This Thanksgiving finds us away from the grey and rain of the Pacific Northwest and in sunny Southern California. Just a few days ago the lows were dipping below freezing in Oregon, now we are in the land of 70s and sun and endless asphalt. Our last year has been unpredictable and strange, but there has been one constant – you. This site first started out as a personal record of our trip but over time it has transformed into a community. Over the years, we have met readers who have turned into friends. This crossing over from the virtual world into reality has been one of the pleasant surprises of our site. So, Thank You!


Laura with our friend Meghan, a bike and ped advocate in Santa Monica.


Willie Weir and Kat, two great world bicycle travelers and one of our early inspirations in bike touring.


Missy and Shane, a cargo biking family of 5 in Eugene. Shane is also the Safe Routes to School coordinator in Eugene.

We are also thankful for the thousands of readers who we haven’t met yet, but have been supportive of our endeavors. Lots of our readers identify as bike advocates in their community and it is humbling to read their emails and see how we’ve played a small part in their lives.

We got this great email and photo from Ken and his wife after they got their Bike Local shirts.

We have been doing almost all of our local errands by bike for a few years now,
all year round. The trailer has over 500 miles on it mostly from grocery store
and farmer market trips.

The attached picture was taken at our favorite store, MOM, My Organic Market.
The glare obscures the sign in the window that says 100% wind powered. This
is at a local shopping center that recently underwent a renovation. I was able to
talk the owner into installing nice bike racks. One of them is in the picture, right
out front of MOMs.

This photo is from Joyce, a mom and bike advocate in Houston that rocked our Zombie Shirt at a Houston Transportation Action Group panel discussion.

The truth of the matter is that we know our lives may seem glamorous, a life constantly on two wheels, but like all life choices, it has its ups and downs. We are constantly mobile but have given up the stability of a community of friends. The internet and your participation, your emails, your comments all help give us a sense of community as we move about and this will become more and more important as we start explore further away. So thank you!

(Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter, or our new 2012 calendar or some of the fun zombie apocalypse shirts we’re designing.)