"Lovely Weather"

Friday June 1
Ballivor, west of Trim
Overcast but dry..."lovely weather"




Narrow roads. No shoulders. Have I said that before? This cycling is not for the faint of heart:). You have to just trust that the drivers will not kill you. Some roads today were not wide enough for two cars to pass without them both going into the ditches. And large farm equipment and buses were on that road!
We visited the largest castle in Ireland. Built around 1200's by Hugh de Lacy. Defense design. Castle inside walls. Moat outside. Wooden stairs up to 2nd story main floor would be burned when attacked by Irishman because the dude who owned it was French.

We're not making much distance but we're not in any hurry. Besides neither of us trained for this so we're cycling into shape.

I could sure use a shower though. Tonight we're camped in the front of a vacant factory. Lovely grassy lawns. No one seems to mind. Right in town across from houses the kids wVed at us:)

Tomorrow night we're hoping to be in a campground outside of Athlone. Showers, I hope!

Haven't been in a pub for a Guiness yet (for Cheryl, of course) other than for water. We're not much for drinking.

Lights out. BagLady



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"Lovely Weather"

Friday June 1
Ballivor, west of Trim
Overcast but dry..."lovely weather"




Narrow roads. No shoulders. Have I said that before? This cycling is not for the faint of heart:). You have to just trust that the drivers will not kill you. Some roads today were not wide enough for two cars to pass without them both going into the ditches. And large farm equipment and buses were on that road!
We visited the largest castle in Ireland. Built around 1200's by Hugh de Lacy. Defense design. Castle inside walls. Moat outside. Wooden stairs up to 2nd story main floor would be burned when attacked by Irishman because the dude who owned it was French.

We're not making much distance but we're not in any hurry. Besides neither of us trained for this so we're cycling into shape.

I could sure use a shower though. Tonight we're camped in the front of a vacant factory. Lovely grassy lawns. No one seems to mind. Right in town across from houses the kids wVed at us:)

Tomorrow night we're hoping to be in a campground outside of Athlone. Showers, I hope!

Haven't been in a pub for a Guiness yet (for Cheryl, of course) other than for water. We're not much for drinking.

Lights out. BagLady



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Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Thursday May 31
Enfield Ireland
Rain



Woke up to rain. Surprise! Surprise! But it's harder to take when you're not yet in the touring rhythm. So we, after much angst, decided to stay put. Packing up in the rain is such a challenge and it didn't stop until the afternoon. By that time,why bother? So what do you do on a raining day on a cycle tour? Fuat says he's always wondered. Now he knows! Hang in the tent: reading and sleeping...lots! A local stopped by and since my side of the tent is always open (just like my windows at home) and faces the park roadway which is just 10 feet away, he chatted us up. He's Brian, the local barber. He loaned us his keys to the bathrooms. They were vandalized just last week so everything is locked up. You need a swipe card for the shower and we couldn't get that. Oh, well...could use a shower. It'll have to wait.

We then ventured into town on foot. I tried to get on wifi, but couldn't find some open anywhere. I did look for what was out there and tried going into a real estate office that had it according to my signal, but the girl didn't know the password. Nice try!

We're hearing a lot of Gaelic spoken here and it's on all the signs. A young boy said "it's Irish. We learn it in school. Gaelic is a sport like football, but you can pick up the ball." Ok???? We're more confused now than ever. Guess we'll have to ask a grownup.

Brian, the barber, suggested we go up to Trim Castle...it's about 14 km north but worth the trip. May help us to get on some smaller roads too. And since this is a trip with no particular route and if one person wants to do it, we do it (unless the other strongly objects, I guess). And that's how we're meandering...



Goodnight, BagLady

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Nice Legs!

Wed May 30th
Dublin
Exchange rate at bank 1.28

Today's the day. We gotta start this trip and just be brave. We'll figure this out. Right off the bat, we ran into trouble. We got to the end of the street we were staying at and Fuat said something about "one Way" and I thought he meant that the street we were turning onto was one way so I decided to pull out in to the right side. Oops! Cars coming at me! He meant the street we were staying on was a one way and we shouldn't have biked down the way we did. Men on the sidewalk were laughing at us and said "Wrong side!" Great start. We're gonna get killed before getting out of Dublin!

The next problem we had was making right turns. Feels so awkward and dangerous, especially in a big city! Sometimes we took to the crosswalks to avoid biking right turns. Luckily yesterday we had walked much of the area we had to bike around in so the streets were somewhat familiar. We still found ourselves wanting to turn down one ways the wrong way. Cross the streets and then getting back on the correct sides was a big challenge. I kept forgetting which direction to look first.

I did get a great compliment by one group of men as I biked by when one shouted "Nice legs!" Not bad for a 62 yr old dame!!!

I went into a bike shop trying to buy a can of Halt (pepper spray) to use on dogs if necessary. I don't like being down on their level unarmed. But it's illegal in Ireland. "Not so many criminals and not so vicious dogs in Ireland!"

Exchange rate at bank 1.28
Money changers expensive. Charged 1.33

Hard to find right roads. We're using hard copy maps and a new app that doesn't require wifi. It's so confusing. No one knows road names. The lady at the bank said she lives here and she can't figure out what street she's on. It got worse as we got out of town. Today I asked a guy coming from his house the name of the road and he gave me a shoulder shrug. His wife finally said it was Martin's Row and helped me understand that we were on the right road.

The next issue is that there are no shoulders AT ALL. And when there's some room, there's a wide dashed line with major metal reflectors that I have to straddle. Many times I have to just ride in the road. Everyone manages to get around us although I've had a couple of trucks take my breath away! Lots of thumbs up to Blaze. The kids especially like her. Fuat gets a lot of comments about his kitty litter panniers. The are a hoot! Been seeing lots of beautiful stone houses and hatched roofs. The windows are adorned with mostly lace curtains.

A few minor bike issues today too.
Squeaky front tire on Fuat's bike that he managed to fix by just removing the front tire and messing with it. Lots of moaning and groaning from Blaze. She's loaded to the withers!!

Haven't got the location of things worked out yet. Need both best location for ease of access and to be able to remember where things are:).

Stopped just past Enfield to spend the night at a "scenic picnic spot" on the Royal Canal. Some local school children were playing in the park with a video camera and came over to interview me. I loved their excitement and curiosity! I told them I had a blog, gave them a card, and took their picture. Now they're FAMOUS!



Aren't they great!!!

One boy asked if he could give me a hug. "Of course! " BagLady never passes up a hug.

It stays light quite late here, like until 10:30 or later, but I'm pretty tired and still don't feel quite adjusted yet.

Tomorrow we change our route to see if we can find more secondary roads. It will be a challenge and take frequent stops to be sure we know where we are on the maps, but hopefully the traffic will be less.

More adventure awaits!

A Day in Dublin

Tuesday, May 29th
Dublin, Ireland

Spent yesterday afternoon wandering the streets of Dublin looking for cycling maps, fuel, food, and checking out the sites. I love all the old architecture here. It's also got great hippy fashion on the young folks...very cool. ANd they are so progressive. Bikes for rent at kiosks all around town. You pay an annual rental of about $13 and then pick up a bike when you need it, pedal to where you want to go...and if it's less than 30 minutes, it was free. If you need longer, turn it in and get another or pay a small fee to keep it. There's a chip in the bike, so don't bother stealing it. ANd they've got your credit card number.

The grocery store didn't give you a bag unless you asked for it. Most dont ask

Today after Fuat spent the morning putting Dew Drop together (my nickname for his bike), we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, ancient Irish medieval gospel manuscripts on display. Amazing to view. They are under glass and the pages are turned every couple of days to reduce wear. Upstairs there were 20,000 of the library's oldest books in a room 65 meters long. Such a feeling of ancient-ness. There's such history here! The afternoon we spent on a Free Tour. The guide works for tips only. They're in many of the cities in Europe. Check out TripAdvisor to find them. He did a 4 hour monologue of the history of Ireland as we moved about the city's oldest quarters. Living history. AMazing! There's so much I never knew. Great way to start to understand the country we're about to bike around.

We've also planned out a route across to Galway. That should take us a couple of days going down back roads through such towns as Leixlip, Kinnegad, Athlone, and Coracoolia. We have a hardcopy map and an app on both my iPhones to help us navigate. But they don't label the streets in this country much. I had a hell of a time getting here from the airport and I only had to ride on 4 streets. But no names, so confusing. Had to ask directions 3 times. But it's a great way to meet the people. So as long as we know the next village we're trying to find, I'm sure we'll get lots of help!

So tomorrow we head out of Dublin and rain is expected...of course. Oh well. We'll manage somehow. I'm ready to get moving and see the countryside. Fuat's going through culture shock of the big city! And considering he lives in the rural Adirondacks, it's totally understandable. Too much traffic,too much noise, too many people.

But the food is good...had Shepard's Pie for dinner. Yum! With Yorkshire Pudding (which I call Popovers!)

And here's a view of our room at the hostel. (Remember, I can only post pics that I take with my phone, so my selection is limited. Someday I'll travel with a MacBook AIr and have all the technology I have at home.)



Lights out!


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My Box Weighs What?

87 lbs? But the limit is 70! I know that! I added up the parts. The box is too big to fit on any scale. Blaze 40, box 8, gear 15. Where's the other 20 lbs? Got me. $400 to go? Options? Other luggage box with rest of gear is 20 lbs under but packed to bursting! "Do you have a larger box?" ask I. Ok. Let's try repacking. Your box looks a bit bigger. Pulling stuff out of Blaze's box to get weight down. Putting everything in new box. Not gonna fit. Ouch! Idea!! Take one pannier (saddlebag) and stuff it with bulky stuff like sleeping bags, Blaze's cover, etc and carry that on with backpack. Confirm I'm good with gate agent. Yup. Box just works. Agent let plastic and empty packing boxes stay with Blaze even though she's still a few pounds over. And we're both going on an earlier flight so our connection won't be too tight in Newark. See. Everything works out just as it is supposed to.



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Blasting Off on Sunday

I realized when I posted that last post that not everyone knows what the plan is for this adventure.  Back in January, Fuat (the guy that joined me on my Pacific Northwest bike tour last summer) wrote to me and asked mentioned he was interested in cycling Europe if he had a companion.  "If you're asking, I'm considerin'!"  It doesn't take much for me to jump on an opportunity.  Today's mantra is say Yes unless there's a good reason to say No.  It opens so many more doors!


So we've been lightly planning a 4 month tour of northern Europe.  Lightly.  We know we're flying into Dublin this weekend.  And he has a return flight out of Dublin at the end of September.  That's all we know for sure.  Roughly the plan is to go to the west coast of Ireland then south around the tip.  Ferry over to southwestern England and then ferry to northern France.  Somehow we'll end up back in Dublin late September.  Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany are on the list.  Lots of TBD (to be determined).  I'm so glad he likes to travel that way, too.  The adventure unfolds in front of us:)

So what about my plans when Fuat leaves Dublin, you ask.  Up in the air.  If my hands don't get any worse, I'd like to fly to Cairns, Australia and cycle southward for 3 months.  Then on to New Zealand for another 3 months.  Then maybe stop in Hawaii on my way to the west coast.  I've thought about flying into Portland OR and biking south to San Diego, then east to St. Augustine (you'll recognize those cities are where my daughters live), then north to home.  So many options.  We'll just have to see what the Universe brings my way:))

It's been quite challenging planning for a trip that I don't know how long I'll be away for.  So I'm doing the planning for the longer trip and if I come home earlier...albeit.

What are the challenges?  Access to money, for one.  Taking care of my house, second.  And taking care of my car, third.  I luckily have 2 wonderful women renting out rooms in my house this time around. The gardens will be well maintained and the property enjoyed.  And a friend that is my rock when I travel is watching the mail and my car for me.  And overseeing any issues with the house.  Couldn't do these trips without his love and support.  Thank you, Dennis!!!!

So hopefully all the critical things have been addressed and anything missed can be managed from afar.  Life is getting too complicated, if you ask me.  And when I hit the road, everything becomes simple again...at least for me.

And to get Blaze to Europe, I had to build a box.  It's quite a box!  It's put together from 3 regular bike boxes and with bolts so I can disassemble in Dublin and store it for 4 months.  It all comes apart and will store in the bottom with the lid on top.  At least that's the plan.

So now I sit with only a couple of days left and trying not to think too much about anything and just enjoy these wonderful spring days in New York!

A tout a l'heure,

BagLady

Getting Ready

Testing! Testing!


New gadget testing! Because I'll be keeping my blog via my iPhone AND I have basal joint syndrome (which is getting worse) and I don't want to be thumbing for the next 4 months...I got a new gadget: a wireless keyboard that works with my iPhone. How cool is that? I'm using it right now and it works pretty well. I have some finger training to do.

This will be the first journey with another new gadget, my Goal Zero solar charger.

Now I'm just testing to see how the recording element of my iPhone works so that I might not even have to type anything at all. This means that I can dictate during the day and make corrections at night with my new keyboard. Wow! I'm impressed! This sure saves the thumbs!


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Location:home

Intergenerational Feast

Friday, January 13, 2012
Kapa'au , Hawai'i

I'm looking for ways to get more connected with the wonderfully multi-cultural community here. And tonight was exceptional. Some locals have grant money to serve a feast once a month that cuts across all the generations. And each month it's a different ethnic feast. Tomorrow it's Chinese. So tonight was prep night. About 20 of us gathered at the community center that has a professional kitchen and cleaned and chopped and sliced and grated and ground and stirred and washed and dried. Sheep, fish, chicken, garlic, onions, carrots, scallions, ginger, cabbage, leafy greens, bowls, knives, cutting boards, peelers, and pots. And laughed and told stories and got to know each other. Kids and young folks and old folks. All together. As it should be. Food came from the local farms and the grocery store.

And tomorrow we cook up a storm. Can't wait!






Aloha, Bag Lady

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Lots Been Happening!

Wow!  Can't believe I haven't written in about 3 weeks.  Guess I've been a bit busy:) 

So, let me see if I can remember how the last 3 weeks passed.  On Wed, the 20th I drove across to the dry side, the east side, to Spencer Beach Park.  Heike and I had stayed there one night, but it wasn't til the next day that we found the better places to camp.  So that's where I went.  I was in a grove of trees, up the rocks from the shore.  WINDY!    Had been listening to music and feeling a bit scared and deeply lonely.  Here I was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean not really knowing anyone.  And Christmas was less than a week away.  Deep sadness.  Strong tears.  Could reach no one by phone.  Guess I'll have to pull my self out of this one.  Take a walk.  Look at those views.  You are not alone, no matter where you are.  You are blessed!  Breathe in all the magnificence of this paradise.  Ahhhh!  Worked wonders.  Boris, a German guy from Wisconsin whom we met at another campground a couple of nights ago was there, so that also helped the  loneliness I was feeling to pass.  He's biking around the island with a backpack.  He's a tri-athlete that goes off for morning swims of a mile or longer...way out into the ocean.  

Spent 2 nights at Spencer, enjoying the beach during the day and Boris' company at night.  There was a group of locals making music over in the pavilion.  We went over to check it out.    They were doing a hula line dance and Boris and I stood up at the back and tried to copy the moves.  Felt like I was part of culture for a moment.  Some folks came over and chatted with us.   They were rehearsing for a gathering Christmas Day and invited us to come out and see them then.  Hawaiians are some the warmest, loving-est people I've ever met.  


I decided I wanted to spend Christmas at Ho'okena Beach Park, Heike and my most favorite place.  Went on line and made a reservation so there wasn't a chance there wouldn't be space.  Boris was heading to the east side and Waipio Valley.  Hope it's not raining!  


Got to the beach, got a great spot on the front row under a coconut tree.  Life is good. And guess who shows up later in the day...Boris!  Too wet.  Hopped the bus right back to the Kona side and knew I was down here, so came on down.  A little community was forming for the Christmas holiday:  Boris, Daniel (a guy that I met the first time here who was healing from a broken collarbone before he took off and biked the island), Rachel and ___ (drawing a blank) from the Noni Farm in Hilo, and Monika, a German woman who's lived here for 30+ years and roams the island living here and there.  She was the true bag lady having only some clothes, a blanket, a bit of food, and her knitting with her...sleeping cowboy every night on the beach.  Lucky it didn't rain!  

Christmas morning was magical.  Walking out through the tents to the privy, I passed  where parents had hung their kids stockings on a line between the tents and there were presents on the sand underneath.  So simple, so sweet.  Got a picture:)  (Wish I had better luck uploading photos to this blog.  Can only do it from my phone and I'm on a pc right now.)


And the whales made a visit flapping their tails and blowing!  Hadn't seen them that close nor here before  And finally the dolphins came back.  They'd been gone for quite a bit.  Magical Christmas.  Mele Kalikimaka!


So now I need to go back and fill you in on some missing details.  The first week of the trip at a campground up north of Kona, I met a man in passing.  He'd been down to the beach to swim and then was handing out spiritual books about soul healing.  I accepted it.  We chatted.  He offered to help us find info on a 4x4 rental to go to the top of Mauna Kea, so I gave him my phone and email.  He sent the info and asked if we were coming back up north.  Not this trip, I replied.  Heike was a bit weirded out by the spiritual stuff, but I thought it was interesting.  

A week or so goes by, and I get a quick note asking if I was still on the island.  Another week, another note.  This time I told him I had extended my stay.  He invited me to come up so we could continue the flow of conversation and explore his backyard.  This was happening right at Christmas.  I still had the car for another few days so I thought that I could go up, and still get away if he was a weirdo.  I called him to make plans and it wasn't weird.  I felt more at ease.  So off I went on another adventure.  And this adventure took me into the arms of a loving, charming, energetic man that sees me.  But the really crazy part is his name.  My daughter's name is Dana Mossbrook Zimmerman.  His name is Dana Moss.  Now that's weird or cosmic or something!   A bit hard on me:)  Dana is my daughter.  The name shouldn't belong to anyone else.  But it so fits him.  And I've always loved the name for male or female.  He's 54 and a single dad of a daughter named Kawai (ku-veye).  Born and raised in Hawaii.  Surfer dude!  

So I've decided to stay another 3 months and explore this relationship and this community of Kohala.  There's so many places to hike.  So much to learn about the flora and fauna.  The food is different: taro leaves and coconut milk...papaya smoothies...fish that I'll never remember the names of!  I'm going to do some yoga classes and find places to volunteer my time.  My sister-in-law, Sandy, this summer, taught me how to really connect with a community by the way she has in Wyoming.  Thanks for the tips and ideas!

I don't know if I can deal with missing winter.  I so love the snow and skiing.  I get to glimpse at snow on Mauna Kea.  But it's not the same.  

So here I sit looking at the ocean out one window and the mountains out the other, with coconut trees whistling in the trade winds.  I'm going to enjoy it for how ever long it lasts:)