November 20, 2009
- Fontaussil to St. Afrique
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!
- Bike Touring the Spain-France border
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.)
November 15, 2009
- Balaguer to Girona, Spain
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.
October 26, 2009
- Vinaros to Balaguer
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.
October 8, 2009
- Oliva to Torre del la Sal. This One is for All the Good People in the World.
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.
More on Oliva to Torre del la Sal. This One is for All the Good People in the World.
October 3, 2009
- Benissa to Oliva, Spain bicycle tour
Our first day of biking took us from Benissa, Spain to Oliva. Jamie, our host in Tarbena, dropped us off with all of our gear in Benissa, about 15km from his place. It's a real pain to get out of his driveway, and the extra time it would have taken us to get down the mountain would have been serious.
September 23, 2009
- Our first week in Espana!
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.
September 17, 2009
- Welcome to Madrid
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:
September 13, 2009
- Bicycle Tour around the Thumb of Michigan
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.
September 11, 2009
- Pre-packing for the European Bicycle Tour
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.
August 30, 2009
- How to Add a Picture to your Avatar on Blog Posts
You know that little picture of someone's face next to their post on a blog? That's their 'avatar'. There's a global movement around to standardize the images that people use on their posts, and its very simple to set-up.
- I Quit my Day Job!
That's it! I'm done.
Last night I finished my final weeks bartending in downtown Traverse City.
It's crazy and unnerving to leave a great place to work. I was working 30 hours a week, mostly evenings, and making anywhere from $100-200 a night. It wasn't amazing money, but the work was fun and I met a lot of great people.
August 16, 2009
- HelpX on a bicycle tour : 2 possible stops
2 days ago, Kristen and I sent out about 15 requests on HelpX.net We are officially 1 month from our departure date and we don't know where we are going to say…
It's pretty exciting to have such a huge possibility in front of us, and having the total ability to do whatever we want.
August 14, 2009
- TW-Trailer from ActionBent for Touring
When I purchased my Trek Pilot 1.2 back in 2007, I didn't realize the "cost" of having a carbon fork. It's light weight, attractive, and new-agey. It also won't allow you to put a rack on it. The carbon is made for the exact pressures it's built for – not for sideways tension and weight that the rack puts on it. I've seen people put hose clamps on their fork and rig up a rack, but I think it's a terrible idea and if the fork breaks … it shatters.
August 5, 2009
- 2.5 week notice
It's official. I put in my 2.5 week notice at my bar – www.eatatginger.com
I told my manager, Matt, the bar manager. After the phone call – on his day off – and after he accepted my early departure, I told the chef, head manager (Joe) and a few of my favorite staff — Chelsea, Joe, Brian, etc.
August 4, 2009
- Hubba Hubba Tent vs Hennessy Hammock for Bike Touring
This past weekend, an old friend from college and his girlfriend came up to Traverse City. Chris and I used to hang and bond over cycling and he has gone on a few tours within the state.
More on Hubba Hubba Tent vs Hennessy Hammock for Bike Touring
July 14, 2009
- Ticket from Ann Arbor to Chicago on Megabus
I was chatting with my sister after she got home from work and we got to talking about the bike trip. She is having a big family party at her place in Ann Arbor on September 12 for the big football game. It's going to be a blast and Kristen & I are both going to be there.
July 13, 2009
- Coleman Taos Sleeping Bag. Status: Purchased
Helloooo! Its Kristen for a change!
I wanted to post about the awesomeness that was yesterday's mummy bag purchase. Both Casey and I need pretty solid sleeping bags for the trip and I have been on the look out for something practical and inexpensive! A couple weekends ago we went to REI in Ann Arbor; the sleeping bags they had there were up to 250 dollars (Holy CRAP!) so we decided to hold off on the purchase. This past weekend we were camping with some friend's up in Sterling, MI. Unfortunately we were unable to bring a blow up mattress for our tent so we had to sleep on the sleeping bags we brought. Anyone who has been in this situation knows how uncomfortable this can be. I found myself thinking that it would be a much better idea for Casey and I to sleep in the hammocks he brought. It was pretty hilarious when I stumbled out of the tent on Saturday night with my arms full of my mom's mothball-scented sleeping bag and pillow. Casey and I made our way over to the hammock and snuggled up. The hammock proved to be a lot more comfortable than the hard ground in the tent, but I was pretty cold. It seemed as though the sleeping bag I had was just unnecessary dead weight and didn't keep us warm.
July 12, 2009
- Tickets PURCHASED!
Friday, over 1 week after we wanted to purchase the tickets, we FINALLY DID!!
We are both SO freakin' excited for this trip. This past weekend, we went out camping in Standish/Sterling, MI for 2 nights. We didn't try out too many things, and the weather was so nice we didn't need to don our new raincoats. We did, however, have a great weekend together and talked about the trip.
July 8, 2009
- Goretex PacLite Shell Rain Coats!
Brand new rain coats! Kristen and I went a little nuts when we took a drive to REI in Ann Arbor this past weekend. It was an awesome store with a huge line of bicycles in front, then sleeping bags, kayaks and rock climbing gear. We looked around for a bit, then started to look for rain coats. That was my entire reason for going there — rain coats. I had been looking for a solid coat to take with us up here in Traverse City, but didn't buy one because I didn't know Kristen's size.
