As
you read this we are back on the road riding and camping in the desert.
The handful of rainy days these past three months has caused otherwise dormant
wildflowers to pop up everywhere. The sun is out and the temps range
from 70F - 80F during the day and cools off dramatically at night; as dry
climates do. Cindie has the glow back in her eyes and is on the hunt
for adventure; she is a child of the road. We are home but not because
we are in the USA or even Arizona, we could easily be anywhere on earth.
We are home because we are on the move, learning something new and free.
It's good to take a vacation but in the end home is the most welcoming.
We have several upcoming public events but the two biggest
are a presentation and discussion with the Arizona Bicycle Club, Phoenix Metro Cycling Club,
and the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists. The combination of these three groups
in a city (metro area) of over four million people promises to have a big crowd.
If you are in the area please feel welcome to attend. More information
can be found at the link below
A couple weeks later we are having a similar event with
the Tucson Greater Arizona Bicycle Club on April 6, 2009. I will post
more information on this event in the next newsletter.
I would like to thank my good buddy Neil, living
on the Oregon Coast, who volunteered to make us a flyer. He actually
made it a few months ago for the Bike Expo at El Tour De Tucson where we handed
out several thousand copies. So, thank you very much Neil; your
hard work really paid off by connecting us with several new friends
who did not have time to talk at the event but did later through our
web site. You can see Neil's good work at
the easily printed file linked to below.
Our travel plans are not set in stone but we have a good
idea of what the next nine months will bring. We will spend this
spring riding north through Arizona and Utah visiting as many national parks
as we can with our park pass. We may get as far north as Yellowstone
National Park, or not, but at some point we will start riding east across
the USA. Along the way we really want to make the famous recreational
ride across Iowa called RAGBRAI
http://www.ragbrai.org/ before continuing on. We hope to be on the
east coast this fall to ride south from New York to Virginia before heading
back west to visit my friends and family in Indiana before it gets too cold.
We are arranging more speaking events, book signings, and other public
appearances along the way. Stay tuned and we will make announcements
here as dates become concrete.
After the holidays with my family we are not sure where to
go next. We know we need to go somewhere cheap because the recession
is hurting us along with everyone else. India/Pakistan/Nepal or Middle
East/Africa are on the top of our list. I am going to do more
research on this and open it up for discussion in a future newsletter.
In closing, we wish all of our friends around the world
who read our newsletter the best of circumstances as we all find ways to get
through this terrible global recession. Our list of subscribers has
grown several fold to a incredibly huge number in the past year and we
wonder if these hard times has created interest in the downsized and
simplistic bicycle lifestyle. Sadly from many of you we have heard of bad, even horrific stories of how these hard economic times in
various countries has created hardship and deep sacrifices. It
really breaks my heart. We, as a global community, are all affected
and things may get worse before they get better. Hang in there because
better days are ahead. Do what you need to do to get through this, be
kind to each other, and be optimistic that this storm, like all the others,
will pass and the sun will shine on all of us again. Also, please
remember those who were already impoverished before all this happened
because while people living in rich countries may foreclose on a house or
get a car repossessed the truly poor in undeveloped countries will literally
face starvation.
We feel very fortunate to be able to tighten the belt some
and remain on the road.
Thanks and a big welcome to all the new subscribers.
