The 32 hour ferry trip from Santander, Spain to Southampton, England was yet another stormy boat ride. Our cabin mates were seasick most of the time. We spent our time hanging out in the dining room, talking with some sort of Australian Rugby club that was following their team around the world. We landed in Southampton in midmorning and headed for London. Arrived at Ian's, the teacher who had rented me my room during my year of study in public health nursing. We handed over our groceries ( a lot of English go shopping on the Continent regularly) and he handed over my pile of mail, including the forwarded pile that I missed in Brindisi, Italy. That included a couple of letters from friends in Colorado Springs detailing the Kate and Tom attempted murder tragedy. Bad, evil craziness. I was very thankful for my three months of out-of-contact ignorance. We had about two weeks before our long-ago purchased flight to Newark, New Jersey. Task number one, arrange transport for Strider back to the States. I had figured that I would simply do the reverse of how we got him to Europe 18 months ago. Upon calling the air cargo people at several airlines, I found that the U.K. had requirements including that the bike had to be crated. The airlines didn't do this, of course; you had to go a shipping place and have that done. Then a trucking company had to be engaged to haul the crated bike to the airline's freight dock. THEN I would pay about $800 for a one way to Newark. Total cost: about $1200. We flat didn't have that much money with us. Also, we weren't keen on starting a U.S. tour in Newark, New Jersey on January 21st.

I remembered the fellow in the Spanish campground telling me about the sea going ferries. I started by ringing up the Harbormaster's office in Southampton. He steered me to another office, who told me about this company and one call later, I was making arrangements for Strider to sail from Southampton to Jacksonville, Florida. This boats sail every two or three weeks, one was leaving in a week. Time at sea: about 12 days. Cost: about $450. Nice to find out about this service. They call at Jacksonville, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles at this end. A number of European ports at the other end.

After a week of hanging out in London, I rode Strider with saddlebags full of road gear to Southampton and, after an hour of paperwork and handing over about 290 pounds, left the bike in a dockside parking lot and took the train back to London. Nice and easy, took about six hours altogether. We spent a few more days in London, using public transport, and soon, Ian gave us a lift to the British Rail station with our four duffle bags and two backpacks. A train ride and a transfer on the Underground and we were waiting at Heathrow for our flight. Seven hours later, a friend met us, in 20 degree weather, at Newark. We stayed with her for two days before she dropped us off at the Greyhound station in Atlantic City. We shipped the four duffle bags to Colorado Springs, lightening our load considerably. We took a bus from Atlantic City to Hartford, Connecticut, near my brother's home. After a several hour journey, in the company of a number of odd travelers; my bother collected us after work. We stayed there for a couple of days, actually enjoying the crisp cold of New England in January. Then, we drove into Hartford as he went to work, got dropped off at the Amtrak station where we bought tickets for Jacksonville, via New York City. If asked which I'd do again; a long trip "riding the dog" or travelling on the train, I'd have to sit down and think about it, neither is very pleasant. Seemed like days but was actually about 36 hours. Took a full day to reclaim Strider. First, we had to go to the ferry office to begin the paper work. Then to U.S. Customs to have them sign off the forms (never seeing the vehicle, mind you). Finally, the completed paper work is carried to the dock, where we found the bike, non-the-worse for wear. Jacksonville is the second largest city in the U.S., area-wise. Next time I'll rent a car, rather than use taxi cabs ($60). Conveniently enough, we were in Florida, about a week before Mardis Gras. The plan became: cruise along the Gulf coast to New Orleans, in time for the party weekend.

To be continued.... Matt Parkhouse