sidebysidecar

Photos
Videos
Posts

About
Contact

Ellie & Austin

Login

Legend

Driving
Plane w/o bike
Boat
Bus
Taxi
Hiking
Scooter
Train
Hitchhiking
Cargo Transport
Plane w/ bike

436. Koh Lipe, Thailand ‐ Apr 21, 2024
435. Langkawi, Malaysia ‐ Apr 20
434. Kuala Perlis, Malaysia ‐ Apr 19
433. Padang Besar, Malaysia
432. Khuan Kalong, Thailand ‐ Apr 18
431. Hua Hin Pier, Thailand
430. Koh Lanta Ferry, Thailand
429. Khlong Dao, Thailand ‐ Apr 15
428. Koh Lanta Ferry, Thailand
427. Hua Hin Pier, Thailand
426. Ban Chiao Lan, Thailand ‐ Apr 13

Cheow Lan Lake

Cheow Lan Lake is part of Khao Sok National Park, it was a place both of us were excited for and it lived up to the expectations. The water was a stunning, deep aqua and the prominent rocks and mounta...
425. Donsak Pier, Thailand
424. Koh Samui, Thailand ‐ Apr 10
423. Donsak Pier, Thailand
422. Koh Phangan, Thailand
421. Haad Yao, Thailand ‐ Apr 8
420. Sail Rock Dive Site, Thailand

Scuba day

Both of us have been extremely excited about scuba diving in SE Asia for a long time and we made it! We had our first couple of dives at Sail Rock. Sail Rock is known for its' large schools of fish an...
419. Haad Yao, Thailand ‐ Apr 6
418. Koh Phangan, Thailand
417. Donsak Pier, Thailand

Ferry time

We are heading to a few different Thai islands for some beach days and scuba diving, yahoo! Loaded on the ferry: Almost to the first island, Koh Phangan:
416. Surat Thani, Thailand ‐ Apr 5
415. Chumphon, Thailand ‐ Apr 4
414. Hua Hin, Thailand ‐ Apr 2

Baby octopus snack

We went to the night market and sampled all sorts of snacks for our dinner when we were visiting Hua Hin. We got these baby octopus', a chicken wrap, a mango smoothie, and some fresh mango, pineapple,...
413. Bangkok, Thailand ‐ Apr 1
412. Siem Reap, Cambodia ‐ Mar 27

ICF Church

ICF church (Swiss planted church) has a whole campus and puts on outreach programs for the local youth and is a well known campus throughout Siem Reap. One of their facets is providing clean drinking...

Wake Park Cambodia

Our friends that we crossed China with (Mat and Chichi) put us in contact with their friends, Leo and Nadia. Leo and Nadia are a Swiss couple that moved to Cambodia with the Swiss church (ICF) and hel...

Angkor Wat

We grabbed a flight to Cambodia since we needed to refresh our Thailand visa. Both of us wanted to visit Angkor Wat and also Wake Park Cambodia so Siem Reap, Cambodia was the perfect place to spend a...
411. Bangkok, Thailand ‐ Mar 25
410. Nakhon Sawan, Thailand ‐ Mar 23
409. Khiri Mat, Thailand
408. Sukhothai, Thailand ‐ Mar 21

Sukhothai Ruins

Between Bangkok and Chiang Mai is a small town called Sukhothai. It is known for its' ruins from the Sukhothai Kingdom that was booming in the 13th and 14th centuries. Our accommodation that we stayed...
407. Mae Sot, Thailand ‐ Mar 18

Thailand-Burma Border Market

We went to the border of Thailand and Burma to see the border market and also to see the border in general. Right on the other side of the Thai border fence (razor wire) starts the "no man’s land" are...

Burmese cooking class and market

I found a cooking class in Mae Sot and thought that would be a fun date night idea! I expected to cook Thai food but we ended up cooking Burmese food..I didn't do thaaaat much research after reading a...
406. Mae Sariang, Thailand ‐ Mar 17
405. Khun Yuam, Thailand ‐ Mar 16
404. Mae Hong Son, Thailand ‐ Mar 15

Tham Nam Lang (the coolest) Cave

Austin found the cave on a hand written map that was at the guesthouse we stayed at for the Tham Lod Cave. We decided to venture off to find the cave the next day. Hiking to the cave took a bit over 3...
403. Tham Lod Cave, Thailand ‐ Mar 13

Tham Lad Cave

We visited the Tham Lod Cave and it was a guided tour. There were three main caverns within the big cave itself and for part of the tour, we hopped aboard a bamboo raft. There were also tons of bats a...
402. Pai, Thailand ‐ Mar 10

Fish belt

I spotted a group of locals fishing in the river and it was not your typical fishing that you may be thinking of… the group was walking up the river with their spear guns spotting fish and then shooti...
401. Mae Taeng, Thailand ‐ Mar 8

Pad Thai in an omelet, yummm

Pork dip?

We stayed at a guesthouse in a small town that had 1 restaurant so we headed there for dinner. When we got to the restaurant, we couldn’t figure out the menu (even with Google translate) so we asked t...
400. Chiang Mai, Thailand ‐ Mar 2

Other Domino maintenance

The front wheel was a bit wobbly so Austin checked the wheel bearings and the bearings seemed all fine. We then got the idea of checking the spokes, balancing, and tire tread. The spokes and tread wer...

New tattoo ;)

We have debated on making Domino a sticker bike but always were hesitant and took off stickers that other people had put on the bike themselves; however, both of us loved the idea of having a stick of...

Back in SE Asia!!!

After a couple of months visiting family and friends back in the USA, we are now in Thailand ready and excited to be back on the road. We had a "quick" flight to Thailand from LA with a 1.5 hr layover...
399. Simi Valley, CA, United States ‐ Feb 23
398. San Clemente, CA, USA ‐ Feb 18
397. Austin, TX, United States ‐ Feb 12
396. Denver, CO, United States ‐ Dec 20, 2023
395. Boston, MA, United States ‐ Dec 13, 2023
394. New Delhi, India ‐ Dec 5, 2023

Wedding Reception

The wedding reception was another big bash of celebrating after the actual wedding ceremony took place earlier that day. There was dancing, live music, food, drinks, and a lot of photos taken with fam...

Wedding Ceremony

The wedding ceremony was a long event that is meant for mainly family. The entrance of Utsav and Megha separately and the beginning of the ceremony is what the majority of guests stay for since the Hi...

Utsav's Baraat

A baraat is a parade/processional for the groom and his family & friends that involves Indian drums, brass instruments, dancing, and escorting the groom to the actual wedding ceremony. The procession...

Sangeet Party

The Sangeet party is the night of dancing! Not only dancing on the dance floor, but 17 choreographed dances performed by friends and family of Utsav and Megha. We had about 17 of us in our dance crew...

Mehendi Party

The Mehendi Party is a colorful bash where people get henna drawn onto their hands, women can get the tops of their hands and palms done while guys typically only get one hand (palm or forearm). When...

Dance practice

The night following the Ganesh Pooja party, we went to Utsav's home for a big Indian meal, dance practice, and hanging out. We weren't sure how serious this dance practice would be, but when we showed...

Ganesha Puja Party

The Ganesha Puja kicked off the wedding celebrations and is traditionally a "good luck" party for the bride and groom as the wedding week commences. This was the first event we wore our Indian attire...

Indian Wedding Preparation

One of Austin's old roommates (Utsav) from college is from Delhi, India and he invited Austin and me to his wedding in Delhi! Both Austin and I were so stoked to celebrate Utsav and Megha and also exp...
393. Agra, India

Taj Mahal
392. New Delhi, India ‐ Dec 2, 2023

Variety of Delhi shots

Eating with our hands like locals in Old Delhi Four wheeled scooter
391. Muscat, Oman ‐ Dec 1, 2023

23 hour layover

We had an overnight layover in Oman and were able to see a little bit of the city. We went to their main market since we both enjoy people watching and looking at what the market offers. We have been...
390. Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania ‐ Nov 29, 2023
389. Chwaka, Zanzibar, Tanzania
388. Kigomane, Zanzibar, Tanzania
387. Nungwi, Zanzibar, Tanzania
386. Mkokotoni, Zanzibar, Tanzania
385. Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania ‐ Nov 25, 2023

Scooter cruisin’ and more

We traded in Domino for a couple of scooters to mob around the island on. Just kidding, Domino is still resting in Thailand. It was such an epic day on the scooters seeing the island and all of the sm...
384. Cape Town, South Africa ‐ Nov 23, 2023
383. Stellenbosch, South Africa ‐ Nov 20, 2023

Wine country

We visited a couple of wineries in the wine country of South Africa, it was a really beautiful area! The first winery called Somerbosch wines was in the flatland area and felt more like a bistro/nice...
382. Cape Town, South Africa ‐ Nov 14, 2023

Movie at the garden

Austin found an outdoor movie night hosted at the botanical garden that was perfect for a date night! It was a really great setup where they provide backrest chairs, blankets, and a few vendors for fo...

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

The botanical garden is in a beautiful area of Cape Town, it is nestled up alongside a mountain range so there are beautiful views in all directions. Everything is so lush and a stunning shade of gree...

Total Ninja!

We spent the day playing like kids at Ninja Park that had all kinds of obstacle courses (blow up/bouncy house types and more extreme types). We had the most fun on the obstacle courses that strung tog...

Camps Bay beach day

Cape Town has been surprisingly chilly throughout our time here and even the locals are surprised by the cold weather as they are now entering summer. One thing Austin and I were excited about was hav...
381. Muizenberg, South Africa ‐ Nov 10, 2023

Peter's Plants

We got connected to a mutual friend named Peter who lives in the Cape Town area. He is a plant maniac and has some incredible plants. He specializes in carnivorous plants which was fascinating to lear...
380. Simon's Town, South Africa ‐ Nov 8, 2023

Penguins!

We spotted the penguins that are famous for the Simon's Town area. They were awfully cute and hung out all together on the rocks of the beach. We also saw some seals in the area too! After we watched...
379. Cape Town, South Africa ‐ Nov 2, 2023

Devil's Peak hike

We hiked to the top of Devil's peak which was a really fun scramble/hike involving some climbing and exposure. Little did we know, this is a peak that you can spot from all areas of Cape Town so it ha...

Springbok Parade

When we arrived at the Cape Town airport from Durban, it was absolutely chaotic..we weren't sure why but quickly figured out why when we saw a bunch of huge, athletic-looking guys dressed in green and...
378. Durban, South Africa ‐ Oct 31, 2023
377. Richards Bay, South Africa
376. Zulu Nyala Safari, South Africa ‐ Oct 25, 2023

Safari

We won a 6-day safari in South Africa (Zulu Nyala Reserve) from a charity auction hosted by Open Door Ministries in Denver. We have game drives every day from 6:00-8:00am and 4:00-6:00pm. We have seen...
375. Richards Bay, South Africa ‐ Oct 24, 2023
374. Vryheid, South Africa
373. Piet Retief, South Africa
372. Johannesburg, South Africa ‐ Oct 22, 2023
371. Singapore ‐ Oct 20, 2023

Meeting my BSF gals, Grace and Titu

We spent 1 day in Singapore as we traveled to South Africa from Thailand since Austin found a great direct flight deal from Singapore to Johannesburg. During our day in Singapore, we met two women who...
370. Bangkok, Thailand ‐ Oct 15, 2023
369. Chiang Mai, Thailand ‐ Oct 8, 2023

Cooking class

During our solo week of travel, I took a cooking class for some of my favorite Thai dishes. At the beginning of the day, we set off to a local market and learned all about new veggies, fruits, spices,...
368. Ban Pa Sang, Thailand ‐ Oct 7, 2023
367. Vieng Mai, Laos

Friendship Bridge

We crossed the Friendship bridge between Laos and Thailand. We actually got to cross it three times… Leaving Laos took about 20 seconds and we got our bike paperwork sorted for exiting and thought we...
366. Luang Namtha, Laos ‐ Oct 3, 2023
365. Mohan, China

Bye bye, China!

We successfully crossed out of China into Laos, yahoo! The border crossing out of China took a lot of time because we arrived at the border at the beginning of the border control's 3-hour lunch break...
364. Jinghong, China ‐ Oct 2, 2023

Final dinner with our group

This photo is from our final dinner together during the last evening of our China trip, it was a really great group to be part of. Our group in order from the bottom left: Ellie & Austin (USA), Momo &...
363. Zhenyuan Yi, China ‐ Oct 1, 2023

Lunch break

I swapped spots with Mat today during our drive so Mat was in the sidecar with Austin and I rode with Chichi. When we paused for lunch, we had homemade oat milk cappuccinos, smoothies, and PB&Js (with...
362. Dali, China ‐ Sep 29, 2023

Three Pagodas & The Chongsheng Temple

Other random photos

Karaoke night: Domino’s colorful friends: Funny sign…
361. Lijiang, China ‐ Sep 26, 2023

Flat tire

Woke up to a true flat tire…at least we found the culprit so we confirmed what popped the tube and drained the air.

Gargoyles of Lijiang

Funny English translations

Enjoy….

Old town

Lijiang has a beautiful old town to walk around and explore.
360. Zhaojue, China ‐ Sep 25, 2023

Cliff village

We did like the locals do this day and by that I mean, climb a lot of elevation on ladders to see the cliff village. There is a village that sits 800 meters (2,624 feet) upon a clifftop in southwest C...
359. Leibo, China ‐ Sep 24, 2023

Chicken passenger

[youtube=LV1eRkhFw0k]
358. Chengdu, China ‐ Sep 21, 2023

Pandas!!

Chengdu is known for pandas! There are multiple research centers around the city that have teeny, tiny baby pandas, giant pandas, and red pandas. We went to an enormous center and explored for nearly...

Surfing Chengdu

Some friends in our travel group are obsessed with surfing so they found an artificial wave to surf. Part of our crew went and said it was an absolute blast! [youtube=o_-XhdVBVEo] Mat going over safet...
357. Mianzhu, China
356. Hanzhong, China ‐ Sep 20, 2023
355. Xi'an, China ‐ Sep 18, 2023

Terracotta Army

We visited the Terracotta Army and they were very impressive! The Terracotta Army was built to protect the first emperor of China (Qin Shi Huang) in his afterlife. There were three pits (sites) and th...

Night time in the city

We made it to Xi’an and it was beautifully lit at night. For dinner, we found a night market for noodles and octopus, it was delicious! All of the food in China has been incredibly tasty, wow!!
354. Maijishan Grottoes, China

Maijishan Grottoes

These grottoes were really neat from afar. The large sculptures etched into the mountain were stunning and huge! This was a Chinese Buddhist temple.
353. Tianshui, China ‐ Sep 17, 2023
352. Lanzhou, China ‐ Sep 16, 2023
351. Xining, China ‐ Sep 15, 2023
350. Zhangye, China ‐ Sep 14, 2023

Colorful temple

This temple was so beautiful and so colorful! It’s not quite original coloring but was still stunning to see.

Mati Temple

We went to a temple that was built into the mountain. There were many rooms for praying and some steep stairs to access all of the inner grottos.
349. Jiayuguan, China ‐ Sep 13, 2023

Jaiyuguan Great Wall

We visited a fortress that was part of the Great Wall of China.
348. Dunhuang, China ‐ Sep 11, 2023

Night market

In Dunhuang, they have a bustling night market with an endless variety of foods. All of the food we tried was so delicious! We went here with some friends from our travel group and enjoyed an evening...
347. Hami, China ‐ Sep 10, 2023

Devil City off-road adventure

Our group drove an off-road track through some beautiful landscape. The rock formations and canyons were amazing to see and reminded me of Utah!
346. Turpan, China ‐ Sep 8, 2023

Random shots

Night market: New haircut: Wild grocery store finds:
345. Luntai, China ‐ Sep 7, 2023
344. Aksu City, China ‐ Sep 6, 2023
343. Kashgar, China ‐ Sep 4, 2023

New steering head bearings

It wouldn’t be an adventure without a big repair, haha! We replaced our steering head bearings before they completely went bad. Austin noticed that they were starting to break so instead of waiting fo...

New documents

Austin’s new Chinese license and Domino’s Chinese registration - we are ready to hit the road!

We made it to China!!

We are crossing China with an overlanding group for the next month. In China, as a foreigner, you are not allowed to drive your own vehicle alone so you have to hire a government-approved tour guide t...
342. Naryn, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Sep 1, 2023

Last night in Kyrgyzstan

On our final night in Kyrgyzstan, we camped with our overlanding group that we are entering China with. There are 9 vehicles and 16 people total (all Europeans except us!). We will enter China as a gr...
341. Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Aug 31, 2023
340. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Aug 20, 2023

Wakepark

We went to the wakepark in Bishkek with two of our friends Mat and Chichi (travelers from Germany). Mat is nearly a professional at wake boarding and Chichi is super good too - going to wakeparks is t...

Checkmate!

Austin stumbled upon a chess park in downtown Bishkek so we went there after dinner one evening. After observing and watching some games for about 30 minutes, Austin decided to try to crack into a gam...
339. Tash-Komur, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Aug 18, 2023

Surprise yurt adventure

We met a semi-nomadic herder after we set up our campsite in the hills of rural Kyrgyzstan. When I say semi-nomadic, I mean that during summer the couple spends time in the high alpine mountains carin...
338. Ulʹgû, Kyrgyzstan
337. Osh, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Aug 15, 2023

Broken (now fixed) frame and sidecar mounting strut

First things first, Domino needed a bath desperately...so we cleaned him up prior to fixing him. This is the broken bolt:
336. Tajikistan / Kyrgyzstan Border
335. Qarokul, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 14, 2023

Pamir Highway: Days 8-9

Day 8: We have been talking with another couple (@Uralistan.roadtrip on Instagram) that is traveling on a Ural on Instagram and following their trip from France to Mongolia and back to France. Our tim...
334. Alichur, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 13, 2023
333. Zong, Tajikistan
332. Vrang, Tajikistan
331. Yamchun, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 12, 2023

Wakhan Valley: Days 5-7

We entered the Wakhan Valley which is an offshoot of the Pamir Highway that runs further along the Afghanistan border. Day 5: The bolt to the windshield broke and we lost a piece of the mounting hardw...
330. Ishkoshim, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 11, 2023
329. Khorugh, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 10, 2023

Pamir Highway: Days 1-4

Day 1: Permits are needed for the Pamir region of Tajikistan so after we secured the permits, we hit the road and were off to the mountains! Day 2:
328. Roshorv, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 9, 2023
327. Rushon, Tajikistan
326. Vahdat, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 8, 2023
325. Kulob, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 7, 2023
324. Dushanbe, Tajikistan ‐ Aug 4, 2023

Pamir Highway Overview

The Pamir Highway is a mountain "highway" through Tajikistan into Kyrgyzstan. Many people drive the rugged road from Dushanbe, Tajikistan to Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzst...

Pamir Highway prepping

We are about to embark on a couple week trip in the Pamir mountains riding part of the M41 road. We are both so stoked and have been spending time in Dushanbe researching, prepping the bike, grocery s...

Church and visiting an old USA friend

I have a friend from the USA that has been living in Dushanbe for the last three years, her name is Claire. She invited us to her house church the first full day we were in the capital city (Dushanbe)...
323. Samarkand, Uzbekistan ‐ Aug 2, 2023

Registan Square

This beautiful square was a commercial center that had a bazaar/market and was used for public announcements. One of the buildings was also an education center where men (at the time) would study many...
322. Bukhara, Uzbekistan ‐ Aug 1, 2023
321. Farap, Turkmenistan

Goodbye Turkmenistan

This is a shot of us with Merdan (guide) and Mohammed (driver), we all had a blast throughout Turkmenistan together and we learned a lot about the country’s history and present day life.
320. Mary, Turkmenistan ‐ Jul 31, 2023

Ancient Merv

We visited the ancient city of Merv which was a major city on the Silk Road. There were some incredible sites to see but our favorite was the “ice box”. The ice box was a building that stored ice and...
319. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan ‐ Jul 30, 2023

Horses

We visited some of their elite horses that are called “conquering horses”. They were quite impressive when they would jump!! Horses are like family to them so they do not eat horse (unlike other Stans...

The White Marble city

Ashgabat, the capital, honestly felt like the “Capitol” from the Hunger Games: futuristic, oddly clean and manicured, uniform buildings, and it overall had a unique feeling. All of the buildings are w...
318. Darvaza Gas Crater, Turkmenistan ‐ Jul 28, 2023

Darvaza Gas Crater and the journey there

In the 1970s, the ground gave way when the Soviets were drilling for gas. To get rid of the accident, they tried to set the pit on fire and it has been burning ever since...so crazy. This is a big att...
317. Dashoguz, Turkmenistan

Hello Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is an ex-Soviet country that has been controlled by dictators since the fall of the Soviet Union. We wanted to see the country with our own eyes since we have heard some wild things about...
316. Shovot, Uzbekistan ‐ Jul 27, 2023
315. Nukus, Uzbekistan ‐ Jul 24, 2023

Hot hot hot!

The weather has been insanely hot, meaning a real feel of 47C (116.6F) - phew! Thankfully we had booked a guest house that had AC for a couple of nights to do a motorcycle maintenance and laundry. We...
314. Kyrykkyz, Uzbekistan ‐ Jul 23, 2023
313. Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan ‐ Jul 22, 2023

Entering Uzbekistan

The Uzbekistan border had the most friendly and helpful border control! One of the workers asked if Austin speaks another language and Austin responded with “yes, Spanish”. The border guard asked him...
312. Beyneu, Kazakhstan

Exiting Kazakhstan

Here we are at the border of Kazakhstan trying to exit. It’s quite funny…their building says “good luck” as you can see (photo at the bottom). I say it’s funny for a few reasons.. First, exiting the c...
311. Kulsary, Kazakhstan ‐ Jul 21, 2023
310. Atyrau, Kazakhstan ‐ Jul 16, 2023

Supermarket crepes

The supermarkets here in Kazakhstan have fresh crepes and Belgium waffles! It smells like heaven when you are shopping, wow. This gal was slinging the crepes!

New u-joints

We have spent the last few days in Atyrau, Kazakhstan getting new tires, replacing 2 u-joints, and picking up a couple of other spare parts. The Kazakh people have been extremely kind and helpful over...

New tires!!!

I never thought I would be so excited about new tires, haha! We hunted throughout Bulgaria and Turkey for tires and the estimated ship times were 3-4 months for the tires we needed, that did not work...

Horse meat, would you try it?

There are so many wild horses in Kazakhstan and so horse meat is a staple in Kazakhstan cuisine. We tried it our first night in Atyrau and it was actually pretty good! It tasted like beef but was a bi...
309. Šagyrly, Kazakhstan ‐ Jul 15, 2023
308. Bukeikhan, Kazakhstan

We made it to Central Asia!

Hello Kazakhstan (hello bumpy roads, wind, and flatlands)!
307. Krasniy Yar, Russia
306. Astrakhan, Russia

Moto shop and local lunch out

We think that a couple parts on our bike need replacing so we stopped at a motorcycle shop to see if we could find them or if they knew of an auto parts store to search at. The guys that worked there...
305. Liman, Russia ‐ Jul 14, 2023

Hotel and bike work

We keep hearing a squeaking noise from the sidecar wheel so we popped the wheel off to see if we could find the problem. After some investigating and chatting with a friend, we pinpointed that our uni...
304. Gudermes, Russia ‐ Jul 13, 2023

Random Russia photos

Here are some interesting, random photos we collected through our time in Russia. Ironic.. Taking this photo was when I felt like I was really in Russia:

Culture surprise

One of the regions we rode through was predominantly Muslim and the people did not look like what is typically portrayed as “Russian”. We quickly realized that Russia spans many cultures and has diver...
303. Vladikavkaz, Russia
302. Stepantsminda, Georgia ‐ Jul 12, 2023

Georgia-Russia Border

Austin and I successfully received a transit visa to drive from Georgia through Russia to Kazakhstan. We picked up our visa a day or two before crossing the border and drove close to the border for ou...

Laundry day and last day in Georgia

We needed a little refresh on laundry before heading through Russia to Central Asia. Thankfully the sun was out to dry our clothes quickly!

Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument

The Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument was built in 1983 to celebrate the Treaty of Georgievsk and the “ongoing friendship” between Soviet Georgia and Soviet Russia. I am not sure what the “ongoing fr...
301. Tbilisi, Georgia ‐ Jul 10, 2023
300. Tkibuli, Georgia ‐ Jul 9, 2023
299. Alpana, Georgia ‐ Jul 8, 2023

Rafting and camping

We camped and went rafting with our friends Mat and Chichi on the Rioni River with a local company. The company had a plot of land on the river so we all camped there as well! Austin and I met two Ger...
298. Mele, Georgia ‐ Jul 7, 2023
297. Ushguli, Georgia ‐ Jul 6, 2023

Biggest mountains in Georgia

We spent a couple of days in the Svaneti region of Georgia which has the biggest mountains in the country. The region borders Russia and the mountains are in the same range as Mount Elbrus. They mount...

Zagari Pass

We rode another epic road of Georgia called Zagari Pass. It had some stunning views and also some challenging rutted roads but Austin and Domino crushed it. This was the main road to get to Ushguli wh...
296. Kutaisi, Georgia ‐ Jul 5, 2023
295. Sachkhere, Georgia
294. Khidistavi, Georgia
293. Kaspi, Georgia
292. Armazi, Georgia
291. Tbilisi, Georgia ‐ Jul 3, 2023

Random Tbilisi shots

We found this sweet street art on the side of a brick wall:) We ordered a lemonade to share at a restaurant and the waiter asked if we would like Georgian Lemonade

Russia transit visa appointment

We formally applied for the visa at our appointment and now can pick up our passports/visas in about 1 week! We gave them our applications, our translated bike documents, and passports at the appointm...
290. Gurjaani, Georgia

Friend on the side of the road

We met Gio, a Georgian guy, on the side of the road. He was pushing his motorcycle since he had ran out of petrol. We always carry extra with us so we dumped some of our petrol into his tank to help h...
289. Naphareuli, Georgia ‐ Jul 2, 2023

Watermelon man

When we were camping, we heard a honk from a truck and it ended up being the watermelon man. I waved him down and we started the dance of figuring out how to buy a watermelon from him. We figured out...
288. Abano Pass, Georgia

Wild mountain pass

We drive one of the most stunning (and scary) roads of the trip, it was absolutely incredible! Abano Pass is a road built in the Soviet era in the late 1970s. The highest point is 2,826 metres (9,272...
287. Naphareuli, Georgia ‐ Jul 1, 2023

Puppies!!

We camped for a couple of nights at a campground that a UK couple has on their farm in the countryside and base of some beautiful mountains. At their farm, one of their dogs just had 5 puppies about 3...
286. Gombori, Georgia
285. Tbilisi, Georgia ‐ Jun 28, 2023

Mat and Chichi

We met up with some fellow travelers (Mat and Chichi) that are in the same group as us for crossing China in September. They are a German couple traveling for 1-year in their overlanding vehicle. They...

Consultation for a Russia transit visa

During our first trip to Tbilisi, we had a consultation to get a Russia transit visa to drive through Russia to Kazakhstan. During the consultation, we were able to fill out the application form and s...
284. Tsitelmta, Georgia ‐ Jun 27, 2023

1980s Soviet Wine Barrels

We stayed at a unique airbnb in the mountains in Georgia, it was beautiful! Georgia is so lush and green, it's incredible. The host family and volunteers built rooms out of 1980s Soviet wine barrels o...
283. Batumi, Georgia

Turkey-Georgia Border Crossing

The border was the first border where passengers crossed separately from the drivers. I spotted Austin in the pouring rain as I trotted through on foot with the other passengers (sad day, sorry Austin...
282. Kaçkar Dağları Millî Parkı, Turkey ‐ Jun 25, 2023

Büyük Lake hike

I found a glacial lake hike in the Kaçkar Mountains. The road to the trailhead was rigorous and we rode in 2WD nearly the entire time. Austin and Domino crushed it! When we got to the trailhead, we ha...
282. Trabzon, Turkey ‐ Jun 24, 2023
281. Gümüşhane, Turkey ‐ Jun 23, 2023

Dinner time

We had a nice walk to dinner and a delicious dinner too! Turkey is all about any meat on a skewer- some are very spicy and others are a bit more mild. This spot in particular was our favorite for the...
280. Refahiye, Turkey ‐ Jun 22, 2023
279. Kemaliye, Turkey
278. Karanlık Kanyon, Turkey

Karanlık Kanyon off-roading

We drove a pretty epic road in the Karanlık Kanyon. Both Austin and I found this awesome road separately while planning for this trip and were stoked to check it out! We were able to drive the majorit...
277. Kemaliye, Turkey ‐ Jun 21, 2023
276. Bağıştaş, Turkey
275. Divriği, Turkey
274. Kangal, Turkey ‐ Jun 20, 2023
273. Pınarbaşı, Turkey
272. Göreme, Turkey ‐ Jun 17, 2023

Cappadocia hiking

We found a beautiful hike in Cappadocia. The first half of the hike was beautiful and sunny but the second half was a rainy downpour! We still enjoyed the nature! The big rocks are typical cave homes...

Turkish breakfast

This was our Turkish breakfast for 2, wow.

Attempt to see Cappadocia hot air balloons

We thought camping on the edge of the valley would be perfect for viewing the hot air balloons launching the next morning at sunrise. Little did we know it would be a super windy night and morning so...
271. Ankara, Turkey ‐ Jun 12, 2023

Bike maintenance

We spent a few days in the capital of Turkey, Ankara. I thought the capital of Turkey was Istanbul but I was wrong, oops- I’m still learning new things about the places we are traveling to, ha! Durin...
270. Mudurnu, Turkey ‐ Jun 11, 2023

Burj Al Babas

This is Burj Al Babas in Turkey: an eerie ghost town full of castle-looking half-finished homes. In 2014, the residential development started construction and eventually went bankrupt leaving all of t...
269. Abant Lake, Turkey
268. Pendik, Turkey ‐ Jun 10, 2023
267. Istanbul, Turkey ‐ Jun 8, 2023

Days in Istanbul

We spent a few days in Istanbul with our friends Haley and Batu after arriving back from Paris. We also saw friends that we met at their wedding and spent time volunteering with a couple of weeks ago...

1 year on the road!

We have been on the road for 1 year, yahoo!! 🌍🌏🌎 Over the last year, we have visited 29 different countries in total (26 with our bike, Domino, and an additional 3 via flying) and have driven a tot...
266. Paris, France ‐ May 29, 2023

Last dinner in Paris (we will be back!)

We wrapped up our time in Paris with a BBQ at Isabelle and Bertrand’s home with Dorothée and Benoît, Diego’s mom (Claudia), and another couple they are friend with. It was a super fun evening with the...

United Nations BBQ

We met Diego (originally from Bolivia) last summer during our time in France and spent time BBQing and biking around Paris with him. He invited us over for a BBQ with his girlfriend who is Parisian, t...

Paris Saint-Germain football match

Ben (our Denver friend) is a big football fan so he mentioned that Paris' team, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), was playing a game on Saturday. We looked into tickets and ended up snagging some. The game i...

French adoption

When we were in Paris 1 year ago, we spent a lot of time with the Acker family (Isabelle, Bertrand, Martin, Diego, the list goes on)! We also helped another family (Dorothee and Benoît) capture some g...

Brunch with an old friend

Austin knows Constanza from past travels to Peru. He is friends with her family who live in Lima but Constanza is currently in Europe studying. She has a couple of weeks left in her program in Paris a...

Ben visiting and the Sacré Coeur

One of our friends from Denver (Ben) came to visit Paris and see us for a week! It’s been so refreshing and “homey” spending time with someone who knows us well and from our “past” Denver life, ha. We...

China visa application: check!

We flew back to Paris to apply for our visas for China. We currently have residency in France since we have a specific French visa so it made sense to apply here rather than back in the USA which is m...
265. Athens, Greece ‐ May 26, 2023

Weekend with Hayley and Kayne

We spent the weekend with Hayley and Kayne. Hayley and I have been friends since we were both 4 years old and now we are both 30! Phew, that is a long time!!:) Hayley and her husband were visiting Gre...
264. Istanbul, Turkey ‐ May 23, 2023

Volunteering with our friend, Haley

At the end of last year, Austin and I visited Istanbul for a wedding. Haley, our friend, is from Colorado and she married a Turkish guy named Batu. Haley has been working with refugees and living in I...
263. Küçükçekmece, Turkey
262. Silivri, Turkey
261. Çorlu, Turkey
260. Edirne, Turkey ‐ May 22, 2023

Meriç Bridge

Hello Turkey, Asia here we come!

We made it to Turkey!! The border crossing was very straightforward and pretty easy, thankfully. You never know with borders so it’s always refreshing to get through with ease. Cheers to our last coup...
259. Plovdiv, Bulgaria ‐ May 21, 2023
258. Krasnovo, Bulgaria
257. Oborishte, Bulgaria
256. Sofia, Bulgaria
255. Samokov, Bulgaria
254. Sofia, Bulgaria ‐ May 16, 2023

Museum of Illusions

We visited the museum of illusions and it was pretty neat! Some of the illusions were more simple and playful and some were quite scientific and detailed. The more scientific ones were harder to captu...

Fresh teeth!

We went to the dentist for a cleaning today and we both have healthy teeth/gums, yahoo! I snagged a pic of Austin in the dentist chair and me & my new tongue scraper, ha!:)

Belated Christmas gift

Austin and I have been eyeing some incredible travel/outdoors pants from a Scandinavian brand that produces really great items. I was about to buy a pair of their pants in Norway but couldn't justify...
253. Brestnitsa, Bulgaria

Saeva Dupka Cave

We stopped and explored some really interesting caves on our way to Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria). Some of the big tube/columns were nearly hollow (I think). One of the guides hit them with a stick...
252. Idilevo, Bulgaria ‐ May 14, 2023

MotoCamp Bulgaria

We had heard of MotoCamp Bulgaria from many adventure motorcyclists. Everyone said it was an awesome spot in the Balkans so we decided to visit during our time in Bulgaria. The spot hosts around 15-20...
251. Gabarnitsa, Bulgaria ‐ May 12, 2023

30th birthday weekend

We found out about a Balkan adventure traveler meet up weekend which aligned with my 30th birthday! We decided to pivot from our original plans and head to a small town in Bulgaria to check out the ev...
250. Shumen, Bulgaria

Founders of the Bulgarian State Monument

This was a wild monument to visit, it was much more grand in person than we expected! It was built in the late 1970s and early 1980s to celebrate the 1300th anniversary since the establishment of the...
249. Ruse, Bulgaria ‐ May 11, 2023
248. Bucharest, Romania ‐ May 8, 2023

Passport issue, ugh

During our initial stop in Bucharest, we applied for an additional passport called a travel passport. These passports are valid for four years and they are for people that are applying for visas out o...
247. Bușteni, Romania ‐ May 5, 2023

Mountains! And snow!

After volunteering at the church in Slatina and UBC’s camp, we spent a few quiet days in the mountains. The mountain town we went to is actually a ski resort mountain town but ski season is over. Desp...

Peleș Castle

We made it to Transylvania, yahoo!!! It is much more mountainous here and so beautiful. There is still snow in the mountains but everything is looking so lush from the start of the snow melt. I had fo...
246. Târgoviște, Romania ‐ May 3, 2023

Helping out at UBC22’s camp

Austin and I were able to spend a couple of days helping at UBC‘s summer camp. The church bought this camp when feeling called to but were not sure of the plans God had for it. All they knew was they...
245. Slatina, Romania ‐ Apr 28, 2023

After school program

We visited an after school program in one of the villages which is led by a couple from the church. Nicoleta is so passionate about loving her local community whether it is children or adults. During...

Happy Birthday, Alina!

We celebrated Alina’s birthday one of the days in Slatina. Rebeca and some other women decorated a room at church and we had a pizza, games, and cake birthday party for Alina and one of their closest...

Scripture reading

I had the privilege of reading the passage of the week (Acts 3) at church and thankfully I got to read it in English rather than attempting it in Romanian 😅 They had the Romanian translation on the s...

Youth Group

At youth group, Austin and I led the game and chose fishbowl. The kids were laughing throughout the whole game so we thought it was a success! David (one of the leaders) spoke on why knowing the Bible...

Awana

During our first evening in Slatina, we were able to help out at Awana. Awana is a children’s organization that focuses on teaching about the bible. We noticed that it also creates a safe and fun plac...

Connection in Slatina

We are connected with an incredible organization that started in southern California called Children's Hunger Fund. They focus on sharing the gospel through helping meet the needs of local churches al...
244. Bucharest, Romania ‐ Apr 25, 2023

UBC'22

Austin had met a new friend during our solo week in Italy named Jaia. Jaia's next stop was to go volunteer with an organization called UBC'22 in Bucharest and we had shared that we were interested in...

US Embassy in Bucharest

We made an appointment at the US Embassy in Bucharest to order a 2nd travelers passport. This is another US passport that is valid for 4 years. It should be handy to have as we apply for our China vis...
243. Caracal, Romania ‐ Apr 24, 2023
242. Dubova, Romania ‐ Apr 22, 2023

Hiking above the Danube River

We caught a day of sunshine on a no-drive day so we hit the trails and hiked above the Danube River, it was so beautiful! This section of the river is actually the border of Serbia so across the water...

Rock Sculpture of Decebalus

We drove past this rock sculpture heading towards a village we were planning to stay at in Romania. The sculpture is 55 m (180 ft) high and 25 m (82 ft) wide so the photo doesn't quite do it justice!...
241. Zaječar, Serbia
240. Jagodina, Serbia ‐ Apr 20, 2023
239. Rozanstvo, Serbia

Stopica Cave

We visited the Stopica cave in Serbia. We were told that it has one of the deepest limestone pools in the world and that National Geographic was there about 6 months diving in it. After looking into i...
238. Zlatibor, Serbia ‐ Apr 18, 2023

Surprise horses!

We were unloading the bike at our accommodation and started to hear trotting…we both looked up and saw this: [youtube=PgvuK6ZtL3g]
237. Priboj, Serbia
236. Vardište, Bosnia and Herzegovina
235. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ‐ Apr 16, 2023

Exploring Sarajevo

One of Austin's sisters has a coworker in Sarajevo so we got connected with him, his name is Adnan. We ended up spending a couple of days walking around and exploring the city with him and we learned...
234. Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina ‐ Apr 15, 2023

City on the river

We stayed a night in Mostar and it ended up being a really really cool gem. It is a town built on a river and the main area of town is their Old Town which is all stone buildings, cobblestone walkways...
233. Dračevice, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Monastery

This is a monastery that we went to visit since it was on our route but also looked interesting with the placement in the mountains. I think the monastery has been rebuilt since it looked quite new th...

Splish splash

We ended up finding some big puddles on a little off road sections within a Bosnian valley. [youtube=9AX7pO7YLIU]
232. Orahov Do, Bosnia and Herzegovina
231. Dubrovnik, Croatia ‐ Apr 14, 2023

Bang for buck

Austin is a wiz with credit card points and finding the best deals! Selfishly, I’m sure thankful for it since it allows us to have some special occasion stays sprinkled into our trip:) The place we ar...

Time consuming border crossing

We had a big day of crossing the border from Montenegro to Croatia but to begin, a quick recap/reminder that we just got our bike stolen and found in Bari, Italy before heading to Eastern Europe. Ital...
230. Kamenari, Montenegro
229. Lepetane, Montenegro
228. Stoliv, Montenegro
227. Kotor, Montenegro ‐ Apr 12, 2023

Kotor, what a sweet surprise!!

We didn’t know what to expect for Kotor but it has blown us away - phew, it’s so beautiful here! We ended up staying at a guest home of an older couple who have been married over 60 years. We didn’t s...
226. Shkodër, Albania
225. Tirana, Albania ‐ Apr 9, 2023

Domino’s service

Domino needs a service pretty frequently, about every 5k km (3k miles) so we spent the afternoon at a motorcycle shop working on the bike. The motorcycle shop was super kind and let us borrow their oi...
224. Durrës, Albania ‐ Apr 8, 2023
223. Bari, Italy ‐ Apr 1, 2023

Domino has been found!

Holy smokes, it has been the most insane few days of our lives - wow. For some background, our bike, Domino, got stolen in Bari, Italy, the morning we had planned to take the ferry to Albania. We imme...

Domino was stolen

We wish this was an April Fools’ joke but Domino got stolen on Monday morning. We had planned to take the ferry to Albania from Italy that evening but now we have been working with the local police an...
222. Grotte di Castellana, Italy

Caves of Castellana

The “Caves of Castellana” is a big underground system of karst caves. Austin visited the caves on his drive to Bari.
221. Matera, Italy ‐ Mar 31, 2023

Old city
220. Craco, Italy ‐ Mar 30, 2023
219. Verbicaro, Italy
218. Pizzo, Italy ‐ Mar 29, 2023
217. Villa San Giovanni, Italy
216, Messina, Italy

Little ferry ride

Domino taking the ferry to mainland Italy!
215. Naxos, Italy ‐ Mar 26, 2023

Gole Alcantara

The Gole Alcantara Botanical and Geological Park is a river within a volcanic gorge in Sicily.
214. Randazzo, Italy
213. Centuripe, Italy
212. Enna, Italy ‐ Mar 25, 2023

Camping in Sicily

Austin’s campsite for the night - seems like a perfect spot for a bonfire and night's rest!
211. Agrigento, Italy

Wind galore

Strong winds snapped a bolt to Domino’s windshield / handlebar while riding. It took longer to find the pieces along the road than to fix it. Austin is definitely a handy man!

Valley of the Temples

Austin visited the archaeological site that had ancient temples and ruins of the Akragas city. Being able to walk around so many different ruins (predominantly Roman) on this trip has been incredible!
210. Lercara Friddi, Italy
209. Palermo, Italy ‐ Mar 24, 2023

Horse riding adventure

I met a gal named Marta on an app called Couchsurfer. It is an app where local people open up their homes to host you and you become new friends! There are references and you get to chat before so I w...

Bath time

Domino got a deep clean bath after spending 3 months of Africa backgrounds. After the wash was complete, the bike nearly looked too nice to travel on, ha!

Gelatoooo

The gelato here is magic, I don't know how they do it but it is life changing! We got hazelnut and pistachio, both were incredible. We walked
208. Tunis, Tunisia ‐ Mar 21, 2023

Goodbye Tunisia, Hello [again] Italy!

We are about to embark on an overnight ferry from Tunis to Palermo on the island of Sicily! Once we land there, we will spend the next week or two solo traveling through Sicily and southern Italy even...
207. Duqqa, Tunisia

Roman ruins

We walked the streets and explored the ruins of an old Roman city with some friends that we had met in Morocco (they were visiting Tunisia). It was very built out and included their capital building,...
206. Tunis, Tunisia ‐ Mar 19, 2023

Tunisia Independence Day

Tunisia celebrated Independence Day on March 20. We were in the capital city and it was insanely busy! Currently, there is turmoil between the people and the current government since the president is...
205. El Fahs, Tunisia
204. Kairouan, Tunisia ‐ Mar 17, 2023
203. Gafsa, Tunisia ‐ Mar 16, 2023
202. Mides, Tunisia
201. Somewhere in Algeria

Hello Algeria

We made it to Algeria, ha! After visiting some of the canyons in Mides, we saw a dirt road that pointed in the direction of Algeria. We were already so close to the border that we decided to check it...
200. Mides, Tunisia
199. Cascade de Tamerza, Tunisia ‐ Mar 15, 2023

Off-roading adventure

We did a little off-roading through a riverbed to a campsite. We only got stuck once but made it out just fine once we threw it in 2-wheel drive and gave Domino a little push! At the campsite, there w...
198. Tozeur, Tunisia ‐ Mar 13, 2023
197. Chott el-Djerid, Tunisia

Outside of Luke Skywalker’s home

We also visited the location of where they shot the outside view of Luke Skywalker’s home. It was placed in the middle of the salt flats with nothing around it for at least 2 miles in each direction....
196. Mos Espa, Tunisia

Mos Espa

We visited another Star Wars film site. This was in episode 1 and 2 as Anakin Skywalker’s home, Watto’s shop, and where the podrace was held.
195. Tozeur, Tunisia ‐ Mar 12, 2023
194. Douz, Tunisia ‐ Mar 10, 2023

Camel excursion in the Sahara

We decided it was our time to take camels into the desert for a night in the Sahara. We chose not to do it in Morocco so we thought it would be fun to do in Tunisia! It was actually way more fun than...
193. Matmata, Tunisia ‐ Mar 9, 2023

Inside of Luke Skywalker's home

We visited and actually stayed at Luke Skywalker's home (at least the film site they used for shooting)! We stayed in the Hans Solo room, each room was named after a character. I am new to Star Wars -...
192. Guermassa, Tunisia
191. Chenini, Tunisia
190. Ksar Ouled Soltane, Tunisia ‐ Mar 8, 2023

Home of young Anakin Skywalker

We wanted to visit some of the Star Wars sites since many were filmed in southern Tunisia. Ksar Ouled Soltane was one that looked sweet from photos online and once we got there in person, there were m...
189. Tataouine, Tunisia
188. Mouammar, Tunisia ‐ Mar 5, 2023

Crocodile Park

On our final day in Djerba, we visited an adventure park that included a crocodile and reptile park, an imitation historic Berber village, and a museum of the Northern Africa people. The croc and rept...

Abandoned hotels

One thing Djerba is known for is the abandoned hotels on the island. In 2015, there were a couple of very unfortunate terrorist attacks in Tunisia which wiped out their tourism industry. Djerba was a...
187. Adjim, Tunisia
186 Jorf, Tunisia
185. Sfax, Tunisia ‐ Mar 4, 2023

Hollywood and Making Brik

We stayed at an airbnb that was one of the most interactive airbnb experiences we have had! It was a Tunisian family with 2 parents, 3 daughters, and 1 son. We had tea with Mohamed when we got there a...
184. El Jem, Tunisia

Amphitheater

We visited the Amphitheatre of El Jem which is an oval amphitheater in the formerly known city of Thysdrus in the Roman province of Africa. We were able to walk through all of the tunnels and rooms, n...
183. Mahdia, Tunisia ‐ Mar 1, 2023

Lablabi

We tried a Tunisian dish called Lablabi with some of our friends in Mahdia. Lablabi is a chickpea soup poured over pieces of bread and then a bunch of toppings are added. The main toppings are harissa...

Texas Family in Mahdia

We got connected to an amazing family through the new friends we made in Tangier, Morocco at church. The amazing family currently lives in Mahdia and is originally from Texas but have been living in T...
182. Hammamet, Tunisia ‐ Feb 27, 2023
181. Tunis, Tunisia ‐ Feb 26, 2023

Domino's 2nd African country

We made it to Tunisia after a bumpy 24 hour ferry from Genoa. Getting out of Genoa was an expensive nightmare because the ferry people made us pay for a car rather than a motorcycle for the ferry cost...
180. Genoa, Italy ‐ Feb 23, 2023

Lisa, our new Italian friend

We met Lisa on the Couchsurfing application and she agreed to host us for two nights. It was absolutely an incredible time with her! The first evening she made a delicious meal for us and we talked fo...

Simplest border crossing

We made it back to Europe for a quick pit stop between Morocco and Tunisia. Customs to enter Italy was the most simple and straightforward process. They stamped our passports (booth in photo) and we d...
179. Tanger Med Port, Morocco ‐ Feb 20, 2023

Leaving Morocco

Goodbye, Morocco! We are taking a 3-day ferry from Tanger Med (where we entered Morocco) to Genoa, Italy. Leaving Morocco was very straight forward and getting on the ferry was very organized and on-t...
178. Sidi Kankouch, Morocco
177. Tangier, Morocco ‐ Feb 17, 2023

Tangier Church

We found an English-speaking church in Tangier where we ended up meeting a lot of Americans! The world felt a little smaller as we started to get to know one of the couples we met. We started talking...
176. Larache, Morocco
175. Jorf El Melha, Morocco
174. Fes, Morocco ‐ Feb 12, 2023

Fes time

Here are some shots from the Fes market. Notice the camel heads in the first photo, that was a surprise when I first saw them, ha. They do sell camel meat and you can order camel on menus throughout v...
173. Taza, Morocco ‐ Feb 11, 2023

Staying with a Moroccan Family

Austin and I met Mohamed one afternoon in Imsouane which was one of the surf towns we spent time in this past December and January. We all spent time together in Imsouane and also in Taghazout. Mohame...
172. Tazekka National Park, Morocco ‐ Feb 10, 2023
171. Imouzzer Marmoucha, Morocco
170. Midelt, Morocco ‐ Feb 9, 2023
169. Merzouga, Morocco ‐ Feb 7, 2023

Domino and the desert

We met the four boys in our second photo on our way out from the desert. They all ran up to us when we parked and tried to sell us spices. Austin has figured out kids love receiving anything from trav...

Walking through the dunes

The Gateway to the Sahara

We made it to the Sahara this evening - can’t wait to start exploring!
168. Tinghir, Morocco ‐ Feb 5, 2023

“Old” friend, new place

We met Jolan the day we were leaving Taghazout and he joined us for the Mount Toubkal hike. We all had an epic time together and knew we were traveling in a similar direction after the hike. We ended...

Todra Gorge Adventure and Climbing

Austin and I wanted to explore the Todra Gorge since it looked beautiful and everyone online seemed to love it. I am so thrilled we went, it was an incredible time. When we showed up to town, we found...
167. Ouarzazate, Morocco ‐ Feb 3, 2023

Catch up day

Today we played catch up on laundry and some research! It was a beautiful day out and we were thrilled for all of the sun for drying our clothes. We also made a veggie pasta dish for dinner since we h...

Aït Benhaddou

Aït Benhaddou is an old city made of earthy clay. It’s an UNESCO World Heritage Site that we visited on our way to Ouarzazate.
166. Marrakesh, Morocco ‐ Feb 1, 2023

Mosque

Marrakech Insiders

Marrakech Insiders is a tour company that does sidecar tours all over Marrakech, the desert, and Atlas mountains! They have about 15 sidecars and are always slammed with tours. We first heard about th...
165. Imlil, Morocco ‐ Jan 29, 2023

Hiking Mount Toubkal

We hiked Mount Toubkal which is the highest peak in Northern Africa sitting at 4,165 meters (13,665 feet). The total hike is about 34 km (21 miles) with an elevation gain of 2,500 meters (8,200 feet),...
164. Marrakesh, Morocco ‐ Jan 28, 2023

Goats in trees

When we drove from Essaouira to Marrakech, we stumbled upon these goats in a tree. The photo below is actually unnatural and sad. We drove by about 5 trees like this and what is actually happening is...
163. Essaouira, Morocco ‐ Jan 27, 2023

Doors of Essaouira

”Doors of Essaouira” by: Austin The fifth door has the regional language characters, Berber, on it.

Big fish market

Essaouira is a coastal town that is know for the wind so kitesurfing is prevalent but before kitesurfing was an activity, it was know for (and still is) for all of the fishing, shocker- ha. The fish m...
162. Imsouane, Morocco ‐ Jan 22, 2023
161. Taghazout, Morocco ‐ Jan 3, 2023

Surf Hostel and other Taghazout Memories

We spent about three weeks in Taghazout and stayed in a private room at a surf hostel during our time there. It worked out perfectly because our private room was in a separate apartment unit so it was...

Trip planning

During our downtime in Taghazout, we were able to plan for the next leg of the trip. We have a lot of exciting activities we want to do in Morocco! We are off to hike the tallest peak in Northern Afri...

Morocco sunset

Favorite sunset so far in Morocco

Dinner out

We typically leave our phones at our hostel so photos are very scarce; however, we brought them to dinner out and captured this little shot (see the photo at the end of the post). Today, we had a yumm...

Little fish market

The surf towns we are staying in are all small fishing villages. After lunch one day, we spotted a man selling his fish in the fishing beach area. The beach is used for the fisherman to access the wat...
160. Imsouane, Morocco ‐ Dec 30, 2022

Surf and yoga galore

We decided to take a break from driving for about a month or so. We have posted up on the west coast of Morocco spending time in small fishing villages that have a lot of great surf waves and yoga. Th...
159. Ouassane, Morocco
158. El Jadida, Morocco ‐ Dec 29, 2022
157. Casablanca, Morocco ‐ Dec 24, 2022

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas in Casablanca and found a church to go to Christmas morning. We ended up meeting some very kind South Africans who were having a big Christmas lunch at their home and they invited u...
156. Rabat, Morocco ‐ Dec 22, 2022
155. Chefchaouen, Morocco ‐ Dec 21, 2022
154. Talassemtane National Park, Morocco

God’s Bridge hike
153. Chefchaouen, Morocco ‐ Dec 20, 2022

The Blue City
152. Tanger Med Port, Morocco ‐ Dec 19, 2022

Border crossing

Our border crossing experience was very uneventful and low stress despite an approximate 4 hour delay. We are very grateful for it being uneventful and low stress to say the least. The ferries out of...
151. Algeciras, Spain ‐ Dec 18, 2022
150. Gibraltar ‐ Dec 17, 2022
149. Málaga, Spain

Camping at ToroTrail

Our friend, Lorraine, from Switzerland connected us with her friend in the Malaga area named Lyndon. He runs an adventure riding company and we were able to spend a great evening with him and his clie...
148. Caracuel, Spain
147. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain ‐ Dec 16, 2022

Cliff city

This city is built inside the cliffs and on top of the cliffs, it was really neat to check out!
146. Seville, Spain ‐ Dec 10, 2022

Sweet Seville

We spent a few days in Seville which was a blast for me, Ellie, because I studied abroad in college here! The city was a lot smaller than I remembered which makes me chuckle thinking back to my time i...
145. Évora, Portugal ‐ Dec 9, 2022
144. Leiria, Portugal, Portugal ‐ Dec 7, 2022

Gusto Motorbikes saved us!

While on the way to Portugal, we broke down on the border of Spain / Portugal after hearing a lot of clunking and screeching noises. We were on our way to Rob and Zayne’s place (Gusto Motorbikes) to g...

6 months on the road!

6 months on the road, can you believe it?! For me, it feels like yesterday we were packing up in Colorado to start our drive across America but it also feels like a lifetime ago after reflecting on ev...
143. Lisbon, Portugal ‐ Dec 6, 2022
142. London, United Kingdom ‐ Nov 30, 2022

Tourist in London

I was able to spend a few days in London with my sister, Madison, exploring the city and surrounding areas! While she was working one of the days, I took a walking tour and learned many fun facts abou...

Catching up with an old friend

Hello from London! Madison and I were able to have breakfast with a long time family friend, Tanner. He grew up golfing with our brother, Hank, and our families were friends for many years when we all...
141. Lisbon, Portugal ‐ Nov 28, 2022
140. Leiria, Portugal ‐ Nov 26, 2022

Busted bearing

After we left Salamanca, we were on our way to Portugal to beef up our tires prior to heading into Africa. We had communicated with a Ural dealer in advance to order the specific tires we wanted so th...
139. Penamacor, Portugal ‐ Nov 25, 2022
138. Salamanca, Spain ‐ Nov 23, 2022

First time Bunk a Biker

There is a neat website called Bunk a Biker where people have the opportunity to open up their homes for travelers and bikers. We had learned about it from a friend in Switzerland and decided to give...

Austin built a code reader

Today, this man with wild hair built a code reader for our bike! The code reader connects with a 3rd party app on his phone and it allows us to read/clear fault codes, monitor sensors, and read other...

Happy Thanksgiving from Spain!

Happy Thanksgiving from us! It is sure looking and feeling like fall in Salamanca and we are trying to flee to warmer weather soon. It is raining all today so we tried to squeeze in a walk to check ou...
137. Madrid, Spain ‐ Nov 22, 2022

Vaccine vacations (in the future)

We needed up get the second dose of the hepatitis A vaccine six months after we got the first so we had to get it abroad. I found a spot in Madrid that had appointments during our time there. Once we...
136. Istanbul, Turkey ‐ Nov 12, 2022

Playing tourist

We have been exploring Istanbul (both the Europe side and Asia side) throughout the week. Here are some photo highlights from the trip so far:

Turkish Wedding

We are in Istanbul for Haley and Batu's wedding! We first went to their Turkish wedding on Sunday which was about 5 minutes of them signing papers and saying "I do" - but in Turkish. During the short...
135. Madrid, Spain ‐ Nov 10, 2022
134. Motilla del Palancar, Spain ‐ Nov 9, 2022

Camping night

We started to head towards Madrid from Valencia since we have a flight to catch to Turkey for a wedding! During our drive, it rained and rained so we pulled off to a gas station that had a great sitti...
133. Valencia, Spain ‐ Nov 6, 2022

Paella time

We had a paella party after a beach day in Valencia - it was rabbit and chicken paella (Valencia's specialty).
132. Ascó, Spain ‐ Nov 5, 2022

Domino's first motorcycle rally

I (Austin) met two bikers Hernan and Nico at a gas station who told me about a motorcycle rally happening this evening. They invited me to join and I didn't have anything else going on so I figured wh...
131. Barcelona, Spain ‐ Nov 3, 2022

Barcelona

Wow what a wild morning. I (Austin) wake up at 6am in southern France after sleeping on the beach to the start of some rain. I check the forecast and it looks like a massive storm is heading this way...
130. Plage Baleine, France ‐ Nov 2, 2022
129. Avignon, France ‐ Oct 31, 2022

Ural service with the Brits

I (Austin) spent the past few days with a wonderful British couple living in southern France who own a classics bike / Ural shop. Neil and Sarah were kind enough to not only host me but also teach me...
128. Geneva, Switzerland ‐ Oct 29, 2022
127. Milan, Italy ‐ Oct 28, 2022

Hiking Cinque Terre

Arsery from Russia

I stayed at an Airbnb last night that had two rooms that were private; I was in one room and an individual was in the other he ended up being from Russia and fled from Russia a month or two ago when t...
126. Cairo, Egypt ‐ Oct 27, 2022
125. Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt ‐ Oct 26, 2022
124. Dahab, Egypt ‐ Oct 25, 2022
123. Saint Catherine, Egypt

Hiking Mount Sinai

We hiked Mount Sinai for sunrise and it was beautiful despite the long day/night. We left our place in Dahab at 10pm, drove the Saint Catherine’s monastery with multiple checkpoint stops, and started...
122. Dahab, Egypt ‐ Oct 19, 2022

Seafood dinner

We had a yummy seafood dinner out where we picked out our fish from their fresh catch of the day section and they grilled them up with spices and veggies! It was fantastic despite both getting bones s...

Scuba and snorkeling galore!

Dahab has been absolutely amazing, wow!! The Red Sea is so clear, warm, salty, and pretty perfect. We have spent quite a few days here diving, snorkeling, meeting other travelers, eating bone-in fish,...

Beautiful sunset
121. Cairo, Egypt ‐ Oct 16, 2022

Pyramids

We visited many pyramids even outside of the main pyramids in Giza. We saw the Red Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, the Black Pyramid, the Step Pyramid, and the Great Pyramids of Giza. The Red Pyramid, the...

Market day

We spent nearly a full day exploring the Khan el-Khalili market in the daytime. There is so much to see and explore! We first started at a delicious coffee shop called Naguib Mahfouz. Kayla and I had...

Night Tour

We took a night tour of Cairo and it was such a blast to be shown around the city by a local. We learned about the history of Cairo and a few neighborhoods and also walked around the famous Khan el-Kh...
120. Athens, Greece ‐ Oct 15, 2022

Quick stop

After our time in the Preveza area with Austin’s extended family, Austin, Kayla (Austin’s cousin), and I planned to head to Egypt for a couple of weeks all together. We spent about 24 hours in Athens...
119. Preveza, Greece ‐ Oct 8, 2022

Yoga and the sea

The home we stayed at had a huge platform with yoga mats so we were able to do yoga daily. It was so stunning - occasionally we would see a ray or turtle swim by. It was a blast to massage my yoga ins...

Margie's 85th Birthday celebration

Austin has extending family in Holland and his grandmother's sister, Margie, turned 85 years young recently. To celebrate, the Dutch family planned a holiday to celebrate in Greece. During our time in...
118. Geneva, Switzerland ‐ Oct 6, 2022

Mag and Robby

We met Mag and Robby on a Facebook group and they generously opened up their home to us if we were passing through Geneva. We were very excited to meet them because of their passion for adventure! The...
117. Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland ‐ Oct 4, 2022

Fall time in the alps

It is absolutely stunning in the alps this time of year. The mountains have a dusting of snow and the leaves are changing colors, nothing more beautiful than that!

Murren Via Ferrata

We found a sweet via ferrata in the Swiss alps and were both looking forward to it, mainly for the exposure. It was alongside a massive wall so the drop was nearly 3,000 ft to the ground. The climb ma...
116. Grindelwald, Switzerland ‐ Oct 3, 2022

Glacier Canyon

We explored a huge canyon that was formed by a glacier many years ago. The glacier is melting tremendously (sadly) but what it has created is quite impressive. There was one section where you could wa...
115. Interlaken, Switzerland ‐ Oct 2, 2022

First Wedding Anniversary

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in Interlaken! It was a perfect day; we had a relaxing morning and had breakfast in bed, explored a sweet mountain town and glacier canyon, and had a delici...
114. Lucerne, Switzerland ‐ Sep 29, 2022

Youth group

Leandra is a youth pastor at a state church in Switzerland. I did not know much about the religious system in Switzerland so I'll share an overview of what I learned: At birth, parents can designate t...

New/old friend

Austin and I met Leandra originally in Oslo a couple of months ago at the International Church of Oslo. She was on holiday with her boyfriend but he was sick so we were able to spend an evening out to...

Swiss Fondue and Adam's Wedding Concert

Leandra introduced us to another pastor at her church and his wife (Jonas and Janine) and they were incredible. They invited us out to a concert one evening and after having us over for a Swiss fondue...
113. Freienwil, Switzerland ‐ Sep 26, 2022

Visiting Lorraine and Jørn

Austin met Lorraine and Jørn a few years ago on a Europe holiday through a motorcycle group. They kindly opened up their home to us this trip and we had an absolute blast with them. Lorraine has done...
112. Biasca, Switzerland ‐ Sep 25, 2022
111. Brunate, Italy ‐ Sep 23, 2022

Italian Fam

We spent a relaxing weekend in Brunate, Italy with my uncle Andrew, aunt Monica, and their pup, Max. It was a bit drizzly over the weekend but we made the most of it. We went out to a delicious Italia...
110. Stelvio Pass, Italy ‐ Sep 22, 2022

Switchbacks galore
109. Niederdorf - Villabassa, Italy ‐ Sep 20, 2022

Jagged Dolomites
108. Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

More mountain photos
107. Scotoni Rifugio, Italy ‐ Sep 18, 2022

Ice bath

We stayed at a much fancier hut (Rifugio Pederu, which I mentioned in the previous post) than before, I’m not sure which one I prefer more between the simple hut the first night and fancy hut the seco...
106. Pederü, Italy ‐ Sep 17, 2022

Snow, oh my!

Well..I woke up early and peaked out the window and it was completely white/foggy. I decided to crack our window to see what it was really like and it was a white out and the mountains were covered in...
105. Lago di Braies, Italy ‐ Sep 16, 2022

Let the hut trekking commence!

We started at Lago di Braises which was so beautiful but quite packed with people. Our trek is 5 days and 4 nights in the mountains. One common theme we noticed was there is no moderate hiking in the...
104. Brixen, Italy ‐ Sep 15, 2022
103. Bolzano, Italy
102. Canazei, Italy ‐ Sep 12, 2022

Rest day

We had a nice rest day where we didn't plan anything and could play the day by ear. I ended up taking a day hike to a hut and Austin relaxed back at our airbnb / walked around the village. On my hike,...

Via Ferrata Trincee

Austin and I agreed that today topped the best day of the trip so far. We had such an incredible time scrambling in the Dolomites on a via ferrata. A via ferrata is "an Italian term which means ‘iron...
101. Ortisei, Italy

DOLOMITES!!

We made it to the Dolomites, wow!!! I have been trying to make it to the Dolomites the past couple of summers. Coronavirus unfortunately shut down both trips but alas, we made it! It is just as beauti...
100. Innsbruck, Austria ‐ Sep 8, 2022

Adventure park

We found an intense adventure park right outside of Innsbruck that looked liked a complete blast. They have all sorts of climbing, rafting, caving, motor cross, a high ropes course, a water park, and...

Hello mountains

Our first evening in the alps was stunning. Wow --- I am SO excited to be in the mountains, I have missed them an insane amount and it feels like home. The past 5 summers, I have spent 2-3 consecutive...
99. Munich, Germany ‐ Sep 5, 2022

Carmen and family

We spent a few days in Munich walking around the city, spent time with Carmen and her family, and visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial. I met Carmen at a cafe in Berlin and we chatted for ab...

Grandpa on the farm

I got the news of my grandfather (George) passing away and was quite paralyzed. He was such an incredible man and I am so grateful to be his granddaughter. He is now reunited with our God after a peac...
98. Lake Chiemsee, Germany

Picnic lunch and swim
97. Salzburg, Austria, Austria ‐ Sep 4, 2022

Sound of Music tour

The Sound of Music tour was incredible, we spent a few tours visiting the sites where the movie was filmed and sang nearly all of the numbers from the musical. I met a couple of new friends (Jo and Iz...
96. Bürmoos, Austria ‐ Sep 3, 2022
95. Český Krumlov, Czech Republic ‐ Sep 2, 2022

Bear moat

We visited a really neat little town in Czech and one of the castles had a moat with bears in it so we HAD to visit. Bears are my favorite animal so it was so nice to sit and watch them for a few minu...
94. Prague, Czech Republic ‐ Aug 31, 2022

City shots

Prague was a beautiful city where we were able to spend a few days. We stayed in a hostel for 2 nights and enjoyed not moving around, ha. We met so many different travelers ranging from all walks of l...
93. Krkonoše National Park, Czech Republic ‐ Aug 29, 2022

Highest peak in Czech

We hiked to the top of Czech to help warm us up for the Alps. We stayed in a beautiful, little mountain town at a chata which is a mountain hut/chalet. When we got to the trip of the peak, we were nea...
92. Wroclaw, Poland ‐ Aug 27, 2022

City center

We trotted around the city for a couple of hours until it started pouring rain. I was shocked with how colorful and beautiful the city area was, what a sweet surprise!

Wrocław International Church

We visited the international church in the city and there were 14 unique countries represented there. We were among 6 other first time guests and the church community was very welcoming and kind. We i...

Fountain show

We saw a beautiful fountain show our first evening in Wroclaw. The show had multiple movements around earth, water, fire, and wind. During the fire movement, one of my favorite pieces as a child playe...
91. Świebodzin, Poland

Christ the King

We visited the world's tallest statue of Jesus, who knew it would be in Poland!
90. Międzyrzecz, Poland ‐ Aug 26, 2022

Camping

We found a lake to camp by our first evening in Poland. Little did we know, that was THE spot for an annual reunion, "bunker party", for many Polish people. Near the lake, you can access some of the t...

Bunkers and Tunnels

We toured a 32 km network of tunnels that led to multiple bunker sites, we were not able to walk all of the tunnels but we still got to walk quite some distance in them with our guide. They were built...
89. Berlin, Germany ‐ Aug 22, 2022

Pergamonmuseum

We visited the Pergamonmuseum on Museum Island in Berlin. We were able to explore Greek & Roman collections, collections from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia, and Islamic art.

Walking Berlin
88. Schwerin, Germany ‐ Aug 21, 2022

Beautiful castle
87. Puttgarden, Germany
86. Rødbyhavn, Denmark ‐ Aug 20, 2022
85. Copenhagen, Denmark ‐ Aug 16, 2022

Jakob, Therese, and Otto

We met Jakob on the Soviet Steeds Facebook page. He kindly extended an offer to us to stay with he and his family in downtown Copenhagen so we met up with him right outside of the city and were greete...

Sightseeing photos
84. Ystad, Sweden
83. Vik, Sweden ‐ Aug 15, 2022

Hanging with Peder

We met Peder at Kent's moto shop and he invited us out to lunch and to stay at his place for the evening. Peder has a son around our age and they had just gotten back from a 2.5 week moto trip around...
82. Borrby, Sweden ‐ Aug 14, 2022

Moto service

We just got a refreshed service at a shop in southern Sweden with our new friend, Kent. It was awesome, he let us stay and watch him complete the service and ask questions. We learned so much from Ken...

Ales Stenar

We visited Ales Stenar which is a rock formation / monument created by Vikings quite some years ago. According to wikipedia (lol), the Ales Stenar is "generally believed to be a grave monument or a cu...
81. Halmstad, Sweden

Hot day

It was quite a toasty day in Halmstad so we decided to go to the beach with Stefan and his wife, Birgitta. We walked around the coastline and eventually ended up in a cove with a dock. We swam for a b...

BBQ in Halmstad

When Austin first moved to Denver, he lived with a couple: Jessica and Chris. Austin became great friends with them both and eventually I met them and we have all had some great evenings together. Jes...
80. Gothenburg, Sweden ‐ Aug 13, 2022

Tough day

We ended up getting our helmets and jackets stolen in Gothenburg, it was quite an expensive mistake. We are now rethinking our plan on locking items to the bike when we are away from it. It really was...
79. Stora Dyrön, Sweden ‐ Aug 12, 2022

Sauna time!

We ventured towards the water to an island that has no cars in it. On the island, we booked a sauna near the ocean so we could sauna, jump in the ocean, sauna, ocean, and repeat many times. Wow, talk...
78. Ucklum, Sweden ‐ Aug 10, 2022

Martin from Soviet Steeds

There is a Facebook group called Soviet Steeds where many people who have Urals (the bike we have) can communicate through helping with fixes, ideas, or anything else. We posted in there that we are t...

The Thistle Inn

Austin met Andy and Magda in Norway as they were hitchhiking for vacation around the country. Andy is from Scotland and Magda is from Sweden. They now are married, have a 3 year old named Rory, and a...
77. Oslo, Norway ‐ Aug 7, 2022

Padel

When we met Kristoffer in Belgium, he mentioned the game Padel and we said we have seen the courts earlier in the trip and that it looked like a lot of fun! He also plays so he booked time for us to a...

Solo Day and Mini Golf in Oslo

We spent a few days in Oslo walking the city and spending time with friends. We first dropped our items at our friend Kristoffer’s place and then headed into the heart of the city. We met Kristoffer i...

Coffee at Tim Wendelboe

We did do a couple of different activities during the solo day and one I did was visit a famous coffee shop, Tim Wendelboe. The coffee was absolutely unreal there. It was quite a hot day and they had...

Church

We went to Oslo International Church for a Sunday afternoon service. The church hosted a “coffee and conversation” after church where they provide a space for the church community to connect and get t...
76. Fagernes, Norway ‐ Aug 6, 2022
75. Jotunheimen National Park, Norway ‐ Aug 5, 2022

Gjendesheim Hike

We explored a stunning trail today. The hike was a point to point hike so we took a ferry to one side of the lake and hiked around 9 miles to get back. The journey back was stunning. We saw multiple l...
74. Lærdalsøyri, Norway ‐ Aug 4, 2022

Beautiful alt route

We decided to take an alternative route (recommended by the pastor we met at church last Sunday, Espen) rather than driving through a huge tunnel today and despite the drizzle, it was absolutely breat...
73. Aurlandsvangen, Norway ‐ Aug 3, 2022

Campsite

Mountain and fjord views from our campsite
72. Gudvangen, Norway

Viking Valley

We visited Njardarheimr in the viking valley and learned all about the viking history. In the village there were multiple homes where people live for a few weeks at a time and help work in the village...
71. Vossavangen, Norway ‐ Aug 2, 2022

Tvindefossen Waterfall
70. Bergen, Norway ‐ Jul 30, 2022

Birthday dinner

Today is Austin’s 27th birthday. We had an incredible day biking and walking around the city! It was sunny and beautiful out which is a rarity in Bergen. We had dinner at the fish market in the harbor...

Salt Church

We found an amazing church in Bergen called Salt Church. It was mainly in Norwegian but they had an English translation for the message and announcements which was helpful. Espen, one of the pastors,...

Exploring Bergen
69. Stavanger, Norway ‐ Jul 29, 2022

Camping views for the evening

Beautiful view from our tent for the evening. We walked the beach and enjoyed the morning sun the next day too. We have lucked out with incredible weather for Norway, praise the Lord!
68. Jørpeland, Norway

Hiking Preikestolen
67. Lysebotn, Norway ‐ Jul 27, 2022

Hiking Kjeragbolten
66. Kristiansand, Norway ‐ Jul 26, 2022

Made it to Norway!
65. Hirtshals, Denmark
64. Aalborg, Denmark ‐ Jul 24, 2022

Relaxing days in Aalborg

We met Nikki when she and a few others were looking at our bike as Verdenskortet was closing. We started chatting with her and picked up quickly she loved traveling, too; she has lived all over the wo...
63. Verdenskortet, Denmark

Map of the world

We stopped by Verdenskortet which had a stone-created map of the world. It had all of the associated flags placed and was fascinating to explore and walk around. Shortly after exploring the map, reali...
62. Mønsted Kalkgruber, Denmark
61. Ringkøbing, Denmark ‐ Jul 23, 2022
60. Hvide Sande, Denmark

Nazi Bunkers

We explore about 15 different Nazi bunkers on the coast of Denmark that were used in WWII. The Germans took over and used the location in Denmark since it was further north and on the sea in case they...
59. Esbjerg, Denmark

Men by the Sea

Big guys we found at our lunch spot during a drive day.
58. Tønder, Denmark ‐ Jul 22, 2022
57. Hamburg, Germany ‐ Jul 17, 2022

Dialog in the Dark

Dialogue in the Dark is a tour unlike any we had done before. It was an experience that helps non-blind people, experience blindness. Sounds odd, but it was fascinating. Our tour guide was blind and w...

Cathedral memorial

We visited the original cathedral in Hamburg which was actually bombed and burned in WWII. The entrance and main steeple were still present and the bombings did not harm those too much but it was scor...

City walking

We just spent about 5 days in Hamburg and it was a quite nice to stay in one spot, not travel for a few days, and enjoy getting to know a city well. My middle and high school friend Megan lives here a...
56. Bremen, Germany ‐ Jul 16, 2022

Garden camping

Today, we set off to explore the city of Bremen, Germany. We met Claudia about 25 seconds after parking our bike for the day in Bremen. She was quite curious about the bike so we chatted for 15-20 min...

The Bremen Town Musicians statue
55. Groningen, Netherlands ‐ Jul 15, 2022

Mini-Camping

We decided to find a formal campsite this evening which is out of our norm of typically finding wild camping in a national forest of some sort. I am so glad that we did! I found a campground online, D...

Dinner at Stadsrestaurant

After spending the day climbing, we ventured off for dinner and stumbled upon a very unique restaurant. We originally had a different place in mind but their kitchen closed right before we got there,...

Excalibur Climbing Wall

Today we climbed up the free-standing Excalibur climbing wall. It is the tallest freestanding climbing tower in the world! It was absolutely incredible and a bit nerve-racking when climbing the last f...
54. Zwartsluis, Netherlands ‐ Jul 14, 2022

Lunch at De Geschilde Aardappel

We had lunch at De Geschilde Aardappel which is a spot on a river/canal that typically boats would pull up and have lunch at but we were one of the few in their parking lot driving by land. It was a c...
53. Genemuiden, Netherlands

New spokes!

On our journey across America, we broke a spoke along the way on our custom back wheel, dang. It took a lot longer than we had hoped to get on the same page with the custom wheel shop but they were ab...
52. Bussum, Netherlands ‐ Jul 13, 2022

Time with Margie

We traveled from Amsterdam to Bussum, approximately 45 minutes, to see Austin's grandmother's sister, Margie. She prepared a delicious lunch for us and we spent the afternoon getting to know her bette...
51. Amsterdam, Netherlands ‐ Jul 12, 2022

Poffertjes

We went to the Pancake Bakery since it was recommended by a friend that lives in Holland. It additionally had the best ranked poffertjes online. Austin loves poffertjes; poffertjes are essentially lit...

Van Wonderen Stroopwafels, yum!

Today, we had a self-guided food tour of Amsterdam...it felt like a tour of sweets, ha! One of our stops was at Van Wonderen Stroopwafels and goodness, our stroopwafel was incredibly delicious. It was...

Drinks with Zoe, Austin's cousin

One of Austin's cousins, Zoe, lives in the heart of Amsterdam so we planned to meet up with her for drinks on our first evening in the Amsterdam area. She took us to a neat cafe that had patio seating...
50. Rotterdam, Netherlands

Noah's Ark

We visited a full-scale interpretation of the biblical Ark in the Rotterdam area. It had animal models poking out through each of the windows that you may be able to see in the photo below. It was cha...
49. Antwerp, Belgium ‐ Jul 11, 2022

Cheers!

Cheers with Belgian beer! I, Ellie, prefer Sprite over beer as you can see in the bottom of the corner, haha:)

Kasteel van Zellaer

Fairy tale castle much?

Belgian Chocolate, yes please!

Today we toured the world's largest Belgian chocolate museum, it was fantastic to learn all about the history of Belgian chocolate. We also got to sample nearly a dozen types of chocolate, phew - Has...
48. Brussels, Belgium ‐ Jul 10, 2022
47. Waterloo, Belgium

Church...or not

We were very excited to go to church since we were going to Red Rocks Church Brussels. I, Ellie, went to Red Rocks Church in Denver for about 5 years and they have a campus in Brussels. We were but st...
46. Ghent, Belgium ‐ Jul 9, 2022

City walkers

Ghent was beautiful to walk around, we loved exploring all over the city! We ended the evening with drinks on the river and then dinner at a different spot on the river. We didn't snag any photos of d...
45. Bruges, Belgium

We saw Jesus' blood, wow -

Today, we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges. In the basilica they show a preserved cloth with Jesus' blood on it. The church was beautiful, quiet, and everyone was respectful of giving...

Belgium waffle with Belgium chocolate, yum!
44. Ypres, Belgium

Hill 62

The Hill 62 museum was very real and educational. We were able to walk through the trenches and tunnels that were used in WWI. You'll see Austin in one of the photos below looking into a machine that...
43. Richebourg, France ‐ Jul 8, 2022
42. Lens, France
41. Arras, France

Wellington Quarry

Explored the underground world at the Wellington Quarry. The Battle of Arras during WWI took place in Arras, France and the British used the quarry.
40. Paris, France ‐ Jul 6, 2022

Domino's first service

Domino got his first service today! Ural motorcycles (our bike) recommend a service every 5,000 km so this was our first. During our service, we met up with a new friend named Simon. We initially were...
39. Versailles, France
38. Dreux, France ‐ Jul 5, 2022
37. Avranches, France ‐ Jul 4, 2022

Dinner view from our table
36. Genêts, France

Mont Saint Michel

We visited Mont Saint Michel today via walking the bay from Genêts. In order to walk the bay, you have to hit the tides right, otherwise you may be swimming back or you may get munched by quicksand! A...
35. Omaha Beach, France ‐ Jul 3, 2022

WWII Sites

We visited a few different WWII sites along the coast specifically ones pertaining to D-Day and the Normandy landings. We learned more about la Pointe du Hoc and how the US Army Rangers successfully s...
34. Étretat, France

Views from the top

Alabaster coastline

Jardin Étretat

We stopped at the Gardens in Étretat which are a neo-futuristic garden that extends over the cliffs of the Alabaster Coast, one of the wonders of Normandy with a view listed as a World Heritage by UNE...
33. Fécamp, France ‐ Jul 2, 2022

Vintage Boats and Fish Market

Today we went to Fecamp with Martin and a few of his friends. They were having a vintage boat show there and had some great seafood we planned to have for lunch. We also popped by the shore to check o...
32. Saint-Pierre-en-Port, France ‐ Jun 29, 2022

Beautiful flowers from our hike

We went for a hike along the coast and passed by a few towns during the hike. We ended up pausing for a lunch break at a picnic table overlooking the sea and coastline for some lunch: bread, cheese, a...

Low tide and big cliffs!
31. Aizier, France ‐ Jun 28, 2022

The day in Aizier

Chapel ruins
30. Arelaune-en-Seine, France ‐ Jun 27, 2022

Picnic dinner with a new view

We are having so much fun traveling together and enjoying each day! We have been driving along the Seine River and it has been so beautiful and the people are so kind. Our simple picnic dinners usuall...
29. Jumièges, France

Abbaye de Jumièges
28. Giverny, France

Hi Monet
27. Brueil-en-Vexin, France

Camping at the chateau

We were able to camp on the property of Isabelle's sister. They have a beautiful garden (yard) and home. We spent the morning having breakfast and piecing together French and English to communicate ab...
26. La Roche-Guyon, France

Castle and Watch Tower

This castle has a secret passage stairway that leads to the watch tower on the top of the hill
25. Vétheuil, France

Beautiful little village

We walked around this village for a bit before having lunch and found that it was beautiful. The homes were nestled into the mountainside with streams running between them and most of the side streets...
24. Paris, France, France ‐ Jun 26, 2022

Paris time coming to a close...for now

Since arriving in Europe, we have spent all of our time in the Paris area. As I mentioned in a few older posts, we have a service for our bike scheduled for July 7th and are additionally waiting for a...

Trinity International Church

This Sunday afternoon, we found a Christian church (Trinity International Church) to attend, we have been excited to check out local churches in whatever area we are currently in. The service was most...
23. Gisors, France ‐ Jun 25, 2022

Geese-catching extravaganza

Today, we caught 7 geese. Austin and I were pretty excited for the adventure because 1. it felt so far out of left field and 2. we were both pumped to join French folks our parents' age catch geese. D...
22. Paris, France ‐ Jun 22, 2022

Sightseeing

We walked the city for a couple of days and explored multiple areas!

New friends

Upon our arrival in Paris, we headed to a Ural-certified moto shop to get a maintenance prior to heading north out of France. When we stopped in, we found out their first available slot for a maintena...

Cargo is in!

[youtube=rXp8Nf6VmC4]
21. Montréal Airport ‐ Jun 21, 2022

Boxes and Tape and Bike, oh my!

After we packed up at the hotel, we headed to a Uhaul store to grab large moving boxes for cargo shipping our items with our bike rather than checking them separately. Once we grabbed our boxes, we we...
20. Montréal, Canada ‐ Jun 20, 2022

Night out

After we got settled in our hotel for the night, we showered up and went out to have a belated celebration of our house closing. We went to a delicious Italian place in Old Montreal near the water. We...

Entering Montreal

[youtube=e6No2r5ftFc]
19. Silver Lake Campground ‐ Jun 19, 2022

Camping with bears

Jacob booked a perfect campsite for us near a stunning lake in Vermont. After riding into the campground, we set up camp, gathered wood in the day light for the campfire later that night, bear proofed...
18. Greenfield, MA

Puppy Dog Route (PDR) and camping with Jacob & David

We met up with Jacob (one of Austin's best friends) and David (Jacob's father) to spend a couple of days riding and camping. We rode most of the PDR which is an off-road route that runs north and sout...
17. Cazenovia, NY ‐ Jun 18, 2022
16. Cayuga Lake State Park ‐ Jun 17, 2022
15. Lake Erie ‐ Jun 16, 2022

Beautiful, peaceful evening

We found a fantastic campsite walking distance to Lake Erie. We played in the water right when we got there and attempted to skip rocks but who knew Lake Erie would have such large waves which made sk...
14. Doylestown, OH ‐ Jun 15, 2022

Corey, Emily, and Carmen

We originally met Corey at Subway on our second day of riding the trip when we were passing through Kansas, he was also passing through. We chatted with him for only about 10 minutes and got connected...
13. Plymouth, IN ‐ Jun 14, 2022
12. Marengo, IL

Meeting Rich and Jim

We met Rich through emailing CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association). Rich said he could drive down from the Chicago area and bring us to the Ural shop. The morning of the tow, Rich came down with J...
11. St. Anne, IL ‐ Jun 13, 2022

Flower Farm and CMA

We were in St. Anne, IL and it was over 100 degrees and humid out. We broke down on the side of the road and no more than 2 minutes after, we met Bob. Bob drove up from across the street, he was at hi...
10. Peoria, IL
9. Quincy, IL

Grandview Church & Thyme Square

We visited Grandview Church in Quincy, IL today. We met around 10 different people and each one of them were incredibly welcoming, kind, and hospitable. We got invited to a gal's home for lunch with h...
8. Hunnewell Conservation Area ‐ Jun 12, 2022

Camping on Hunnewell Lake
7. Turney, MO, United States ‐ Jun 10, 2022

Hello from the Silvius farm

We had a sweet, sweet time with my (Ellie's) grandparents on their farm in Missouri. Thank you for hosting us, we love you!
6. Kansas City, MO

Hello from KC with Grandma Frame

We had a lovely catch up lunch with my (Ellie's) grandma in Kansas City. It was such a great time catching up about life! Thank you, Grandma, we love you!
5. Washington, KS ‐ Jun 9, 2022

Camping at Rocky Pond Campground
4. Courtland, KS

Rex and Rhonda

We met Rex and Rhonda randomly at a gas station. They asked to come bless our bike which then led to chatting with them for a few minutes about life, faith, and our trip. We learned that they are part...
3. Denver House ‐ Jun 8, 2022

We are off! Catch ya later, Denver!

The house is on the market!
2. Colorado Ural Shop ‐ Apr 15, 2022

See you later, Colorado Ural shop!

Big shout out to our Colorado Ural guys for all of the help getting the bike ready and for teaching us all about the bike.

We picked up the bike!

Today we picked up our motorcycle sidecar! We finalized the additions of all of the bells and whistles we need (e.g., storage racks, light covers, windshield, etc.). Huge shoutout to our favorite guys...
1. Denver House, United States ‐ Apr 8, 2022

Preparation Galore

There are so many details we have sorted through (and will continue to do so throughout the trip) so we wanted to share a few logistics details for those who are curious: What's the general outline of...

Learn more