I am sure you will have no trouble biking 130km in a day with your new knees
Tricia

I am actually petrified. Already I found one major booboo in Czech that left a giant gap of 130 km between bookings. I had accidentally booked a spot way off the route and it took a fair bit of juggling to find an alternative. Fortunately we are still at home and I have the resources to fix these disasters. But what will happen out on the Trail? Stay tuned, all will be revealed as it unfolds. Anxiously, Dodie

I think you are very brave booking it all. We are nervous sometimes booking a day ahead! Will be interested to hear how it goes
Good travelling
Tricia

Very cute, and just the right number. We stand even.

Steve - just another thought concerning booking rooms and the cost. I typically use Trivago which seaches all the main booking sites such as Booking.com, Hotels.com, priceline etc. . When I can I book through Hotels.com which has a rewards program that essentially gives you a “free night” after 10 bookings in there site. . Actually the “free night” is a credit based of the average cost of the 10 nights. It has worked for us on several occasions.

At least with the tent, a campground can almost always find a spot for you. We always liked to think that at least in principle we could pitch anywhere, if needed. That often was a clear fail, with fences and deep ditches all along routes.

By the way, a good reference for campgrounds in Europe is http://archiescampings.eu/

Personally I would lose my mind (small as it is), much hair, and several days of my life if I decided we should prebook our rooms for our entire trip. I guess knowing exactly where you are going would help. I marvel how Scott does it. I was hoping our paths would cross last fall so we could sit down and give me some lessons in planning. The most I have prebooked is the first, second and last night. I like the flexibility of not prebooking ... allowing for possibility of a change of plans/routes, longer stays in a particular spot etc. I recall us taking the advise of cute server in Ingolstadt who suggested we take the Altmutal bike route from Kelheim to Rotenburg making our way back to Frankfurt. And according to the Lonely Planet guide the Altmutal route was ranked in the top 5 long distance cycling routes in Germany. It was indeed a great route. We would never had gone through Zell am See if it weren’t for the suggestion of a bike shop employee in Salsburg to alter our proposed route. This good fellow even offered us his GPS device telling us we could just mail it back to him. I guess he was worried about the old people. I will be really looking forward to seeing how it works out for you. Keith

And thanks for reminding me where Book ‘em, Danno originates. That phrase has been in my dictionary for years, but it’s so far back I’d forgotten where it came from.

I’ll be interested to see how this works out for you. There are so many pros and cons, but as long as you look ahead a ways and cancel before there’s a penalty due, I look it as just preserving the option to stay in a place in the part of town you want to be. We’ve had a few times where we’ve Gotten stuck with the cancellation fee because of a last minute change of plans, but it’s been really rare.

Also, FYI, we almost never inquire about bike storage and have almost never gotten stuck. Offhand I can only think of one time, in Seville about 20 years ago. They’ll virtually always find space somewhere.

Hi Steve and Dodie

I too did an Anderson for the first 3 weeks of my upcoming trip, the part Al will be along for. Accommodation is booked for all but the 3 nights before we *have* to be back in Bordeaux (that night's booked). It's rather scary because I've never booked more than a night or two where my plane lands and from whence I'll be flying home. After all, the flights are fixed, barring something big and bad happening.

After Al heads home, it's just me and my tent for another 6 weeks and no schedule until that flight home.

Jacquie

That's how I read it too, but only a meteorologist might have a theory for the current narrow temperature range.

If I'm reading this right, it appears that the historical average differential between high and low is somewhat broader than it is predicted to be as well

Thanks, Steve, for the explanation. I’ll have to see if I can make something work with my Garmin and my iPad mini. I really prefer journals that have maps and it would be nicer to add them with the narrative rather than after returning home.

We have 11 acres and love to have potluck parties. How about trying to have a cyclists mini meet in ?July? Not the first week though, cause we will be taking 2 of the grandkids Gulf Island hopping.

Scott / Jacquie - we think a get together is a great idea. We talked about it with Steve and Dodie when we had lunch the other day. I think we should make it happen. K and K