Fully Loaded

I had an intention going into this trip to use this Tumblr account to do updates of our trip, but it’s been hard to dedicate the time to it. It’s not that there isn’t time; we’re on vacation and our days are filled with riding and just ‘being’ here in Europe. We have the luxury of time, and truthfully I’m just fully using that time to be with the kids, myself, and the places and people we’re visiting. This morning I woke up with a few clear thoughts that I wanted to get down and share on one of our ‘rest days’ and before we start rolling again. I won’t guarantee that there will be more frequent updates, but hopefully it will help others understand why there aren’t more, and maybe it will help me figure out if and how to do more.

Quadruple Holiday in Dinant

Yesterday was a big day, a “Quadruple Holiday,” as Jane said: the summer solstice (Midsummer), Father’s Day, and Gus and Ben’s birthday. For the four of us, it was kind of a typical day. We started the day by leaving a Warmshowers stay, riding about 25 miles to Dinant (Belgium), stopping for ice cream, enjoying one of the most pleasant and beautiful car-free routes (along the Meuse River) we’ve ridden, and ending in a fairy-tale-like city along that river. But it was also kind of typical in the other ways: I had a flat to start, it was hot, there was a route mess-up with a marathon that detoured us and got us mad at each other, we got to town earlier than we could check in, the town was crowded and bustling, and it was even hotter. However, all of those little hard things were outweighed by all of those great things. It was the mash-up of them all that is making this trip special, and also what makes it hard to write or share more.

The ride along the Meuse

I’ve realized that I am very ‘in the moment’ all the time on these trips. Dealing with the logistics of the trip, making sure we’re on route, we have enough (cold!) water, we have plans for food (pretty easy here), and just helping us to move through this trip with as much ease and enjoyment as we can. It means I feel a bit disconnected from the other world of what’s happening outside of our trip, and I think that’s what these trips are supposed to be, at least for me. But it also means that I don’t connect with Jane enough and tell her how much I love her and how her mental and emotional support makes trips like this possible! Or that I don’t call Larry on Father’s Day to tell him how much his support and love through my later childhood, teen years, and beyond helped make me the kind of father that can do trips like this. Or respond to my Aunt and Uncle to tell them how to find this blog and to thank them again for their support of the trip and also to tell them how their travel and way of being in the world are an inspiration to me. It even means that I don’t send the photos to the Warmshowers hosts that I said I would send. I’m so in the moment with them, but then once I’ve left, I’m also in the next moment; even if that’s just sitting in a Spanish tapas restaurant in Belgium, playing cards with the kids while we wait for our (hot!) Airbnb to be open, or sweating on the couch with cold drinks and snacks, watching the World Cup. The time is there, it’s just focused on us. Even if the kids are having their own moments—connecting with friends back home or even on phones/games/social media (yes, it happens more than I’d like, I’m trying). But the time is very much focused on the now, dealing with the little (and big) things that keep us rolling. We are doing a bit of “sightseeing,” but really the ‘sights’ of this trip are what we’re seeing as we ride, the interactions with the people along the way, especially the Warmshowers stays, and whatever interesting scenes or experiences happen along the route.

Celebrating with Christine and Etienne

Yesterday’s Warmshowers stay is a great example. Christine and Etienne opened their beautiful home to us and helped us celebrate Gus and Ben’s birthday by not only making us feel welcome, giving us a place to shower, sleep, and rest, but they also fed us incredible food (mostly from their amazing garden/bees), took us to the town celebration (it was a big national musical festival weekend), and even made Gus and Ben a birthday cake! Both of them are doctors (somewhat retired now) who worked for many years in Peru, so luckily we were able to speak in Spanish, since my French is horrible and their English is not as good as their Spanish (though still pretty good). The time we spent around their table, sharing food and learning a bit about one another, was just a small moment of this trip, but it’s the nugget of one of the reasons these trips are so special to me. Even though the kids have a hard time communicating or might even get bored listening to us talking, they are still there, present in the moment with us and experiencing the warmth of a welcoming host and seeing the best of people. Hosts opening their homes to strangers, supporting them in their travels, sharing food and stories—this is the good and the joy I want to share with my kids. And it didn’t just happen there. At Catherine and François’ incredible home in Montbrehain, we had some of the best bread along the journey, made by François himself. Lucky for us, their son Phil also came to town and was our interpreter, though Catherine did just fine on her own with better English than my French, sharing not only photos of past bike trips and the home they rebuilt, but also great food and showing off her amazing garden (a theme, it seems). And before that, Heloise and Etienne gave us a great place to land outside of Senlis, fed us well, and helped us kick off the tour as we left Paris.

Leaving Catherine, François, and Philémon's

We are now more than ⅓ done with our trip. We’ve ridden about half of our 450 miles and have a few more rest days ahead, one of them at the Efteling amusement park and then in Utrecht and Amsterdam. There are still a few logistics to work out on the second half of the trip, as I wanted to see how things were going before I nailed things down, so that’s what some of today will be while we also sightsee and relax in Dinant.

Maybe I’ll make it back here to write some more as we roll along on this wonderful journey. Maybe I’ll take the easier route and just post more to Instagram. Or maybe I won’t do any of that and I’ll just apologize now for being caught up in the moment of here and now.

In the meantime, here's a few random photos from the trip so far...

Started off with special seats at the Hops game. Thanks Matt! A quick overnight with the Kolasinski’s and we were off at 4am on Saturday.

Then after a very long flight with a long layover in Newark we made it to Paris! We made it to our Warmshowers host’s place in the 20th Arrondissement, with a packed van! Izzy cozied up on the table for a nap and we settled into our place (Thanks Sophie!!) before heading out for dinner and then meeting up with Cousin Fiona!!

Fiona was a great guide and host. Izzy definitely enjoyed spending her nights there too and we all enjoyed the her hospitality and knowledge of Paris. We had a blast zipping around via bikes and walking to ground ourselves a bit.

Brodie and I did a quick trip up to Salem to represent Eugene’s bike share system at ODOT’s 55th Anniversary celebration of the Bike Bill. Was great to ride on the Bike Bus through a part of Salem and then connect with some folks at the event. Let’s hope it doesn’t take us another 55 years to make some real changes. We’re on a faster track. Let’s keep up the momentum!

Then today was a half day of tying up some loose ends at work and getting us packed up and ready to fly. Bikes are in their boxes and in the rental!! We leave PDX at 7:30am Saturday

One of the best parts of the trip so far for me as a professional has been the opportunity to visit the Trafiklegepladsen (Traffic Playground) in Fælledparken in Copenhagen. Ever since I heard about the "Traffic Garden" in Utrech back when I was first starting work as the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) coordinator I knew I wanted to build one in Eugene. The blend of bicycle safety education, city planning, placemaking, and play sounded like the perfect combination of creating something great for the community. Over the years I've done little bits here and there to learn more and formalize ideas of what a great "Traffic Garden" might look like (and where it might be) in Eugene. There have been some UO students who have done preliminary studies and reports into the idea and we've had some productive meetings with City of Eugene Parks and Open Space about the concept as well.

Being here, experiencing it, and hearing from one of the lead coordinators (who has been there for over 30 years) has helped firm up a couple key pieces for me around the concept as well as an overall perspective on what "bike safety education" and the meaning of "building bicycle culture" is. To start off I wanted to share the description of what the Traffic Playground is from their website: "The traffic playground is a public playground with play and learning in the center. The focus is on cycling culture in line with Copenhagen's desire to be the world's best cycling city. Bicycle and traffic safety training takes place in a child-sized traffic town, where children can learn to move in traffic under a safe environment. The playground is staffed, and during opening hours the children can borrow small bicycles (if they are under 130 cm.) Or balance bicycles.

Children are also welcome to ride their own bikes.

The traffic city is decorated with small roads that wind in and out between lawns, bushes and trees. Everything on the small practice roads has been reduced to suit the children's perspective - here are small light signals, mini-signs, lanes, road strips, sidewalks, pedestrian areas, cycle paths, gas pump and much more.

For smaller children there is a small, fenced traffic lane where the little ones can borrow tricycles.

At the other end of the traffic playground there is a classic playground with swings, climbing nets and a large sandbox with shovels, buckets, plastic cars and sand mills.

Takeaway food can be eaten at tables and benches and under the canopy.

The traffic playground is fenced, but has access 24 hours a day, all year round. So both in the evening and on weekends, children and parents are also welcome to use the site.

We offer bicycle games and loans of bicycles for day care children from 3-6 years and schools from Kindergarten to 1st grade. Institutions, schools (Kindergarten and 1st grade) and all private groups must book an appointment in advance for the playground's capacity. The playground can sometimes be booked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 09.30-11.00 or 11.30-13.00 (except during school holidays).

The playground can unfortunately not be booked for private use, eg for birthdays.

Groups on skateboards, roller skates and scooters are referred to the Skateboard track or the scooter track in Fælledparken."