Wow, what an amazingly challenging adventure we had! This was our first long-distance, multi-day bike adventure and honestly...I think we did pretty well. We put a lot of time in gear preparation since we didn't have a lot of time for physical training. Haha! Within hours of getting Minnie a bike at Target, we had decided to take this trip from Fresno to Santa Cruz to make it to our friend's 40th birthday party this past Sat. So we researched, gathered, and bought gear for biking, camping, adventuring, and partying! And of course, we had to bring our adventure dog Bella - so she had to have gear too! We left for our Journey early Monday morning (the 10th), with bikes weighted down and spirits high! It took us a few hours to work out the ... read more

Czech Republic Paint Day and Beyond 9/8 - 9/17 (CR start 9/1) The last blog left off after the Day of Silence and before the Day of Paint. So, one night while we were all hanging out, the boys told us how they had been planning on painting the kitchen for a long time. At the moment it was just a pale yellow color with fun drawings the boys had made here and there. But they wanted a full make over for it, and had been hoping we could do it when we arrived. This was wonderfully exciting for us! So, on Wednesday the 8th we decided to dedicate ourselves to painting. Luckily their friend Caleb’s mother in law owned a paint shop in the square, so we were able to get a deal on the ... read more

Bornholm, Denmark 8/23 - 8/31 Sunday, the 23rd we arrived in Bornholm by a huge, luxurious ferry. The ride from Sweden was only about an hour, and then we were met at the front of the harbor by Freja (19 yrs) and Nena (17 yrs), our next wonderful couchsurfing hosts. They live in an incredible, old, Danish house with Freja’s mother Ilse. Nena is actually an exchange student from Venezuela, so already it’s obvious how open and loving this family is to travelers and new cultures. When we got to the house, which was only a five minute drive from the harbor, Ilse had lunch all prepared for us. The Mama energy here is like a thick, warm, fluffy, home stuffed pillow to cuddle up in. Haha! And after eating lunch we all got in the ... read more

The Netherlands 8/11 - 8/16 Tuesday morning, the 11th of August Will’s grandfather drove us from Honiton to Exeter, the near by city. We had purchased a bus ticket from there to London for only 20 pounds, and then another bus ticket from London to Amsterdam for only 38 pounds (for both our tickets!). We couldn’t believe how cheap it was for the bus, when everything else was in the hundreds of pounds. Will’s granddad has such a thick British accent that it was almost difficult to understand, but he was super sweet and reminded me of mine…but British. He dropped us off in London around 8:30am and we were officially: On. Our. Own. Except for the huge sack of fruit and crisps and OJ that Will’s Mum had packed for us. Mmmm, she’s so wonderful. ... read more

8/5 - 8/6 We arrived in London on Wed the 5th at 7:00am England time (which is 5am Eastern US). For some reason we didn’t force ourselves to sleep on the plane, but instead watched two movies and napped for about 20 mins. We heard someone in Dulles say that she was going to stay up so that it would be easier for her internal clock to reset. But I think the most important part of the equation there was to then SLEEP at the appropriate time. Well we’ve been nearly non-stop since we arrived and STILL haven’t gotten a whole nights sleep…but slowly we’re catching up, haha! So, British Airways was brilliant. We were already experiencing the different cultures and languages on the plane, and the staff was so wonderfully pleasant and helpful. Once we ... read more