The ultimate in car camping

Oh, serious gear lust. Watch the video..

Free lodging on vacations?

The author uses this newsletter to live rent-free, but I'd like to try this for a free place to stay on vacation:

I've used the Caretaker Gazette to live rent-free for the past three years. A friend told me about this publication, which has been around since 1983, and I’ve used it to find positions living as a caretaker in California and Idaho. In exchange for my accommodations, my duties have included keeping trespassers off the property, taking messages, mowing the lawn, cleaning the pool and generally watching over the home when the owners are away.

via Cool Tools: Caretaker Gazette.

IKEA and Trader Joe's delivery services

ModerNash seems to actually be delivering IKEA goods to Nashville from Atlanta (249 miles) while KCGroceryService.com seems to have been trying since June to start up a Trader Joe's delivery service from St. Louis to Kansas City (also 249 miles, I kid you not, according to Google Maps).

Would a St. Louis to Lincoln (447 miles) Trader Joe's service work? I'm guessing not, but one can dream ...

Five Europe Photo Albums

Apologies, dear three readers, for the paucity of blog updates from Europe. I had not counted on the keyboard on my friend's laptop being as hinky nor as blazingly hot as it is; this has diminished the amount of typing I am able to do without burning off my fingerprints.

To whet your appetite for more, here are links to five photo albums I have posted from our trip. You'll see they are hosted on Facebook, but rest assured that you can view the photos without having an account there.

Europe Album 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236843&id=17220214&l=5a84a0e847
Europe Album 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238800&id=17220214&l=75f361e77c
Europe Album 3:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2240114&id=17220214&l=271410ee7c
Europe Album 4:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2240232&id=17220214&l=738c53c788
Europe Album 5:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2240380&id=17220214&l=202359f2ab

Update from Vienna

[caption id="attachment_451" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="The cathedral in Passau."][/caption]We have arrived in Vienna by train, the rain having cut short our bicycle adventure along the Danube. But that's not such bad news because ... we are in Vienna! The pouring rain is giving us time to update Facebook and this blog, back up photos, and check e-mail, all for the low, low price of €2.50 per hour. Really, that is very low for an Internet cafe.

Here is another of the soon-to-be-famous bullet lists of our adventures:

Turned around when a waitress at an outdoor cafe said (in German), "Americans! Is this your knife?"
Rented bikes in Passau before listening to a concert in a cathedral with the world's largest pipe organ.
Biked for four days from Passau to Pöchlarn before the pouring rain started. Had a minor rain shower on a previous day.
Got a little bit too much sun for our fair complexions. We are redheads, after all.
Found Gummi Smurfs and many other gummis, including gummi fried eggs. Did not sample the latter.
Spent four hours in Munich. Fell in love with the city, will definitely go back for several days to a week.
Jami tried on a traditional Bavarian dress. See the photo in the album linked below, or click on the photo in this post to go to the album.
Jami took a European cologne bath.
Went to the Hofbrauhaus and had a liter of beer. You'd be surprised how fast that stuff goes down.
Heard a ton of songs in English. Right now "Goldeneye," from the Bond movie of the same name, is playing in the Net cafe.

To see more photos, go to ...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2238800&id=17220214&l=75f361e77c

Update from Germany

[caption id="attachment_444" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="John and Jami in Rothenburg."][/caption]We are in Ingolstadt using the first cheap Internet, with a USB port for uploading photos, we have found since Frankfurt. Facebook photo upload is not working on this computer, so we can only post this one photo. Here we are in the town square of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a magical medieval walled city. We arrived there without a reservation, went to the tourist bureau, and immediately had a 40-euro room reserved for us not 50 paces away in the town square. All our travel guides warn of death, destruction, and general lack of fun should one fail to reserve days ahead of time, but we have found this to be entirely not the case. Our advice: Just go where you want, when you want, and then smile broadly at the tourist office clerk.

Here's a short list of what we have done:

21km hike (with packs) through the Altmühtal nature park.
Parted a sea of sheep, at the urging of their shepherd. (Video to be posted later.)
Camped for two nights.
Ate way too much schnitzel, bratwurst, pommes frites, pretzels, curry wurst, chocolate ...
Drank plenty of cheap beer.
Jami is on her third German lesson on the iPod Touch.
Met some real gypsies on the bus.
Met some foreign exchange students from Nigeria and Tennessee, in the same group.
Saw the world's largest fresco on a flat surface, the trompe d' l'oleil at the Asamkirche Maria de Victoria. Magnificent.
Went to the German Museum of Medical History and saw many, many sharp pokey things.
Dried our underwear with a travel hair dryer.
Happened upon a street festival where a German man sang "Get the Party Started," by Pink, in a German accent.
Encountered many friendly people who helped us with our poor German speaking skills.
Took a lot of trains on the easy and efficient Deutsche Bahn system.
Were glad we brought a ton of ibuprofen.

That's all for now! Thanks for following our adventures. Please send us e-mails to let us know what you are up to, as well. We'd love to hear from home.

First day in Germany

[caption id="attachment_438" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="John and Jami outside the Frankfurt Zoo."][/caption]

UPDATE: Ten photos on Facebook.

The first day in Germany is done and it's been a good one. Our hotel is just two blocks from the train station. We spent the day just walking around Frankfurt, with our only two goals being to try Apfelwein (apple wine) and to try to find the hotel near the zoo where I used to have Sunday brunch with my parents. Accomplished the first; nit certain about the second. Had a great dinner of pork sandwich, Schnitzel and potato salad at the train station. Enjoyed buying beer and wine at a minimart and drinking it at a table in the train station. Jet lag isn't too bad, although those of you inclined to do the math will note that it's 2:48 here in Germany ... a little hard to sleep.

By the way, I'll be writing most of these updates on an iPod Touch, so don't expect great works of literature.

Packed to Go to Europe!

[caption id="attachment_434" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Jami and John wearing our backpacks packed to go to Europe."][/caption]

We're packed to go for Europe. We leave from Lincoln at 6:40 p.m., then from Chicago at 10 p.m. After that, Frankfurt and a whole lot of beer, brotchen, and bratwurst. There are some more photos of us and our packs (!) on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236531&id=17220214&l=8adc24145c