“Don’t touch me.” Not the words I expect to hear my friend say to our tour guide on the final night of our trip to Southern Morocco. It’s after 10pm and we’re the only guests in a hotel in the ancient fortified city of Ait Ben Haddou. Both of us American women tower over Mohammed. […]
Falling for It: A Newbie Navigates Marrakech–with a Little Help from an English Novel
Down the lane from my house in the Marrakech medina, four brown cows’ hooves dangle just above eye level. They’re a specialty item at the micro-butchery, where the owner wears a long face and a stern expression. Less than two miles away, I find myself dangling from the ceiling of a room in the new […]
How a Pair of Missing Underwear Cracked Open a Door in My Arabic Neighborhood
The scene: Marrakech medina. Sunday afternoon. A return trip to the neighborhood laundry. Me to the laundry guy (via Google Translate and expecting the worst): “I’m sorry, it’s a little awkward, but I’m missing something. [beat] A pair of ladies’ things.” Laundry guy (via sign language, concerned but not embarrassed): “I’ll have a […]
I’m Off Sugar. So Why Am I Biking to this Bakery Again?
Knee socks, green jackets, black lycra tops straining across bulging bellies—or maybe hanging loose. White hair floating beneath a helmet. Fat tires, skinny tires. Drop-bar bikes, upright rides— Meet me in Rio Vista Park on a 70-degree November day. Listen for a Swiss-German accent, an East Coast brassiness, a Midwestern diffidence. We’re deep in the […]
A Fistful of Lightning
I left Seattle (again) on a gloriously sunny Monday — statistically the wettest day of the year, but you’d never know it. Outside my window, a 12-foot-tall wooden dragon raised a red lightning bolt to a bold blue sky. Beyond, the jagged silhouettes of the Cascades echoed the zigzag lightning in its fist. Over the […]
The Day I Stopped “Making the Best of It”
“Look for the Costco garage with the tuba on it.” My Couchsurfing host had sent detailed directions to her place on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, where I planned to stay for several days. We texted back and forth as I pedaled my way south along the edge of the continent. Dana* and her husband were […]
Quadra Island: Dipping Beneath the Surface
Yesterday I climbed a stepladder to hang my laundry on a line strung between a mobile home and a cedar tree in a forest. Two cycling jerseys, a pair of shorts, two pairs of socks and underwear, and a white silk sleeping bag liner fluttered in the breeze. A half-finished shed stood before me, opaque […]
In Which I am Saved from Sasquatch by a Finnish Woman
So there I was, eating a chicken samosa in front of a bustling general store when up walked a rail-thin blondish woman. “Is that your bike?” she wanted to know. When I said yes, she lit up. Her grandson was preparing to do a big bike tour from here in southern BC to the Yukon, […]
A Free Being
Last summer, shortly after losing my job and turning 50, I loaded up my green Kona bike with about 70 pounds of gear and pedaled 2,700 miles from Seattle to Halifax, Nova Scotia.* Bicycle touring was something I had read about, thought about, talked about, dreamed about—and delayed—for years. Those 11 weeks on the bike […]
The Maiden Voyage of the Dynohub
In preparation for my upcoming bike travels, I’ve made an exciting upgrade to the bike: a dynohub! This genius device attaches to the front wheel and generates electricity with every pedal stroke. With the tremendous support and expertise of Paul Priest and his compatriots at Recycled Cycles, the Kona is now equipped with a headlight, […]