Peanuts and Cracker Jack (Day 149)
Elizabeth Tuesday 20 October (Chicago, Day 149) Here’s a thing about America that I’ve been thinking about – its size and its scale. There is, of course, the story Americans tell…
Sweet Home Chicago? Home but not Home
Saturday 17 October (Chicago, Day 146) I have weird feelings around the idea of Chicago as ‘home’. On the one hand, I am intimately familiar with this place. Or, more,…
She Brought Me Vegemite!
I was last in Chicago three years ago with my then-husband. We then found bicycles in the crawlspace under my parents’ house. We dusted them off, filled the tyres with…
From Berlin to Chicago – My Midlife Gap Year in Transition
This telling of the tale of my midlife gap year of travel has reached a significant juncture. I have wrapped up my summer of bicycling in Europe and am flying…
An Irish Interval in My Midlife Gap Year – Part 2: 8 – 12 October 2015
Thursday 8 October I’m enjoying another quiet day in the Irish countryside. I’m writing emails to friends I might visit in the States, while chatting and hanging out with my…
An Irish Interval in My Midlife Gap Year – Part 1: 3 – 7 October 2015
It’s my 132nd travelling day and I awake in Dublin. Saturday 3 October 2015 Dublin is overcast and cool this morning. I wake at 8 am and have breakfast. When…
BERLIN! And a flight to Ireland (30 September to 2 October 2015)
We rejoin our story on day 129 of my mid-life gap year. Wednesday 30 September 2015 I wake in Berlin to diffuse autumn sunshine and breakfast in the sparse kitchen…
From Zurich to Mainz and Berlin (27 – 29 September 2015)
Sunday 27 September 2015 I feel less than certain about everything. I feel like I am in a miasma in the middle of my mid-life gap year. I’m worrying that…
Riding in Switzerland: From Brugg to Zurich for my day near Christoph
We re-join our story on the morning of my 123rd day on the road. I am in Brugg, Switzerland and poised to ride to Zurich in time for the Zurich…
Riding in Germany & Switzerland: Cruising towards Zurich Wrapped in Anxiety
Monday 21 September 2015: Bad Bellingen to Bad Säckingen At the beginning of my ride, back in June, there were farmers selling cherries and strawberries, they were rolling hay in…