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	<description>Garths On Tour</description>
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		<title>Garth Cycle Touring Dictionary</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/19/garth-cycle-touring-dictionary/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/19/garth-cycle-touring-dictionary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cycle Touring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1805</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After being on the road more than a year and a half, we began to notice something: we seem to have developed our own “language” in regards to our life on the bikes. OK, so it’s not really a language… it’s all in English, but along the way, we’ve coined terms for different objects or activities that are a part of our life while cycle touring. Kilo Logger: (n) the cycling computer/odometer we each have that is mounted on our front handlebars; this critical piece of equipment lets us know how fast we’re going, how far we’ve gone in a day, total trip distance, maximum and average speeds, etc. Example: “Do you know how far we’ve been today? My kilo logger stopped working for a while and I only have us at 65K.” Rocket Boost: (v) to assist a touring cyclist by pushing their heavy-laden bike from behind when going up an incline This activity has become a regular part of our lives as we work our way into and out of stealth campsites. It is also helpful when getting on board or unloading from ferries, which often have steep ramps. Example: “Why don’t we do one bike at a [...]]]></description>
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		<title>America the Beautiful</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/10/america-the-beautiful/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/10/america-the-beautiful/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 00:28:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cycle Touring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1782</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We’re back. No, we’re not home. We’re not done traveling. We still have some 4,500+ miles to go. But we’re in the USA. And it feels good. We’ve really been talking about it for months. Our return to the homeland has been long-anticipated. We didn’t exactly want to rush our arrival to the US, because it means the end of our cycling journey is in sight. Now we’re on our way home. When asked, we say we’re cycling to Alabama… where we’re from. But ultimately, we’ve been eager to return to the States and enjoy some easy cycle touring in familiar territory. It’s not overly familiar… neither of us has spent much time in the Pacific Northwest before. But there’s a general comfort of being in our own country… we feel like we’re cruising. Asking directions? Always in the native tongue. Needing water? Just stop and fill up at most any old faucet—the water’s safe here. Looking for the grocery store? There’s one in every town, and navigating it to find the food we need is a breeze. Ready to stop for the night? Free camping in random small towns along the way is no big deal. Basically… every part [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>So Long, Asia</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/05/so-long-asia/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/05/05/so-long-asia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 May 2013 06:29:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1764</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Asian section of our journey had a clear beginning and now a clear end. We started in Hong Kong to get visas for China. We spent Christmas in Chengdu, China, with friends, then cycled south. We rode through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and finally, into Singapore. We spent four and a half months covering just over 6,000 kilometers. While each country was unique, there are some overarching similarities among Asian nations. Characteristics that we would label “Asian flair” as we went along. We actually began compiling this list as our time in Asia grew small. We’ve been meaning to put it on the blog for a while. But honestly, it’s not so bad that it’s late, as we appreciate these “uniquely Asian” characteristics even more now that we’re cycling in our homeland. So here they are, the good with the bad: The Squat Toilet We usually call it the squatty potty. This one won’t be missed. Rice in Every Meal One thing you can say for Asians: they know how to cook rice. We’ve had rice noodles, rice paper, fried rice, rice porridge, rice desserts, rice beer… you name it—they can make it with rice. This staple food [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Singapore: Asia&#8217;s Finish Line</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/28/singapore-asias-finish-line/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/28/singapore-asias-finish-line/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:49:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cycle Touring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1742</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When you&#8217;re on a bike tour, people ask you almost every day: &#8220;Where are you going?&#8221; Sometimes we give the short answer, and say the name of the next town or next major city. But if they seem genuinely interested in our trip, we give the final destination for whatever leg of the journey we&#8217;re on. So, in South America, we were headed to Quito. In Europe, we were riding to Istanbul. In Asia, Singapore was our finish line. The day we rode into Singapore started with sunshine, and lots of it, as so many days did in Southeast Asia. To make it to our destination, we needed to cover 130 kilometers (about 80 miles), only 12 of which would actually be in Singapore. We had an early start and made great time, but thunderstorms rolled in with the afternoon. At first we rode through, because after all, being soaking wet was actually more pleasant than being blazing hot. But the steady shower turned into a torrential downpour with lightning in close proximity, so we were forced to sit out for a while under an overpass. The minutes ticked by and we were losing valuable daylight riding time. But the [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Through Malaysia</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/24/through-malaysia/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/24/through-malaysia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:43:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cycle Touring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1719</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We felt like we were racing the clock through much of Malaysia. In our 10 days of riding there, we covered about 1,000 kilometers from the northern tip to the Singapore border. While we are looking forward to our soon return to North America, we certainly wouldn&#8217;t have minded spending more time in this country. The people (most of whom spoke English!) were as warm as the weather&#8211;and that says a lot. Let me give you an example. On our third day, we rode into the city of Taiping. Unbeknownst to us, Taiping is one of the most historic cities in Malaysia, boasting 36 of the country&#8217;s &#8220;firsts,&#8221; i.e., first clock tower, first port, first railway station, first museum, etc. We were rolling into town a bit later than planned. We&#8217;d only done about 85K and it had still somehow taken us all day. But with only a few kilometers left to ride, we crossed paths with another guy out on an evening ride. Before we knew it, he had done a quick U-turn and was riding alongside us. He asked if we needed any help, and Dave told him we were just riding into town to find a place [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Tropical Getaways</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/08/tropical-getaways/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/04/08/tropical-getaways/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:53:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1701</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People often make comments to us about our “extended vacation,” since our journey is on the long side of average. But we beg to differ. We don’t see our trip as a vacation. In fact, it’s a lot of work! We spend 5-6 hours every day doing tough physical activity: riding two, fully loaded touring bikes through whatever the weather and terrain put before us. We spend the rest of our time time looking for places to eat, buy groceries, and sleep each night. We have to balance our time between exploring where we are and planning for the days ahead. In a normal week, we might only take one day off of riding just to “rest,” which really means keeping up with bike maintenance, emails, route planning, blog updates and laundry. So we&#8217;ve been looking forward to a real &#8220;vacation&#8221; for a few days on the beaches of southern Thailand. We left Bangkok in late March, just as the hot season is getting miserably hot in southern Thailand. And the first week was ROUGH. Each day we would wake up at 4 a.m., aiming to be on the road by 5:45 or so. We would ride hard, maybe taking [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Blessings in Bangkok</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/22/blessings-in-bangkok/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/22/blessings-in-bangkok/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Mar 2013 06:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1668</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Two weeks in Bangkok? WHY?!&#8221; That&#8217;s been the response we&#8217;ve gotten from several people when we shared our travel plans. As far as touristy activities go, Bangkok does not merit that long of a stay. But Bangkok offered a lot more to us than just popping in a few wats and shopping malls (though it has plenty of both). Bangkok was a place for spending time with friends&#8230; Good friends: Our timing for Bangkok was amazing. Our good friends, Allison and Wade, who live in China (we visited them for Christmas) have been in Bangkok for about six weeks eagerly anticipating the arrival of their first baby! We rolled into town on a Saturday afternoon, and Stephen Michael made his grand entrance into the world on Monday evening. It was such a treat for us to be able to visit Wade, Allison and Stephen while they were still in the hospital, and to share a few meals in their apartment. We know in our time away traveling we&#8217;ve missed being around for the births of many of our friends&#8217; babies, so it was especially fun to share in the joy of this season with good friends. Old friends: I (Bethany) [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Eye-opening Cambodia</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/18/eye-opening-cambodia/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/18/eye-opening-cambodia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:08:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Adventure Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1607</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cambodia is the first country in Asia where we did zero camping. Several factors played into this decision&#8211;I had recently recovered from a rough stomach infection in Laos, so we thought rooms would be a little more comfortable. Of course the heat was a huge element as well, and by getting a room we were able fall asleep with at least the luxury of an electric fan blowing on us, keeping us from being completely drenched in sweat. But here’s the wild card: Cambodia is one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the world. Minefields are often unmarked, meaning that straying off the road can actually pose a real threat. Now, since we were on a primary road through this country, it’s unlikely that we’d have had much of an issue. But the landmine problem in Cambodia, a reminder of recent years of war and genocide, was only one of the things we learned about this country’s recent dark history. (If you&#8217;re interested in learning more about the land mine problem, I recommend this excellent article by National Geographic.) We were a bit surprised to see how much further behind Cambodia seemed than the surrounding countries. We saw things [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Four Years In</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/14/four-years-in/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/14/four-years-in/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:26:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Celebrations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1608</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Four years ago, on March 14, 2009, Dave and I stood before family, friends and God and entered into the holy covenant of marriage. People told us that the first year of marriage would be tough… that it would be and full of difficult lessons in communicating and living together. We fortunately found quite the opposite to be true, as we had worked through many of those lessons during our engagement while completely renovating our home together. And while that season of renovation was full of learning (and I’m not just talking about learning how to rewire the kitchen lighting), we can’t think of anything that could have made more of an impact on our marriage than this journey we have set out on together. For this, we are grateful. We are grateful for lessons learned together: learning to communicate when one or both of us is frustrated or discouraged, learning to balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses, learning to care for the other in times of sickness. We are grateful for memories we’re making together: appreciating the beauty of Patagonia, enduring long climbs in the Andes, watching sunsets on the Pacific, pushing through hot days in Central America, crossing [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>A Day in Laos</title>
		<link>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-laos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.garthsontour.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-laos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:03:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bgarth</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cycle Touring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.garthsontour.com/?p=1582</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The summary of a single day of cycling in this country: February 22, 2013 We woke up early&#8230; we knew we had to. Riding needed to happen as early as possible in the day. So we rose to the sound of the alarm at 4:15, hoping to pack up and hit the road as soon as the sun began to light up the sky. Laos is a HOT country, and we have managed to work our way into the hottest time of the year in Southeast Asia. We&#8217;ll likely be feeling the heat for the next two months here. But Laos, with its steep climbs and mountainous terrain, was the first country where we began to experience the intensity of the heat. Fortunately, the day before, we seemed to have come out of the mountains, so we were hoping for more of the flat lands on this day, where we could at least ride fast enough to get a breeze on our faces. We were on the road around 6:30, after our morning routine of cooking, eating, washing the dishes, packing, carrying our bags downstairs and stretching. We cycled on the main road out of Attapeu, headed west toward the [...]]]></description>
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