Traveling Again

Miles from Home - In transit
Firsts / Highlights - Traveling to the Southern Caribbean
Activity - None
People - Just me.

This post is from August 14, 2009.

It has been a while since my last blog post. I have been in Steamboat recharging my batteries before deciding what to do next and continuing the adventure. I considered a few options ranging from flying lessons, home repair work, bike touring, road trip and SCUBA diving.

After a good deal of thought, here is what I decided.

1) Although I would love to fly an airplane, the initial and ongoing costs of getting licensed were a bad match for my current no-income status. That one will need to wait.

2) My original plan was to do a self-supported bike tour from Canada to Mexico along the Pacific Coast. After staying in Europe a little longer than planned, I wasn't anxious to simply touch-down in Steamboat and head right back out. I needed a little time to live my routine life in Steamboat so I could be ready to absorb more new experiences. Those two factors left me a little short on time to ride the Pacific Coast at a fun pace.

3) Home repair - well... that will always be there. It would probably be a good learning experience and needs to be done, but not the way I want to spend my (perhaps) once-in-a-lifetime sabbatical.

So that covers what I am not going to do. Here is what I AM planning to do.


View Curacao in a larger map

1) I am currently on a plane heading to Curacao in the southern Caribbean. It is part of the A-B-C Islands (Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao) just off the coast of Venezuela. From the earliest days of planning this sabbatical, I was disappointed that I had not been able to figure out how to incorporate SCUBA diving into my itinerary. I earned my certification last April, and have been anxious to do it again ever since.

There is no practical way to carry both a bicycle and SCUBA equipment on any trip (add the big camera and it would be like a full-blown expedition). Either sport makes for heavy travel, and combining them just wasn’t possible. By returning to Steamboat and making Curacao a separate trip, I should have better quality diving than I would have found in the Mediterranean and avoid having an anchor around my neck while cycling in Italy. Curacao appears to be a prime destination for diving just like Italy was prime for cycling.

I am making use of the flight time to review my SCUBA certification training materials. Most of it is still pretty fresh, but a little review can’t hurt. I would rather be reminded of something I forgot at 35,000 above sea level in the plane than 60 feet below sea level in a panic.

I will be in Curacao from August 14-25.

2) From Curacao, I will return to Steamboat for a couple of days, and then head out on a national park road trip. I visited my first park last week on a bike trip over Trail Ridge Road and a hike to Mills Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. That was a quick 2-day intro to the national parks that I hope will be just the beginning.

Kristen Lodge was the instigator who organized the Trail Ridge ride along with a friend of hers named George. Trail Ridge road is the highest continuous paved road in North America. It tops out at a little under 12,200 feet. We originally wanted to ride up from Grand Lake, up and over to Estes Park and return back over the pass to Grand Lake in one day. I think we could have done it, but the weather turned nasty at 12,000 feet. The wind blew so hard that I had to angle the bike into the cross-wind in order to track a (more or less) straight line down the road. It was an adrenaline rush, but literally being blown off the road was a distinct possibility. Combine the wind with a bit of cold rain, and we made the rational decision to turn around at the summit rather than dropping down to Estes Park. Although a disappointment for a goal-oriented cyclist, it was a great ride. I will post pictures when I return.

When I get back from Curacao, I plan to load up the car with cycling, camping and photographic gear and head north. I am a bit conflicted about how much driving I want to do, but here is the full loop that will most likely be cut short at some point when I’m tired of driving or the calendar says I need to get back to work.

a) Steamboat
b) Teton National Park
c) Yellowstone National Park
d) Glacier National Park
e) Banff
f) Lake Louise
g) Jasper
h) Vancouver
i) Olympic National Park (at Eric Weaver’s cabin)
j) Oregon Coast
k) Redwoods National Park
l) San Francisco
m) Yosemite National Park
n) Zion National Park
o) Arches National Park
p) Canyonlands
q) Steamboat

Next post should have some underwater pictures.