Early next week Dodie has appointments with the physiotherapist, the orthopedics doctor, and the head doctor, but she is not too concerned about what these worthy professionals are going to say. Her plan is to get back on her bike on the road next weekend (unless it snows!).

In support of her position, she submits this photo, in which she is reaching up for  her really heavy hot chocolate mug.

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Andrea BrownThere's not much that can't be fixed with a cup of hot chocolate.
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2 years ago

ann and steve maher-wearyYou are so impressive Dodie, I am excited to learn you have another trip planned! Way to go, looking forward to following your trip.
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo ann and steve maher-wearyThanks Ann and Steve, I am impressed by Dodie too, not in the least because she is not letting this injury deter her from getting back out there. I have now scraped her off the highway three times (she has done me once) and could lose heart, except for her courage.

Steve
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2 years ago

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Ok, jockeying hot chocolate mugs is not the same as a multi thousand km tour, but it's such a major advance over a month ago!

Based on this conclusive evidence, we started to look at the flights from here to our next target, the cycling paradise of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Czech. We only have a vague idea of where we would go. The most form that idea has taken so far is this Google Maps sketch:

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The reason that we don't have our usual set of GPS tracks and home printed maps is that we do remain doubtful that this trip will happen exactly soon. We did start out a week or so ago checking the air flights, and using a trial departure date of March 15. We were kind of taken aback to find that the airfares were running much much higher than what we paid for similar travel in 2018 or 2019. This time around it will be about $CAN 1400 each for a return flight, Vancouver to Frankfurt. This is likely a result of Covid, and I guess we can expect something similar from guesthouses and everything else that goes into tourism. With the extent of pent up demand that must exist out there, we might even be lucky to get a flight, a bed, a meal, once tourism really restarts.

But our planning came to  a screeching halt as we checked the Covid figures for Germany.  Even today, it looks like this:

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Ben ParkeEurope is hot really hard right now. The good news, though, is that Austria has mandated vaccination now and it is possible Germany will follow suit. The Scandinavian countries have recently dropped all covid restrictions. I’m not sure where Italy is at right now.
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Ben ParkeWhere will your next trip be, Ben, when it is able to happen? Are you trying to make any guesses about what the timing might be?
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2 years ago

Ben ParkeTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI let myself get pretty stressed with the last overseas trip. Right now I’m planning to stay in Minnesota and do a velomobile tour around the northern half of the state. Minneapolis to Fergus Falls, on to Park Rapids, up to Bemidji, over to Virginia or Ely, down to Two Harbors, on to Duluth, and back to Minneapolis. It connects several lengthy rail trails. Not remotely as interesting as riding in Europe, but much simpler with covid and, since I’ll be doing it in my velomobile, it will not lack for interesting encounters. I’ve been mostly tracking events in Europe out of curiosity, and also because my heart is in Europe.
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Ben ParkeYour reference to Bemidji caught my attention, since it's kind of a unique name. We passed through Minnesota in 2011 on our cross Canada cycle. Not that we think Minnesota is part of Canada, it was just easier to cycle! Anyway, according to us (https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/grampies/day-64-bagley-to-cass-lake-minnesota-covered-gazebo-with-picnic-tables/) Bemidji could be the birthplace of Paul Bunyan. Match that, Europe!
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2 years ago

Ben ParkeTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI grew up 45 minutes north of bemidji. That whole area is big on Paul Bunyan. When the only other thing you have of interest is lakes and trees, you have to embrace any folklore you can find. The town I grew up in, a burgeoning village of 312 (now much smaller, probably because we moved...) had one singular claim to fame: the largest bear ever shot in Minnesota was near this town. We had a giant carved wooden bear statue (chainsaw carved, of course). One night a gentleman, upon leaving the local bar, felt the urge to take his chainsaw to the wooden statue and said it off at the ankles. Front page news in the local paper, that was. I’m certain a velomobile would be at least equally exciting for the action-starved residents.
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2 years ago

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Even if we might, marginally, be ready to visit Germany, they are no way ready for us. One "symptom" of this, we think, is a required 14 day quarantine. But the fact remains, right now Germany is far riskier than many another country. We expect this to change quickly over the next month, but for now we could see Dodie circling the farm on her bike at ever increasing (but not dangerous!) speed as she waits for that safe flight outta here!