I am in Amsterdam. 2,300 miles from Athens. It has been a long trip but I have enjoyed every aspect of it. The other riders have all been great. Many of them may come and visit us in Tucson. I certainly hope so. I have enjoyed talking with each of them. I don’t leave until Sunday which was a mistake since I am ready to go home now. When I made the reservations I was concerned that the process of getting my bike boxed and everything ready to go could spill over into Saturday so I made the reservations for Sunday. As it turns out, my bike is boxed and I am ready to go and it is still Friday.
We had a nice dinner last night and Toby did his slide show. I will get a copy of it along with a video he is putting together of the ride. Then we can schedule showings for whoever wants to see them.
Arnhem, where we were last night seems like a nice city and one of the riders who just rode to Sarajevo is actually from Arnhem. He sent us a list of all the great places to visit but we simply did not have time. I guess I will have to come back. Although, you have to wonder about a place that has a 50 foot statue of a dead aardvark (picture below).
The ride today was uneventful. This stretch is very developed and so most of the ride was on bike paths adjacent to major highways. The bike paths, however, are the best we have experienced on the whole trip. We are now back in bicycle country. Bicyclists everywhere. The Netherlands seem to take a lot of effort to make the paths safe and useful. They have their own traffic lights, bridges, tunnels, and are continuous so that you have very little interaction with cars.
Tonight we are having a celebration dinner and everyone is on their own after that. About a third of the group are staying for several more days. Some are meeting friends, some are exploring the area on bikes and some are just hanging around Amsterdam.
This will be my last post for this trip. I have enjoyed ruminating about each day and sharing some photos. I hope you have enjoyed coming along with me.
Bob
