Pictures and Stories About Bicycle Adventures

Above Left: Sunrise, we're up.

Above Right: The Spanish like big bread, the hand is for scale.

Above Left: My First Communion. We saw many First Communion celebrations and photo shoots while in Spain.

Above Right: Bicycle Humor! We are carrying our Nikon Digital 35mm SLR inside a waterproof pannier (Ortleib Brand) inside our own JANDD pannier. By-the-way, we never saw any rain the entire time that we were in Spain. There were a few times when we enjoyed cycling through a farmer's rogue agricultural sprinkler.

Above Left: Dennis and Terry Struck pose in front of Spain's La Campiña at Carmona.

Above Right: Dennis and Terry Struck pose with the Bee (a da Vinci Tandem) in front of the 'Alcazar de la Reina', an actual palace of the Queen (one of many).

Above: Dennis and Terry Struck pose with the Bee (a da Vinci Tandem) in front of the 'Alcazar de la Reina', Carmona, Andalucia, Spain; 4 May, 2015.

Above Left: The Irish Pub Donald, Carmona, Andalucia, Spain.

Above Right: Hotel 'Alcazar de la Reina' and Royal Crest, formerly one of the Queen's many Palaces.

Above Left: Lunch in 24 km (at Lora del Rio).

Above Right: Spanish Daisies (with over-sprayed stamen color - joke).

Above: This plant is called Spanish Broom. It has a heavenly scent that some describe as smelling like Werthers Old Time Candy or as a combination of strong Vanilla and a hint of Carmel and Cinnamon.

Above Left: The road ahead, mostly plains with farm land.

Above Right: Olive Orchard.

Above Left: Wheat Fields.

Above Right: Our First Water Tributary, the Rio Carbones.

Above Left: These Rocks look like Potatoes.

Above Right: Irrigated Fruit Orchard.

Above Left: This is a big Umbra Flower.

Above Right: For Scale, this is a big Umbra (Root word of Umbrella) Flower and Terry Struck.

Above: The [irrigation] Canal of the Rio Guadalquivir. The Rio Guadalquivir runs through Seville, Córdoba, and Granada.

Above Left: Modern Aqueduct.

Above Right: Happy Stoker.

Above Left: Fallen Oranges, a common sight.

Above Right: Terry shows off the Bee at the A-457, 20 km marker.

Above Left: We are getting ready to enter the town of Lora del Rio for Lunch, but first we have to go around a Round-About and cross the Rio Guadalquivir.

Above Right: Dennis Struck and the Bee crossing the Rio Guadalquivir.

Above Left: We're in Lora del Rio. A Bodeguita is a combination Bar and Tapas serving establishment.

Above Right: We and the Bee are at the 'Restaurante Bar Benavides'.

Above Left: It is cooler outside than inside, the outside temperature is in the 30s C/90s F.

Above Right: We take turns using the 'Conveniences' and watching the bike, it is just an old but good habit.

Above Left: Lunch.

Above Right: We're on the road again.

Above Left: We're turning left.

Above Right: The View.

Above Left: Roadside Flowers. We will have seen a lot of Poppies and Daisies on this Andalucian Bicycle Tour.

Above Right: This feels good!

Above Left: Old Road Marker.

Above Right: Drip Irrigation.

Above Left: This was the best Hacienda Entrance that we saw on this day.

Above Right: Welcome to Palma del Rio, our destination town.

Above Left: Crossing the Rio Genill.

Above Right: The Hospedaria/Monasterio San Francisco is in the background, it was the Mission San Francisco de Asis. From here, where there are maps of California and the Baja, the Mission System of the Californias was planned and activated.

Mission San Francisco de Asis

Above Left: Mission San Francisco de Asis.

Above Right: Temperatures/Tiempo's for Rio del Palma (weather forecast). I have news, it was in the 30's C every day. I liked the old weather coding style for the winds, direction, and speed (I grew up with weather maps).

Experience: This is the mission experience, we stayed in an austere room that had no air conditioning and nothing to put our gear upon (other than the floor). It did not cool down until midnight. There was a breeze but we kept our room door shut for modesty purposes.

Above Left: Hand carved bench.

Above Right: Hand rest of the hand carved bench.

Above Left: One of many hallways.

Above Right: The Charter.

Above: Relaxing courtyard garden.

Above Left: The Purpose.

Above Right: Walkway in the back garden.

Above Left: They burn real candles here.

Above Right: Geranium.

Roman Ruins

Above: Old Roman Fort - A Church was build here and under religious fanaticism, the Roman Artifacts and Constructs were ignored as pagan objects.

Old Church

Above Left: This is a Roman made Entrance Way. Like many old Christian Churches the people of the early Religion just took over existing places or existing places of worship (from other faiths, often violently). The Church seems to have Moorish tiling on the outside.

Above Right: An Old City Wall Gate connects to the Church.

Above: An old fountain trickles water around the area of the old church.

Above Left: A custom cut door, we saw many of these in Spain, usually as church doors.

Above Right: Another Roman made Gateway attached to the side of the Church with the old Moorish tile sides.

Alkazar - Old Moorish Fort/Wall

Above: Old Moorish Fort/Wall.

Walk About Palma del Rio (Palms of River)

Above Left: .

Above Right: This appears to be Bottle Brush (Protea), an African Plant.

Above Left: Another African Plant.

Above Right: A Tiled Map of Palma del Rio.

Above Left: The temperature is dropping.

Above Right: A city street.

Evening at the Monastery

Above: Oddly, the paintings appear to be shades of black and grey to the naked eye but when a camera flash is applied the pictures come to life.

Above Left: Another colorful painting comes to life with a camera flash.

Above Right: This is a Leather Map of the Californias Mission System. The California Mission system was started here and managed from here. The city of San Francisco is named for the Monk/Friar that started the California Missionary process.

Above Left: We're looking at the colorful artwork drawn into the roof.

Above Right: If in doubt, pick the wine that color matches, you cannot go wrong.