Yesterday I did an hour long ride (about 12 miles - a nice, easy pace to get back into the saddle) on a long loop mostly along the Farmington River. I only had to stop once for traffic. It helps to be doing a clockwise route so virtually all the turns are right-hand. What a joy to just pedal and pedal and pedal. That's something I really missed in Taiwan. There was only the one long, unbroken stretch along the edge of Cijin Island, about 4 miles, where you could pick up speed and settle into a rhythm. The rest was city streets or, at best, the bike path with many obstacles and cross streets. Yesterday was lovely.

Hiking Sunday turned into biking Sunday instead. Cross-training is a good thing, right? For the first long ride of the season we biked north on the bike path for an hour - turned out to be 12 miles - and turned around. On the way back we stopped for coffee at Little Red Riding Hood, a very nice and well-situated restaurant right on the bike path. A little chilly, a little windy, but lovely none-the-less.

July marks our next world travel trip, this time to Peru. We plan to hike the Inca Trail and visit Machu Picchu, which will be four days of hiking at altitude. So this spring is get-in-shape time. This week we've had two great hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

On Thursday (April 27) we drove to Salisbury and hiked up Bear Mountain, the highest point in Connecticut. It was overcast all day and the summit was in the clouds so the view was not worth a photo but the hike was lovely. (With the exception of the section just past the summit where we scrambled down some very steep rocks. Next time we'll climb up that section, under the theory that it's easier to climb up tough sections than it is to climb down.)

 Today (April 30) we drove to Kent for a different section of the Appalachian Trail. This one was a flat trail along the Housatonic River. Very easy walking (we averaged 20 minute miles) but it was the longest hike (8.5 miles) we've done all spring. It was another overcast day and another lovely hike.

This section reminded us of the Bamboo Forest in Kyoto.

It's hard to tell but that's a bald eagles' nest up in the top of that tree. One of the eagles landed in a tree nearby as we ate lunch along the trail.

This post is a place-holder for a trip we took to Kenya in December 2016. Some day I plan to upload posts and pictures. Some day...

So this is it. It's been two and a half years of selling the house, sorting through all our possessions, planning, packing, and travel. We've been to Taiwan, half a world away, five times, flown on 51 airplanes, visited nearly a dozen countries, and lived for three summers feeling a bit homeless. I have fallen in love with Taiwan and am sorry to be gone. I've missed the U.S. and am excited to be back.

There have been experiences that made living so far from home difficult, especially my biking accident and Dad's death, but I have grown stronger from those experiences. Living overseas has been magical. Hard, yes. Frustrating at times. But truly a gift as well. Lee and I have grown closer as a couple. We've been challenged by work, by the culture shock, by language barriers, and we've overcome them all. We left Kaohsiung still in love with the place.

But this chapter is over. Who knows, though. I may start this story back up when we travel again. It may be a vacation trip or it could be we pack up once again and head to somewhere new. We'll see.

This is the penultimate night on the road. After two nights in Minnesota we drove for as long as we could, a bit over 600 miles, and spent the night somewhere near Gary, Indiana. Then it was a relatively easy day to my brother and sister-in-law's house outside of Pittsburg. It's been great visiting with friends but there's something especially nice with staying with family. That was a quick recharge then off to our old friends (they're not old but our friendship is) in central New York on Thursday night and Kaohsiung friends in northern New York on the shores of Lake Ontario tonight. Our last night on the road will be with Lee's sister and family outside Albany and then on to Amherst on Sunday. Amherst is where we'll cool our jets while we wait for our apartment to become available at Westminster School in Simsbury. Seattle to Simsbury, about 3700 miles in two and a half weeks of traveling (plus a month of stasis). These world travels are coming to a close, at least for awhile.

Today has been a blissful day of rest and relaxation with our friends Linda and Les. We've spent this Fourth of July eating wonderful food, sitting on the deck watching the wind blow across Lake Shetek, walking the dirt roads surrounded by corn and soybean fields. It's been quiet, with the exception of great conversations and evening fireworks, untaxing, except that we have done some walking, blissful. A day to recharge, learn about the area, spend time with good friends. Welcome to Minnesota.