Our route followed the "Inn" river south into the Austrian Alps today. Yesterday we rode mostly paved roads with a few gravel connecting trails, but today was mostly a hard-pack gravel path along the river. We saw lots of people of all ages using the path, families with kids, racer types in their riding kit, and regular folks with comfort bikes. We saw this beautiful church, that almost looked surreal, in the near distance as we approached Kufstein, our destination for the day. Just in time, before reaching our hotel for the night, we found a nice restaurant along the trail...

We got our bikes assembled and ready to go today. This trip we are using a new system to carry our gear. In traditional cycle touring you have four big bags attached to metal racks on the front and the back of the bike. In the past, we've used folding bikes that are stored in a large suitcase. When we got to our destination we removed the bikes from their suitcases and assembled them, and then the suitcases become trailers, with a set off wheels attached, that we pulled behind the bike. It works well and we never have to worry about the bike cases because they come with us as trailers. You never...

One aspect of our bike trips that I really like are the little guesthouses we get to stay in. They have a small number of rooms, say 15 or less and they provide breakfast in a room made just for that purpose.  Sometimes you can get a half-board meal plan that gives you breakfast and dinner if they hae a full restraunt. The little inns are usually family run and very friendly and helpfull. The Gastehaus Zihmerhof is storing our bike boxes, during our trip, and we return at the end off our trip and repack for the flight home. It is also fun to find little restraunts along the way like Pizzeria...

As we did in Iceland the Boeing 757 came in for a landing and we saw a vast flat plain with the promise of mountains in the distance. But this plain was a patchwork of farms and forest looking a lot like Wisconsin and the mountains are much higher. Those mountains are the Dolomites and we are going to ride our bikes over them. Next entry in diary

When we descended from our moondance the rising sun revealed a stark landscape. The peninsula where the airport is located is a flat lava flow. Not a tree or bush in sight. It reminds me of a western Alaska bush village. But there is a promise of mountains in the distance and those mountains have waterfalls. Iceland means "waterfall", at least in the language of photographers. For photographers Iceland also means Icelandic ponies. Next entry in diary

It is a beautiful night for a Moondance. We are 30,000ft above the Canadian Arctic. It is midnight with a full moon dancing across the myriad small lakes in the tundra below. There are low clouds that are illuminated from below whenever the moon reflects off the water. It is an exquisite start for our trip. Soon we will land in Iceland and hopefully I can post a picture because it is too dark to capture the wonderful dance far below. mfk Next entry in diary