Welcome to our mid-life adventure blog! We’re not sure that we can actually call what we do “mid-life” adventures as we are both north of age 50 but we’re sticking with that theme. We started this blog back in 2010 when we were getting ready to jump off the treadmill for our first major career break and extended bicycle tour. That trip turned into a 22,000k, 26 country odyssey that can be read about here. We returned from that trip in late 2012.
We had so many great adventures on “Big Trip One”, we promised ourselves we’d do another big trip once we spent a couple years working and topping up our savings accounts. Well, as these things go, a couple years morphed into more than four years. Finally in 2017 we were ready to head out again.
For our second big trip (“Big Trip Two”) we decided to take on one of the world’s most iconic bicycle tour routes – the length of Americas, Alaska to Argentina. We started this trip on May 25, 2017 in Fairbanks, Alaska and finished it on January 10, 2019 in Ushuaia, Argentina. The trip ended up covering 27,000k and 16 countries. You can read about it here.
Now that we have completed two multi-year long distance bicycle tours, we sort of feel like that box is ticked. We’re not ruling out a third multi-year trip but for now we are thinking that shorter trips (6 months maximum) may be the way to go. We are currently contemplating riding Japan top to bottom and we are both still pretty keen to take another extended tour in Europe. So far we’ve ridden our bikes in 47 countries, but we’ve never made travel an exercise in ticking off countries. If this were a focus, clearly heading to Africa or the Indian subcontinent somewhere would make sense (wait, wait, where’d Nancy go, she was here helping write this summary only a minute ago… Ok, ok… Maybe we need few easy trips first before Bangladesh or Ethiopia come up as travel destinations. Phew!)
You can read about each of our trips by clicking on the ‘Bike Trips‘ tab just below the picture above and scrolling down to a trip that interests you (or if you want to see what I looked like with hair, go to one of the early trips🤣). Our blog entries in date order can be accessed (most recent first) by clicking on the ‘Blog‘ tab below the picture or click the LWOP box just to the right above (you know that box you have to tick on the leave form when you’ve got a long trip planned and you’ve used all your annual leave? That’s our logo – cool, huh?).
In between trips the blog will go somewhat quiet until we start getting closer to the next trip. If you want to follow us on the next trip, wherever it might be, you can check back now and again on the blog. Or if it’s easier, subscribe to our updates button via the email subscription instructions above. Until the next update…
Leave Without Pay 
Great to meet you, after just three days into your Adventure, hope the rain clears soon!
Wishing you a safe trip and enjoy chasing your dreams!
Cheers Alex
David and Nancy pam (aka) miss ertel read us all of your blog today!! i love it!!! rock on and keep on pedleing and watch out for spiders yikes!!!!!
Hi. I am in Mrs Ertels 4th and 5th
grade class!Thanks for coming to
our class. Nancy I LOVE your
name so much!
Cheers
Hannah
witch hannah hannah h. or hannah m.????????????????????????
i ment to say website not blog ooooppps!
the link above is a map for Leave Without Pay
Have a great trip!!!!
Many Blessings
Kari
Hi guys, great intro to your website.
You sound like you’re at the same stage of life as us
We have been referred to you by travellingtwo.com and look forward to following your adventures (PS: we have just started from England & are heading south from europe back to Oz)
Hi Nancy – Tim and I just wanted to say hello and let you know that we are enjoying following your travels (from the comfort of our office chairs)! Your adventures sound amazing. I have recently returned from holidays in Europe and am excited to be commencing a secondment at a company you know all too well! May you both keep having many more wonderful experiences!
Hi Anthony – glad you and Tim are enjoying the blog and glad we can provide some entertainment for you guys when you can take a quick break from the work! Hope you enjoy your secondment – I am sure it will be interesting to see the business from the other side. Good luck with it!
Hi There !
Great to meet you in Kanchanaburi Thailand!
I hope the floods have not adversely influenced you, and that all is well!
HI Dave and Nancy–I’m one of Nancy’s mom’s friends from church here in Portland, OR. My husband, Mark rides his bike most every where he goes around this area. I’m one to be a fair weather rider not liking biking in the rain. Your mom has talked about your trip. We hope to follow your adventures via the web! Linda
Nancy, hope the travels are going well! Just came across this site via linked in! Love the concept. Interested to know where you are… Still in oz or now in Asia/Europe!
Look fwd to hearing more!
Sam
Nice going you tow.. very proud you still have the drive not to DRIVE and bike around.
Had to make the mistake on your blog.. it should be two.. not tow…
Hey you two! Just read your blog over here at SteriPEN. I was feeling badly about your battery load, 4 in 1992 vs 32 now I believe. We’ve got a new model called the Freedom SteriPEN that weighs only 2.6oz, has internal batteries and recharges via a USB cable- so you can plug it into your computer, or an A/C wall outlet to charge it. We’d be happy to send you one if logistics work out. Let us know! We’ll be posting your trip on our community blog tomorrow.
Hi Dave and Nancy,
A great chance encounter today in Plymouth, love the ethos of your trip and wish you all the best on your trip, may it always be sunny and the wind at your back.
Here is a link to my blog of my UK coastal ride
http://ukextremes.travellerspoint.com/
Love the cow print cycle top.
I’m about to start reading your blog and look forward to the updates.
Hopefully get to see you in Sydney when I make it out there on my trip.
All the best
Steve and Redge
Hey Dave and Nancy!! Welcome from Geoff and Karen in Oz.
Hope all’s well and Christmas is wheely fun 🙂
Hi Dave and Nancy,
Looks like you two are on the move again. Looking forward to reading about your new adventure. Have fun doing, and writing about it 👍 bill & linda
Hi Dave and Nancy,
I am so happy for you both and your planned trip. Sounds fantastic. Hope you overcome the FOB/B!! Looking forward to hearing of your adventures. Cheers, Julie Skinner
Welcome to the blog – If you can’t sleep, there will semi-regular updates once we’ve hit the road!
Hi Nancy
Oliver and I are on our weekly aeronautical flight back to Melbourne. Wishing we were on a bike instead.
Hi Dave & Nancy!
Happy to exchange tips about Colombia and onwards. You can reach me at sarah.brindley@rocketmail.com (so pls don’t publish this msg;).
I’ve actually finished my ride now – I rode across to Cuenca through the mountains then finished up down in Guayaquil.
If there are any particular areas you’re interested in, give me a shout and I’ll share what I know.
Happy pedalling!
Sarah
Whenever I’m on a steep climb I sing.Warren Zevon often, especially Poor Poor Pitiful Me.
Felicidades! Gracias por visitar Argentina y por compartir con nosotros hoy un almuerzo/merienda/cena jaja! Un placer conocerlos Nancy y David! Lo mejor para ustedes, y sin dudas, tienen nuestra admiración! Besos! Martín y Eloísa.
Gracias chicos. Gracias por compartir tu tarde y almuerzo con nosotros. Amamos la Argentina. La gente aquí es muy agradable!
Lovely meeting you on the CWC trail, Dave and Nancy!
Likewise, what a great new trail CWC is eh?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY! All the Best.
Greetings from Switzerland. Manja & Martin
Lovely to hear from you Manja (and Martin)!