"Plan B"

PLAN B

Where there is plan A, there is plan B.

When there are too many problems with plan A, I will move on to plan B.

These are the problems that I am thinking about:

·      If it is impossible to get a visa for Russia, I will have to cancel plan A, because the route is traverses parts of Russia. There is not enough time to bypass the huge nation, unless I follow route “A-1”:

• Ukraine 
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Turkey 
• Iran (visa) 
• Turkmenistan (visa), 
• Uzbekistan (visa), 
• Kyrgyzstan (visa), 
• Kazakhstan (visa)

·      If there is trouble in Kazakhstan, I could bypass that by going trough Mongolia and then into China (this would be route A-2). Of course, this is onlt a possibility if I have a visa for Russia.

·      If I am unable to get a visa for China, the whole plan A will be canceled.

Plan B:

I will use the Condor recumbent, which is easy to transport by plane and better suited to deal with the rough conditions on this “Plan B” route.

I will leave mid-July because the conditions for cycling will be good enough at that time.

The route will be as follows:

Airplane from the Netherlands to Seattle, then by a smaller plane to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the most northern settlement (by road) in Alaska.

From Prudhoe Bay, I will go south to Fairbanks.

From Fairbanks, I will cycle south through Canada and into the USA near Bellingham, WA. (Roughly 2500 miles = 4000 km)

Here I plan to stay with my good friends, Alex and Megan, for a short time.

Maybe one of my cycling friends will accompany me for a short while, when I continue south again after this short rest in Bellingham.

Roughly my route (3000 miles =4800 km) will be:

• ·      Bellingham, WA
• ·      Astoria, OR
• ·      Eugene OR
• ·      Baker City, OR
• ·      Reno, NV
• ·      La Paz, Mexico

In La Paz, I plan to find a place to stay for a short while, before continuing to my final destination of Panama City.

The rest of the route (roughly 3000 miles = 4800 km) will pass through:

• ·      Mazatlan, (Mexico mainland) by ferry
• ·      Guatemala
• ·      El Salvador
• ·      Honduras
• ·      Nicaragua
• ·      Costa Rica
• ·      Panama

From Panama, I plan to go to Miami and Washington DC where I plan to stay with my other cycling friends, Wayne and Dianna.

After a short stop there, I will fly home again to the Netherlands in the second half of December, 2014.

This “Plan B” will be tough.  The terrain is challenging with many hills and mountains.  The road conditions vary tremendously, with many roads in very primitive condition.  Morethan that, the weather conditions will be dramatic, as I travel from the Artic Circle to the Tropics, from cold and rain and 24 hour sunlight to high humidity and warm weather and tropical winds.

I will travel from bear country to the land of snakes, scorpions, and incredibly beautiful birds.

If I choose Plan B, I can break the whole trip into three parts, I will be able to deal with all the hardship and have a wonderful adventure!

Also, if I should find myself in “time trouble” I can take the bus, train or car, which will enable me to finish in Panama City in time to catch the flight home.