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In a plane above San Francisco, almost home

Three weeks of solo bike touring and camping, across 600+ miles of The Netherlands and Belgium. Riding over massive man-made dikes, on paved bike paths cutting through dark forests and rural farm fields (where I might not see another person for hours), to Trappist breweries and old towns, along canals, on muddy back roads and unsigned border crossings, and to a bonfire with a band playing under a rusted crane. ...

Favorite warning sign of the trip (I’m sure it has a translation, but I like to think it’s warning of a giant, overly-amorous rooster roaming the countryside)

Directional signs to the airport along bike paths through the woods…

KLM bike box is huge: only handlebar and pedal removal needed!

Clever tabbed no-tape-required bike box design (and have I mentioned you can check a bike on KLM for free?)

Biking through former industrial yards (now shipping container artists’ studios, I think?) across the water from central Amsterdam

Potentially serious pannier issue two weeks ago, early in the trip. I moved support hooks and added a reinforcing strap… and the pannier survived. Whew. But I’ll make design changes in the next version– I knew I was doing some non-standard things.

Some animal nibbled at my panniers overnight (earlier in the trip)! After that, I moved all snacks to a suspended-above-ground bag and didn’t have further problems.

Reading material, of course (thanks, parents)