I took another step forward with my bike trip. I've got a series of posters up with my basic route and most dates listed. I've already got the route as a spreadsheet with mileage and everything else, but I think it will be more fun to visualize it this way. Plus it adds some badly needed decoration to my sitting room.

( Three pictures of maps )

With less than a month to go until Burning Man, I've finally started on my shower. It's loosely based on the design at http://timefold.com/shower/index.html, but I'd have to say that the design is heavily influenced by the parts I've got lying around the house. I may end up ( Read more... )

I've been sick for the last couple of days, so I used the time to catch up on the big pile of travel books I've got. In addition to learning about a few new places to hang out along the way I discovered that there exists a special type of airline ticket just for people flying around the world. Not only does it appear to be about $400 cheaper than ( Read more... )

I found an excellent journal by a fellow who biked around France last year. He visited a number of the places I plan to see, and his notes should come in quite handy while planning the European leg of my trip ( Read more... )

I spent the morning reading about people's trips through Europe, and I followed up some links to find some good leads on 1:125,000 and 1:250,000 maps for detailed route planning. I'm going to hold off on buying those for a couple of years, since they will probably change a bit between now and then. However I did learn a bit about things I should ( Read more... )

I've found a number of great journals covering Italy and France on www.crazyguyonabike.com. They're covering a lot of similar areas to where I will be, so it's nice to get an idea about how difficult it is to find your way around, and how common things like campgrounds are. I've already learned one important thing: Tourist information booths ( Read more... )

Spent the morning watching TV and not biking. I'll need to make up for it by biking this evening after work. I need to get a reading stand so that I can do my reading for class or whatever while I'm on the bike. Maybe I'll use more PVC and build something myself. I'm starting to feel like everything in my house is made out of PVC. Once it ( Read more... )

I used my bike trainer some more today. Getting a head start on biking for the spring should be a good deal. Once the weather stops being so harsh I'm going to look into biking again. I might even try it out anyway as it is. I've got a good amount of warm clothes, and biking would help keep me warm on the trip. The biggest deal for me is ( Read more... )

I've decided to start a new journal to cover my next bike trip. I've started doing a bit of prep-work already, but I haven't done anything especially serious. I've crunched the numbers, and it looks like I'll be able to afford the trip in three or four years. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get unpaid time off to cover it, but I'm not sure if ( Read more... )