Taking off!!!!!

We've done it! We left our warm, dry, comfortable house and we're on the road east! It was a really exciting feeling to pack everything and go. The best part is that we never have to return from where we came from!

Everyone along the way stares at us...probably because we are so cool. Now we're camping in Marjolein and Karl's backyard, and after a gorgeous, easy day of biking, we have really high spirits and we feel like we could go on forever. As far as we know, we're going from Lummen, along the Albertskanaal to Maastricht, on to Aachen, and then we'll follow Stan's route along the Rhein, Mainz and Donau until Budapest (if everything isn't still flooded). The route to Budapest is almost 2000 kilometers, and gives us plenty of time to work on the growing belly/buns and get into great shape. After Budapest it'll get a bit more difficult to find bike routes and camping, but it will aslo be more exciting. Alhough Iran might be a little too exciting for now, as we just heard that two Belgians disappeared yesterday in the south-east of the country. We might have to reconsider that part of our route. In any case we first have to conquer Germany, and if we don't bike fast enough, we will be dealing with months of sauerkraut and blutwurst.

Quick Stats for those interested:

Amy 21.5 kg baggage, Wim 28.5 kg baggage, bikes 16.0 kg