Ville + the reindeer
Ville saying HELLO to a reindeer in Lapland, Finland while backpacking through the country
Just a sample of the last few days bikepacking in Malawi
Just a little sample of our last few days bikepacking north from Lilongwe, Malawi 🇲🇼 Riding mostly dirt paths, lots of climbing + never a dull moment!
🎤 Thank you @warmshowers_org for the podcast interview back in January, right before we flew to Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦 to continue our bike tour around the world. Short + sweet this covers our very first bike tour from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Bahia Lapataia, Argentina (20 months/18,000+ miles) and we are still going! 🚴🏽♀️🚴♂️
You can find out more about that journey, my book (Joy Ride: A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina), films, interviews, and where we are now in the link in our bio. 🔗
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#warmshowers #bikewander #worldbybike #bikepacking #bikepackinglife #alaskatoargentina #podcast #adventurepodcast #biketouring #bikelife #bearencounter #bear #wildalaska #touringcouple
Riding through Botswana, just north of Nata, and came face-to-face with an elephant! 🐘 We stopped, got off our bikes and moved off the road to give way to the elephant. He turned and walked right towards us! We stayed still, like we were advised (elephants have poor eyesight) and he walked right past us. It was like meeting a dinosaur 🦕 + as nerve-wracking as our encounters with bears 🐻 (Canada), moose (Alaska) 🫎 + wild dogs (Ecuador + Peru) 🐕 Wild Africa! 🌍
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#wildelephants #elephnats #elephantencounter #wildanimals #bikepacking #biketouring #worldbybike #adventure #adventurecouple #botswana #visitbotswana
🌀What do you do when waiting out Tropical Cyclone Gamane? Well, Ville likes to dance + sing to Toto’s ‘Africa’. 😂
Who sang it best?
#toto #totoafrica #voiceofanangel #yougottalent #singit #thevoice #cyclone #rain #rainydays #stormwatch #worldbybike #biketouring #bikepacking #bikepackinglife #bikepackingadventures #ville #kareoke
“Hey, Ville.”
“Yeah”
“What’s your favorite animal?”
🐄? 🫏? 🦒? 🐖?
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#animals #animalsofinstagram #animalsofsouthafrica #favoriteanimals #bikepacking #biketouring #worldbybike #couples #adventurecouple #cows #cowsofinstagram #visitsouthafrica #capecross #gardenroute #dirtroads #adventure #yolo
🐑 CUTENESS OVERLOAD! 🐑 Ville rescued a newborn lamb yesterday on our bike ride between Greyton and Riviersonderend in South Africa 🇿🇦
We had stopped to look at newborn lambs lying in a field next to the road, when Ville heard a young lamb crying. He searched large bushes between the road and fenced field, and discovered this little one stuck in the bushes. He pulled it out, we gave it lots of pets + love before letting it go back inside the fence. I wanted to keep it, but Ville reminded me that we are “way too irresponsible to be parents. Yes, even to a lamb, K.G.” 🐑
In the last video, you’ll hear its little cries while it stumbled towards the heard in search of its mother. 🥹🥲 #heartwrenching
#babyanimals #babyanimal #animalrescue #bikepacking #biketouring #bikelife #worldbybike #bikepackinglife #baby #tumbleweedbikes #cutenessoverload #babylamb #southafrica #animalsofinstagram #cutelamb #babylambs #newborn #lambs #authorsofinstagram #joyridethebook #helpingothers #kindnessmatters #travelingcouple #africabybike #smithoptics #smithhelmets
🐒 We had our first close encounter with a troop of baboons today! Yesterday was 97 degrees 🥵 so we started our day at 5am in Franschhoek with a 5 mile climb up Franschhoek Pass. After passing a ‘Feeding Baboons Prohibited’ sign, we encountered a troop of baboons half way up the climb. One of the females on the cliff face had a small baby clinging to her and when we passed on bikes, a large male came down to the road. Looking quite pissed, he followed us for a while grunting.😳 We were warned that baboons may try to grab stuff off the bike and run away so we kept pedaling instead of stopping to make friends. 🙈 Well, I guess we aren’t in Kansas anymore, are we Toto?
#bikepacking #bikepackinglife #biketouring #worldbybike #baboons #southafrica #touringcouple #touringadventure #bikepackingadventures #animals #wildanimals #closeencounters #closeencounter
Weighing bike boxes before a flight
We requested the help of my sister, Lisa, to help weigh our bikes before heading to the airport.
Princess getting ready for her event tonight @deschuteslibrary downtown Bend at 5:30pm.
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#authorlife #instagramauthors #whiteelephantgift #whiteelephantgiftexchange #princess #butler
Merry Christmas 🎄 Feliz Navidad 🎅Hyvää Joulua ☃️ The end of our 3 week bike tour in Cuba 🇨🇺 and time to gift our bikes to some deserving, kind Cubans! ❤️
Merry Christmas 🎄 Feliz Navidad 🎅Hyvää Joulua ☃️ The end of our 3 week bike tour in Cuba 🇨🇺 and time to gift our bikes to some deserving, kind Cubans! ❤️ We hope all of you are happy + healthy this holiday season 🚲🚲
Week 2 + 3 of @welostthemap 🚴♀️🚴♂️ in Cuba 🇨🇺
Playa Larga - Playa Girón - Cienfuegos - Santa Clara - Topes de Collantes - Trinidad
Still rocking and rolling!
#worldbybike #worldbybicycle #womewhoexplore #welostthemap #bikecuba #biketouring #bikepacking #playalarga #cienfuegos #cienfuegoscuba🇨🇺 #adventurecycling #joyride #joyridethebook #booktalk #bookstagram #authorsofinstagram
🇨🇺 While riding from Varadero to Cardenas, Cuba, these two guys came up alongside us for a chat before rocketing past us. As they pulled ahead, we realized the one guy had only one leg. And was absolutely flying! 🚴
We may not choose our life path, but we choose how we react as we travel it.
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#welostthemap #cyclingincuba #visitcuba #worldbybike #biketouring #bikepacking #inspiring #adventure #resiliance #paraathlete
✈️ Planes 🚂 Trains 🛻 Automobles = 🇨🇺 CUBA
Getting here had its challenges, but we made it! An overnight trip to Seattle by train to get a same-day passport for Kristen. Followed by an overnight flight to Miami and a cancelled, rescheduled flight (6 hours delayed) to Cuba. Havana, Cuba, is roughly 100 miles south of Key West, Florida. When we arrived, bikes did not. We were told, “next day.” 🤞🏼
An additional ride to the airport in a really sweet old car 🚗 and we found our bikes! 🚲 Now, we are ready for our #biketour in Cuba! 🇨🇺
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#biketouring #bikepacking #bikepackingcom #travelingcouple #travelingcuba #biketouringcuba #visitcuba #kindness #planestrainsandautomobiles #bekind #kindnessmatters #havanah
We made it to Cuba! 🇨🇺 It was an insane journey to get here. Lots of hurdles, but what is an adventure without hurdles?
Was suppose to fly Thursday night and discovered my passport expired in January and had to rebook the flight. Took a train 🚂 to Seattle on Saturday, went to Passport Control Sunday morning, barely got the new passport 📕 in time to catch the train 🚆 back to Portland. Train was hours late. Lisa picked us up 🚙 with bike boxes and drove us to the airport just in time for our flight Friday night. Took a red-eye to Miami. Flight was cancelled and had to get on a new plane without baggage.
Finally, we arrived in Cuba 6 hours late without bikes 🚴 🚴 but we made it.
#biketour #bikepacking #biketourcuba #visitcuba
Here we go again 😎
#worldbybike #worldbybicycle #biketouring #bikepacking #bikepackinglife #simplelife #goodtogo
🍁 Happy Thanksgiving Friends + Family near and far! 🦃
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#happythanksgivng #portland #portlandoregon #welostthemap #gratitude #friendsgiving
🥳 ‘Joy Ride’ Closing Party! 📚 Tomorrow, Oct. 19th @broadwaybooks at 6pm. Come early and grab a seat because space is limited. 🍾
🗓️ After nearly 40 events over the last 6 months, we are excited to return to Portland (where this book tour began) and celebrate with our closest friends and family! ❤️
We will share some stories from along the adventures, hiking, biking and book tour, read from ‘Joy Ride’ and have time for Q&A. There will be cake, champagne and goodies so come party with us 🎉
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#joyride #joyridethebook #welostthemap #broadwaybooks #closingparty #author #authortour #ontheroad #readwithus #inspiringreads #womenwhoexploreoregon #pedalpalooza #bikepdx #hawthornebooks #nutcasehelmets #thelightwecarry #womanauthor #indiepublishing #indiebookstore #biketouring #bikepacking #visitportland
