1000 Americans: Oepie Hartman, Dutch Canadian

Oepie was born in the Netherlands and had worked in the dark dusty mines of Southern Limburg. He had a hard time getting used to Canada, but now he feels it is his home, even though half the town he lives in is either Dutch or has Dutch parents. But he was very happy, he could show off his Dutch ‘uniform’ for my picture.

He has a great diner and service station, just outside Smithers, stop by and say Hi!

1000 Americans: Rita Hofsink, Smithers, BC

Rita and Willie Hofsink live outside of busy Smithers, in a great house in the fields, overlooking a great mountain. As many people in this area, they have a Dutch background. The entire family loves to hunt, but they teach their children, not to shoot more than they can eat…

Vries, Drenthe: Getting our act together

Amsterdam & Vries, Drenthe

We have rented out our house for the next few years and are effectively homeless. A great feeling 🙂

Now we are talking with our gear sponsors to see what they can arrange. It is great to see the faith they have in us and our trip and the wonderful support they are giving. Soon we will talk about them some more and we will set up the special sponsor pages.

For now we are enjoying testing out our new Santos bikes. Wonderful machines. Mine will be called Kowalski, but Ivana’s green yak still needs a name, any suggestions?

More later, now we are packing for a short Istanbul trip, when we are coming back in a few days, we are supposed to either see a lot better or see nothing at all. Laser surgery, here we come!