Machka 

Just for fun ... especially for those of us who are in the middle of winter and are looking for a bit of entertainment ...

1) Did you travel when you were a child?

2) If so, where did you go?

3) Did your family bring bicycles with them on the family vacation or other trips?


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1) I've been travelling pretty much since I was born.

2) I've lived in 4 provinces (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), and have travelled within those provinces as well as the North West Territories, and every US state west of about 103° longitude, plus Texas. I've covered quite a bit of the eastern side of NA as an adult, as well as other countries, and I attribute my desire to travel to my parents who took great pleasure in numerous extended vacations.

3) Yes, my family often brought bicycles with them. My father was into cycling before I was born, so I grew up in a cycling family. I have fond memories of the family station wagon stacked high with luggage and 4 bicycles attached to the back, or top.

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How about you??

Erick L

My interest in touring goes back to a one month trip across Canada and northern states my family did when I was 8. We've also cross the USA and back more or less in the middle, and several shorter trips. Always by car, camping and with minimum gear. With 4 four kids with no trailer or roof box, I learned to pack light and efficiently. Ever since, I've been wanting to travel by 1)van (econoline type) 2)motorcycle (loved those Goldwings) and 3)bicycle. I've actually owned and lived in a van during my tree-planting days in Saskatchewan. Never ridden a motorcycle. The appeal of bike was and still is the idea of self-propelled traveling.

Shemp

Not much, and not far. Annual week-long or long weekend vacations were about it.


Did a Smokey Mtns trip, and one trip to Colorado, everything else was very Midwestern.


Never. Still trying to figure out where I caught the biking bug as it wasn't hereditary! Always had a bicycle (first a Huffy bmx then a Ross 10-speed), but my Dad never rode one, and my Mom had an ancient 3-speed she rarely rode.

teamcompi

I have had a love affairs with bicycle travel since I was a little tyke...went to the end of a rainbow when I was five (by bike)....no gold but I found something much better...my ability to travel by bicycle. Ran away from home shortly after the pot of gold fiasco, by bike of course, found my way back for dinner.
Just out of high school with a large sum of money (40-50$ if I remember correctly), I traveled by bike to Oregon from Vancouver. The following year with all the experience of a seasoned traveler I traveled to Mexico with the lady who is now my wife. The yearly journey began, now at 50 plus I have traveled all around Canada, and the USA now its with the kids. For much of my life I have managed to take at least a month a year to travel by bike, I must be easily entertained, I don't mind motels but would just as soon camp. Though I love the west coast and have ridden it too many times to count, my favorite ride is the center of the states, I am not sure why but I like Kansas.
Who know why we ride? I hope to ride with my kids kids or till I forget how to ride.

I am happy about the country I have seen by bicycle but I am much more excited about the people I have met and the experiences my children have had. Most of the really good stuff I have ever had happen to me has happened with a bike within arms length.

ken cummings

I came from one of the most traveled families I know of. Every year or two we would go somewhere like coastal Maine or Cape Hatteras, or the mountains in Wyoming; driving from New York state. When I was 15 I was at the Seatle Worlds' FAir, Mom was somewhere in the west driving back to NYS, bro was at a nuclear reactor in Jersey, dad was in Canada, and sis was spending 2 months in Europe. I've lived outside the US for 5 years. Nary a bit of cycling. I've had several short bike tours since then and crewed in RAAM twice.

eric von zipper

1) Did you travel when you were a child?
Yes.

2) If so, where did you go?
A handful trips to Germany to visit my Grandmother and Aunts. We also did a family European vaction one summer, 1980. My father rented a VW bus and the 6 of us drove from Denmark to Italy with a lot of side trips from major cities.
I lived in West Virginia as a kid and we'd make our summer pilgramage to Mrytle Beach, SC in the Station Wagon w/ camper in tow. How my father managed this, I will never know. We use to travel to Ohio to see the Reds play and once I sort of remember a trip to Disney in Florida.

3) Did your family bring bicycles with them on the family vacation or other trips?
My brother's and I use to take bicycles to Myrtle Beach...loaded them in the camper. We road bikes (ones that my Grandmother had) during the visits to Germany.

cyccommute 

Nope. My family is know as the Trees. We put down roots and never, ever, leave and we tend to live forever. I grew up in a podunk little armpit called Fowler (Town motto: No place is...) about 75 miles as the crow flies from southeast of Pikes Peak. As a kid we took exactly 3 vacations that were longer than 3 days. Two were to Iowa to visit other Tree relatives (I only remember one) and the other was to Taos, NM (I was 8). That's it. We moved to Denver when I was 12 and, eventhough I have lived within 60 miles of the Continental Divide, I didn't cross the Divide until I was 18 and I could drive myself there. The furthest west I'd been until I got married was Taos.

I've had the wanderlust ever since. The rest of the Trees are still firmly rooted in place. My parents moved back to Fowler (Town motto: No place is...) in 1991 and have been to my home in Denver 5 times since then. My bother lives in the metro area but he lives within 200 ft of the same spot he has slept since we first moved to this area in 1969. He doesn't live in the same house but he bought the one across the street so that he could be near his roots.

They are sad, sad people.

Cyclist0094

I was military brat so we moved a lot until I was about 12. I ran away from home when I was 15 ..on my bicycle. I made it 230 miles before the cops got me. I was headed to my grandparents in Tennessee about 300 miles away. The cops drove me the last 70 miles...

paul2

We did the occasional road trip.

LA, Hawaii, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Winnipeg

No. It was always in the winter.

eric von zipper

Did you run away fully loaded?

cyclezealot

when one feels stuck in the depth of winter, Machka question is an uplifting one.
Same, pretty much the family traveled extensively since I was about 4. First started out gadding about Michigan in a travel trailer then expanded to everything west of the Mississippi. Each summer was a special trip to somewhere.
Then I took it on to much of the world. I have covered all but 4 states and now 22 countries. Bike tours on 6 seperate vacations. Travel really expands one's mind. Memories of the beaches on Eleuthera or the coral reefs off of Sulawesi will never go away. I love Islands. Miss the publication. "Islands." Had always wanted to visit every island possible.
Favorite islands. Manitoulin( largest freshwater island in the world) Beaver Island, MI, Sulawesi, Iceland, Kauai,Catalina, Eleuthera, Isle Royal, MI. , Corsica. Anyone else ever have an island fixation? My wife says she will not follow me to the Ice Hotel on Greenland. I understand it is redicilously expensive anyway.

tacomee

My family lived the Western US....my dad worked a lot of jobs, construction, logging, mining, so we moved around a lot. I've lived all over Washington, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming.

My father loved bikes, so we always had them. I first went on tour, solo, when I was 13. By the time I was 16, I had rode all over Montana, N. Idaho, and had ventured deep into Wyoming, Colorado and Washington State.

The one thing my youth taught me about touring is that it's easy. Really. Touring by bike takes very little gear, a bike and the gumption to petal-- nothing more.

paul2

My favourite island is Tiomon, in Malaysia. I didn't make it to Sulawesi, but I island hopped in a small boat from Lombok to Flores. The coral reefs were amazing. I really enjoyed Magnetic Island in Australia. And Manitoulin is great for a long weekend bike tour.

Cyclist0094

No I traveled pretty light as I remember. BSA sleeping bag, jeans and a spare pair of Chuck Taylors
Only person loaded was my dad which was the reason for my impromptu tour...

cyclezealot

Yes, I wish I had been into cycling when I visited Manitoulin.

Mooo

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1) often. By small airplane, bus, train, large airplane, automobile, and motorcycle. There was this one time, I was 8 or 9, we had to go down the coast of South America some number of miles in an outboard powered dugout canoe. That was probably the most nervous I was on a trip, although sometimes Dad could put some fright into me when he was flying us somewhere.

2) eastern US, Puerto Rico, various South America

3) No. I didn't like the noise and vibration of the motorcycles, and really preferred bicycles, so as soon as I moved away from home I sold the Suzuki and bought a touring bicycle.

Machka 

Your family voluntarily went to WINNIPEG in the WINTER??? I lived there for 13 years ... I can't say that the winters were my favorite part.

j3ns

You should consider the Finnish archipelago (they claim 100.000 islands!), it's a bike accessible heaven! Also you should check out the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi in Sweden (should be cheaper than Greenland).

I travelled a lot as a child, mostly here in Iceland and in Finnland but also including Sweden, Norway, Holland, England and Germany. No bikes, except for one day of rented bikes on Kökar island in the Finnish archipelago.

paul2

Well, we lived in Regina, so it was not much different. We went to Winnipeg to see the Jets.

Machka 

A couple questions to add to this thread .....


4) Did you and your family go camping when you were a child?

5) Did you go camping with your friends when you were in your teens or early twenties?



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I didn't camp a lot when I was a child, but my family used to go out on weekends in one of those old orange and beige canvas tents, and one year we used a tent trailer for the family vacation. And of course, we often brought our bicycles with us on our travels.

But I camped a lot when I became an adult. I ended up with a HEAP of camping gear from all that! Unfortunately I can't use a lot of it for cycletouring ... too heavy.

Thisisit

1) Did you travel when you were a child?
My family moved from Oakville ON to Hong Kong when I was 4, then to California when I was 8 so I did quite a bit of traveling.

2) If so, where did you go?
Prior to heading to Asia we traveled around Ontario, camping trips to various provincial parks, and to cottages. Once living in Hong Kong we traveled every chance we got; Shanghai and Beijing, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Fiji, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, it goes on. Once in California we traveled around the state, camping and seeing the major sites, a Washington state trip, and a British Columbia trip.

3) Did your family bring bicycles with them on the family vacation or other trips?
Bikes were a highlight of the family cottage. Ours is in a provincial park that allows for cottages, has a nice paved series of roads about 6km end to end. Lots of bike rides to the dock and out to the point. Other than that, not very often. Occasionally around resorts in various Asian locations there were bikes to ride, but were never a big deal.

4) Did you and your family go camping when you were a child?
Yes, Ontario provincial parks and California State parks.

5) Did you go camping with your friends when you were in your teens or early twenties?
I'm 20 now. Have a camping trip planned to Killbear park in July, and 2 or 3 weekends throughout the summer I plan to go to my cottage or friend's. I also hope to get all my touring gear built up by the end of July and do a weekend ride to my cottage(A little over 300km away, so for me, not a day trip).

venturi95

We loaded up the Galaxy and took a nice full two week vacation every summer, usually to a lakeside cottage in northern Michigan. We went to New York for the World's Fair in 1965, I think, I was just a little kid at the time. My parents would rather stay home than camp, and our bikes never went anywhere with us. We were the AAA poster family of the 1960s.

paul2

No, we had a cottage.

No.

Billy Bones

We were lower middle class, so "travel" was an annual "ordeal by sweating, flat tires, blasphemy, parental aggression, and radiator boil-overs" into the American south to visit grandparents in a Very Hot Climate. Bicycles? I rode a bike as a kid because that was the only way to cover the distrances to the places to which I had to be. No adults used bikes; it's a thing representing independance for a kid which I carry over to adulthood out of pure enjoyment, tho' I vacation on two wheels as an adult while the venture into The American Middle Class lasts for my family.

Machka 

I suspect that a family love of travelling lends itself to wanderlust ... and I agree that travel expands one's mind.

If you want to keep visiting islands, you need to come down here ... we've got Australia itself, and Tasmania, and smaller islands like Fraser Island and French Island ... and there is New Zealand just a little ways away .......