QANTAS made us sign a waiver before flying our bikes - 'all care, no responsibility'. They got the 'no responsibility' part right but I'm not so sure about the 'all care'. I think someone ran over David's bike with a truck - well perhaps not quite - but the 'fragile' sticker was a complete waste of time. It's impossible to know whether the culprit was QANTAS or American Airlines but when the bike arrived in Denver, having flown from Sydney and changed planes in LA, it was badly damaged. The frame was bent. Maybe flying our bikes wasn't such a good idea after all.
3,687m - Crossing the Rockies with our bikes.
Our bikes can boast they have crossed the Rocky Mountains. We weren't actually riding them. I regard myself as fairly fit and trim for a 50-something girl, (D could lose a few kilos - lol), but neither of us are up to the challenge of a 12,000 ft climb. Only 7,000 if you start in Denver!
The drive from Denver to Aspen via Independence Pass is one of the prettiest in Nth America. The highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide, the Pass is closed in winter and opens early June. David insists that the US National Parks Service drop dynamite from helicopters to clear the snow each year. It sounds crazy to me but Americans do some pretty weird things and maybe this is one of them.
The drive from Denver to Aspen via Independence Pass is one of the prettiest in Nth America. The highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide, the Pass is closed in winter and opens early June. David insists that the US National Parks Service drop dynamite from helicopters to clear the snow each year. It sounds crazy to me but Americans do some pretty weird things and maybe this is one of them.
High Altitude Cycling - 600 vertical feet
Bringing our bikes over Independence Pass must have gone to our heads. We live at sea level and neither of us cope well at high altitudes. Last year we tried cycling at Telluride (click here for the story). Telluride clocks in at 9540 ft (2907 m). The cycling was hard, very hard - even hiking was difficult.
Beware the bears!
The nice lady who served us at the Aspen supermarket today says if you are in town at 4 o'clock in the morning there are bears everywhere - black bears. There aren't any grizzlies in Colorado. They come to scavenge for food. I'd love to see them but I'm not sure it's worth getting up in the middle of the night.
Crossing the Hay Plain - Ooopps! I mean Kansas
Have you ever crossed the Hay Plain? It is a vast, flat, hot, featureless zone in outback New South Wales stretching from one horizon to the other with nothing but salt bush and scrub. (For some great photos by a fellow blogger - click here).
We have been driving across Kansas for the last two days and the closest comparison I can come to in Australia is the countryside around Hay. Kansas is like the Hay Plain with grass - hot, flat and vast. The only difference is the colour of the grass. The Kansas grasslands are green although the locals say that is unusual.
We have been driving across Kansas for the last two days and the closest comparison I can come to in Australia is the countryside around Hay. Kansas is like the Hay Plain with grass - hot, flat and vast. The only difference is the colour of the grass. The Kansas grasslands are green although the locals say that is unusual.
Cycling the Tunnel Hill State Trail in Illinois
In the last two days we have cycled 60 miles (96 kms) on the Tunnel Hill State Trail. We are in Marion, Illinois. Tomorrow we move 350 miles north to Ottawa, Illinois. Frankly I'll be glad of the chance to sit in the car for a day and get a rest from being on a bicycle.
The Tunnel Hill Trail is only 45 miles long but as usual we didn't see it all. One day I would love to ride a trail in just one direction. The world is full of tour operators who move bags, provide back-up and transport you from the end of a trail back to where you began but I can't imagine David, who has a passionate loathing of tours of any kind, ever agreeing to such luxury. For my feelings on cycling trails in both directions - see my blog post on The Otago Rail Trail and a Universal Truth.
The Tunnel Hill Trail is only 45 miles long but as usual we didn't see it all. One day I would love to ride a trail in just one direction. The world is full of tour operators who move bags, provide back-up and transport you from the end of a trail back to where you began but I can't imagine David, who has a passionate loathing of tours of any kind, ever agreeing to such luxury. For my feelings on cycling trails in both directions - see my blog post on The Otago Rail Trail and a Universal Truth.
Abraham Lincoln Country - Illinois
We have been wandering the back roads of Illinois. We can only stay on the inter-states for so long without going crazy. What should have been a half day's drive from Marion to Ottawa took us a full eight hours meandering along on by-ways and local roads.
We got lost a couple of times. Our Garmin Nuvi GPS refuses to communicate in any language other than Spanish or Portugese. A German brand, purchased in the US and recently up-dated in Australia - it's choice of language is weird. The really strange thing is that it spoke perfectly good English until we up-dated the maps at home in Sydney before setting out on our holiday. Because I speak basic Spanish it isn't a big issue but it does lead to the occasional wrong turn.
We got lost a couple of times. Our Garmin Nuvi GPS refuses to communicate in any language other than Spanish or Portugese. A German brand, purchased in the US and recently up-dated in Australia - it's choice of language is weird. The really strange thing is that it spoke perfectly good English until we up-dated the maps at home in Sydney before setting out on our holiday. Because I speak basic Spanish it isn't a big issue but it does lead to the occasional wrong turn.
Cycling the I & M Canal Trail.
"It takes four things to build a canal .. a pick, a shovel, a wheelbarrow and an Irishman".
We came across this quote at a small museum in Lockport, Illinois. Sadly, the death rate among the Irish workers was awful. Conditions were harsh and disease was rife. Unsurprisingly drunkenness was common.
We came across this quote at a small museum in Lockport, Illinois. Sadly, the death rate among the Irish workers was awful. Conditions were harsh and disease was rife. Unsurprisingly drunkenness was common.
Cycling in Chicago - Be careful what you wish for!
It has been hot since we left Snowmass in Colorado. We drove across Kansas and cycled in Independence, Missouri in 90 degree F (30s C) heat. We rode The Tunnel Hill State Trail and The I & M Canal Trail in Illinois in the mid to high 80s F. We knew the mid-west would be hot this time of year but not this hot. Every exhausting kilometre we have been wishing for a cool change. Yesterday it arrived!
Another day another 40 kms.
We have been averaging about 40 km (25 miles) a day. It doesn't sound much and for a single day it would not be that tough. We often ride that distance at home. However day after day the miles add up and exhaustion starts to set in. We haven't had a cycling free day for five days now. I think we have both just about reached our limit - I know I have!
A little bit of Holland in Michigan.
Windmills, street organs, clogs and Dutch dancing; no we haven't left the US. We are in Holland, Michigan the site of an 1847 settlement by Dutch Calvinists. The colonists set about creating a little bit of Holland in America. Today the town is home to Michigan's largest Hispanic population. However tulips, windmills and Dutch kitsch bring tourists so the town showcases its original heritage. The DeZwaan Windmill is the only authentic, working Dutch windmill in the US. In 1964 it was dismantled, shipped to Holland, Michigan and re-erected as the centre-piece of the Windmill Island living museum.
Mackinac Island - A land without cars.
Imagine an island where the automobile was banned in the late 1800s. There are no cars, trucks or motorbikes of any kind. You would imagine, as I did, an atmosphere of tranquil, unhurried peace where the moment you disembark from the ferry you have stepped back in history to a time before the internal combustion engine.
Now make that island easily accessible to a zillion tourists. The result is an immense culture shock. One which will soon having you begging to return to a land where the car is king. At least then there are rules of the road.
Now make that island easily accessible to a zillion tourists. The result is an immense culture shock. One which will soon having you begging to return to a land where the car is king. At least then there are rules of the road.
Henry Ford: The great innovator turns grumpy old man.
Did I say we don't go to living museums any more? Today we went to one of the best. Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Detroit was established by Henry Ford as an eclectic mix of historical buildings and other memorabilia.
QF 12 to Sydney, Australia - Heading home.
We have spent the last few days driving west from Detroit to Denver through Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. We stopped for a few nights here and there, cycled more of the I & M Canal Trail , explored Omaha, Nebraska on our bikes and stayed off the inter-states whenever we could.
We drove past a giant spider made from the body of an old Volkswagon, innumerable towns which could have come straight from the set of a B grade western, a lot of really awful motels, hundreds of miles of corn fields and Warren Buffett's house. True to legend it really is an ordinary looking home. Nice, but hardly a mansion. Suffice it to say that for a house belonging to a billionaire it was very unimposing. I took a quick photo. I won't post it because I wouldn't appreciate it if someone stuck a photograph of my house on the Internet. Are you listening google!
'Cruise Like a Local' with Sea Sydney Cruises
Today I played truant! I got a chance to cruise Sydney Harbour with Sea Sydney Cruises on their 'Cruise Like a Local' cruise - so I abandoned David for the day and went boating.
I was collected from Circular Quay by 'Calypso', a 52 foot motor launch, for four serene hours of sailing the most beautiful harbour in the world. I have lived in Sydney most of my life but seeing the harbour from the water opened up a whole new perspective on how magical it is.
I was collected from Circular Quay by 'Calypso', a 52 foot motor launch, for four serene hours of sailing the most beautiful harbour in the world. I have lived in Sydney most of my life but seeing the harbour from the water opened up a whole new perspective on how magical it is.
Detroit's post apocalyptic wasteland. Where have all the people gone?
The shock wasn't the burnt-out houses, the crumbling mansions or the fact that nature is reclaiming the city. House after house consumed by vines and undergrowth, condemned and awaiting demolition, or just gone entirely. We had read about Detroit's wasteland suburbs and we knew what to expect - or so we thought.
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