Looking back on 2017

2017 was a good year in terms of adventure travel. In March, I joined a tandem festival in Imabari, Shikoku. There were Japanese tandem riders and even a triple. Most amazing was the H. family on their quadruple bicycle! I rode solo on my Bike Friday pakiT. In April I led my 10th Japan Cycle Tour–a loop ride from Kyoto to Hiroshima through the Seto Inland Sea. We were fortunate to hit cherry blossoms at their peak. In May I joined my daughter on a tour of Spain studying lace history and learning frisado, a needle lace from the 1600s.

In June I embarked on a road trip from eastern U.S. to Oregon, following the diary my mother wrote as a teenager, which was published in 2016–“Apple Dumpling: Diary of My Great Trip West in a Trotwood Trailer, 1937-38.” I camped in my mini-van and visited friends, relatives, and National Parks. I hope to write about my trip, 80 years after the one my mother went on.

In September, I went on a European heritage tour of Germany and Switzerland with 35 others. The couple who led the tour knows all the small villages in Switzerland where our Anabaptist ancestors lived until the 1700’s. Such a beautiful country. In 2004, there was a conference of reconciliation by the Reformed Church, who apologized for their persecution of Anabaptists in the past. My father was at that conference. I wish he was still here to tell about my trip.

The rest of fall I stayed home in Oregon, though I did fly east for my mother’s 95th birthday. We had a mini-reunion with my daughters, son-in-law and grandsons, too. I’m grateful for health and safety during my travels. My prayer for 2018 is for Peace and Justice in our world.