Switzerland with Amanda and her Mom

Hi We met Amanda and her mom this morning.
Took cable car to Ebenalp
on a big hill with awesome rainbows.
Hope all is well in Kentucky

Switzerland

Made it to Zurich hotel. Will meet Amanda and her mom on Sunday morning.

In Switzerland

One more night of stealth camping and then to hotel in Zurich

Liechtenstein Aug 11 -12

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/151118/grauspitz.html

Germany High Point

Hi Dad and Gpa
Climbed highest point on Germany today
Will take train tmrw to Liech and pass thru austria
Hope bookselling going well.

Belgium

Took train to Aachen this morning from Horsnes
Biked close to Netherland High point.
Camping 72 feet into Belgium border

Denmark

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Climbed Denmark High Point

Camping near horsens
will take train tomorrow to Aachen for Benelux high points
Climbed Denmark High point today Mollehoj

Made to Denmark

TextMessage
Made it to Denmark
Hilly lots of headwind
rainy now but we found some woods to camp in between farms near Haldom
Climbing High point Tomorrow Mollehoj

Aug 3 On Boat to Denmark

Hi Dad and Gpa
On Stena boat to Fredericksahvn
arrive 7:30 AM pretty fancy even has shower
too tall to fish from
Passed thru Grua on way to Oslo.

Grua is the palce of our oldest Norwegian ancestors. Jens Olsen was born in Grua, Norway in 1679. His son Ole Jenson and his son Jens Olson also lived in Grua. I hope the bikers took a photo or two.

Going to Church in Jevnaker

Latest news Sunday August 2nd
Text Hi Grandpa
Going to Jevnaker Church with Maria and Ragnild. Will call later
Grandpa Gilbertson is thrilled and I am sure all Norwegians in Montevideo will hear about the Gilbertson grandsons going to church in Norway. Back in 1995 Grandma and Grandpa visited Norway and stayed with Ragnild and Maria. They were treated with much hospitality and it looks like Matthew and Eric are being treated nice in Norway.

Norway High Point /Fishing

Climbed Galdhopiggen
Camping at Bovre River
Caught small trout on Gpa's Spinner

In Norway Near High Point Galdhopiggen

I am a couple of days behind due to being in PA visiting. Eric called on Saturday and talked with Grandma Wright. She had seen a few photos of the bikers and pronouned them in great shape. "They don't look like they are worse for the wear. They look like they are doing great and in great shape when they raise their arms. Grandma asked about food and Eric told her they eat a bunch of granola for breakfast and eat about three times their normal amount of food each day. On Saturday they had re entered Norway. Grandpa Gilbertson said, "Oh Ya, Now they will be all right . Sweden can't help that they aren't Norwegians." On Tuesday the text said, "Camping near Dovre on Langen River, No fish yet.Plan to get to base of high point tmrw.
Here is a map. It looks like about 60 miles. Cousin Arnie Nokleby will alert the relatives in Jevnaker that the bikers are getting close.


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July 22 Sunny Day!!!

I am a couple of text messages behind with posting and this is the most current. If the bikers travel the route I see on the map it would be 250km to Norge border.

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Latest Text message from Gallivare, Sweden

New Text message: Camping south of Gallivare, Sweden,feeling better more rested,found Estonia license plate, Trying to sleep but too sunny.

I guess this was sent about 11:00 p.m. Sweden time. July 19th

Look at posts below this for recent photos. Birthday Greeting for Mom

On Friday I talked with both bikers as they were taking a well deserved rest in a Kiruna, Sweden hotel. After a 35 mile hike up the highest peak and an 80 mile in two days they felt it was time for nice hot showers and a softer bed. I remember a text about eating pizza. I will look for that. I have been busy going to baseball games, shopping and the roller coaster park with my Korean students and have gotten behind on this report. We are glad the bikers keep us informed.

Map of Kiruna to Gallivare. You can find photos by searching the google map.Clic view larger map. Thanks for reading

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Happy Birthday Mom from Sweden Mountain

Photos from The Adventure

Photo may be sideways. Click on it and a slide show option will appear. View large photos and gallery

Another High Point in Sweden

On the Road and Camping Spots/ Sweden

Text from Eric Tuesday afternoon :

"Camping by a river in Sweden. Looks like we'll climb the highest mtn tmrw and next day."

Eric said things are going well, despite having their share of flat tires. He described Halti as being in an incredibly remote area. He said safety wise they've had no problems at all, they just need to watch out for the semi trucks. All the safety gear is working pretty well. They bike from around 10 am in the morning to 8-9 at night. Finding campgrounds is really easy, they just decide when they want to stop and start looking for a campground, and there are lots of side roads they can take to find one easily.

Next Country / Sweden

In a northern Norway town of Kaavna the bikers stopped to rest. They will be riding away from the ocean and curving into Sweden where they will bike toward the High Point in Sweden .Thenthey will head back to Norway where they will enter at Hell, Norway. Matthew said they will take a zero day very soon so they can get cleaned up and dry. It has been raining, very cold and their clothes won't dry. The temps have dropped into the low 40's. I guess that is to be expected when they are still far north of the Artic Circle. View maps and video. Click Kiruna, Sweden

Fishing in Sweden

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Norway Near Bjerkvik July 12

Good weather and Lutefisk Lament

Camping on the beach near Nordkjostn, Nice and sunny climbed highest point in Finland yesterday.

We also got a call in the morning when the bikers were near Skibotn. They said the scenery was very pretty and there were many waterfalls. As usual the people were very friendly. There was a quite a bit of traffic on the road. I guess people were traveling up north on the weekend. it sounds like Minnesota where everyone goes up North on the weekends. They also met some more bikers

As for food Mary Kay asked what they have been eating. It sounds like they are truly in Norway because the only spices they have found are salt. According to Matthew the food is somewhat bland. I did not hear what they were eating but they have mentioned reindeer sausage and dried fish. Sounds like good Norwegian food to me.

Here is an excerpt from email Eric sent yesterday.

We are at a little
convenience store with an internet cafe for a few minutes now.
Today might actually be the first day without rain in norway! ill be climbing up
the high point in finland tomorrow so that should be a fun break from biking.

I can't find any lutefisk in the stores, dang it. Maybe I'll have to ask the
managers and theyll pull some from out back. There are plenty of wooden racks
for drying fish by the ocean and its funny that the Norwegians hang dead
seagulls next to the racks, kind of like the dead pirates in Pirates of the
Caribbean with the 'Ye be warned" sign.

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Recent news from Norway

Friday July 9th,
We're in a little hamlet about 80 miles south of Alta called Sørstraumen,
population probably about 74.
Eric

Text Messages.

Slide Show.Click on photo to view larger pictures.

Text Messages July 8, 9 News from Norway

Made it to Norway

News from Norway, We got a couple of text messages and a nice phone call from Matthew today on Monday. They plan to reach Nordkapp tomorrow. This is the far north point of Norway and the northernmost road in Europe. Many miles north of the Arctic Circle in the "Land of the Midnight Sun." According to Matthew the past few days it has been midnight clouds and rain and a little frustrating. While Matthew was on the phone Eric was climbing a snow patch a couple of hundred yards away. The terrain is tundra and beautiful with plenty of reindeer. The bikers have been eating plenty of reindeer sausage and it keeps very well in their packs while tasting very delicious. It is the texture of summer sausage. Again Matthew said the people are very friendly and helpful. So far they have seen fish drying racks but have not yet dared to bring up the subject of Lutefisk. I told them Grandpa will want to know so I am sure they will ask soon. I did not have my notepad so I missed some details about miles but I know the bikers are hoping for dry weather. The stay in a cabin was well worth the minor cost because the weather is cold and rainy. Skoganvarre

Fishing in Finland

The biggest news of the trip so far is that each of the bikers caught a fish in Finland and they cooked fish for supper. They had a big ol campfire even though there was a thunder storm going on. I am not sure how the fish was cooked but Matthew was excited to tell about it. He also almost had a bigger fish story when the lunker (who was the size of the dogfish the guys netted in Gendalough Lake) came almost to shore but escaped at the last. It was a phone message so I did not get to ask the inevitable questions Grandpa Gilbertson wanted to know. Were the fish trout and what type of lure caught them. He guessed a spinner and I concurred. But then they fisherman may have found a local bug to bait the hook. The reports are that the local people are very friendly and the bikers do not feel like foreigners. The report was from 30 miles north of Rovanimi.

News from Finland

Text message: 1:58 PM Wed June 30
Made it to Rovaniemi , Finland, lots of trees and plenty of places to camp. Will take it easy tmrw. Matthew

Greetings from Iceland via Matthew and Eric

Hi Mom and Dad,
Tuesday June 29th, 2010

Right now we´re in Reykjavik staying at the Reykjavik City Hostel. We rode into
town around 9am local time and prepared for a day full of errands. First we each
got a bike box at the bike shop, then we got some food, and then we mailed all
our climbing gear home to Berea in a big red box. We each had a pair of boots,
harness, rope, and other climbing gear that we used on Hvannadalshnukur but won´t need any more this summer. It was kind of expensive to mail but it´s worth it not to have to carry it for the rest of the summer. The post officer said it would take 1-2 months to get to Kentucky. Whenever it gets there, could you open it up?

Tomorrow morning we´re flying out of Keflavik at 7:55am (local time) and
getting to Rovaniemi, Finland at 5:00pm local time. We might stay at a
campground in Rovaniemi or start biking. The reason we chose to fly into there
was because it´s the cheapest airport that gets you close to the Arctic
Circle. From Rovaniemi it´s about a 4 day ride to Norway.

In Iceland here it rained a little bit every single day the past week and never
seemed warm. I don´t know how people live here when it´s 55 degrees and
raining during the warmest time of year. We always started out biking in a
whole bunch of layers and then de-layered. A couple days ago when it was really
windy and cold we found this awesome cave a few miles off the road on the
southernmost cape in Iceland. It was about as big as Devil´s Kitchen. The next
morning we had a huge tailwind and got to 35 mph on flat ground. There were
sandstorms everywhere blowing the volcanic dust all over the place. We just
closed our eyes when a big gust blew the sand at us. Then of course it started
raining but once again we found a cave to eat lunch in.

It´s been really hard to find a place to camp because there aren't any trees
around here to hide behind, unlike anywhere else we've camped. A few days ago
our luck ran out and we couldn't find anyplace to camp so we decided to stay
at a campground which should cost $9 per night. But the campground host never
showed up and there wasn´t a box to collect money so we didn´t have to pay.
So over the past 7 days the only thing we spent money on was food.

The wind has been pretty hard to deal with around here. Sometimes it will be
blowing from the SW in the morning and then change to NE in the afternoon and
that will cut our speed in half. But it´s fun when we have a big tailwind.

The people are really nice around here and everyone speaks English. Sometimes
when we´re dressed normally we kind of blend in and people will talk to us in
Icelandic first. We´ll say ´tak´ and then they´ll go on thinking we´re
from Iceland. It´s weird being able to blend in unlike in China or India or
Peru.

uhoh, looks like my internet time is about to expire, i´ll send this email and
then sign up for more minutes. Matthew

More news from Eric via Petek
Eric said they have been shopping at grocery stores the whole time. They found dried fish (similar to our concept of beef jerky) - I think it must have been hardfiskur - and had that as a supplement to dinner. Apparently it's pretty good!

It's evening there now, so they were about to go to dinner. As you know they fly out tomorrow, and are probably going to start biking right away when they get to Finland - though it seemed like they were not 100% set on that, they might take a rest day there first. I think they must be looking forward to facing less wind and warmer temperatures.

On the Road In Iceland

On Saturday Matthew was successful in talking with Amanda but only for a minute or so before the phone quit. He had tried home with no luck because I missed the cell phone. I checked the missed calls and spotted one so I called. After awhile there was an answer by a man with an Icelandic accent. We were both confused and then he said, "There is no one here at the campground." I tried some more and then on the phone heard, "Dad, Dad?" It seems I was calling a pay phone and the man near it just happened to answer. He heard my voice and must have figured I was calling for the two American bike riders. We thank him for picking up the payphone. After this I talked with Matthew for a little while from the town of Kirkjubaejarkluastur. ? It was a long name with Kirk and I searched the map. This is the only Kirk on the road close to the sea so this must be the place. The "headwind was a little strong "and the bikers "planned another 40 k of riding today to find a campsite." It is difficult to "stealth camp" when there are no trees to seek shelter behind. By now they have ridden over 300 miles around landscape that Amanda relayed was sometimes volcanic and similar to terrain in the Galapagos Islands. Amanda also wrote that Matthew said there was one guided group climbing the High Point Glacier and they were surprised to see Matthew and Eric climbing by themselves. All the Icelanders speak English and the bikers plan to be in Reykjavik by Tuesday to fly out to Finland.

Roof Of Iceland

12:29 PM EST June 25
Text message from Matthew
On roof of Iceland now hvannadalshnjukur now! Biked 200k yesterday will try call tmrw.

Questions to Icelanders

The first question Matthew and Eric asked when they got on a road in Iceland.

Hver er besta leiðin til Mount Hvannadalshukur, hæsta fjall á Íslandi?
Guess.

http://gearjunkie.com/highpoint-climb-in-iceland

Iceland

Matthew sent a text at 2:08 AM June 22. "We made to Iceland. Not many trees."
It seems like the volcano did not cause any problems.
I think Iceland is 3-4 hours ahead of EDT. I will post maps, weather, photos and any info that I get from the bike riders