The Latest

Sorry its been a while since the last update. After sailing through the canal on www.realityinterrupted.com (thanks Mike, Marnie and Gary!), Ben decided to continue with them on their sailing adventure to the Galapagos Islands. In their week long sail he enjoyed catching and cooking up fresh fish for dinner as well as celebrating crossing the equator…unfortunately he had to experience all of that while being seasick for the whole week. After spending a little time on the Galapagos he took a small plane to Ecuador and then conquered his first Andes challenge by riding from the coast up into the mountains to the capital Quito. He is now spending a few weeks in Quito which he said is clean and small enough to walk around with lots of plazas and parks. He is volunteering with BiciAccion in Quito, an organization that works to promote better use of public space and the use of bicycles in daily life, you can check out his volunteer page (warning its in Spanish!) here.

After our ride through the canal I lost patience in waiting for a sail boat ride north and decided to go by bus. After about a week of bussing (which REALLY made me appreciate the freedom of traveling by bicycle) I ended up at the Mexico/California border. From there I went up to San Diego and shocked my friend Patrice by showing up at her doorstep. I spent the last couple weeks staying with my grandparents in San Diego and helping take care of my grandfather who has been sick. I wasn’t sure how I planned to get home until I heard from my sailing friends in Baltimore that they were looking for another person to do a delivery from Bermuda. So I shipped my bike back to Baltimore and flew to Bermuda and tomorrow we leave to sail up to Newport, RI. You can watch us on the delivery here , the boat is Crackerjack. I’m really excited to do my first ocean sailing trip, I will let you all know how it goes!

Our trip

We are planning to bike from Baltimore, MD to Cordoba, Argentina. We leave Baltimore for our adventure on November 2, 2008. By doing this trip on bicycle we hope to experience our own country as well as Mexico, Central and South America in an intimate way that would not be possible through any other means of travel. We are looking forward to the physical and mental challenges of this journey, and are very excited about traveling by using our own power. We are hoping to raise awareness about "green" travel and promote self powered transportation.

Who are we

      We are 26 year old Maryland natives, living in Baltimore City. We
      met as freshmen at the University of Maryland, College Park, and
      have been friends ever since.

      Ben became a bicycle commuter after returning from a year long stay
      in Chemnitz, Germany. The more he road the more he wanted to ride,
      build bikes, and eventually tour. Ben has been back in Baltimore
      for the past 2 years, working as a mechanical engineer for KCI .
      His goal is to bicycle all the way to Cordoba, Argentina, where he
      he would like to stay for a year or two.

      Christine has been living in Baltimore for the past 4 years, working as
      a computer systems analyst for PIRE, a non-profit public health
      research company. She is just along for the adventure of the trip and
      is hoping to sail back (contact me if you know a way) once they make it
      to their destination.