Panamericana adventure

September 2019 - May 2020
A dream comes true!! Starting in Vancouver, our plan is to go South until we reach Tierra del Fuego - World's end. Our chosen way of transport: 2 fantastic travel bikes. Follow us on our adventurous trip with all the expected highs and lows 🚵‍♀️😀 Read more

List of countries

  • Colombia
  • Panama
  • Costa Rica
  • Nicaragua
  • Honduras
  • El Salvador
  • Guatemala
  • Show all (12)
Categories
None
  • 28.7kkilometers traveled
Means of transport
  • Flight17.6kkilometers
  • Walking-kilometers
  • Hiking-kilometers
  • Bicycle-kilometers
  • Motorbike-kilometers
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometers
  • Car-kilometers
  • Train-kilometers
  • Bus-kilometers
  • Camper-kilometers
  • Caravan-kilometers
  • 4x4-kilometers
  • Swimming-kilometers
  • Paddling/Rowing-kilometers
  • Motorboat-kilometers
  • Sailing-kilometers
  • Houseboat-kilometers
  • Ferry-kilometers
  • Cruise ship-kilometers
  • Horse-kilometers
  • Skiing-kilometers
  • Hitchhiking-kilometers
  • Cable car-kilometers
  • Helicopter-kilometers
  • Barefoot-kilometers
  • 202footprints
  • 255days
  • 1.0kphotos
  • 2.1klikes
  • The Plan

    August 19, 2019 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Only 20 days left - and our route is finally shaped out!

    Here's the facts:
    - 450 days
    - 25.000 km
    - 16 countries
    - >250.000 m of elevation
    - 2 bikes
    - 1 waterball globe for the storyline
    - 4 smiley valve caps for the spirit
    - 1 bear bell to frighten the grizzlies
    - and 2 crazy people ready to board their big adventure!

    Bring on 8th September!
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  • Ready to go

    September 5, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today, we spent our day with preparations to get our bikes and equipment ready for the trip. In the end, everything we need for the next 15 months fits on the bikes, so I guess we are ready to go :)

    As a special farewell gift, we got stickers with our own logo. This means we even have some merchandising 😀😀
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  • Take off

    September 8, 2019 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Today we got up very excited After a last German breakfast, Meikes parents took us to Frankfurt Airport. Thanks to Meikes aunt and uncle for lending us the Bulli 🚐
    Luckily during check-in everything worked out well even one of our bikes was above the weight limit.
    We enjoyed a German beer before we took off for Vancouver ✈️
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  • Tasting Vancouver

    September 9, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The first two nights in Vancouver we stayed with Maria and Oleg, a very nice Russian couple who live in the center of down town Vancouver. They welcomed us with a tasty dinner 😁
    As the weather was a bit rainy on the first day, we ended up enjoying big city food variety and finalizing our gear.
    In Vancouver, there are living lots of EV (electric vehicle) enthusiasts. Dear collegues: if we want a piece of this pie, we (you) have to hurry up 😉
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  • Vancouver: West and North

    September 10, 2019 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    On our first day on the bikes, we decided to take it easy and discover the Northern parts of Vancouver. We took a scenic road through Stanley Park and along the coastline to Horseshoe Bay and Whytecliff Park where we enjoyed the view to some nearby islands.
    Afterwards, we cycled to Deep Cove, a beautiful little village Northeast of downtown. Our warmshower host Jessica made a yummy lasagne, so we had dinner together with a first row view of the sound.
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  • Vancouver to Mission

    September 11, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    On Wednesday, our way South actually started. We cycled through Vancouver suburbs, passed countless farms, and even followed some routes that looked similar to our German bike trails until we reached Mission after 96km, a little town North of the US border.
    In Mission, we were going to stay at a campground we had identified on our map. However, once we got there we realised that it was only a picnic area for day use. So Herbert went into a local gun shop (because hunters and fishers should definitely know about campgrounds, right?) and asked for alternatives close by. With the help of the shop assistant, all present clients and some phone calls, they found a campground just 3km outside of the city where we could stay the night. The owner even let us stay indoors on the couches of the recreation room as it was supposed to be raining during the night and she didn't want our tent to get wet 😊
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  • Crossing the US border

    September 12, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    The next day we crossed the US border and entered the 2nd country on our trip. The officer at the border was quite strict and interrogated us for about 30min. In the end, we could convince him that we are no illegal immigrants and he let us pass with the 90 days permit in our passports 😉
    The North of Washington State is how you picture it: regional US farm houses with the American flag in front, many little churches I have never heard of before and private property signs everywhere.
    In Sedro Woolley, we bought a local SIM to get around easier. However, we found out that in order to activate it, you actually need a working local phone... - weird! We are so thankful that the shop assistant spent 1 hour (!) with us to get our SIM working, even let us use her private phone.
    With those interruptions, we arrived pretty late and very tired at Rasar State Park campground after 120km with 611m of elevation. However, no time for relaxing. We had to hurry setting up the tent as it already started to rain. It actually ended up pouring all night, so Herbert could shower in the rain. Unluckily, this also meant that most of our stuff got wet or at least damp, so the night was uncomfy and the next morning started with drying at least some of the stuff... Not the best end of a long day on the bike 😞
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  • Entering North Cascades National Park

    September 13, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Once we could finally leave with semi-dry equipment, we rode West in Skagit River Valley towards North Cascades National Park. The views are beautiful: rivers and creeks, mountains around, little waterfalls, huge green trees. The weather was a little unstable and we had to take on and off our rain jackets and pants.
    In Newhalem, we stopped for lunch and everyone in that tiny community wanted to know where we were heading to and looked quite astonished when we answered with "Argentina". One guy who had just come from a 5-day trail work assignment in the mountains offered us his leftover food: 2 packages of ready-to-eat smoked salmon, mashed totatoes and hot chocolate powder. Great guy, we need it! 😉
    In general, this was an easy day of cycling with 83km and 750m of climbing, and we ended it with a stunning dinner location at Colonial Creek Camp.

    PS: Campgrounds here in the NP are a little different to European ones. You have plenty of space, usually hidden in the trees (a little too dark and wet we think) and a lockable box to put gear and food ("anythink that smells"), so that bears are not attracted to your tent.
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  • Washington Pass challenge

    September 14, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    After another rainy night we startet our climb to Washington Pass. On the way to the top we had a short stop at rainy lake, were luckily it wasn't raining. It took us 5h30min and around 1800m of climbing to reach the pass.
    After another 2h downhill riding we reached Winthrop were we found a were nice warm showers. The couple (Carolyn and Tom) who we stayed with was absolutely amazing, prepared a tasty dinner for us and let us wash our clothes. You can imagine how the clothes smelled after 5 days of bike riding with lots of rain and a humidity of nearly 100 % 🙄
    Winthrop spreads a bit of cowboy feeling since there are lots of western town buildings. So we might change our bicycles into horses. 🐎
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  • Recovering day

    September 15, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    After the exhausting tour across Washington Pass, we needed a more quiet day. We took it slowly, had a good breakfast and left Whintrop by almost noon for an easy 70km mainly downhill ride to Alta Lake State Park.
    We left in the rain but, luckily, it stopped after a couple of hours. The locals are actually happy about the rain as fires are not uncommon during summers as you can see in the photos (signs of last year's fire). So we just ignored the wet weather and enjoyed the views of Methow River, uncountable pear and apple orchards, farm houses and soft hills until we got to our beautiful campspot at Alta Lake.
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