A Photo Journal: Flying High to Lopez Island

I like meeting new people — especially when those people broaden my horizons.

Meet my new friend, Larry. Larry literally flew me to new horizons.

Meet Larry.

Larry has an array of interests. One of those interests is piloting his Cessna 150. Larry likes to fly to places and then explore those places via land.

Suppose you were Larry. Suppose you wanted to fly your plane somewhere — let's say the San Juan Islands — to explore the isles. What might be a good way to explore once you've touched down?

Yes, you got it — a bicycle!

Cycling Through Catalonia

While in Spain, I spent my last week cycling through Catalonia. This wasn't a bike trip for counting miles or conquering hills. Rather, it was a bike trip for learning the "contours of a country," as Ernest Hemingway would say -- for learning the region's landscape, culture, and people.

Bromleigh, my Brompton, and I spent one week cycling through Catalonia.

To give my cycling trip structure, I decided I would cycle to the north to see Salvador Dalí's Museum in Figueres and to visit his home in Port Lligat. Along the way, I would stay with Warm Showers hosts. This would allow me the opportunity to experience home life in Spain and to have conversations with the locals. (I was particularly interested in learning personal viewpoints about the political situation in Catalonia.)

Here I Come, Barcelona!

When I crawled out of bed on the morning of June 13th, earlier this year, I had no plans to travel overseas. Things were different when I crawled back into bed that night; I was going to Barcelona.

Barcelona, here I come!

I am bursting at the seams with housesitting requests. While I'm glad to be in such high demand, housesitting is something I do in my downtime. And while I appreciate my downtime, it's really the uptime that I look forward to -- when I'm out-and-about traveling and exploring. I've been more careful in the last year or so about not filling my schedule with housesits. I've deliberately guarded large blocks of unscheduled time in my calendar where I can allow for whims and serendipity. The month of October was one of those unscheduled blocks of time.

Adventure Cyclist: Brompton M6R Road Test

An article I wrote about my Brompton was recently published in the July 2017 issue of Adventure Cyclist!

Adventure Cycling thru the Black Hills

The Adventure Cycling season is about to kick off for me. I'm thrilled to be staffing three trips this summer. In honor of the season kick-off, I am sharing a post about my August 2016 Adventure Cycling trip through the Black Hills. This post is ten months belated; I had written this post last fall, but apparently neglected to publish it.

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Anyone hungry for some pie?

Holly, awesome rider extraordinare,
is excited to dig into a bull pie.

In August 2016, I staffed a fully-supported event for Adventure Cycling through the Black Hills of South Dakota. I had never been to the Black Hills before, and so the territory was all new to me.

Happy 4th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 4th Re-Birthday to Me!

Four years ago today, I quit my job and was thereby born again into a new life. Since my re-birth, I have luxuriated in the freedoms afforded by unstructured time and financial independence. Wow, what a joy ride it has been!

A Reply from Brompton

In my last post, The First 800 Miles with My Brompton, I shared my thoughts about my new folding bike. As I explained, the one drawback is the gearing -- I wish I had more optimal gearing for climbing and descending hills, particularly while carrying a load.

A number of you responded to my post saying that you would consider purchasing a Brompton if the gearing were more touring friendly. Your responses encouraged me to reach out to Will Butler-Adams, the CEO of Brompton.

Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton. (Photo: http://makeitbritish.co.uk/)

Here is a snippet of my email to Will, written August 2nd:

The First 800 Miles with My Brompton

If you're here to learn more about Bromptons, read the review I wrote about my Brompton for the Adventure Cyclist magazine. Otherwise, read on...

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A little over a month ago, I introduced My New Set of Wheels -- my folding Brompton bike. Many of you asked how I liked my new bicycle, which I affectionately named "Bromleigh." At the time, I hadn't put enough miles on Bromleigh to form an opinion. But now, with more than 800 miles on my new rig, I'm ready to share my thoughts.

Me, just about to set out on my first tour with Bromleigh. (Photo: Pat Goede)

In the past, I've toured with Shirley, my trusty Long Haul Trucker. Commonly referred to as the "gold-standard" in affordable touring bikes, I've been nothing but satisfied with Shirley's performance. However, on my recent bicycle travels to South America, I learned that traveling with a full-sized bicycle can be cumbersome and expensive. And so it was that Bromleigh was born into my repertoire of bicycles.

Riding the Tetons-Yellowstone Route: A Photo Journal

As mentioned in my previous post, Getting to the Start of the Reconnaissance Ride, I did a solo, self-contained "reconnaissance ride" around the Tetons-Yellowstone loop. Immediately following my Reconnaissance Ride, I co-lead two separate week-long tours around the same route for Adventure Cycling. All in all, the trip included about 800 miles of pedaling. This is a photo journal of my trips.

I picked up Adventure Cycling's Tetons-Yellowstone loop in the town of West Yellowstone, at the far north end of the route. A few miles outside of West Yellowstone, I crossed the Continental Divide and entered Idaho.

Getting to the Start of the Reconnaissance Ride

In just a few days, I will be leading two Tetons/Yellowstone trips for Adventure Cycling. Each trip will be van-supported and will last for eight days. Having been to neither the Tetons nor Yellowstone before, I decided to do a "reconnaissance ride" on my own along the route. The reconnaissance ride would enable me to scout out the area so that I could provide a better trip experience for my riders.

My adventure began at the Greyhound bus station in Seattle. At 11:45pm, I boarded a bus for a 16-hour ride to Bozeman, Montana. Riding straight south from Bozeman would get me to West Yellowstone, at the far northern tip of the Tetons/Yellowstone loop. Note that Bozeman is 120 miles away from West Yellowstone. Though I could have taken a bus to Jackson, Wyoming, which is the official starting and ending point of the Adventure Cycling route, doing so would have meant arriving into an unfamiliar town in the middle of the night. Instead, I opted to ride an extra 240 miles roundtrip in order to arrive in the daytime.

This was my first long-distance bus trip in the United States. I had heard from numerous people that the scum of all scum took Greyhound. I was sorta looking forward to experiencing the scummy experience for myself...but sorta not.

Shortly after arriving at the Seattle Greyhound Station, a man named Reginold Smiley put my mind at ease. Sitting just a few seats away from me, we started chatting as he opened up his sketchbook to draw Greyhound's greyhound.

Meet Reginold Smiley, hobby artist extraordinaire.

It didn't take long for Reginold to draw the greyhound. We hadn't even left the bus station, and we still had many hours ahead of us. Reginold asked if he could make a drawing for me. Really? For me? I'd be flattered! Reginold asked what I wanted him to draw. I hemmed and hawed for a bit, and then I requested that he draw something related to my favorite quote: "Roots hold me close, wings set me free." (See Sailors, Whores, & Ink for more information about this quote.) Reginold started the drawing, saying that he likely wouldn't finish it until mid-bus ride.

My New Set of Wheels

Someone has a new set of wheels. And that someone is me!

Wanna guess what kind of wheels I got? Here's a hint:

My new set of wheels.

Yup, I got myself a Brompton! For those of you not familiar with Bromptons, they are the coolest little folding bicycles on Planet Earth.