2 Wheeled Wanderer

Getting excited for Iceland!

Next week I leave for Boston to visit my son Alex. When planning this trip, I remembered that Boston is a jumping off airport for Iceland. Why not???!!! So, with cheap flights from Asheville to Boston flying on Fridays and Mondays, it worked out well to spend the weekdays in Iceland when Alex would be working. Then come back and have the weekend with him and Jess, his partner.

I usually design my own trips and this one was no different. Since I will be going by myself, I wanted to book accomodations and tours where I would have the opportunity to meet other folks. Also, renting a car and driving can be stressful as I have heard with the unpredictable weather and snow. I have a bunk booked at a hostel centrally located in Reykjavik and easily found tours for each day I will be there. There has been a huge increase in tourism in Iceland in recent history, so there were tons of tours available for very reasonable prices… like $100 for a full day 11 hour tour of the Golden Circle. Getting my cold weather gear together and getting excited! Stay tuned…

A New Year

Well, 2022 was welcomed while I was still in Mexico getting ready to fly home on the 1st. The time together in Mexico with my kids and their partners was really special. To be in a new and different place… exploring, talking, enjoying new foods and customs as well as each other’s company… was wonderful. I’m writing this in July, as updating my blog seems to be a delayed effort since it is much easier to post pictures and descriptions on Facebook. Certainly, there is a greater readership there. However, as a record of my travels, I enjoy having it all together in this blog.

So, the two trips I have taken this year have been motivated by getting together with my kids. My son, Alex, moved to Boston in the summer of 2021 and I had not been up to see him. While planning this trip, I remembered that Boston is sort of a jumping off spot to go to Iceland. Why not? Alex had done a trip there in March several years ago and it seemed like a good time to go. Thus, the planning began to fly into Boston, fly out the next day to Iceland, stay 6 days and then fly back to spend the weekend with Alex and his partner Jess. And that is how it played out, except for a small glitch where the airline cancelled my return flight from Boston. That is common these days as the airlines struggle to catch up with staffing and deal with weather.

My daughter, Sarah, had plans to attend a wedding in New York state in June and was planning on staying in the east for about a month. This past spring I was reacquainted with a friend who enjoyed bike touring, so we started planning a tour for the summer. As it turned out, we had another friend of mine who had been interested in my previous tours sign on to the trip. Thus, a two pronged adventure developed with camping with my kids in Acadia National Park, and then a bike ride across Vermont and New Hampshire.

Shall we begin? Away we go.

Mexican Christmas Vacation 2021

Back when my kids were young, we as a family went to Mexico almost every winter. This came about as a result of a cruise gone bad. In 2000, when Sarah was 7 and Alex 3, we booked a cruise out of Tampa to a few Eastern Caribbean ports. Well, as the Gilligan’s Island theme song goes…. “The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed…” So it was, the huge ship ran into a storm and the result was the pool was drained and the first port cancelled. Not to mention we were getting seasick. I was perusing the Carnival brochure when I noticed their Vacation Guarantee. We could get off at the first port and they would fly us home. I was at the cruise desk first thing the next morning inquiring about this and we decided to take advantage, as long as we could salvage a few days vacation at a resort. Yes, we did not have to fly back immediately. So we found an all inclusive resort down the beach in Cozumel and booked 3 nights. Bliss! Of course, one morning they hit us up with the time share spiel. We said we don’t think so, and they said there’s a Plan B…. One free week and 5 additional weeks at $700/week for only $1500. We jumped on that and spent the next 7 years (they forgot to take the voucher one year!) going to their resorts in Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Manzanillo. The kids learned to order virgin daiquiris at the pool bar in Spanish, we had a sun filled week in the winter and we also were able to take extra weeks to explore the REAL Mexico. It was a great deal and a fun part of their childhood.

That’s the long (sorry!) backstory on why we ended up planning a Christmas Vacation in Mexico. The plan was that Sarah and Alex (and their partners, Nate and Jess) would spend a week with their mom and then a week with me doing the Air BnB thing in Tulum and Lake Bacalar.

I flew down on December 21st to Cancun and had a couple of days before picking them up about an hour down the coast. Upon arrival at the resort gate, we had concocted a reason why I didn’t have a wrist band to enter. It wasn’t going well… these places are fortresses! After the guard had made several phone calls and visits to his jefe, Alex shows up and shouts “Papa!!!”. He’s official, so I must be, so they let me thru and I get to spend one afternoon enjoying the free drinks and food. Ahhh… memories!

We spent 5 days in Tulum. The Air BnB was amazing! We each had our own private large bedroom with spa tub, close to town and outdoor plunge pool. During our stay, we went to Coba ruins, swam in a cenote, took a snorkeling tour and two went cenote scuba diving. And ate LOTS of tacos! So good and cheap.

Next it was on to Lake Bacalar, which is a long narrow fresh water lake fed by the underground aquifer. It is called the “Lake of Seven Colors”, due to the many shades of blue. Several cenotes are found in the lake. Our accommodation was a small apartment hotel. located about a mile out a horrid, pot hole strewn road. But it was right on the lake and had a dock area with hammocks and kayaks. We spent lots of time relaxing, took a sailboat tour, ate good seafood (and more tacos!) and Nate even harvested a coconut and busted it open for a tropical snack!

For me, this was a wonderful time to spend with my kids and to get to know their partners better. All that great youthful energy and discussions and board games was a blast!

10/26/2021

10/26/2021 – As I write this, the country is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic (possibly, hopefully…) with my Moderna booster scheduled today. The last two years have been challenging, but I have tried to make the most of it. 2020 found me at home completing my apartment renovation downstairs and tearing out and completely redoing my kitchen upstairs. I am waiting on the excavator this week to come and break ground for an addition on the south end of my house. It will be a freestanding 24′ x 26′ two story building, housing a woodworking shop and brewing corner ground level and master bedrooom and office upstairs. This will keep my at home and busy over winter and into the spring, but I’m sure my wanderlust will creep in there on a smaller scale!

THE NEXT ADVENTURE – Mexico bound! The holidays in Mexico are calling me, as were my two children (and her fiancé Nate) will be there and invited me to create a trip with them. So be it, we are planning on meeting on 12/23 and staying in Tulum for 5 days and on Lake Bacalar for 3 days. Sarah and Nate will fly out New Year’s Eve and Alex and I will stick around to celebrate the new year Mexico style!

Day 10 – Walking around Albany

I had a totally enjoyable day being a tourist in Albany. The state capital is un-fricking-believable!!! It was started in 1867, took 32 years to finish, and costs MILLIONS of dollars (1800s value) !!!!

Erie Canal – Day 9

Final day of riding and walking around Albany pics.

Erie Canal – Day 8

Super fun short day riding from Canajoharie to Schenectady. Say those ten times!

Decided to check out Vale Park this afternoon which is next to the motel. It quickly turned into Vale Cemetery, which is the largest and oldest cemetery I’ve ever experienced. I took a sobering ride through a massive number of gravestones mostly from the 1800s. Close by was Union College, founded in 1795. Most buildings were new and modern. Highlight was a three story rotunda with art gallery inside.

Following that I rode to a German Biergarten where there was a lively crowd watching soccer. Ended talking to Diedra and Dan, who had recently sold their home and are now full time in their large 5th wheel camper. For dinner, we threw my bike in the back of his truck and headed to a brewery on the river.

A great day. Glad to be on the bike and not in the ground at the cemetery!

Erie Canal – Day 7

I didn’t get a great nights sleep after being woken up by lights and loud talking from some fishermen at 2 am. A good breakfast at a close by diner helped. There was one poor woman there having to wait on and cook for the entire restaurant. She was the only one there. Despite being overwhelmed, she was exceedingly nice and unruffled by it all. She earned a good tip in my eyes!

I wanted to get some miles in since rain is forecast and was able to make it Canajoharie. However you pronounce it, it was 60 miles away. The trail was paved most of the way which made it easier. Also passed an old church and general’s mansion. In a motel tonight as skies were looking dark.

Erie Canal – Day 6

Woke up rested after a good night’s sleep in my Airbnb room. There were many cats in the house and trying to keep them out of the room was a challenge. Guess I’m a dog person. There were a few issues that needed attention on my bike, so I was over at the bike shop at 10. Neil took me right in and addressed all the issues – New brake pads on the rear, replaced a spoke, adjusted the shifting and a new seat post. Thanks Mello Velo bike shop and cafe! (wish the cafe had been open).

When I got back to the house, my clean clothes had still not shown up from the home schooled teenager washing them next-door. Time passed and still no clothes. After multiple texts, I finally had a laundry basket of damp clothes at 1:00. Not sure what the problem was, just glad to get them back.

Leaving Syracuse was slow because of the many stoplights. The paved trail went down the median of a divided highway for quite a ways. Then I was back on the trail next to the canal which for the majority of the time has been stone dust. There were several interesting locks today and a canal boat museum which was closed.

I wanted to get 40 miles in, but with the late start it was 7 before I arrived in Rome. The first ball park I looked at was a little sketchy, so I traveled on to a marina park which looked like a much better camp spot. Mosquitoes, once again, are voracious and require a full slather of repellent to cook dinner. So, here I am under a full Harvest Moon next to a historic canal getting ready to fall asleep .

Erie Canal – Day 5

I guess the theme for today was entertainment. About 8 miles down the trail, I came upon the 75th Jordan Fall Festival. There was a huge car show, crafts, carnival rides, carnival food, and greased pole climb.. From what I hear, all the money goes back into the community to various organizations. It was fun to walk around the festival again!

The remaining 20 miles to Syracuse went from forested single track to open trail beside the canal to city bike paths. I was stopped at a stoplight when another cyclist came up beside me and said follow me to stay on the trail. So I did, and Carol was a good guide. Serendipitously, we came upon a Syracuse ballet performance of an adapted Peter and the Wolf in a park next to Onandaga Lake. Very well done!

I am in an upstairs AirBnB room tonight. I walked to a Bosnian grocery store which had takeout for dinner. Lots of grilled meats, quite good. Tomorrow morning I need to visit the bike shop/café to get my rear brakes fixed (one of the pads fell out!) and have a spoke replaced.