Now that we've entered the slow season of bike touring here in the northern hemisphere, I've been looking at some older journals--some really good ones that don't have thousands of "hearts" attached to them.  I just got done reading Leo Woodland's "How to Avoid a Mother In Law."  It resonated with me because my last couple of tours have involved avoiding in-laws.  (Not my wife's mom though.  She's awesome.  The rest of the clan, not so much.)

I'm open to some recommendations on journals from the past.  Thanks.

It sounds very self-focused but every now and then I read my own old journals to relive some of the great, and not so great, times we have had.

Oh yeah, I do that too.  I'm guessing everybody does.  But since you were the first to respond, I'm going to look at one of your older ones.  Thank you.

My apologies for the unintended pimping :-).

Hi Greg

Here in the lock down capital of the world, Melbourne Australia I have had plenty of spare time and have read most of the 703 journals on offer.

I tend to read all the journals of a particular member before moving on to the next member. BTW it would be well worth reading all Leo's journals, he has a great way with words.

Cheers

Mike

Since our journals were on that other site, we are hoping to get them uploaded here on cycleblaze...

Racpat

My wife and I, and another couple, are going to do a supported PEI tour next year, so I've been reading old journals that describe rides in that area. We are also going to do Door County Wisconsin on a drive and ride kinda tour, so be doing the same for that area.

Since I do mostly short tours, I'm a "do the ride, get back and write it up" kinda poster. Kinda like Netflix dumping all the episodes at once.  But, in reading journals I really enjoy the daily posting and kinda following along close to real time - like old time network TV shows, albeit with daily episodes. Other than for research for rides, I find it harder to read old journals!

John,

We bicycled Door County this summer. I was afraid it was going to be too touristy for me, but I enjoyed it. Specifically, I enjoyed that the views had opened up after weeks of trees and more trees. There were enough back roads to get away from the cars, not that  traffic was a problem.  Mackinaw Island was definitely too many people for me. But, I can say I've been there, done that! 

My best tourist tip for Door County is to go see the goats on the roof of Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Sister Bay. 

If you make it up to the Copper Harbor area, the Jampot is the place to visit. It's a bakery run by a monastery. 

Hi, Kelly - yes, your excellent journal and the Andersons were a great source of info. My wife has a friend from Wisconsin who has been urging us to bike out there and your writeup convinced me to do it. Right now I'm trying to slot the trip in mid May, hoping to be ahead of the tourist rush but also far enough away from winter temps out there.

We did the Upper Peninsula of MI with bikes a few years ago and spent 2 nights on Mackinaw Island. It was a car-free island with really beautiful views and a nice 8 mile loop around the Island and many really beautiful houses. But, agree - crossed it off the bucket list.

Hi John,

Agree. Old journals are for research. We like our journals to provide information to others and for ourselves when reminiscing.

Racpat