Entries by Sean
A Dry Run of the Green Mountain Gravel Grinder
Welcome to Vermont, where quaint but lively little hamlets dollop the landscape, and the day-to-day is centered around agriculture and the great outdoors. With a culture fit for recreationalists and a topography friendly to pedal-power, one might think it’d be the perfect place to stage a multi-day bikepacking adventure, and they would be right. These […]
A Contemplative Walk Through the US Holocaust Museum
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. -Viktor Frankl Viktor Frankl’s wrote about his experience of the Holocaust, first in a labour camp, then eventually Auschwitz, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. Horrific yet […]
Cycling Portugal: An Opposing Experience
How could riding a bike on one side of an imaginary line differ much from the other? Same continent, similar language, familiar eats. This is where my hopes, expectations, rest as I cycle along the cruisy coast from Vigo towards the Portuguese border. You hop the ferry at the border, and keep on spinning. It’s tempting […]
Underseat Diesel Fired Heater
It’s summer and you’re contemplating the van build after a nice May long weekend. With recency bias holding it’s grip tightly, statements like “it doesen’t really get all that cold around here” and “most of the year we wouldn’t need heat” are exchanged. Fast forward to February. One morning parked at the ski hill, your […]
How to Not Ride a Bike Through Northern Spain, With a Surfboard
Each day, the sun is further delayed pushing into the eastern sky. With the horizon line high above the beach shore, you won’t feel direct light until around nine. I’m a fan of rising with the sun, but maybe that’s just an excuse for sleeping in through the productive morning hours. But the days of […]
How to Ride a Bike Through Northern Spain, With a Surfboard.
It is fall, but the weather of Northern Spain wouldn’t like to admit it. Sure, the leaves are in the process of falling and new colours emergent, but the air is rich with warmth, and saline humidity. The sun gradually arcs through the southern sky, casting rays through the less-than-lush trees surrounding my primitive campsite, […]
Perusing Mt. Wooley & Diadem in a Thunder Storm
It’s summer in the Canadian Rockies. For most, it’s an experience of warm temperatures, long days exploring alpine lakes and scenic vistas, and meeting other happy travelers on extended vacations. While it would be nice to join the majority on what sounds like a pleasant adventure, I seem to have gotten caught up in a […]