List of funny/silly questions from a French couple :)
12-18-17, 10:07 AM
#51
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OTOH once folks actually meet you, their opinion of you can change pretty quick, depending on how you act. Maybe not a 180 change of opinion, but better nonetheless.
A long way of saying I do get sick of all this constant harping on "race".
Rant off. Hope I didn't tank the thread.
A long way of saying I do get sick of all this constant harping on "race".
Rant off. Hope I didn't tank the thread.
Good post, and a great description of why I like bicycle touring.
12-18-17, 10:57 AM
#52
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I spent my childhood in an England that was still lily-White. Folks hated each other anyway, as a teenager in the urban working class in a big city I could get the crap kicked out of me with steel-toed Docs for merely being on the wrong street.
In my twenties I lived for three years in a remote West African village, no electricity no running water. Folks hated each other anyway, fists and machetes were the weapons of choice.
For the last 30 years I have lived and worked in a higher crime area of a big city, most everybody I live and work around is Hispanic, I was married to and often traveled with a dark-skinned Hispanic woman for twenty-five years of that time, we traveled all over the United States, often across "The South" ("gasp"). My son is Hispanic so is my granddaughter. Several drive-by's in the neighborhood, one on the house next door and several people getting shot over that time in my area including one of my students, two kids over the years at my school in wheelchairs forever because of random drive-by bullets, several rapes and assaults in the area, one fleeing felon shot dead on campus. All of this violence Hispanic on Hispanic.
Wherever you go, a few people ain't gonna like you for whatever reason. But unless you get kicked to a pulp with steel-toed Docs, hacked with machetes, *****, robbed or shot at from a moving vehicle IMHO these things should be ranked as minor aggravations. Absent those awful sorts of outcomes folks can still feel "traumatized" all they want, after all "feelings" are free.
OTOH once folks actually meet you, their opinion of you can change pretty quick, depending on how you act. Maybe not a 180 change of opinion, but better nonetheless.
A long way of saying I do get sick of all this constant harping on "race".
Rant off. Hope I didn't tank the thread.
Mike
In my twenties I lived for three years in a remote West African village, no electricity no running water. Folks hated each other anyway, fists and machetes were the weapons of choice.
For the last 30 years I have lived and worked in a higher crime area of a big city, most everybody I live and work around is Hispanic, I was married to and often traveled with a dark-skinned Hispanic woman for twenty-five years of that time, we traveled all over the United States, often across "The South" ("gasp"). My son is Hispanic so is my granddaughter. Several drive-by's in the neighborhood, one on the house next door and several people getting shot over that time in my area including one of my students, two kids over the years at my school in wheelchairs forever because of random drive-by bullets, several rapes and assaults in the area, one fleeing felon shot dead on campus. All of this violence Hispanic on Hispanic.
Wherever you go, a few people ain't gonna like you for whatever reason. But unless you get kicked to a pulp with steel-toed Docs, hacked with machetes, *****, robbed or shot at from a moving vehicle IMHO these things should be ranked as minor aggravations. Absent those awful sorts of outcomes folks can still feel "traumatized" all they want, after all "feelings" are free.
OTOH once folks actually meet you, their opinion of you can change pretty quick, depending on how you act. Maybe not a 180 change of opinion, but better nonetheless.
A long way of saying I do get sick of all this constant harping on "race".
Rant off. Hope I didn't tank the thread.
Mike
My girlfriend and I met two older gentleman while camping in Texas last spring. They were self-proclaimed libertarians and we were both left wing people with a firm belief in the advantages of Dutch socialist democracy and health care.
We still had a wonderful time just talking and having breakfast and lunch together for an entire day.
We certainly had our debates and we both enjoyed discussing and prodding each other for our world views.
Don't judge. Ask people to tell you how they see it and you can both have really fun talks together.
12-18-17, 11:39 AM
#53
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Hello. What's this thread about?
12-18-17, 12:31 PM
#54
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12-18-17, 01:54 PM
#55
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Yes you are right, I’m talking about stealth camping, thanks for the correction, my English is improving 
!
In French we say “camping sauvage”, literally “wild camping”.
Don’t you use the term “bivouac” in English? In France the Bivouac is tolerated or accepted in many national parks while the camping is forbidden.
Sure it’s hard for us to really measure the desolation and remoteness of the South-West US.
We have the capacity to easily carry 15,75L of water but we usually refill our tank of 12 litres for the evening and night only. Also we have a filter to be able to drink any water we can find along the road.
This is our road on the main lines; the exact direction will be decided when we will ride, depending on the weather mainly:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Py...vU&usp=sharing
If you have any comment you are welcome.
Thanks for the link, we will apply this technique carefully!! 
We have a 20W solar panel with a 97Wh battery.
As GPS we use a Garmin Oregon 650 with offline maps, we keep the smartphone a phone mainly!!
Thanks for the links for the routes.
No worry we manage! All information is good to listen!!
We are aware that this adventure is going to be very different of what we found in Europe. We will carry more weight of food and water every day, but that’s fine.
After USA we well ride all the South America, through the Andes, Altiplano, etc… So this chapter in US sound like a good training for us
About dangerous people we may encounter, I would say it’s the same everywhere around the world. I have a personal sad story as example: 2 friends, pretty girls around 20-25 years old, crossed all Africa by hitchhiking from the south to the north. Not any problem there. Few months later, one of them came back from her babysitting by hitchhiking in the south-east of France. The driver strangled and killed her…
Where are the civilized people? Those things happen out of our control and anywhere. This kind of trouble can happen even when one stay at home all the day long.
In US we will use the Opencyclemap.org maps and some free Garmin maps which show the BLM areas:
GPSFileDepot - All U.S. Garmin Compatible Maps
In our case we just look for California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Guess what!! We are vegetarian
We are used to alien probing, it’s a common thing in France (instead of the Area 51 we have the Pastis 51), but we have no idea in case of snake biting… Any link with useful informatons?
No doubt it’s a useful thing to do, I add it to our first shopping list in LA.
We will look that, never used until now.
We always carry with us a pepper spray in case of problematic dogs… but never used until now! It’s a forbidden thing to have in France, we bought it in Spain.
140km, we will use this as reference, thanks!!
Thank you all for your answers and your help.
It’s a big job for us to process all those information in English, many news words and expressions for us!
!In French we say “camping sauvage”, literally “wild camping”.
Don’t you use the term “bivouac” in English? In France the Bivouac is tolerated or accepted in many national parks while the camping is forbidden.
Sure it’s hard for us to really measure the desolation and remoteness of the South-West US.
We have the capacity to easily carry 15,75L of water but we usually refill our tank of 12 litres for the evening and night only. Also we have a filter to be able to drink any water we can find along the road.
This is our road on the main lines; the exact direction will be decided when we will ride, depending on the weather mainly:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Py...vU&usp=sharing
If you have any comment you are welcome.
Here's some pertinent help for your camping question. How To Camp Anywhere -- A Tongue-in-cheek Answer to a Bicycle Camping Problem…
As GPS we use a Garmin Oregon 650 with offline maps, we keep the smartphone a phone mainly!!
Thanks for the links for the routes.
No worry we manage! All information is good to listen!!
We are aware that this adventure is going to be very different of what we found in Europe. We will carry more weight of food and water every day, but that’s fine.
After USA we well ride all the South America, through the Andes, Altiplano, etc… So this chapter in US sound like a good training for us
About dangerous people we may encounter, I would say it’s the same everywhere around the world. I have a personal sad story as example: 2 friends, pretty girls around 20-25 years old, crossed all Africa by hitchhiking from the south to the north. Not any problem there. Few months later, one of them came back from her babysitting by hitchhiking in the south-east of France. The driver strangled and killed her…
Where are the civilized people? Those things happen out of our control and anywhere. This kind of trouble can happen even when one stay at home all the day long.
In US we will use the Opencyclemap.org maps and some free Garmin maps which show the BLM areas:
GPSFileDepot - All U.S. Garmin Compatible Maps
In our case we just look for California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
We are used to alien probing, it’s a common thing in France (instead of the Area 51 we have the Pastis 51), but we have no idea in case of snake biting… Any link with useful informatons?
We will look that, never used until now.
You are not wrong. My experience with dogs mirrors yours, and not only on a bike. Not all dogs will attack but you had best be prepared to defend against the few who do, as well as the angry owners of the dogs. A canister of bear spray is effective against both, with multiple one-second bursts per canister. I keep mine handy on all rides.
Thank you all for your answers and your help.
It’s a big job for us to process all those information in English, many news words and expressions for us!
Last edited by Fredandsveta; 12-18-17 at 07:22 PM.
12-18-17, 03:00 PM
#56
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Make sure you check the weather when in the mountains of Arizona (basically from Prescott to outside of the Grand Canyon). It can still drop well below freezing in March, April, and even May occasionally. You really don't want to get stuck 2,500m in elevation unprepared in freezing temperatures!
I think the same may be true for the parks in Utah, but I have not cycled there.
I think the same may be true for the parks in Utah, but I have not cycled there.
