Yeah, I know what you’re thinking—you already have bikes capable of hauling a bunch of stuff, why do you need Xtracycles? Well, first of all, one of the things that we still regularly use a car for in our normal lives is going to the grocery store. Personally, I find hauling panniers into the store to do shopping a big pain in the rear. With the Xtracycles, I can just bring in my (much easier to carry) cloth bags, load them in the store, and then set them directly into the carrier. Not to mention I’m pretty sure that my capacity with the Xtracycle is much more than I could get into front and rear panniers. Heck, I could buy a couple of kids at the grocery store and take them home too!

While I had the bikes apart, I took the opportunity to clean and replace a bunch of stuff that should have been replaced long ago, like the rear cassettes and Cindy’s bent rear derailleur. Now they feel like brand new bikes! I’ve ridden mine around a little bit, and once you get used to the long wheelbase (and the larger turning radius), it’s actually a nice ride. I think mine actually rides better when it’s loaded down with stuff. I do have to say though, after going so many months with a crap kickstand that was practically bent in half and barely worked, that I LOVE

the heavy-duty Xtracycle kickstand, and also the fact that it doesn’t get in the way of the pedals!

With any luck, these bikes will continue to be our workhorses for many years to come…

OK, Seattle isn’t exactly

the same as when we left. But a lot of things are, including the Summer Solstice Parade at the annual —as evidenced by the . In any case, we made it home safe, albeit late due to delays on both of our flights. It has been great getting to see our long lost friends, and we’ll get to see my long lost family when we go to Portland this evening.

Well, in Ireland, they decided to try to about the problem. In 2002, they instituted a tax on plastic shopping bags. And it actually worked, to the tune of reducing plastic bag usage by a whopping 94%

. What if a giant country like the U.S. reduced it’s plastic bag waste by that much? Would the trash vortex be only the size of Washington instead of Texas?

Speaking of WA, there is a to ban non-recyclable plastic bags. Personally, I think I prefer the taxation solution to a ban-&-fine system, but it may work just as well.

Braden Christopher Fisher is his name, and he’s surely the only kid on his block wearing booties from Guatemala (guess who sent him those!). We’re looking forward to making his acquaintance when we return.

No wedding photos yet…it’s been over a month since they were supposedly sent from Costa Rica. I’m starting to get a little nervous/upset…

1. You may have noticed we’ve changed the theme of our blog. We both really liked the previous one, but we found out that a coding conflict was preventing us from reinstating the map page. So out it went. Which brings us to…
2. The map page works again! Mostly. Using a new , we have not only been able to restore the previous functionality of marking on the map where our blog posts were, but you should also be able to see our route drawn on the map as well. Unfortunately, your mileage may vary on seeing the route…in Firefox, only part of the route is visible, and it’s not visible at all in IE or Safari.
3. For the curious, we have a now, with all the stuff we have managed to bring with us on our journey
4. We also have a section. So far it only has one review, that of our GPS bike computer, but we hope to be adding more in the future.
5. The GPS page is now up-to-date with KML and elevation profiles.

You can find permalinks to the new gear pages along the right hand side of the blog.

Leave your suggestions (and opinions) in the comments and we will adapt the one we like best. We might even put it to a vote if we get enough suggestions. Winner will get some Oaxacan chocolate, perfect for making hot cocoa or mole or just eating plain!

Here are some of our ideas to get you started:

Unitedstatuvian (as peru goes to peruvian)

Uniteds
Staties