Carnaval 2015

Sunday, 15-February-2015 - Veghel - Went to see the Carnaval parade.  Met up with Marij, Chris, Marit and friends at Abbey Road.
pics (330)

Fun-on-Wheels New Year Walk in the Woods

Sunday, 11-January-2015 - Oirschot - Pieter and Jennie once again hosted this year's Fun-on-Wheels New Year Toast at their home.  We walked in the nearby woods and meadows. pics (58)

Lommel Skating Weekend--Day 3

Sunday, 7-September-2014 - Lommel - I was back on skates.  Today, Jos took us to Leopoldsburg via the inland harbor (photo).  The route took us very close to Eksel, a village where we lived for three years, also the place where my daughter Rosan was born.  Like the previous two days we returned along the cemetery--we skated in respectful silence.  After saying thank you to Jos, we loaded our gear and headed for home.  We were good for 30 km.  pics (166) route (Jos)

Fun-on-Wheels Lommel Weekend

Sunday, 07-Sep-2014 - Lommel - This was a weekend we won't forget.  Thanks to Ria and John for organizing this year's Fun-on-Wheels "out-of-country" skating weekend. Special thanks to our guide Jos Bosman of All-Inline vzw  who showed us beautiful countryside so close to home. See links below for photos, clips, and gps-routes by day.  Twenty-four skaters and two moped riders were good for 132 km.
day 1
day 2
day 3 

Lommel Skating Weekend--Day 2

Saturday, 6-September-2015 - Lommel - I'm glad I chose to ride my mountain bike today--I wouldn't have made on skates, only seven weeks after emergency surgery.  Today, Jos  took us through the center of Lommel (photo) before exploring the countryside, which also took a loop through the Netherlands.  This evening we put the grill over the barbecue pit.  We were good for 70 km.  pics (159) route (jos)

Lommel Skating Weekend--Day 1

Friday, 5-September-2014 - Lommel - We arrived at our home for the weekend:  Huis Over Grenzen Lommel (House Across Borders Lommel), a German youth hostile located on the Lommel German War Cemetery (photo). Our first tour took us through Stevensvennen.  After a nice meal at a nearby French fry takeout restaurant, we walked back to the hostile and sat around a campfire in the barbecue pit.  We were good for 33 km.
pics (199)
route day 1 (jos)
gps-tracked route part 2 (dale) 

Awatrekking Off to the UK

Tuesday, 26-August-2014 - Eindhoven - I got up at 0530 and made coffee.  Marij and I drove Whitney and Abbie to Eindhoven Airport.  They were off to London Stansted Airport.  We will never forget this wonderful visit with Whitney, and our two newly-adopted nieces Abbie and Alivia.

Awatrekking2014 in Rotterdam

Monday, 25-August-2014 - Rotterdam - We started our tour of Rotterdam at the Hotel New York.  There we had a fancy and delicious lunch.  We took a water taxi to get to the other side of the Maas (Meuse) River where the Spido Sightseeing boat dock was located.  A 75-min exciting boat ride (photo) took us right next to giant ships and dock cranes.  We saw the magnificent Rotterdam skyline from the water.  We fell silent next to Ossip Zadkine's "Destroyed City"

Awatrekking2014 Driving Stick-shift

Sunday, 24-August-2014 - Veghel - Marit and Chris made breakfast for us.  Back at home we listened to Steve's Wednesday sermon.  That evening, I found an empty parking lot, and I gave Abbie her first stick-shift driving lesson (photo).

Awatrekking2014 Windmill Bicycling

Saturday, 23-August-2014 - Dinther - After breakfast, we made lunch and headed on bicycle to the nearby Kilsdonkse Windmill.  There, miller André van Esch (at left on photo) gave us very interesting and in-depth tour of the only combined water and wind-driven oil and grain windmill in the Netherlands.  We continued on to the building site of Chris and Marit's new home.  Chris joined us at the nearby Heeswijk Castle.  We visited Chris and Marit's temporary house nearby.  After repairing Abbie's flat tire and returning home, we drove with Marij to Frank and Marjo's home in nearby Uden.  There was this year's Marc's Bar BQ Volleyball Team barbecue.  Koen and Rosan joined us there.
 gps-tracked route part 2
gps-tracked route part 3