LYF Cycle Touring
About Laurence and Yolanda
When we were married way back in 1987, the thought of traveling by bike and living in a tent was pretty farfetched. But as we pitched our little nylon mansionnight after night on the hard dirt floor of the Australian Outback years later, it seemed pretty natural.
It was a slow progression, from a weekend along the eastern shore of Maryland, to a month long trip across France then eventually 15 months of pedaling and camping thru the US and Australia
Some of our inspiration came from a guy named Steve Roberts. He and his travelling companion, Maggie, stayed a few days at our place in Jax Beach Florida.
Riding high-tech computer and solar cell equipped recumbents, "Wordy" was on a journey of cyber-cycling before the Web was born, or even conceived.
A few months later they bought an old schoolbus and converted it into a combination electronics lab / bikecarrier. The BEHEMOTH was the result. Almost a ton of electronic and mechanical gadgets propeled by two legs and lots of gearing. Steve is now involved with a kayak project and maintains a Web site at Nomadic Research Labs. Check out the "Miles with Maggie section"
The jump from a semi-settled existence as a Navy family, to being total nomads took a few years and some eventual prodding with separation incentive packages from the USN. In 1994, after holding a huge garage sale and placing our few remaining posessions in storage we were free. No home, no job, no schedules and no worries. It was time to hit the road.
Some of our travels are related in the touring accounts pages of this site. More will be forthcoming as I peruse the scrapbook and feel the urge to tip-tap on the keyboard. Our next trip is in the formulative stages, which basically means looking at a world map after dinner and a few glasses of wine, and saying "China would be fun" or "How about a ride from Cape Town to Mombassa". Work and school seem like a pretty normal existence right now, but we prefer to view it as a planning and re-equiping time. Next time we saddle up with 70 pound of gear, we'll make fewer mistakes, take less stuff and
...... travel slower.
This document maintained by
Two Wheel Computing
Material Copyright © 1998 SoftQuad Inc.