Here are the photos Djina wanted posted. We are working on posting more to a separate web site. I'll send the link later. Cheers - Ken
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Hey Biers-
I can't believe it, but I'm embarassed to say that I had plum forgotten about your trip because of various happenings and events in my own life....and then today, when I picked up the latest issue of Adventure Cycling, I immediately thought of you guys and caught up with your blog.
Way to go! Way, way, way to go! You all jumped right into the proverbial frying pan! No shady, temperate east coast miles to gently ease you into the x-country routine. Instead...heat, headwinds, mountain passes, flats -- the whole shebang!
Rest assured, at some point, after this grueling initiation is past, it will seem toooo easy for you.
Hmmm.... that point will probably come when you're 10 miles or so from the Atlantic!
Your blog brings back lots of memories! Until I read some of your postings, I had completely forgotten about the bone-crushing fatigue that accompanies trips like this. You know, those moments where the kids are finally sleeping, and you'd love to join them, but it's only now that you can attend to the many pressing tasks that have to be done before you hit the hay...and oh, hell, it's 11PM and you have to wake up at 4AM and how in the world can you wake up tomorrow and stomach another day like this 'cause all you want to do is to sleep and sleep some more...but you've got to post to the internet...and why's the friggin' connection so slow...and oops, time to recheck tomorrow's route...and damn, the map says there's only one cafe between here and tomorrow's destination, and wasn't that the one that somebody mentioned had closed a couple of years back?!!!
OK, the good news is, I had totally forgotten all about that aspect of the trip (until your blog resurrected those old, painful memories) and I suspect you too will also forget the difficulties. Thank God for the amnesic editing of time!
Actually, I suspect that the fatigue you feel every night probably fades with that first delightful mile pedalled in those quiet, headwind-free moments of the early dawn!
Anyway, it's great catching up with the news of your journey, and now that I've done so, I'll probably be thinking of you guys often. And thanks for allowing me to vicariously re-live old memories!
BTW -- Wynne, our youngest at 19, just announced last week that she wants to go on a cycling jaunt with me this summer. So in August, we're taking off for Quebec for a 10 day romp. And Hart and Starr want to take me cycling in Cuba next spring. So, trips like yours will probably pay dividends for years and years to come and I'm sure this won't be the last adventure you guys will share together!
All our best wishes and love and encouragement...you guys rock!
Hey guys, we tried to google your blog from Guyana - small little cowtown down on the border with brazil - but we couldn't find it. Now here we are at Mark and Sharon's and Eli has found me THE spot. Read your adventures in total amazement - you guys are crazy tough. Can't believe you look so cool and dapper in the photos too. Barnab & I had our adventures in Guyana too - a spot in a garage with a fer de lance in the car, and endless floods (it is raining so much this wet season that the Amazon is full and flowing backwards into Guyana). We were mainly underwater for two weeks, with the few patches of flesh above the water line lashed by rain and marauded by biting flies - "too much biting", even the Guyanese were saying!
You guys were our original inspiration. Man, you should have told us about the grueling 12 hr. days through the desert, the mighty head winds, the HEAT, the 13% grades, and the 74 mile stretches with "no services". That's ok, we probably would have done it anyway. I CAN'T believe Wynne is 19 yrs. old!!!!!! He was just a little toddler only about....5 yrs. ago. Yikes!! Love to you all, Djina
Here's the petition we're bringing to Congress. It's not a clean copy, but it'll work. Print it up, gather signatures, and send it to: J. Oman, 8594 Faber Rd., Faber, VA 22938.
Petition For Cooling Our Planet
WHEREAS: The single greatest challenge human beings face is imminent climate change caused by the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide brought on in large part through the burning of fossil fuels. WHEREAS: The United States of America has 5% of the world's population but is the single largest contributor of carbon dioxide at 25%. WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, REQUEST AND URGE:
President Bush, the United States Congress, state governments, local communities, and individual Americans to significantly reduce our country's carbon dioxide emissions by:
1. Dedicating the necessary resources to become the world leader in non-fossil fuel energy production and technology.
2. Adopting conservation as the first energy solution.
3. Raising automobile mileage standards to a minimum of 40 MPG.
4. Building transportation systems that double current mass transit trips.
5. Encouraging biking and walking as means of transportation.
6. Planting 1 billion trees.
name signature city and state
Matt Biers-Ariel has been teaching in public schools, private schools, and non-formal education since 1983. He is the author of six books. His latest, "Lighting of a Fire," is a novel that takes place in high school.
3 comments:
Hey Biers-
I can't believe it, but I'm embarassed to say that I had plum forgotten about your trip because of various happenings and events in my own life....and then today, when I picked up the latest issue of Adventure Cycling, I immediately thought of you guys and caught up with your blog.
Way to go! Way, way, way to go! You all jumped right into the proverbial frying pan! No shady, temperate east coast miles to gently ease you into the x-country routine. Instead...heat, headwinds, mountain passes, flats -- the whole shebang!
Rest assured, at some point, after this grueling initiation is past, it will seem toooo easy for you.
Hmmm.... that point will probably come when you're 10 miles or so from the Atlantic!
Your blog brings back lots of memories! Until I read some of your postings, I had completely forgotten about the bone-crushing fatigue that accompanies trips like this. You know, those moments where the kids are finally sleeping, and you'd love to join them, but it's only now that you can attend to the many pressing tasks that have to be done before you hit the hay...and oh, hell, it's 11PM and you have to wake up at 4AM and how in the world can you wake up tomorrow and stomach another day like this 'cause all you want to do is to sleep and sleep some more...but you've got to post to the internet...and why's the friggin' connection so slow...and oops, time to recheck tomorrow's route...and damn, the map says there's only one cafe between here and tomorrow's destination, and wasn't that the one that somebody mentioned had closed a couple of years back?!!!
OK, the good news is, I had totally forgotten all about that aspect of the trip (until your blog resurrected those old, painful memories) and I suspect you too will also forget the difficulties. Thank God for the amnesic editing of time!
Actually, I suspect that the fatigue you feel every night probably fades with that first delightful mile pedalled in those quiet, headwind-free moments of the early dawn!
Anyway, it's great catching up with the news of your journey, and now that I've done so, I'll probably be thinking of you guys often. And thanks for allowing me to vicariously re-live old memories!
BTW -- Wynne, our youngest at 19, just announced last week that she wants to go on a cycling jaunt with me this summer. So in August, we're taking off for Quebec for a 10 day romp. And Hart and Starr want to take me cycling in Cuba next spring. So, trips like yours will probably pay dividends for years and years to come and I'm sure this won't be the last adventure you guys will share together!
All our best wishes and love and encouragement...you guys rock!
Love, David (and Colleen)
Hey guys, we tried to google your blog from Guyana - small little cowtown down on the border with brazil - but we couldn't find it. Now here we are at Mark and Sharon's and Eli has found me THE spot. Read your adventures in total amazement - you guys are crazy tough. Can't believe you look so cool and dapper in the photos too.
Barnab & I had our adventures in Guyana too - a spot in a garage with a fer de lance in the car, and endless floods (it is raining so much this wet season that the Amazon is full and flowing backwards into Guyana). We were mainly underwater for two weeks, with the few patches of flesh above the water line lashed by rain and marauded by biting flies - "too much biting", even the Guyanese were saying!
Keep pedalling guys, you are amazing
You guys were our original inspiration. Man, you should have told us about the grueling 12 hr. days through the desert, the mighty head winds, the HEAT, the 13% grades, and the 74 mile stretches with "no services". That's ok, we probably would have done it anyway. I CAN'T believe Wynne is 19 yrs. old!!!!!! He was just a little toddler only about....5 yrs. ago. Yikes!!
Love to you all,
Djina
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