last leg

Hey, gimme back our tent!

Still laughing about our tent relocation.

Japanese cranes, Hokkaido Japan.

This couple is helping to save the Japanese crane from extinction.

Ino's Place, Sapporo Japan.

Our last day of biking across Hokkaido was a long one. We woke at 3 am (remember that,s when it gets light, plus faithfully the Ha Ha crows, are there every morning to crow their HA HA alarm... think very large obnoxious crow creature) then rode for 12 hours to the marshlands about 30 km north of Kushiro, where we planned to catch the train to Sapporo the next day. We navigated with our faithful guide, the Touring Mapple (a road atlas for motorcyclists that we love to death!) to some smaller back roads, and ended up on a serene and lovely cedar forested, rolling hilly, narrow road, east of Tsuri, the town we would sleep in. There were one or two farms, but otherwise, no houses or anyone out there. It was the one road all trip that wasn,t marked with signs and at one point, we happened upon a woman walking down the road with her fishing gear. I stopped to ask if we were on the right track and she was very excited that we spoke english and called happily up the road to her husband, English, english! Well, we were lucky becasue he spoke the best English of anyone we,ve met all trip. They were both sweethearts. He had moved out to this part of Hokkaido from Osaka to `take care of the cranes`. We were near the protected Japanese Crane marshlands and he had taken it upon himself to feed two sets of cranes and their babies. He asked if we would like to rest before continuing onto Tsuri (we were on the right road), and invited us up to his house where he showed us the cranes, their babies, and told us all about the cranes and their life. Sorry, we haven,t figured out how to post pictures! We have great photos of our friends and the cranes. He fed the cranes fish he is raising in his pond, and fed us the most delicious apple juice and biscuits we,ve tasted. Well rested, we were ready to finish the journey, back down (and up)some more sweet roads into Tsuri, where we ended at another onsen.

It,s early mroning, and we are waiting for a taxi to take us to Tokyo. It,s been wonderful to recup. at Ino,s Place, Jen,s favorite place to stay in Japan.

yes, we are still alive!

and we:re having a great time. we have sucessfully crossed hokkaiko by bike and are now in the most northeastern part of the island. today, saturday june 23rd, finds us on the western side of shiretoko national park and it is foggy and cold. we have spent the last 10 days riding at least 8 hrs a day and, for the most part, the riding and the weather and the people have been fine! we:ve camped in the middle of nowhere in the rain and awoke to foxes eating our food, stayed in ryokans with incredible outdoor onsens (hot springs) with spectacular views, and have eaten more food than we need but with great relish. the food here is amazing and we have yet to have our fill of fish, miso, and pickled vegetables for breakfast and dinner. the pocky on the other hand (think sweet pretzles with chocolate coating), we:ve had our fill.

Yesterday, we climbed the shiretoko pass, on the shiretoko peninsula. It is incredibly wild and diverse with many great sounding birds, owls, deer, bears, and lush with so many plants and trees. We were right on the coast, then climbed up to the snow covered pass (where you could see the ocean!) It was 14 km up to the top and 14 km down. Up was hot in the sun, the summit was shrouded in cloud, and it was foggy and cold the whole way down. We came face-to-face with a spotted buck munching on grass on the descent. It was quite a surprise! He appear out of fog just like that! So beautiful. Anyway, we were shivering on the way down, but our keen noses smelled the sulphur, and as we neared town, along the rushing river with steam billowing up, we spotted people with their little soap buckets crossing the bridge to the local public onsen. We got warm again quick. This was the only place so far where the japanese ladies weren,t afraid to stare. In fact, they got quite a laugh out of my bike shorts, but Jen is certain it was my little butt they were laughing at. They were having quite a good time making fun of me! They continued to crudely gesticulate about how to clean ourselves. It was really funny and we all laughed a lot. The water was this gorgeous milky blue. It was the best way to end the day. We weren,t allowed to camp in the park last night beacause of all the bears, so, it was another japanese inn with outdoor onsen for us. Who says bike touring in japan is hard? Plus we have tour-busses full of cheering old folks. They love us!

we are off to put in another 8 hrs day on the bike, and by monday we:ll be back in sapporo. we:re headed towards kushiro where we:ll catch a train back to sapporo and then we:ll be on to our tokyo adventure. until then, sayonara!

A rainy send off

It,s pouring down rain, but it hasn,t made us any less happy to be starting the bike tour. We,ve been up since 3.30 am, since that,s when it gets light up here, and are about to load up our bikes for the first time with what certainly seems like way too much stuff. I,ve had to sacrifice one (very cute) dress so far, but Jen refuses to leave her Japanese text book behind. Oh well, at least when she,s cursing it while we climb Hokkaido mountain passes, it will be in Japanese.

By the way, so far in a city of 1.5 million people, we have only see 2 caucasians (men) outside of our hotel (and only 3 others there). Of course they were riding bicycles. I,m pretty sure we,re going to be getting a lot of smiles of disbelief from the locals, who seem impressed and bewildered by our attempt.

the bikes are together

and diana and i spent the day riding around sapporo on them. what a day its been. we`ve now got the hang of riding on the opposite side of the road. everyone in japan rides bikes and they all ride on the sidewalk. and it works. we saw women in dresses, men in suits, moms with kids and lots and lots of young people on bikes. and the bike parking! i have never, ever seen so may bikes parked everywhere in my life. and its all free. however, if you park your bike the wrong way, say parallel to the street, a bike police man (volunteer?) comes and moves your bike into the proper position, into the proper place. diana and i made this mistake today only to come back to find our bikes in a different place, right in line with all the hundreds of other bikes. keep in mind, whoever moved our bikes had to move them together as they were locked to one another. obviously it was not a problem.

along with the overwhelming number of bicycles, the food selection in japan is simply unbelievable. we went to visit what we thought would be a basement vending machine center in a fancy shopping mall (many, many people shop at vending machines and often they are located in the basement of shopping centers)but what we found was the most over the top selection of every type of food you can imagine. pickled vegetables of every kind, sushi, fancy cakes and ice cream, and the most beautifully packaged food ever. we took many pictures of the eager groups of people lining up for samples, which were abundant and eagerly given out. we gladly participated in the chance to eat in public with the rest of the folks, because, if you don:t know, japanese people do not eat or drink in public, while walking in the street, shopping, or doing whatever people do when they are snacking. we didnt see even one person on the street with even so much as an open bottle of water. except for us. we broke all the rules today and ate as much great food and drink as we could and we did it in public. it was the first time since arriving that people looked at us, and it was with a bit of a dont you know any better look.

at any rate, we are set to leave for the mountains tomorrow and we will post as soon as we can. were taking an early morning train and should be on our bikes by the afternoon heading towards the very middle of hokkaido for our first night of camping in japan. i think theres still snow in the mountains where were going so it will be much colder than the 90 degree weather that weve had here in sapporo. japan is wonderful!

Ohayo gozaimasu

We made it!

Diana, don't you dare push that waitress-calling button again!

Breakfast Japanese style!

Squid for breakfast, anyone?

Bicycles galore!

We made it and made it in style! Japan is everyhting we,ve heard and more. It,s ultra clean, very calm, green, and the people are nicer then you could ever imagine. Really. The journey went extremely well and we are settled into our hotel, which is also better than we could imagine. And it,s true about the toilets! They are heated, have sinks built into the top and make fake flushing noises while you pee. So, we are off to find some japanese breakfast and later catch up on some sleep. Sapporo is full of bicycles, a welcome greeting. And no one locks them up. We are very excited. More later. Love, d&j

No sleep . . .

but I am smiling. It's 2 am and I just finished packing. I'm tired, but there are still dishes to wash, a fridge to clear out, and trash to dispose of. Diana and I are meeting up at 8 am at SFO which means I'm leaving the East Bay in 4 hrs and 45 min. But, I have no complaints. Everything is in order and we're both super excited to be getting on that plane tomorrow (I mean today). So, I'm leaving you all with a smile and a promise to send word from Japan as soon as I can.

48 hrs to go

and the packing is almost done.

Today was a busy, busy day for both of us, but now, almost all of the hard work that has gone into preparing for this trip is done. The bikes are safely in their boxes along with most of what we'll be taking with us. All that's left to do is run a few more errands tomorrow, make a few phone calls, and put a few bills in the mailbox. Whew!

A HUGE thank you goes out to Dave and Lisa Devlin for getting my slow butt into gear this weekend by helping me get my bike fine-tuned and in a bike box. Not only did Dave spend the better part of today fine-tuning my bike, but he also taught me how to change a spoke, true a wheel, and pack up my bike in an almost-too-small bike box. And, as if that wasn't enough, Lisa was kind enough to take my slow ass out on a nice little spin where she showed me exactly how out of shape I can get when I don't ride for a month. She kicked my butt! Thanks Lisa. Thanks Dave.

I'm posting a few photos for you too. In one of them you'll notice a nice digital camera on the table (no, not the yellow plastic disposable camera wise guy), but I don't know how to use the thing yet. So, pictures from my crummy camera will have to suffice for the time being.

Diana and I will be leaving bright and early Monday morning, but you can expect at least one more post before we take off. Then, we'll be live from Japan.

Getting ready at command central

Scenery, Hokkaido Japan (click for photos!)

Just a test to see if this works. I'm not very skilled at blogging and I'm having a hard time linking photos and web sites properly. Patience is a virtue, so I hear.

Oh the places we'll go!

And the things we'll see! Just a few more days before we depart and things are actually coming together. Sort of. I'm lagging behind in my duties, but that's just my way. I recently confessed a deep, dark secret to a friend and now I'm going to reveal it to the rest of the world: I am a procrastinator. Big time. So big that I even made up my own saying: "It's never too late to stop procrastinating." ™ It works for me. But, I still need to pick up the pace a bit and get stuff done. But first, an update:

Despite my procrastinating, Diana and I leave on June 11th. After flying in to Narita airport in Tokyo (11hrs flight) we'll transfer to a domestic flight to Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the northernmost of Japan's 4 main islands (of which there are, apparently, 1000) and, for the most part, is a wild, beautiful, lush, wilderness. The have BEARS there! And lots and lots of onsens (natural hot springs)! Sapporo will be our jumping-off point for 2 1/2 weeks of bike touring and Diana found us a great little spot for those first few days. You can check out our ryokan, Ino's Place, by clicking on the link on the sidebar (I haven't figured out all the linky-blogging techniques yet). This place has it all, including internet access, so expect reports from the get go. I've decided not to invest in a phone that will work in Japan (think hundreds of dollars, new phone #, and no guarantee that it'll really work), so we'll post as often as possible, which should be quite often. In all my phone research I've discovered that Japan is pretty wired (who'd have thought?) even in the wilderness, so I don't think we'll leave you hangin' too much.

After 2 1/2 weeks in Hokkaido, we'll pack up the bikes and head off to the big city: Tokyo. In Tokyo the Andon Ryokan will be home base for the last week or so of the trip (again, see sidebar). From here, we're planning trips by Shinkansen (that would be a Bullet Train, a train that goes 300 km/h or 186 mp/h, thank you) to Kyoto, Nara, Hakone (think Mt. Fuji) and wherever else we want to go (and go Quickly). So, taking my cue from the wise and clever Dr. Seuss I'll leave you with this thought about our (and your own) upcoming adventures: You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

And go we will!

Now, back to business 'cause I've got lots to do before my plane leaves the ground. And you, yes YOU, go ride your bike and be merry.

Me, Goofy?

You bet!

WOW! Can You Dig It? Fred Milton, Beat Poodle

This shit is blowin' my mind! Now, if I can just find the right gadget for the job! Did I mention that Japan has its own cellular network that is not (or has not been) compatible with the type of network that the rest of the mobile world uses? Apparently Japan said "to hell with the rest of you, we're doin' things our own way." So, yes, there are still kinks to work out, but I am on the job people. I promised you a show and, one way or another (SO Blondie of me, I know), you're gonna' get it.

Now, go ride your bike. Yes, YOU!

P.S. Please tell me you all know Lynda Barry. If you don't, well, then, today's your lucky day! Look her up :-).

Email to Blog? Take 3!

Got word from a great guy that I can post reports via email instead of logging on to Blogger every time I've got something to say. Just seeing if he's on the level ; -).

Here we go!