When I rode the Althmuhl I also combined it with Liebliches Taubertal which is a really stellar ride. The Altmuhl was fine as far as river routes. More interesting than the Main and I actually preferred it to the Mosel which it looks like you'll hit. I'm curious on your route from the Altmuhl to Salzburg. There aren't any direct routes through there that I know of. I'll be in the Dolomites this year, covid permitting. I'm thinking about following the Isar down and crossing the Brenner via train. Recumbents don't like long steep hills and I don't like riding with that much traffic. I'd prefer to avoid as much public transit as possible this year. I'll be interested to see what route you end up choosing through europe, covid permitting.

Rocky comes up over the top of the rise
And what does she see but a bunch of guys.
Each one is young and fit,
Looking fine in cycling kit,
Hubby better not let her escape his eyes.

(Just kidding! You have nothing to worry about.
Those guys are just a downgrade from you, no doubt.
Please don't put this on the Poet's Corner, I beg,
Lest everyone aims their scorn at poor Greg.)

Is anybody else here creeped out by that pie logo?

Thai-style hill-age there.

Definitely planning to go through Milwaukee. I’m aware of the mostly limestone trail network through there, and that’s good news about the surfaces. I’m less sure about east of there though - we might just cross the lake at Milwaukee to shorten the distance. Door County isn’t going anywhere, so maybe some other year.

Assuming we can fly to Europe, we plan to follow the Altmuhl part of its way, revisiting a route we followed 25 years ago on a ride from Prague to Paris. I’ll have to check our your journal and make notes.

I’ve briefly toyed with cycling from Minneapolis to east of Chicago passing through Madison. If you ride that route I’d be very curious to read your experience. Minneapolis area has a lot of exceptional cycling infrastructure and Wisconsin has built up quite a bit over the years as well. Wisconsin has a lot of limestone surfaced rail trails. At least the ones we have here in the cities tend to be so hard-packed they’re almost like pavement. I imagine Wisconsin would be similar.

I’m also hoping Europe will be open for vaccinated travelers by late summer. I have a flight to München booked for mid august. Fingers crossed!

Late July and early August, most of the snow should be gone. :-) But, yes, hit me up for info when you get into planning mode. It would be great to have a meet up.

We are thrilled! Send your spare glasses or anything else to hold for you.

Hopefully it will go through. Maybe wishing hard enough will make it happen. And yes, of course we’re coming through your area. I suspect we’ll pass through your town on our way to or from Salzburg. Maybe we could send you a spare pair of glasses to hold for me until we get there so we don’t lose them in the meantime.

Thanks. I just stumbled on the Dallas String Quartet when I was looking for instrumental music.

Wow, what a fantastic plan! And I see you will be passing through Bavaria. We can meet up for sure! I so hope that the virus is under control by then and there are no more lockdowns. The US seems to be doing a good job, Germany discouragingly slow. But by August we should have our s*** together over here, too.

🥰

It’s a pretty impressive network alright, especially for such a small place. On the other hand, they’re still blessed with a lot of open, empty land that must make it easier to get the right of way.

Pretty sure.

Who said I didn’t photoshop these? Actually, I was just trying to get the features of the cliffs to stand out better. Still, it was pretty blue.