Wow...a year of travel!

We survived it, though. We would have posted more but we just didn't have time. I have some photos for you and some of the story. We did so much it was amazing! We never got on bicycles in Boston, but we did sit on motorcycles in Daytona Beach and we rented bicycles in Key West.

We started in Boston and it was lovely and HOT! Such a nice change from the cold UK. I was missing the Rugby World Cup (no one had it on television!!!) but the Red Sox stepped up to the plate and I was not even a little bit sorry (sorry England Rugby, but I thought you were down for the count when I left :). A and I walked down to the pub on game nights, drank some lovely beer and watched the baseball as the Red Sox made their way through the Division Series and on to win the American League pennant. Then it was World Series time and they did not let us down there, either!!!! My friend Michael had just set up his new TV - a 6 foot monster!!!! - and it was perfect for watching the game. The players were almost life sized there in his living room! We rooted for the heroes Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell, and Youkilis (who reminded A of a friend of hers), and of course Ramirez and Ortiz. The pitching was right where it needed to be....ah, it was amazing. And A has a first class education in baseball now...and a shirt with Varitek on the back :)

It was great to spend time with my Uncle and my friend Lucy was such a star - she drove us all over Massachusetts so that I could see where I went to college and lots of places I used to hang out (Northampton, Salem, etc.) and A could see my old haunts. We topped it all off with the most delicious fried clams you can get - from Woodman's in Essex, MA. YUM!!!!

This is the day we walked in the North End and along the harbor. The tea party ships were again not at their dock


Check out this beautiful fixed gear bike!!!! Sweet! That fork is a beauty.



We saw a glass building reflected onto its brick neighbor...


Then it was off to Florida to visit with my parents....and Charlie! You would throw the ball for this guy, wouldn't you? With those pleading eyes???? :)


We did a little road trip (2000 miles :) to see my sister and her brood in Tennessee and my aunt and cousin in North Carolina and then we came back down the Florida coast. My nephew Nicholas stole the show in Lil' Abner, a school production, and A was wowed when she saw her first American football game and marching band performance. Then it was off to North Carolina. The countryside was beautiful! We arrived at my Aunt's house in the wilds of North Carolina - it was quiet! Then it was on to Charleston, South Carolina for our first tourist stop :)

In Charleston A and I went down to Patriots Point to catch the ferry to Fort Sumter, where the US Civil War started, and we also took some time to explore the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the submarine Clamagore. Then we took my Mom out for her birthday dinner at the Charleston Crab House (I had some excellent tuna!!!!) and the next morning we headed for St Augustine. A and I walked around St Augustine and checked out the old fort and the small village area - it was nothing like I remembered from when I was a kid! Still cool, though :) Then it was on to Daytona Beach where we shelled out for a hotel on the beach....and it was fabulous! The drive down the A1A to Dayton took us right on coast but we still hadn't had enough of surf and sand.

The afternoon we were in Daytona A and I made the pilgrimage to the Harley store...you just have to, don't you???? We had rented a Harley the last time we were in Florida (a Road King) and we had a great time riding to the Everglades and seeing the alligators :). I will say the Harley shop was impressive - 100,000 sq feet and a few hundred bikes on the sales floors (yes, there were 2 floors!!!!). We had a better time in the other bike shop in the area, though - a Triumph and Ducati dealer! A could finally sit on the Street Triple she has been drooling over (it wasn't out yet when we left the UK).

She looks great on the bike, don't you think????


I was liking the Ducati Hypermotard A LOT! Another sweet looking bike. Anyway...as we drove out of town we checked out the Daytona Speedway and then headed for the Kennedy Space Center.

Our timing at the space center was perfect - that morning they had rolled Atlantis out on to its platform and there was a rocket on another platform ready for launch that night. We did the tour (which was amazing - more photos coming!) and saw the IMAX 3D movie about the moon and then headed back to meet my parents for dinner at the steakhouse :) Then we watched the rocket launch it's fiery trail across the sky - WOW. The next morning we headed back to the space center to do the shuttle launch experience and finish up the last few things and then it was time to head home.

Here's A at the space center...


We hung out for a bit at my parent's house and then A and I went off to Key West (my birthday present :). My Mom dropped us off early and we hopped the 3 hour ferry to the island.


We rented some bikes when we arrived, found our hotel and then headed out for margaritas!!!!


It's Margaritaville, so there's no excuse :) These are lovely!


We rode around on the bikes, A downing *5* margaritas!!! I got A up early (and without coffee!! miracle, I know :) for the gorgeous sunrise...sorry, I wasn't awake enough to remember my camera, but I have sunset pictures for you :) After a good breakfast it was time for a ride around the island - and it was amazing! We stopped at a beach and rented a 2 person kayak and headed out into the surf for an hour. Then it was back to town for the last wander around before we hit the key lime pie shop and then headed for the boat...stopping along the way for an order of chips and some Cuban black beans and rice :) It was a fabulous trip!!!!

More photos coming! Thanks for reading.

Hello folks...

Tomorrow morning we fly to the US. We have put quite a few miles on our bicycles on the last couple of months, personally I have been riding 3 different bikes - life just not get better than this!!! But we have been feeling the cold :)

This past weekend we did a ride with some friends around the country backroads and ended up at a pub for a nice Sunday lunch....you just can't beat that :)

We have some bicycles lined up for Boston and then we will let you know about the rest of the trip...we promise we will not descend to having our 2 wheels be a wheel in the sole of each shoe :)

Catch you later!!!

Hey all...

China in the news - all scary!

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

And this bit of depressing news....

Beijing drivers ignore No Car Day

Obviously they are not thinking about the planet....are the people starting to think like the Chinese government and are living for the moment or maybe it's because they can't see beyond their daily existence? I don't know. If you look at China's report on No Car Day they say it was a success. Oh well...you all think green and don't forget to recycle! Turn that computer off and go our and ride your bikes or something :)

Later!!!!!

I know, we owe you an update, so take this one :)

We have been cycling around MK for the last month and a half - we rode our bicycles into the Buckinghamshire countryside on a couple of occasions (one was a nice 50+ mile ride) and we also did the ride into London from Milton Keynes. We have also been playing in the woods at Woburn on our mountain bikes (ah, that was dangerous! I couldn't get the grin off A's face for days!!!!!).

It has been such a pleasure to be back on our bicycles. I have been in and out of our storage facility swapping bikes (will it be road, the fixed gear or my mountain bike today....hmmmm? :) and digging into my parts box, replacing tyres, worn drive trains and things like that. I also helped acquire and repair a bike for a young guy that needed a way to get to his new job because the buses were not able to get him to work on time. Another new convert to 2 wheeled travel!

A is doing a stint of work before we head off to the US and I have been writing and starting to look for work for when we return from the US. All in a days work :)

I have also been following England in the Rugby World Cup and I hope that they can pull themselves together and start playing like a team and not so much as individuals. I know it's hard with all the injuries - and being the holders of the cup also put additional pressure on, - but come on guys, you can play much better than this! This year's World Cup has started off with some pretty weird rugby, so maybe things will improve...or maybe Scotland will have to carry the UK flag as the best we have to offer from the island :)

We are off to the US in just over a week and we have plans to ride bicycles on our journey, even if it's just renting a beach cruiser for a day in Florida :) We are looking to ride while we are in Boston - I haven't lived there for ages but I still remember all the riding I used to do - and of course we will ride Slickrock Trail when we get to Moab. I am hoping to hook up with a friend in St Louis as well and maybe do some more riding there. We shall see. We will keep you posted and we will be sure to take some photos. Now...where oh where have I stored that bikini for the last few months....

Later!

The Road Across Tibet Photos - Shigatse to Sakya

From Gyantse we made our way to Shigatse and we arrived with plenty of time to see the famouse Tashilumpo monastery in the afternoon before departing the next morning for Sakya.

How appropriate - there was a cycling statue in Shigatse. We so wanted to be on our bikes!!! This one looked a little like a model of a Trek 9.8 carbon mountain bike. Check out the aero wheels :)



Across from the park with the bicycle statue we found Tashilumpo...



It's a beautiful, heavily restored for the tourists, monastery (am I being too nasty to the Chinese????). It seemed just a bit too polished and there were hoardes of tourists. The destruction at this monastery was massive - many of the previous Dalai Lama remains were here - and it has all been put back in fresh new buildings with beautiful new stupas to hold the old Dalai Lama remains. The Shigatse fort was also totally destroyed and has now be freshly rebuilt...we gave it a miss. What's the point of an old fort rebuilt? Don't get me wrong - I thought it was wonderful to see the famous monastery, but Gyantse was so much more real...as were so many of the other monasteries that we visited.







A is looking good! even if her ankle is bothering her. We were going to walk the kora but it was a bit of a rough track. We headed down the back way - lovely, as it was quiet and away from the hoardes of tourists - and then had some dinner at a local place.


Just off the kora we spotted these loos...


One of the famous stories from the Jataka Tales is about the four friends. It is a story that teaches that you should respect your elders. There are images of the four friends all over Tibet...here are a few I spotted.
Read the story here: The Four Harmonious Friends




Oooo, more off-road adventures on the road across Tibet!!!! Tashi was really ripping it up when the road turned to dirt, he was usually more sedate on pavement (not unlike the behavior A shows when she's on her bicycle :)



And the top of a pass - easy to spot with all the prayer flags :)


Then we were in Sakya - easily identified by the grey paint with the vertical red and white stripe on all the buildings.


In front of the assembly hall is a statue of a lion (a Chinese lion!) but the thing about this one is the ball that it's paw is resting on - it's all been carved from one block of stone but there is a loose ball inside the outer ball and another ball inside that ball. Cool, eh? They also often have a loose ball in the mouth of the lion - it can't get out from behind the teeth, but you can roll it around in there (I know, I have done it more than once :).




The Lokapalas for this assembly hall are painted on the wall, they do not have statues at Sakya.


The assembly hall is similar to others that we have seen - dark, lots of brightly colored silk hangings, gold decorations and tankas plus the cushioned benches for the monks.





Here are some details that we spotted - this looks like a key...


...and these are maces. The pillars are made from single, huge trees - very rare at the Tibetan altitude, so who knows where they were hauled in from.


Sakya monastery was in 2 sections - we only visited the southern half. The north side is 200 years older (circa 1050 AD) but it has been completely destroyed and has not been restored. All you can see above some of the village houses (in grey paint with the red and white stripes) are ruins and the restored white stupas. We took these photos when we were walking the walls of the southern monastery.




Sakya monastery also has it's own protector chapel - very different from the one at Gyantse, but still a bit creepy :) We couldn't take photos inside of it, though (not allowed).



The massive inscense burner for juniper...


More of the area inside the monastery walls...






The monastery was in the midst of repairs...