DownTheRoad.org's RoadNews Newsletter
Return to America and 50% Off Autographed Books

December 1st, 2008

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Ever since we got back to the lower 48 we have been on a whirlwind tour of meeting a nonstop stream of people.  Riding down the west coast of the USA is popular and along the way we met and camped with hundreds of people loaded up on bikes like ourselves.  We would make dinner together and talked late into the night about every subject imaginable.

As we got reacquainted with our country again, I realized just how friendly Americans really are.  After this many years abroad my perspective has changed, I can now see the good and the bad with my homeland.  Bottomless cups of coffee, Pop Tarts, and an accent that I can understand every word of were refreshingly familiar.  We don’t need a tourist visa so there is no need to hurry through.  Oh yes, we are only a few time zones away from our families so calling is easier not to mention we are going to be visiting many of them in the next 12 months.

On the down side I was sad to see that America still uses miles and feet as measurements.  I just can not bring myself to switch back.  Even my bike computer is still in kilometers and I have to stop myself from quoting altitude in meters.  Cindie, who does most of the navigating, switched her computer to miles as soon as the ferry landed in Washington State from Canada.  The lack of international news in the papers and a billion dollar election process that looked like a circus also fell into the negative category.

We have been using www.WarmShowers.org for several years now to meet fellow touring cyclists all over the world and stay in their homes. In the USA there was a high concentration of hosts on our trail.  In addition, we rendezvoused with people who have read our books and with other travelers we met abroad.  Staying with people, in our opinion, is the best way to get to know the local culture.  With our hosts, we have learned about beekeeping, gone to festivals, eaten regional food, and loved every minute of it.

An unexpected opportunity came our way and at the last minute we threw our bikes on a train near Los Angeles and arrived in Tucson at 2 am.  We switched gears from touring cyclists to book sellers. We were in Tucson for both the annual Bike Swap meet (4,000 people), and Tour de Tucson Bike and Fitness Expo and ride (around 9,000 cyclists).  The Swap Meet was the first opportunity we had to sell our books face to face. At the open air street market, we set up a booth with a borrowed folding table next to our friends at GABA Tucson. We printed a few of our best full size colored photos from our web site, spread them out on the table, parked our loaded touring bikes behind the booth, hand handed out literally thousands of flyers.  The experience was a mix of meeting a surprising number of people who follow our web site and for the first time, telling our story to a large group of curious cyclists. The best part was talking with old friends we had not seen since we left Arizona in 2002.  Thanks to Steve Wilson for providing us with a place to stay and introducing us to the diverse bike community in Tucson. All and all both events were a success.

We had no idea how many books we would sell at these events and were a bit optimistic when we ordered double the amount of books we needed. So, we have a few boxes of books in our possession, much more than we can safely carry on our bikes. Normally we would ship them back to our web order fulfillment warehouse but we are currently taking a break from our travels and staying with friends in Southern Arizona. So, we are offering personally autographed copies at a 50% discount.  Cindie says if we don’t lighten the load, I get to carry all the remaining books with us when we get on the road again in April and I already feel like an overloaded donkey.

Click on the link below to go to our book sale.
http://downtheroad.org/Publishing/9_discount_on_sale.htm

 Home = http://DownTheRoad.org
Previous letters can be found at http://www.downtheroad.org/LETTERS.htm
Blog RSS = http://feeds.feedburner.com/Bike-Tour
Video PodCast Feed = http://feeds.feedburner.com/BicycleTouring
Please Leave Your Comments at http://downtheroad.org/adventure-travel-bike-touring-blog/2008/12/01/roadnews-newsletter-return-to-america-and-50-off-autographed-books/

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INDEX #6: Alaska, Canada, and USA
5-3-08 to present