Planning Plan E

I know I shouldn't do this, but here goes anyway.  (If you don't understand what I mean by that go back and read Planning, Plan B, Plan C and Plan D, and all will become clear.)

We are once again planning on Morocco, but first we will pick up the bike in Amsterdam and go to the Belgian Treffen.  We will be seeing many of our friends there, Peter and Lesley are coming from London, England; Jose and Maria are coming from Evora, Portugal; and Dirk and Hetty from Wormerveer, Holland.  It will be good to see them again.

We are planning on the scenic route through France and Spain/Portugal to the ferry dock near Gibraltar.  We hope to be able to take in the Feria de Abril in Seville, Spain in Early April.

Once across the strait we will spend 3-4 weeks in Morocco.  We will tour ancient cities, high mountains and the Sahara Desert.  We have registered for the Horizons Unlimited Meeting in Maadid, Morocco.  This is a group of world traveling motorcyclists that keep track of each other on the internet.  We have been to two of their meetings in British Columbia, Canada.

After Morocco we turn north and head for Nordkapp, Norway.  Nordkapp is as far north as one can travel on a paved road in this world.  It is even farther north than Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

From there we go to a festival in Finland and on to Helsinki to visit relatives of a co-worker.  We will leave the bike with them and take the train into Russia to visit St. Petersburg and Moscow in the middle of July.  We already have our visa's and room reservations for Russia.  Returning to Helsinki we will head south through the Baltic States, Poland, Slovakia, Romania to Istanbul and Turkey.  From there (if we ever make it that far) we will turn west and return to western Europe.

This will be our last summer in Europe.  The dollar is slipping fast (thank you Mr. Bush!) and we are spending money like we had some.  We will have to decide what to do with the bike.  (When we originally started thinking about touring Europe, about 8 years ago, the dollar and the Euro were even and gasoline was $2.00 a gallon.  When we started the trip, 2 years ago, the Euro cost $1.20, right now (March 7, 2008) one Euro costs $1.54 and gasoline is $3.50 a gallon [gasoline in Europe is $8-9.00 a gallon].  With the debt building for Mr. Bush's war in Iraq the world is losing confidence in our ability to pay our bills, just as a person has a hard time getting credit when they are heavily in debt.  And the war has disrupted oil supplies scaring people and raising the price.  That is enough politics.)  When the Euro was even with the dollar we dreamed about shipping the bike on to South Africa, over to Australia and on home again.  The expense makes that no longer possible.  We now have another GoldWing at home and don't need to bring that one home to have something to ride.  GoldWings, especially American models, are popular in Europe, so selling it is definitely an option.  Oh well, we have several months before we have to decide.

Tune in regularly and see if any of this come true!!!!

It starts again with the Belgian Treffen.