Last trip around the block!

Before putting our bicycles in the suitcases, we tried them one more time with full panniers (the yellow saddlebags that hang from our racks). What? You didn´t think that we could carry everything we needed for six weeks on our bycicles? HA!

The meaning of our journey

Our journey is a lot more than the physical challenge...is meeting new friends, thinking about old friends, marvelling at wonderful places, personal growth and the opportunity to discover new paths. We want to share some of the inspirational thoughts of Paolo Coelho to follow for this trip and in the journey of life: Love your path.

Color map of our route

Here is a color map of our planned route, 12 countries, a vacation of a life time!

May we travel safe!

Gear anyone?

Time to pack!...looks like a lot, but is really not that much, since we will be wearing and carrying all in our panniers.

The whole package of course

includes us and our bikes!

Every mile counts...

...so does every penny! Evan and I just signed in with the Calistoga Bikeshop April Fools Challenge. April Fools Challenge is a healthy activity designed to get people outside, cycling and enjoying the beautiful outdoors. It is also a wonderful fundraiser that benefits the Calistoga Family Center. This Center, just like the St. Helena Family Center, where I work, provides a range of services and programs geared to strenghten and support local families. Calistoga and St. Helena are 8 miles apart.

For every mile we log in, a sponsor will donate to the Calistoga Family Center certain amount. There are sponsors supporting the whole event, so our logged miles will certainly bump the numbers up! It is really great to know that while we vacation, grow in spirit and travel around the world, we will also be having an impact on our home communities. If any of you would like to support us please visit April Fools Challenge, where even a penny a mile can go far!

Tour news in the St. Helena Star

Evan and I really love living in St. Helena--there is such a sense of community! You can walk from one end of Main St. to the other in either 10 min if you are committed to do so...or in an hour just by stopping and talking to friends you meet on the way.


The local newspaper, the St. Helena Star, promotes this sense of community by featuring stories about the same people you meet on the street. On March 19, they featured a story about our trip. We were thrilled! it was a delight to share our plans through this media and we are already making new friends through that story itself!


Here is the Story: St. Helenans will leave April 1 for 6-week tour...

Training or vacation?

As we continue our training we discover new cities, great people and our own strenght! We recently rode through the city of the 10,000 Buddhas near Ukiah, where we enjoyed a delicious vegetarian lunch.

We had our own little peek of Europe riding through Lucerne in Lake County and we even joined some of the local fauna the day we did our century [100 K] ride around Clear Lake!



100 Km around the lake!

We have made some wonderful new friends, like Virginia and Andy in Ukiah. Knowing that Andy rode around Clear Lake when he was only 12 years old--on a ONE speed bicycle was a good motivator for us as we climbed the hills we encountered in our ride around the lake!

Street signs surely help us find the way!, Evan had a chance to use the air pump that is inside our Dahon's seat to help a little 6 year old girl fill her bicycle tires with air.

We are looking forward to many more miles ahead!

Motivation

What motivates us to do this trip?

The sense of adventure, the physical and emotional challenge of cycling so many Kilometers, sense of discovery, meeting new people, learning from others to become better citizens of the world, and our friends and family support are just some of the things that motivate us.

Ah we also have some musical pieces that give us some extra humph!! Here are some of our favorites:

Gonna fly now perfect to keep up the training!

Reach some dreams are meant to be!

What a feeling take your passion and make it happen!

Gimme some Lovin' from the good old biking times of Evan.

Chariots of fire Greek composer...Greece a certainly a symbolic special place to start this trip.

One month count down!

In exactly one month we will be taking the plane to Athens--10,900 Km (6,770 miles) done in one day!....not the average speed of our bike trip! From there we will have the real 3,762 Km (2,337 miles) and 12 countries ahead by bicycle. Really exciting! Today we traced our tentative route, which looks to be quite challenging!!:

GREECE
Athens - Thiva 71 Km
Thiva- Mantoudi 91 Km Crossing Evripos Bridge
Mantoudni-Almyrus 100 Km
Almyrus-Larisa 77 Km
Larisa-Katerini 106 Km Visit Mount Olympus
Katerini- Thessaloniki 94 Km
Thesssaloniki-Serres 95 Km
BULGARIA
Serres-Sandanski 77 Km Visit Melnik Pyramids, Todorov Square,spa town
Sandanski-Dupnica 99 Km Visit Rila Monastry, Struga Gorge, St. Nicholas Church
Dupnica-Sofija 80 Km Visit Sofija
Sofija- Mezdra 95 Km Visit Izkar Gorge
Mezdra-Vidin-Calafat 150 Km Visit Okolcica Rd., Vraca-Balkan National Park
ROMANIA
Calafat-Gruia 66 Km
Gruia- Drobeta.Turnu Severini 85 Km Visit Etnographic Museum
SERBIA
Drobeta.Turnu Severini/Sip - Dobra 80 Km Iron Gate Gorge, Visit Lepinski Vir Arch. Site.
Dobra- Kostolac 74 Km. Visit Golubac Castle and Ottoman Fortress
Kostolac- Konjarnic 75 Km Visit Smederevo Fortress and St. George´s church
Konjarnic- Novi Sad 96 Km Visit Boegrad, Visit Petrovaradin Fortress, meet with Tanja
CROATIA
Novi Sad- Osijek 125 Km Visit Opatovac and water tower in Vukovar
HUNGARY
Osijec-Mohacs 96 Km Visit Kopacki rit Nature Preserve
Mohacs-Kalocsa 74 Km Through Danube-Drava National Park Route.
Kalocsa-Rackeve 77 Km Spa town
Rackeve-Sarjotarjan 145 Km Visit Budapest, meet with Tamas
SLOVAKIA
Sarjotarjan-Muran 94 Km
Muran- Stará Ľubovňa 99 Km
POLAND
Stará Lubovna- Tarnow 108 Km Meet with Aneta
Tarnow-Sandomierz 98 Km
Sandomierz-Kazimierz Dolny 89 Km
Kazimierz Dolny-Siedlce 112 Km
Sidelce-Piątnica Poduchowna 130 Km
Piatnica-Pduchowna-Rajrod 85 Km
LITHUANIA
Rajrod-Kalvarija 98 Km
Kavarija-Rominiai 85 Km
Rominiai- Alksniupiai 107 Km
LATVIA
Alksniupiai-Jelgava 116 Km
Jelgava-Saulkastri 123 Km
Saulkastri-Salacriva 67 Km
Salacriva-Parnu 81 Km
ESTONIA
Parnu-Tallin 142 Km
FINLAND
Tallin-Helsinki--A 2 hour ferry ride!
After a short visit in Helsinki, we will board an SAS flight to Athens.
The following day we will return to Northern California.

February was training month!

From February 1 to 28 we trained on and off (you know in between our paid and volunteer work). We rode from 15 to 90 Km/day (9 to 55 miles/day) with an average speed of 15 Km/hr. (9 miles/hr.).


Napa Valley View


Along the Mendocino Coast







Training has been a vacation in itself, as we live in such a beautiful area of the world. Keena and Buddy are amused watching while we go from endless vineyard landscapes in Napa, Alexander, Knights and Pope Valley to rolling hills in the
Carneros region. From small mountains in Oakville to the rough coast of Mendocino. All offering inspiring and motivating sceneries.


Lake Hennessey


During our rides we have visited friends and have encountered lovely artistic and natural expressions.

Visiting Laurie in Healdsburg

Cute Statue in St Helena

Dog on guard, Carneros Region

Below Hwy 1 at Russian Gulch

We have tested our rain gear with positive results, and are trying different clothing to decide which one will be our final set to carry with us (most likely you will see us in just a couple of options next month). We are also carrying different things in our panniers trying to get the best usefulness/weight combination...quite a task!

Looking forward to getting stronger and faster in the month to follow!