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PREPARING TO GO Time, time, time...where does it go?? And why does it go there so fast?? The end of the season has come around pretty soon. I guess time flys when you're having fun! We have enjoyed a wonderful season of snow and skiing, accompanied by an assortment of "face plants" and speccy stax. The tally's were about even! We're both still in one piece, though the frequency of "I need a massage…." is increasing in Michael's vocabulary. Currently we are preparing for the next leg of our world journey. How we are going to fit all those 'necessary' items into 4 panniers each is a bit of an initiative exercise. Take less...much less!! The house looks like a bomb hit it at the moment, but it will improve. "How did we accumulate so much stuff?" There seems to be crates and crates of it - much more than we came with. It will be a big shipment back to Australia, though it will get there before us!!!! The most exciting news is that we both have shiny new bikes. The old ones were quite tired after 10,000 km around Europe (plus an extra 10,000 for Mike's bike). A wonderful man, Jess, and his team from City Bicycle Works in Sacramento have been a great help in preparing our new bikes. A constant source of entertainment (& a little worry) is learning to ride with "cleat" pedals. Rule #1: wear lots of padding! Rule #2: get off on the left side if you take your left foot out (getting off on the right side hurts!) Rule #3: the ground isn't soft! Michael is cheating a bit as he has used them before. We want to get as much falling off done as possible before we put the panniers on. More exciting news is that our great friend Ken is cycling with us. He's a fantastic skier and has been sharing a room with Mike when working at the Wilderness Lodge. (Now I can find out if all those stories are true!!!) What stories? protests Mike. Ken will be traveling with us for 3 months from Switzerland to Greece or Turkey. Where are we going?? We will be starting in Switzerland, visiting Urs and Ingrid, our friends from last season at Royal Gorge. Next is Northern Italy, where we would love to actually see the Dolomites when we ride through them this time. Continuing on, through Slovenia and Croatia, then taking a ferry back to the 'boot' of Italy to "do as the Romans do". We will ride through Greece and hopefully on to Istanbul in Turkey. Interlude… Michael and I will be spending the European summer in Norway, working with our wonderful friend Eivind who owns a rafting company. We will be guiding on a stunning and fairly technical river in Dagali, near Geilo. We will also be in the same place for 3 months so email and snail mail will be heaps easier. The continuing journey… It is a long way home, but we are extremely excited about this next part of our journey - from Turkey to Australia. This 'leg' will definitely be the most cultural experience of our lives. We will encounter many wonderful sights, fascinating people…and it won't all be easy! We would like to ride through the following countries on the way home (we can assure you we won't be traveling through any dangerous lands): Turkey, Iran, Pakistan?, India, China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and finally Australia. When are we returning home?? Our calculations hopefully bring us home by July 2002. Ready for ski season! Our families will be pleased to know that we intend to stay in Australia for a while. Where have we been?? 6 months traveling round Europe has given us a variety of fantastic experiences. We enjoyed warm hospitality from people in every country. The wonderful people we have met are definitely the highlight and most memorable part of our journey. A cup of tea and fish & chips in England; yummy brie in France; waffles in Belgium; crazy cyclists in Amsterdam; across the long, long dykes in Holland; visiting a castle in Denmark; canoeing and 'soggy porridge' in Sweden; rafting, sea-kayaking and riding in the snow of Norway; getting visas in Finland; bumpy roads and meeting Benoit in the Baltic Countries; Auschwitz and salt mines in Poland; beautiful Prague in Czech; Oktoberfest and the Bavarian Alps in Germany; lots of rain from Austria to Italy; the romance of Venice; the Mediterranean Coast; wine and perfume in Provence; snow in the Pyrenees; and the mosaics of Barcelona, Spain. Michael has also ridden across the United States of America, Canada and around the United Kingdom - just a few more kilometres on the bike!!! We hope you enjoy following our journey and tune in to our web site for news of our experiences and some great photos. Happy Cycling, Mike and Jodie We have decided to write separate newsletters in the future, as we both see things differently. We would like to thank the following companies for their help in preparing for our journey: Lexar Media Hewlett Packard City Bicycle Works