Cycling Around the World, but.........

[Stephen Peel]

Mine starts in Southern California.....I do not start until 2018.

It will be an experience for us both ancientcyclist, and one which we are no doubt both looking forward to hugely.

[ancientcyclist]

Hi Stephen,

Yes, I hope we can help each other.  I am much older and will be even older when I start my travels, but I went to your website and our lives have some very interesting parallels.  I used to own a bike dealership in the '70's and was hit by a car in the early 80's.  Doctors told me that I might not ever walk again.  I did get back on my feet and can walk, but didn't get on a bike again until last year.  I have one grown daughter not two and plan to make my trip on an electric bike, not a standard bike, as I cannot pedal more than 10 or 15 miles per day without my legs giving out.  I also hope to complete my trip in less than a year.

Eugene

[Stephen Peel]

Eugene, we do sound as though we have a few things going quite similar and it would be great if we keep in touch and follow each others progress. Some great adventures are heading our way very soon.

Steve

[klikdisumber]

I love this forum, sharing all informai for the bike enthusiast.

[Gif4445]

Just sharing from my short tours.  When you are in the Mt. Rushmore/Black hills area, be sure to ride the Mickelson Trail, if limestone doesn't bother you.  I had an awesome time on it.  I'm sure you have enough to read, but my journal for this tour is https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=Sh&doc_id=11208&v=GL
Going towards Yellowstone, if you stop in Cody Wyoming, be sure to stop at the Irma and ask for John and Karen.  Lots of history in that town.  Yellowstone was great, but just a tad south, the Tetons are majestic. I ended and started tours in that area.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=Sh&doc_id=13035&v=g5
and
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=Sh&doc_id=14905&v=LI

[Stephen Peel]

That is some great information there, thank you. I have copied it and kept it in my private file for when I set off. I suppose it is hard to imagine or know where there is to do in any given place with out some sort of local knowledge or person who has really been there. It would be like someone passing through my own town or Prestatyn Wales. They would see a couple of attractions on the map, but I would be able to tell them about many more.

Thank again

[pptouring]

Hello Stephen, my apologies, but I totally forgot about this thread and I think I owe you an email with the plugin name that we use for our blog map.

Anyway, today marks 4 months since arriving back home. We were both contacted by our former employer somewhere cycling through the middle of Texas about the possibility of returning to work once we got home. Bam! We both landed jobs with the same organization we left from, Petra got her same position, I took another position but under the same boss. Lesson here... do not ever burn any bridges and keep in touch with your former co-workers. :-) So back to work now for just over 3 months and it is beginning to feel like we never left, but the desire to get back on the bikes grows more everyday.

Our blog is still behind sadly, but we are working on it. Added several entries for Vietnam and are almost done there, but we have all of the Southwest from San Diego, CA to Tarpon Springs, FL to write about.

Stephen if you're still interested the plugin is - Google Maps Travel Route, by traveller11

Here is a link to what our map looks like. http://pedalpowertouring.com/breadcrumbs/

Here is a write we posted last week that some might find interesting - http://pedalpowertouring.com/general/how-we-saved-enough-money-to-travel/

Happy Travels
Ron

How are your plans coming along?

[Stephen Peel]

Hi, great to hear your back in work. Well, at least for a while till you hit the road again. I would imagine your not thinking being back at work for too long

My plans are still in the making. The house is still on the market due to it being sold twice to people who have tried to knock a lot of money of the price at the very last minute. It seems to be what people do these days and it isn't very nice. This last guy has told us he will still buy the house if I let him off with half an acre. He can swivel.

The yearning though is driving me crazy. I just want to go, but I need every penny I can keep to do it, and until the house sells, I have no choice but to hand around.

My plan is that I down size to a house I can renovate in Mallorca Spain. So that I know that when I return I can make some money (I'm a builder). Then I'm off, but I really hate all this waiting around.

I have to admit though, that this delay has also had some really positive parts too. I have been honing my photography skills and really studying the art. When I do take off I know I will be able to now capture some amazing memories.

The other positive is that I am no sure of exactly how I am to live on my return (if I return), and what I have to do before I leave.

I am not one for normally believing in "everything happens for a reason", but just maybe.

Glad you had an amazing time, and thanks for getting back to me. Steve

[pptouring]

I would imagine your not thinking being back at work for too long

Well... for a couple years at least. 

We are doing our best to live within the same budget that we used while traveling and so far we're doing ok and the savings account is growing.

Hang in there and everything will fall in place for you. When you do hit the road, it will take about 3 months for your new way of life to kick in just so you know. We were told this by other long term travelers and it seemed to be the same with us.

As for honing your photo skills, yeah you'll have plenty of time doing this during your travels. We did anyways.

As for returning... well we really did not plan on things working out the way they did for us, but I think we would have been foolish to pass up the offers for jobs. Sure we were going to have to one day, but we were not ready to stop traveling. In fact we were planning and just about to book flights to South Africa 2-3 weeks after arriving home, but like I said it would have been foolish to pass on the jobs. Alaska to Argentina is 100% on the horizon as long as nothing crazy happens to us in the meantime.

Best of luck and I look forward to following your travels.

Ron

[Stephen Peel]

The Alaska - Argentina trip sounds great. Yes, if money is offered like that, you have to take those jobs for sure. I have budgeted £40k for my around the world trip, and I am pretty sure I will need every penny. They say money isn't important, I wish that was true. Good luck to you too. Steve

[pptouring]

 I have budgeted £40k for my around the world trip, and I am pretty sure I will need every penny.

Depending on how many Pints you need a day, this should be plenty of money. We spent less during our 2 years and this included health insurance, flights, and immunizations.

Have you heard of Helpx.net? Check it out. It's free to join, but to get to the good stuff (Premier membership) it will cost you a few Euros. We paid 20 Euros for two years and it paid for itself with one stay. We house sat and did some work on a farm up in Scotland for about 2 weeks and loved it.

http://pedalpowertouring.com/tours/europe/united-kingdom/first-helpx-experience/

We were supposed to help restore an old ship over in Colchester too but that didn't work out so well.

Oh the good times we had! :-)