Finished with Hamburg, we are off to Neumünster.

After spending a day and half here in Hamburg with Christof (The Dutchman) Van Werde, we are off for Neumünster.

We started our trip on Sunday at 6:30pm and made our way to Osnabrück before facing our first problem of the trip.  We had traveled about 60 km when Brad turned too sharply trying to ride up a curb sideways from the street onto the sidewalk and the heavy rear wheel slid from underneath him, bending the rear wheel and sending him to the ground.  So, with that, Brad wins the coveted "first digger of the trip" award.  That would finish our trip for the day.  The next morning we got the bike fixed (new rim, tube and tire) and carried on.  We would ride 80 km and stop in Wildeshausen to camp for the night.

The mysterious sascquatch lurks.

All packed up.

We would begin again and head for Bremen, but only 5 km into the trip Brad blew a tire.  We quickly fixed it roadside and carried on.  From that moment on it was smooth sailing.  We had a nice tailwind that pushed us through the countryside at an easy +20km/hr pace.  We decided to push on and arrive late in Hamburg to visit "The Dutchman".  We were satisfied with our 125 km day and decided to take a day off.

Now it´s time to pack up and head on our way to Neumünster.  We have a friend, "Captian Dan", who has a place for us to stay.   This will be our last contact with people we know until we meet a friend in Sweden, probably around the 20th of July.

From Neumünster, we will ride to Fehmam island where we will take a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Denmark.  Once there, we will ride to Copenhagen and on to Gothenburg, Sweden.

So Brad and I have been planning this trip for about two months now and it's finally here.  We have packed up our bikes and are going to spend the next 5 weeks trekking through Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway all the while camping and fishing.

Updates and pictures to follow.

And now that work is finished...

The adventure begins!!!

Mixed emotions

Today marks the final day at the BWZ.  It has been six months and a blast from start to finish, but it had to come to an end sometime.  I am so glad I decided to stay in Münster last fall and teach at the BWZ.  With this last course, I taught just short of 200 students since January and loved 'nearly' every minute of it.  I would gladly do it again.

I had mixed emotions leaving today because it was such an enjoyable job and this last class was just excellent. I will never forget these six months, and hopefully I am able to teach there again.

Pictured from left is Me, Albrecht, St. Patrick, Melli, Sarah, Thomas the Legend, (Middle row) Anna, Tina, Florian, Melly, Stefan, and Kory (with whom I shared the class).