tarn river. We visited what seemed like France's little Grand Canyon. We took all day, even making sandwiches in the car to feel like authentic French. We had Roquefort cheese from the neighboring city of Roquefort, France. It was tasty, but the green mold on it wasn't really working for me. We pitched half because we thought it was bad. Peter disagreed. That's just how it is.

During the trip to the Tarn, we stopped to gawk at the 10,000 year old genetic line of Madagascar horses. They were found in a remote area and never had a chance to breed with other more recent breeds. Very cool to see them — check out the pictures to see what they look like.

Peter also took us to a little village nearby, including one where we met a man who sells honey and vinegar that he makes. We fell in love with his honey and his cat, whom looked like Mia, only more fun. Impossible, I know.

Wendy and Peter both taught us something we have both been interested in for awhile – Reiki. It was a great experience to be initiated into Reiki 1 and 2 while we were there. It's something that we'll always have with us, and will remind us of our time with such a great couple.

After 16 days at Fontaussil, we gave our hugs and our last kisses to the animals and left to see Becca, Kristen's friend from way-back who's teaching English east of us.

Photos of Fontaussil:

Wendy and Peter's. South of France. (150 photos)
1 November 2009

  
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Here's a map of where we biked:
Remember – we trained from Perpignan(C) to Carcassonne(D), then got a ride from Villardonnel(E) to Fontaussil(F).

After a long sabbatical, I’m back with another blog post.

So, living with Jordi for 2 weeks in Balaguer, Spain was a great experience. He is such an interesting person, filled with a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share with those who are open and willing to listen.  He is a quiet man who lives alone but his mind and ideas are really worth a closer look. First of all, he is an inspiration to everyone who comes in contact with him. Jordi is the epitome of living ecologically friendly. His huge farm and orchard are 100% organic and he is extremely energy conscious, I have never met anyone who conserves and reuses the way he does.  He also grows an array of plants in his apartment that can be used for medicinal purposes, and would include them in every meal we ate! The meals he prepared are worthy of an entire blog post, as well. Three full meals were included every single day of the week, even on weekends when we weren’t working his land.  HUGE, gut busting, delicious meals, that were 100% vegetarian or vegan made almost entirely from veggies, fruits and legumes from his land. Casey and I pretty much drained his whole honey supply from his bee hives within the 2 weeks we stayed, by the way. Don’t judge us but we are, in fact, honey addicts.  The meals were well earned, though. We worked hard while we were there. What I liked most about the work was that Jordi made sure we learned and did as much as possible. We harvested many fruits and veggies, some of which I had never heard of before like a chayote and a quince.  We also pruned olive trees, shucked corn, helped make olive pate (YUMMYYYY), worked with spices and learned learned learned. We learned so much about organic farming techniques and we also learned a lot about Catalan culture. As I said, Jordi always had something to teach us. He’s hosted over 1000 people from all over the world and really involves himself in the community by volunteering at the hospital in Lleida and working with the organization Slow Food.

Another great thing about staying with Jordi was the heavy dose of culture we got there. During our stay there were three more HelpX helpers that arrived to help Jordi. First to arrive was Aaron who is originally from Cambridge, England but had been living in Portugal for the past two years working on farms and living off the land, he walked (yes… WALKED) to Jordi’s from Barcelona. Aaron was a riot and a whole lot of fun to hang out with a work with.  We were able to relate with him a lot, Casey with their similarities in humor and me with our love for Tom Robbins. The next two people that arrived were two girls from the Czech Republic names Veronica and Barbara + their little doggy names YoshiTamagoochie… or whatever his name was haha. They were also a joy to have and we learned so much about their country and culture. However, the greatest cultural experience we had while staying in Balaguer was definitely having the opportunity to speak with 6 different English classes at the local school. What a fun and rewarding experience it was. It was also rather enlightening to see what some of the younger Catalan youth thought of America, Hamburgers and Barak Obama were always brought up and I thought we were very well received from each class we spoke with. I will never forget that experience and will value everything that Jordi made available to us while we stayed with him.

After we left Jordi’s we took a train ride to Barcelona and stayed the weekend in a great hostel situated right in the center of the city. Hostel Layetana was situated next to a famous cathedral designed by Gaudi, the architect that has designed many of the most eccentric and world famous buildings in Barcelona.  What we loved about Barcelona was the entertainment around every corner and the fact that it is the Mecca of culture in Catalonia. We were extremely lucky to be in Barcelona during The International Day of Climate Action or Day 350. The number 350 is a call to the world to cap the carbon dioxide emissions at 350 parts per million. Casey and I went to a demonstration outside of the Centre D’Art Santa Monica. There were at least 15 different Drum and Bass groups from all over Spain rallying people with their music. In between each group, art students gave speeches in Spanish, Catalan and English; representing the fact that it is an international environmental issue. The city was electric, beautiful and brilliant. The 85 degree weather was splendid and the constant threat of theft from the gypsies kept us on our toes.

We left Barcelona on Sunday, the 25^th of October and headed east along Costa Brava, one of the most beautiful cost lines in Spain.  About 11 kilometers of this road is also coined as the most dangerous stretches of roads to travel on. Clearly, we made it out scathe free, but it was definitely hectic for that brief 11 km. We made it about 70 km that day and decided to find a place to camp and a restaurant to get some food. We scoped some sites and headed to the nearest bar. While we were eating we met a guy by the name of Nissan from Morocco and after having some disturbing conversations with him about Morroccan and Spanish sentiment towards the American public, he invited us to spend the night at his friend, Ali’s house. We were a little apprehensive at first because of the context of the conversation but I think the apprehension was accredited to the fact that there is a language barrier and that, as we later realized, he tended to over exaggerate a bit. It was an enlightening conversation, non the less, and we were so grateful for his and Ali’s generosity. Ali was a great host and it was definitely cool meeting someone from Senegal, too.

We left the Costa Brava region the next morning, after Nissan and Ali took us out for breakfast and continued to trek north east. We biked about 45 kilometers and found ourselves in a town called Girona. We were immediately struck by its unique beauty. It is unlike any other town in Spain that we had been; the architecture is very medieval and resonates a strong Roman influence. Girona is also a college town, and we were very excited to see so many people our age. We were on our way to Figures that day, but we decided that Girona was way too cool to pass up. So cool, in fact, that we decided to spend 3 nights and almost 4 days there. If I could choose any city in Spain to live, Girona would hands down, be the place. Never mind the fact that the expense of living in that town is the highest in Spain. We were also lucky to arrive during their weeklong festival of the city’s patron saint. We met so many wonderful people during our stay. Shout outs go to: O’Shane from Ireland who gave us some tips on some places we needed to visit before we biked into France, another to Robert from Poland who could charm your socks off with his didgeridoo playing, stories of hitchhiking all over the world and his obsession with any and all kinds of piercings. Our fondest shout out goes to John from Canada, however. John was an amazingly hospitable and genuinely open hearted. He used to live in Florida but moved to Spain with his boyfriend so that they could get married and live a more relaxed life. John worked at a bar in the city center and we met while we drank a few beers and surfed the internet at the bar. He is a wonderful conversationalist; we all really hit it off and decided to go to the festival together where there were carnival rides and a huge stage with live music. He even let us lock up our bikes while we all went out and he also let us take showers in his beautiful apartment.  I loved just being in his company and consider him a good friend.

Basically, I would recommend that anyone going to Spain make sure they seek out a couple nights stay in Girona. If at all possible, I would also recommend camping in the John Lennon Gardens, where Casey and I spent 3 nights. It was absolutely gorgeous and you couldn’t ask for a safer or more beautiful spot to camp, despite the fact that it is totally and 100% illegal. Some other highlights from Girona include, the 100 person bike-bar-crawl, the live music we heard every single night we stayed there, meeting other touring cyclists and of course, experiencing all of this with the best companion I could ask for on this journey; Casey Slaughter Stanton.

Although there is still more to report, since I am writing this from the beautiful south of France, I’ll let Casey fill you all in on the rest. Until next time, I am sending a lot of love to those I miss and to those who will hopefully be inspired to embark on their own special life changing journey.

P.S. Will be posting more pictures this week

Map of the bicycle journey — Keep in mind we trained from Balaguer to Barcelona (and bussed, and then trained.)

This post spans 7 days biking, and the rest of the time working at a HelpX host in Balaguer and partying in Barcelona.

3 weeks ago, we left our campsite in Vinaros, Spain. It was a similar story to the rest of the campsites in Spain – suited for RV's, with Shania Twain playing in the morning while the 'residents' work out. Most were over 60, and were shirtless (men) or in some strange one-piece bathing suit (women). Needless to say, it was fun to hang out.

We woke up that morning to leave Vinaros, quickly realizing that we had been over-served at the local watering hole the night before. We took all the energy we could muster and sat up.

It took an hour to pack the tent and get to the road. Fast-forward a few hours and we're starving. We take a right-turn down a big hill, which was a relief on such a long day of climbing. We must have gone 2km before we found the city. It was a beautiful town right on the coast, with the hill we just descended from in the background.

Our first stop was the fruitaria (fruit shop) on our way. We sat outside and chomped on peaches, grapes, and some juice. Finally, we had enough blood-sugar to run on, and we switched our bodies fuel source from 'will and hope' to something sustainable.

After a bit of a break, we needed to head north. Our plan was to be at Jordi's (our host in Balaguer) in 5 days. Muy facil.

We heard from some people on the streets that we could skip Tarragona and go north-east through Tortosa. It didn't take us any convincing to change our plans and shave 60-100km off our trip! We headed to Tortosa, where we were unable to find a place to camp. We decided to head onward, toward Flix, to find a suitable place to sleep. Somehow, we were able to push our bodies and our near-200lbs of gear into the coolest little town we've ever seen – Benifallet. It was dark by the time we got there, after riding along the old train path, through the dark and long tunnels through the mountain. I was a bit freaked out, but didn't let it show.

We saw the sign for Benifallet, the old train station, and assumed the town would be north. Wrong. 5km later, we asked the only other person we saw on the path. He guided us back to the station, then to the skinny washed out dirt road that lead to the highway. From there, it was just a few short km to the city.

It was strange entering it; with a river separating it from the rest of the land. It seemed like a moat, and once we finally approached the north and only entrance, we were delighted to find a nice hill to coast down, and into town.

The bar we stopped at to eat was an old pension, a bar for retired people to play games. By the way — people in Spain play some weird games with some strange cards! We still need to figure out how to play on of these games…

At the bar, we met a Brit who told us we could sleep next to the river. Later, we heard from another Brit that anytime people pass through, they sleep by the river.

We took their advice and headed down after we ate. Cute green area next to the river, under some lush trees that gave us a bit of protection from the noise of barking dogs. A perfect night sleep, in a great town. If I was going to buy land in Spain, it would be there. We heard you can get a very livable piece of land for 8000Euros in the mountains. Mark my words — if 2012 really happens, you'll find me here.

The next day, we headed north planning to get as close to Lleida as possible. Nothing too eventful on the ride, except for the CLIMBING. It was ridiculous. I felt like I had someone pulling my Jake Break. The headwind begged us to stop riding, turn around, and get the first flight home. Our average speed was so slow, we were hoping to find some kind of magic portal or tunnel to disappear into.

Alas, no oasis. No pot of gold. After we reached the top of the mountain, we found another to climb. Then another.

Possibly half the time was spend walking with our steeds, looking like a boy in heels with my bike shoes on.

Finally, we arrived in Flix. It was a good-sized city, a perfect place to eat … except for the HUGE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT! There was a bed of crops in every direction, spawning from the cooling tower, and our logic got the best of us. If they mostly use local foods, these can't be too healthy!

We pressed onward to find someplace to sleep that wasn't in the radiation field. Mistake.

It was a LONG 64km to get to our final destination in Maials. The map made it look like a big enough town to have a supermarket or at least a gas station. Wrong. We did, however, find a nice bar that made us some fish fillets and fries. Some local guys took me for a drive in their car to show me a place we could sleep for the night. It was a crop field next to the big industrial building in town. Looked good, so we hung out in town for a while longer.

The bar-woman kicked us out for a siesta, and we headed to the next bar down the street. A real bar, because all it served was liquids.

After the smallest cup of tea I've ever had, we went back to the first bar for seconds, this time pizza. Yum.

That night, we went biked down the the field to sleep but noticed there were big irrigation trenches around it. Pretty much impossible for me and my 8435987 foot long bike to traverse. We decided to camp behind 3 big steel boxes — like the ones on boats that go around the world. We locked our bikes up and slept on the concrete in our tent.

At 4 or 5 in the morning, Kristen woke me up with that heart-stopping gasp. There was a car infront of us, headlights on, just sitting there. We freaked a bit, but they finally moved on. The Sandman came quickly, and took us back to dreamland for the next few hours. At 9ish, we got up and packed up. There was a security guard walking around, kind of checking us out. We exchanged pleasant "hola"'s, and went on our way.

The next day, we're in Lleida. Some more climbing, but nothing too bad. We get to the town and realize that it's a national holiday. Wait… this was Sunday. The next day was the holiday.

Either way, we are starving. Our first plan is to find a place to sleep, as our map indicates there is camping in Lleida. We wanted to get online and email Jordi, telling him we were close and coming a day or 2 early. But… everything is closed.

No camping in Lleida, a couple of mountain bikers tell us. The closest camping is 15km north. Kristen was done biking for the day, so we looked for alternatives. We discussed our choices over way too many delicious pastries from a french shop in town. Waaaaay too many.

If I gain 50 pounds in France, you'll know why; tiramesu!

We heard about the hotel across from the train station, and that they offered free WiFi in their rooms. 50 euros later, we're in the comforts of a hotel with a warm shower and a soft bed.

In the morning, we made the coast down to Balaguer. All of the climbing we did finally gave us a relaxing day to coast. We must have descended 3km that day. Beautiful!

We arrive in Balaguer a bit early, as Jordi wasn't available to meet until after his holiday dinner with his family. We look for his place anyways, just so we are certain during daylight where it is.

Somehow we wrote it down wrong, but with enough friendly people to aid us, we found exactly where he lived.

The rest of the day, we played in the park, throwing our Frisbee, and swinging on the vines of a Weeping Willow (Seriously. People there just tie them together and sit down, then swing. Who would have thought of that??!).

At 7:15, we buzz Jordi. An apprehensive "Hola?" greets us through the loudspeaker and we declare "Hola. Dos Americanos!'" The password worked, and he came down to meet us.

We pulled our get upstairs to the apartment, and he took us for a tour. Our bedroom was nice, with a twin-or-bigger sized bed and a mirror. Not too much there, but just enough for us.

Here's a map of the distance so far:

View Larger Map

Pictures to come. We need to figure out where we put them!

Also, I've added a Twitter widget on the right side that will update where we are. What that means is even if we don't post a big, long post like this, you can still see where we are in a mini-blog post. Look to the right, or go to www.twitter.com/bikes

Sending love,

Casey & Kristen

( photos)
31 December 1969

First and foremost; this post will not just be about our travels from Oliva to Torre del la Sal. It will mostly be about the innumerable amount of good people we have met since then. It will be about the people who have gotten us off of the "thin ice", who have been our guides and those who have just provided good words of wisdom.

After we stayed in Oliva, we headed north towards beautiful Gandia. Before we headed out of the city we needed to find the correct road to take, fearing we would end up on one of the major roads. We asked a nice woman in the center of Oliva if she could direct us and she offered for us to follow her in her car towards a bike path that would take us directly to Gandia. While we were on this path we really started to get a taste of how many cyclists there are in Spain. It was almost like every half kilometer we would see any where from one to groups of 6 cyclists riding. After we had been on the bike path for a while we saw an older gentlemen taking a break from his bike ride on a bench off to the side of the path. He asked us where we were from and how far we were planning to go. When we told him that we were heading to Roma, he seemed very impressed. He then proceeded to give us some great advice on places to camp in Spain, he also advised us to get better road maps because the ones we were carrying were rather rudimentary. After we chatted for a bit, we said adios and continued towards Gandia. Not 3 minutes later, he was right behind us on his bicycle, eager to talk more. Long story short, he ended up guiding us through Gandia towards Valencia. At one point we had to stop because Casey's derailer seemed to be acting up. The gentleman pulled out some rubber gloves and offered to fix it. With great success, he took off his gloves and stuffed them into Casey's handle bar bag as a gift! He even lead us to a neighboring city more towards the coast in hopes of finding us a better maps. Enrique, you will forever be in our hearts. Even though you only guided us about 8 kilometers, you helped us tremendously simply out of kindness  We'd thank you 100 times over, if we could.

After riding about 60 kilometers, we took a break on a beach and swam in the Mediterranean for the first time. It was so refreshing after a hot day of biking. At times like those, we realize how fortunate we are to be able to go on an adventure like this one, and it makes the salty water of the Mediterranean that much sweeter. About 3 hours later, we finally found a place to camp in a forest across from a golf course near El Saler and slept very soundly. Another thing that is noteworthy about Friday night, is that we met some 1%-ers. For those of you that don't know who these people are, they are the 1% of motorcyclists in the world who are part of Hell's Angels. Now THAT is something you don't see every day. Anyway, we thought that was pretty cool.
The next day we biked about 15 kilometers and found ourselves staring the Valencian skyline down, right between its eyes. All I could think of was, 'alright Valencia, round two. Show us what you REALLY got!'. After we biked towards the center of the city we saw the most beautiful architecture. A Valencian man by the name of Santiago Calatrava designed the building of Arts and Sciences along with the Oceanographic museum right at the East end of the city. I thought that was super cool because this man also designed the Milwaukee Art Museum and it reminded me of home. As we biked through the huge Valencian park (once a river that has now dried up) we decided that we needed to stay the night, the city seemed way too interesting to blow through in a couple hours. We found our way to the tourist office to find a hostel. We got directions and found ourselves in the middle of Old Valencia.  We walked into our hostel and fell in love. Its called the Hilux Hostel and it seriously has to be the coolest one in all of Valencia, if not all of Spain. The reason I say this isn't because of the beautiful and unique rooms, its not because its clean, its not even because of the free wifi (although all these things help). Its because of the great people we met. Saturday was the first night we stayed and it just so happened to be Mojito night! The Argentinian manager invited us to partake when we arrived so we said, 'why not?'. Mojitos were served in the kitchen and there we met Julia, the two Argentinians named Diego and a student from Holland named Freeg. Julia works at the reception desk so she couldn't stay too long but we did end up talking with Freeg for several hours and decided at around 12 midnight that we needed to hit the bars. The three of us had a great time dancing and experiencing the Valencian night life. We decided that we must stay another night so we could really experience a Valencian weekend.
The next day we headed out and Casey bought a new Nikon D60 camera. What a great idea, we really would like to have some great pictures from our trip. We intended to go to the Bioparc that day but opted not too. A bit too expensive and we thought it would be better to walk around and play with the new Camera. It was a delightful day.
The next day, we packed up, said our goodbyes to the lovely Hilux staff and headed out on our bicycles. We thought the best thing to do was head east toward the beach and find a good road to take up the coast. On our way there, we saw our first organic grocery store. I nearly squealed with delight! There we picked up some breakfast and some more soap. We also got a discount because we came on our bikes, how wonderful is that? It is so refreshing to see people who share a "greener" mindset. When we left, a woman on her bicycle asked us in English where we were headed. When we explained, she beamed with support and encouragement. SHe offered to lead us toward the coast and direct us north. We biked for a while with her and found out a bit about her life story. Her name is Natalia from Holland and she had been living in Spain for the past 11 years or so. This woman's energy and personality is so warm, loving and free spirited. Her outlook on life is so fresh and inspiring. You know; a lot of times when we tell people what we are doing and how far we are traveling, we are told we are absolutely crazy for going on such a long adventure. Not Natalia, she was so excited for us and was genuinely happy for the two of us. She lives her life in the "now" and really gets it. It was a pleasure to meet her. She gave us her information and I think we'll send her a card at Christmas time. (Author's Side Note: I also fell off my bike 3 times within an hour and a half….HA! I guess 2 days off the bike really jaded my cycling skills? Its okay, no harm done!)

So… again we were off, headed north towards what? We did not know. This is when things started to get a little hairy. Essentially, after Valencia, there are no more secondary roads that travel up the coast line so we were trying to find all these bass-akwards ways to take towards the next major city. We traveled about 56 kilometers that day and really didn't make much headway. We decided to stop in a little town called Canet and call it a day. I think both Casey and I were a bit frusterated and tired of getting turned around. We decided to bike around town to find a good place to pitch our tent. Without much luck, we went to the grocery store for some dinner. This is where we met Santiago, his wife and their young daughter named Susana. Casey approached them outside of the grocery store and asked them for their opinion on the best route to go north with our bicycles. To our surprise, Santiago told us that the national highway is suitable for cyclists. We were shocked, we thought the national road was more like the equivilant of America's interstate highways. Apparently not! With that weight lifted off our shoulders, we asked Santiago is he knew of a safe place for us to pitch our tents for the night. After some deliberation and discussion, Santiago and his wife invited us back to their appartment to spend the night! We were so relieved! Its interesting, the days where our traveling gets the most hectic are also the days when we meet the most generous and kind people. So, we followed Santiago's car on our bikes to the neighboring town where their appartment is. We unloaded our stuff, locked up our bikes and took the elevator up to their flat. Santiago's wife made up a bed and told us that we should shower so that all of us could eat dinner together. I cannot describe how greatful we felt at this moment. Casey and I showered and headed out of the apartment to find the family at a resturant down the street. We walked for a while and couldn't find them. I think at this point we realised that we must have misheard them. Keep in mind, none of them spoke english so there was a serious language barrier. We headed back to the apartment and waited outside, hoping they'd come back and explain to us what they had really said. Not 5 minutes later, Santiago and his daughter came back and told us to get in the car. We did, totally unsure of where we were going. We arrived at another apartment and walked up the stairs. All the while Casey and I were exchanging confused looks. When we got upstairs we were in an even nicer house. All of a sudden it dawned on us that this was their primary home and that the one we were staying it was just their "beach house". Anyway, we thought that was pretty funny. Even though there is a language barrier and we'd only known them for a short while, they totally opened their homes and hearts to us. That night we talked laughed and ate…I mean REALLY ATE! They fed us so much food, I felt like I was going to explode. After dinner, Santiago took us back to the "beach house" where were originally unloaded all of our bags. He said good night and left us in their second home, all to ourselves. We were so shocked and so happy. We still couldn't believe how everything worked out so well and we really reflected on all the good people that are in this world.

The next morning Santiago and his wife came back over and made us some breakfast. They also gave us a peice of paper with their 2 addresses and their phone numbers. They told us to call them if we needed anything while we were still in Spain and that if we ever came back to Canet, we'd always have a place to stay. We told them how greatful we were and headed out, this was our first day that were were going to travel on the national highway. All in all, it was a great day of biking, we did about 80 kilometers…phew!! Right at the end, the road climbed up a mountain. Since it was a little over 80 degrees, it was quite the haul. The decent down was even more intense, if you can believe it. There was NO shoulder and it seemed like every semi-truck known to man was traveling that part of the road. It was quite a thrill. When we got down the hill we pulled off the road towards Torre del la Sal, the town we decided to stay in. We immediately biked to the beach and got into our swim suits. We played in the Sea for a bit and washed our hair. It felt so good to get out of the heat and back into the water! From there we went to the grocery store and joked about hanging out there until we met some other people who might take us in for the night. We did meet a man from the Netherlands who was camping near by and told us that we should come there for the night because it was a nice place. We decided to go there and that is where I am writing from right now.

Needless to say, the last few days have given us more than a great tan. Thanks to all those who we have met, we have broadened our horizons. For us, this trip is all about learning and immersing ourselves into new cultures. I can sit here now and honestly say that these experiences have gone far beyond my expectations and its all thanks to the amazing people who have opened their hearts to us. This post is for all of you, and all those who we will meet in the next 3+ months, and all those who we know back home. Thank you for your support, it means worlds to us.

Sending love,
Kristen and Casey.

Oliva to Torre del la Sal, Spain (88 photos)
4 October 2009
http://www.rawandfit.com/biketour/blog/oliva-to-torre-del-la-sal-this-one-is-for-all-the-good-people-in-the-world/

  
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Hola everyone!

Our journey thus far has been quite the adventure, and its only been a week. We are finally settled in with our first HelpX Host in Tarbena, Spain. His name is Jaime Owen and even though we have only been here 2 nights, we already feel quite at home and at peace on top of this beautiful mountain where he resides. We have learned so much about ourselves and have already faced many challenging obstacles that have already made this experience worth all the effort.

Casey left you guys with a brief update on our arrival in Madrid. Although we were only there for 2 nights, I think we both agree that was enough. Madrid is a young city filled with fun and excitement around every corner. You can just feel the pulsing energy there, especially in the late night and early morning hours. The center of the city is called Sol – Spanish for sun – and it lives up to its name. The streets glisten with the country´s rich history and the Spanish people radiate a certain genuine kindness and selflessness that I find completely charming. We had a grand time exploring, but we were quite excited to leave the big city. Casey and I feel that this journey is about learning and growth and well, we honestly felt we had learned what we could from Madrid. It was time to move towards the mountains and toward our passion to help others,  and get a taste of the rural Spanish culture.

Now, a European bicycle adventure wouldn't be nearly as thrilling if there weren't any figurative and literal  speed bumps along the way. Saturday morning we were to leave Madrid from the Chamartín Train and arrive in Alicante, Spain. When we got there, we would meet with Jaime who would collect us and then we'd all spend the night partying in Alicante together. On Sunday morning our plan was to drive up the mountains, through Tarbena to his house. However, we found ourselves in a bit of a predicament at Chamartín (Understatement of the Year, by the way). Casey and I waited patiently at the station with all of our gear for the train's platform to be announced. Casey bounced around a bit, meeting interesting folk who were also in transit. He also was smart to go to the information desk and quadruple check to see if it was alright that we carry our 4 large boxes of bikes and gear with us on the train. For the 4th time, they said it would be just fine. At last the platform was announced and we made our way down. When we got down there the train station staff immediately approached us and started explaining in Spanish that we could not take our boxes on the train, they were simply too big. Casey's Spanish is better than mine, but I could tell by their tone exactly what was being said. We started to get frantic, pleading with them in our broken Spanglish to let us on. After all, we were told several times it was acceptable. Tears started to stream down my face as I watched our train to Alicante, slowly chug away from the station. Just then, an angel came to us. A woman by the name of Mia (I think…) was also on the platform saying her farewells to her husband who was going on business. When she saw that we were having troubles, she came to us offering to be our English-Spanish interpreter. This woman stayed with us for 1.5 hours helping us get refunds on our non-refundable train tickets AND find an alternative way to get us and our gear to the south-east of Spain. She was so wonderful.  I wish we could have gotten her contact info because I would love to send this woman a Christmas card or something, I just couldn't say thank you enough.

SO, the new plan was this: Train to Atocha, the neighboring train station in Madrid. From there we would have to get on a local train that would take us to a neighboring village and from there, transfer to another local train that would take us to Valencia which is about 180 km north of Alicante. Thankfully, we called Jaime and he was alright with picking us up in Valencia.  Finally…we were on our way.  By 10 pm we arrived in Valencia. We got all our stuff off the platform and waited on the side walk outside of the train station for Jaime. About 30 minutes went by and he was no where in sight. We found a pay phone and called him several times and finally around 11pm we got ahold of him. Apparently he was at a different train station in Valencia, finally he found a taxi driver to direct him to the other station and at 11.30 pm, he arrived in his car! We gave him huge hugs, I have never been so relived to see anyone in my life, and he is pretty much a complete stranger none the less.

So we all decided it would be best just to drive the hour and 15 minutes it takes to get to his home in Tarbena from Valencia. BUT…about 30 minutes into the drive we realize we are going the wrong way!!!!! By that time we were onlu about 30 minutes from Alicante (our original destination) so we decided to drive there and stay in the hotel we had originally booked! I guess forces of nature REALLY wanted us to go to Alicante. It also worked out for the best because we weren't able to cancel the hotel in the midst of all the chaos so I guess its good we got rerouted to Alicante.

On Sunday morning we all drove to his house in Tarbena. It is absolutely breath taking here. Jaime is an artist and has an amazinbg life story. We all get along very well and we both feel very at peace here. He already has offered us to stay longer than originally intended so we will have to see how everything pans out. So far we have gotten a taste of local Tarbena night life and some amazingly delicious Tapas. We have started work on his land, clearing out brush and doing some household chores. More importantly, we all have spent a lot of quality time together talking philosophy, books, art, life and technology.

Our bikes are built up, our tummies are full of good food, the air is clean and this post has gone on too long. Stay tuned for pictures, the internet is quite slow here in rural, Spain but they are coming soon.

Peace be the Journey,
Kristen and Casey

We made it!

After 10 hours of flying, we arrived in Madrid. A quick trip on an oversized taxi (costing us $51US), we found our hotel. We are about 5 km from the center of downtown Madrid:

View Larger Map

We're on our way out to explore. More later! We stay here for 2 nights.

Kristen and I did a test-tour to get everything set up before our big 4-month trip around Spain, Italy and France. We decided that a good in between plan was to meet at the Thumb near Bay City and bike around for a few days. We thought about seeing some lighthouses, camping on the beach, and just taking it easy.

Here is a map of where we decided to go on the bike tour: Unionville to Caseville to Grind Stone City to Forestville to Gagetown, back to Unionville. 137 miles, 5 days. Super super easy. AND FUN!

I met Kristen in Unionville and we built our bikes up. It was pretty easy to do and only took about 30 minutes. Most of it was fitting Kristen's new Ortleib Backroller Classic panniers that she had just picked up from REI.

Here are a few fun pics from the trip:

Kristen with her new Ortleib Backroller panniers

That's us just north of Caseville in a campsite's picnic area. It was off-season, and we were the only people around. While we didn't sleep there, we still used their covered place to cook oats on our MSR Dragonfly Stove.

Trek 1.2 used for bike tour

Here's Kristen in our MSR Hubba Hubba tent in the woods by the High School in Caseville. We just walked around until we found a nice spot in the woods and set up camp. We didn't ask anyone if we could stay, and found it to be a great place!

The tent is awesome. Super easy to set up and roomy.

Breakfast!

On our way back from getting some ice cream in Grind Stone City, we hitch-hiked back to where we kept our bikes — Captain Morgan's Bar. It was a super safe place for us to leave them, we were not worried. When we were moving them out, some people were asking where we were going and where we were staying. We had planned on sleeping out on the end of the little peninsula in town, but the folks invited us to stay in their back yard. We were able to use their bathroom and they showed us around their house. Very neat people. Thanks Paul and Pauline!!

That's about it for pictures. The big trip is only a few days away! We will keep you posted on a full packing list when we finally decide what to bring!

OK! It's finally here! I woke up at 745am today (which is VERY early!) and finished the last of the packing.

Today, I leave my home in Suttons Bay, MI and head to Ann Arbor for a tailgate weekend with my family. From there, my parents drive me out to a northern Chicago burb, and I stay there Monday night.

The next stop is to meet up with Kristen and her family about 30 miles south. It's farewell to my parents, then an evening in Chicago. The next day, Wednesday, we leave for Madrid!

Here is the current route that's been planned so far:

View Larger Map

We will train to Alicante from Madrid on the 19th or 20th, depending on what works best. Because we're late in picking a date, we're forced to pay a premium and ride First Class. Not so bad, really. We get fed + showers. I'm not complaining!

One of the things that I found when on the tour of the Thumb was that I carried way too many books! I was reading "The Sunfood Diet" by David Wolfe on my iPhone (which is now dead, thanks to a canoeing accident with Max , "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and some small stuff. I brought along a book on Spain, a book on edible mushrooms in Michigan, and a journal. LOTS OF SPACE.

I looked into a Kindle 2, because I've heard so many good things about them. The price had dropped to $299, and I decided to get one.

I got it in yesterday loaded a majority of my books (in PDF, converted for free) onto it. It's awesome! I'll update about how I'm liking it, but at this rate, it's my best leisure purchase yet!

I was also lucky enough to stumble across some great people at KindleBoards.com who helped me with issues with my case and converting files. They are really a great group of people!

Quick stop at Oryana to grab some crystal deodorant and a veggie juice.

More later. Gotta run! Goodbye Suttons Bay!