Back in 2001 - Paul, Eliza (3), Karen & Sylvie (1)
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A big THANK
YOU!!! Our
New Zealand expedition was generously funded by the Yosemite
National Institutes and the Matthew
Baxter Memorial Fund.
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October 12, 2001 - El Portal/Yosemite, California, USA Nov 22 - Thanksgiving Day - Kaikoura! Nov 23 - The day after Thanksgiving Dec 17, 2001 - BLUFF!!! The "Land's End" of southern New Zealand Yahoooo, we made it! Our bike odometer reads 2,323 kilometers! After 2 traveling months, 45 riding days, 7 flat tires, hills & flats & astounding mountains, 30 rolls of film, new pedals and bearings, incredible fields of lupine, week after week of rain and more rain, amazing Kiwi hospitality, countless meat pies and scones and crackers 'n' cheese lunches, one knee injury each for Paul & Karen, hundreds of diaper changes, a new set of tires for the trailer, 4 Santa hats & 5 meters of tinsel, we rolled down the road to the end of the end of the South Island! What an amazing journey it's been! The full length of New Zealand!
Every day on the road has been jam-packed with wonderful family time, adventures we'll always remember, and more excercise than we will probably ever get again! As we rode the 30km to Bluff, we could see that soon we would literally run out of land. Facing fierce headwinds and big rig traffic, we had that treasured riding time to talk to each other about our trip goals being realized. There are things that we set out to accomplish that didn't happen, and looking back would have been impossible with our riding schedule and just being with our kids. Through teary eyes, as that land's end goal grew nearer, we filled up with the hugeness of what we HAD done. We thought about the places we'd been. We thought about the wonderful people we met along the way. We gave thanks for the people who helped make this trip possible both at home before we left, and here during our travels. We talked about the Baxter family and Eliza White who REALLY made it possible for us to make this dream a reality. So this stage of "2001 - A Bike Odyssey" is coming to a close, but the journey will continue through slideshows, the website, stories to tell and articles to write. Our bikes and trailers are now all boxed up, and we're getting ready to fly back across the vast ocean. We'll be stopping off in Fiji for a week to sit on the beach and reflect on our adventure, and hope to soon add a "in conclusion" section to this website... perhaps we'll even find time to write a "tips for parents" or "cycler's logbook" with suggestions for touring in NZ and other places... we'll see! Thank you so much for reading our updates, and taking interest in our trip and goals. And please DO send us an email if you have any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions. (pamstutz@yni.org)
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