“We live in interesting times” is a cliche and it lamely, but accurately,  describes what’s happening now in the world.  

What we really mean to say is that the world seems to be falling down around our ears. 

There’s a scary pandemic underway and with it a global financial crisis. The whole disastrous package is  probably triggered by a long developing set of global environmental factors.  But that’s just my opinion. Basically the world is in a chaotic mess. Travel systems are going into shutdown and even me, bomb proof ancient cycle tourer, am bunkered down at home with a 14 day mandatory self isolation period because I just flew home to Australia from seeing family in New Zealand. 

Now I got all of that off my aged chest, can I ask you to donate to CycleBlaze?

I just donated a modest amount for a few reasons, but mainly because I’m finding that CycleBlaze is an oasis of cycle touring journal serenity and sanity in a world that’s temporarily gone mad.

How about we support the people who set up this site during difficult times?

The support is much appreciated, Graham.

Additional donations are of course welcome, but for those who are trying to decide where best to place their support, I would be delighted if locally owned businesses received first priority. CycleBlaze is relatively inexpensive to operate and the donations we've received just in the last couple of months are enough to cover expenses through at least the end of 2020. Our friends and neighbors who run their own businesses are probably not so fortunate.

Hi Jeff, that’s very kind of you to direct our financial attention to local small business, rather than CycleBlaze. And I’m also glad to hear that CycleBlaze is financially OK.

One of my main motivations for trying to encourage more cycle tourists to tour in regional Australia is to help bring more money into small country towns and villages. I know we cycle tourists are a frugal bunch, but we do spend locally on food, frothy chilled beverages and accommodation. 

As you’d have seen from your Australian tour, many of the smaller places are struggling to keep shops, services and schools open. This COVID19 induced downturn of travel and tourism will economically  hit regional and rural areas harder than the metropolitan areas. 

Day by day the disease control measures are getting tighter here. Tasmania and the Northern Territory have imposed strict state border controls. It’s necessary they do this but the impact on small businesses, especially tourism dependent rural businesses will be significant. Thankfully the government is rolling out financial support packages.

All the best to you, your family, friends and community in this testing time. Kindness and compassion are the essentials for getting through pandemics, and I applaud the CycleBlaze site for encouraging both. 

I make a small annual donation to Cycleblaze.

Mike

Likewise -- I use a magazine sub as a guide.

After so many years of cycling through rural areas I ended up choosing to live in a modest-sized rural town. It's a place that has historically had enough economic diversity to support a healthy collection of shops and services. But with so much money being yanked from the economy all at once, that's now being tested. And as with all rural places, there's a very real chance that once a business shuts down it simply never returns.

But we've already seen an excess of the kindness and compassion you mentioned. That will serve us well in the months and years ahead!

Supporting local businesses - always have, continue to do so. Matter of fact, with the restrictions in place, and picking up food, I'm tipping the person cash just bringing my food to the car from the restaurant. It's the least I can do. After all, what else am I going to spend the cash on? Our family is ordering out twice a week and picking up food to keep the local businesses afloat. What we're going through right now is the most constrained living situation I've ever experienced in my life in the this country - it will be interesting as it shakes out.

I've also supported Jeff on Cycleblaze as well. I've followed his and Kristen's stories throughout their adventures and wanted to provide something to support the site. Might not be much but I appreciate Cycleblaze being here.