The End Is Near

Arriving in Nijmegen we already feel at home. Our friend Rosa was waiting for us at the station with arms wide and a spare key for their house in hand.

The time spent in Nijmegen was both relaxing and eventful. Maurits and Rosa live busy lives and have complex schedules. One of the first orders of business was to figure out what moments we would be spending with them and what time we would be spending alone.

Exploring Nijmegen with them was great. We saw churches, schools, parks, and even the inside of one very hip bowling alley. After a few days on our own filled with afternoon bike rides everyone found time off together enough for a visit up to meet up with Rosas family. There we were treated with “famous meatballs” and delicious Dutch style home cooking. After a few beers with her Dad the talk of bikes was dominating the conversations. See the way he explains it is that I talk a big game and when he was in California I told him if I ever visited I would love to go for a bike ride with his group. I don’t remember much talk about speeds but there group is fast for a bunch of old guys. It’s a good thing I spent all summer training.

The weather was not cooperating again. Other than a day I spent in the garden of Maurits and Rosa’s place cleaning it up and fighting back some over grown ivy we had some pretty wet days. It was nice not to have to deal with the tent anymore.

Katy had to leave for a few days to see to some family affairs up in England while we were there giving me the time to escape from vacation for some hard work, both in the garden and on the road. Travelling up to Ulft to spend time with Jozef was nice. Early in the morning we rose to visit his school. He is the superintendent of three schools and he is by far the best superintendent I have ever gone biking with. No seriously he has good plans for his students. The school his office is at is mainly for kids not going to college. Think more of a community college than a high school. Classes in cooking, managing a store, welding, machining, brick laying, music, everything! Really a top notch place. After that we spent some time with a project leader for a redevelopment project at an old steal mill. The wanted to talk to me about what TechShop did for the community. I told them about what we did and told them about what I did for a job. Nothing more than what a they would get from a tour though! They were really impressed and have an idea for their project that would include something similar but only as a think tank for local business to get together.
After that we went home, changed, ate and set out on bikes to meet his group. Biking with Jozef was a good work out. Right off the bat my loaned carbon race bike with amazing parts had a problem. The spokes in the back were incredibly loose. A stressful stop by a shop and we were on our way in no time. His group of cyclists was about 10 that day and we covered 113 kilo meters at a pace of 30 km/h! That doesn’t sound so bad but the Netherlands is quite windy so 30km/h is a good workout.

After Katy returned we set out as a foursome up to Amsterdam to see the city and hear Maurits give a talk about his new company. He was featured in a magazine like WIRED but a Netherlands version. Great talk and great article. The sights of Amsterdam are exactly what you think they are. The red light district is awkward, the coffee shops are plentiful, and the house lean in every which way. It is an amazing city with many things to see and things to do. Wish there were more time in a day to do everything.

Time to leave now. Headed off through town with suitcases in tow. The bike is all cleaned up and packed up ready for travel across the world. Taking the train across the English channel was a breeze. Except for a brief problem with customs on account of being American with no exit tickets, travel by train is so much more relaxing.

Next Stop, England!

Please Support BeeHive School

Our ride across Europe was amazing, fun, delicious, rainy, beautiful, hard, and fulfilling.

While riding we were raising money for an elementary school in Malawi. If you have $10 to spare, it would be great if you could donate it to the school. I have visited the school, and it is an amazing place for children and teachers. The money we raise is going to the new classrooms.

You can donate money here:

The students, teachers, headmaster, Abe and I all thank you very much for the support!

3000km Complete!

Abe and I entered The Netherlands last Thursday. We spent four days riding to Rotterdam, stopping along the way to admire the bikes, play some disc golf, and eat cheese!

On the Friday we spent a day in Utrecht to play at two disc golf courses. The campsite there was wonderful – in between a field of black and white cows, a canal, and a bird preserve. The little town our campsite was in was having a festival before the children went back to school and we managed to watch fireworks from our tent. Our favorite birds in Holland are some sort of black duck with a white head. The noise they make sounds like a squeaky duck toy. We even saw some baby squeaker at the disc golf course!

After Utrecht we passed through Gouda and ate some tasty cheese (and Abe had a not so tasty ‘snack’, you’ll have to ask him for a description of it)

We spent a day in Rotterdam, and played a few rounds at the 18 hole discgolf course that was right next to our campsite. It was a fun course, but the lake managed to suck in Abe’s disc. Luckily we were almost done playing, but we’ll need to find another disc before we play in England.

We have now ridden over 3100km, but our bike computer just broke, so we’re not sure of the exact number anymore.

We took a train to Nijmegen and are having a great time with Maurits and Rosa. It’s so nice to have conversations with friends and not just the same old traveller story about where you are going, where you work, where you are from, etc. We are also enjoying the luxuries of living inside, an oven, frying pan, sleeping indoors and unlimited wifi are all very appreciated!