As we prepare to pedal our bicycles out of the lovely Dutch countryside and into Germany tomorrow, we find ourselves reflecting on our last two weeks, and feel the strong desire to share some of the sights and sounds with all of you.

A storm passes over the countryside.

The Dutch have implemented sensible, functional and complete cycling infrastructure not only in cities, but also on virtually every road throughout the countryside. The level of safety cycling here is substantially higher than anywhere we've cycled in the U.S., including bike capitols like Minneapolis, MN and Portland, OR. The intersections are well signed, often with lights specifically for cyclists, and a huge network of signed cycling routes covers the country like a spiderweb. Additionally, the whole country is extremely flat, making pedaling here as peaceful and carefree as long distance riding can be.

People of all ages ride bicycles as their mode of transportation, and even young children take cycling holidays with their parents.

Even the mail arrives by bicycle in the Netherlands!

Camping is an economical choice for tourists visiting Amsterdam, which meant camping in the area looked like this.

Paul's bike also wound up in a canal in Amsterdam, which you can read all about in the post below. He recovered it and we still left Amsterdam on time and in good spirits.

LF 1, one of many mapped and signed long-distance bike routes in the country, took us north from Amsterdam along the coast and through some lovely sand dunes.

Paul, characteristically happy and all the more so since his bicycle is recovered and running smoothly.

Narrow roads with reddish cycling lanes are a very common site in rural areas here in Holland.

Playing a cool game, Carcassonne, with our warm showers hosts. Always great to spend time with local cyclists!

Harrie, a local, and our generous host, demonstrates the use of a popular condiment for bread here in Holland: chocolate sprinkles. (More below...)

Apparently Dutch people never leave their homeland without their Hagelslag (literal translation: hail-punch, actual meaning: sprinkles, available in a variety flavours, here shown in Chocolate) and Pindakaas (peanut butter, which to our horror is fabled to be less available in greater Europe than we'd ever dared to imagine.)

Sheep in awe.

Rooftops throughout the Dutch countryside are thatched with reeds, which apparently have a very high insulation value, but in the event of a fire, they burn very rapidly.

The whole country is covered with a maze of man-made canals, which you may remember from earlier. The canals are used for water management and transportation. They also provide water for livestock and we think it's likely that they're used for irrigation as well.

Views of small town Holland.

As many of you saw the other day, something marvelously unexpected happened while we were in Amsterdam. Our goal for the day was to explore the city and take video of some of the cycling infrastructure here, which is really quite incredible and well worth sharing.

Anyway, we cycled into the Center, which is essentially downtown. We came to a nice place, along one of the biggest canals (can you feel the suspense building?) where we stopped to take a few pictures and videos. I pulled my bike up to the canal, all the while thinking to myself: "Wow, no railing on this canal. Don't park too close!"

So I parked a meter and a half away, approximately. Far enough that if by some strange chance the bike was to fall it still wouldn't make it to the canal.

I commenced taking pictures, my electronics bag containing my audio recorder, computer, phone, etc. remaining open since we intended to make just a quick stop. Unfortunately, after just a minute of shooting video I heard a loud crash and a splash. I looked down. MY BIKE!!!!!

I had no idea what to do.
I could...jump in?
I made a move for the canal.
How deep is it?
Can I get the bike up this wall, or even swim with it?
As these thoughts rushed through my head I moved quickly towards the bike and to the edge of the canal wall.

Jen saw where I was headed, and before I had even fully thought the thought of going submarine, she was in front of me, cutting off any chance of a daring and stupid attempt to dive in and rescue the bicycle.

We made a marathon trip to the Apple Store (the only one in the Netherlands) in crazy Amsterdam rush hour bike traffic. Think trains, cars, and about as many cyclists and motor scooters as you can imagine careening every which way. Navigating has to happen rapidly, because you literally can't get out of traffic, so I rode most of the way with my phone in hand- trying to stay ahead and know our turns.

At the Apple Store "genius" bar they removed the screws on the back of the laptop and declared, "Total loss. Sorry." Brilliant. I dried it with my shirt anyway and made plans to procure a huge amount of rice. I was determined to give it my best effort at least.

"One hour until the show tonight", I said to Jen as we stood on the sidewalk. We decided to get back to Geop and Judith's place, collect everything, get some food and cruise to West Amsterdam for the show. We managed to do it all, and we arrived with time to spare. I was still wiping water off the guitar as I tuned up for my set.

It was a great show. Super appreciative and attentive audience. There were two other bands on the bill, so I seized the opportunity to point out: "This is the only guitar that will be on this stage tonight that was strapped to a bicycle, sinking in a canal earlier this afternoon."

And it was.

We made it to Amsterdam! The Freedom From Fuel Tour has officially gone international.

We have the good fortune to have a wonderfully kind and helpful friend who works for Delta who helped us get standby tickets for a fraction of the price of normal plane tickets. When you fly standby, you know that you will get to where you need to go, but you can't be sure when you will get there. We were super lucky- we not only both got a seat on the first flight we tried, but the seats were next to each other, and in first class! It was a ridiculously luxurious experience. We felt very grateful, if not a bit guilty, enjoying a celebratory glass of champagne and being able to watch our pick of movies, recline to horizontal, and wash our faces with warm, lemon-zest-imbued wash cloths. What a way to kick off the tour!

We got to Amsterdam around noon local time, and set to work putting our bicycles back together. Even using big Amtrak boxes (69 x 41 x 8.5"), we had to disassemble our recumbents more than standard bikes. We were a bit dazed from the 7 hour time difference and only a few hours of sleep, but we were happy to be outside in the sunshine!

A veritable bicycle tunnel! It goes under a runway, right outside the airport.

A bicycle DETOUR!!! It seems that in the U.S. nobody takes the time to implement anything to help cyclists if their path is closed. For example, we came to a similar bike/ ped bridge in Virginia on our East Coast trip this past summer, only to find it closed, impassable, and with no suggested detour. Here, they have poured a concrete path around the construction, which lead to a short temporary bridge onto the half of the bridge that remained. Really outstanding care for cyclists here in the Netherlands!

Biking through a park southwest of Amsterdam.

A few shots of the communal kitchen at our camping-hostel near Amsterdam for our first evening in Europe.

Engineering success! My new guitar from Journey Instruments made its maiden voyage yesterday. The case now converted to a pannier has traveled 76 miles so far. It worked perfectly! I think it's ready for the long haul. HP Velotechnik International ‪#‎freedomfromfueltour‬ ‪#‎ortliebusa‬‪#‎staydry‬ #hpvelotechnik