Pictures and Stories About Bicycle Tour Adventures

Above: Motel's Breakfast Buffet.

Above Left: Dining Room with Floor Lighting.

Above Right: News and Periodicals Dispenser.

Above Left: Motel's Classic Wood Hallway.

Above Right: Next Door's Restaurant and Casino (our bikes were secured overnight in the hotel's back garage, next to this establishment, inside the green chained iron gate).

Above: We're off, northbound and eyes wide open.

Above: We had to follow some, seemingly weird, back street directions out of town but the directions kept us out of all the morning traffic. They were good directions!

Above Left: Momentary Panic, the lane looks barred; is there a detour coming up (again).

Above Right: The Lane bar is an optical illusion; it has a bike/pedestrian/stroller walk-through.

Above Left: You never know when you will run into a Lion!

Above Right: Safely out of Motala, we've found a dry spot to cool down and sip water.

Above Left: Nice Home (picture from moving bike).

Above Right: We've made a little progress. Honey, we have not taken a combined picture on the camera timer yet. BTW, we're going straight, the long way to Askersund (by way of Medevi).

Above: Terry and Dennis Struck, between Motala and Askersund, Sweden, on the Aug-Sep, 2012, Bicycle Tour of the Göta Kanal. The camera was sitting on the seat of the other bicycle.

Above Left: A new bike route, Runt Vättern (Runt means Round, Vättern is the name of the Lake due southwest from here).

Above Right: Ever popular milk jugs.

Above Left: Light Yellow Home with Swedish Flag.

Above Right: Someone's Private Drive.

Above: Flat fields with Lake Vättern on the horizon.

Above Left: Big Old Hardwood Tree starting to show fall colors.

Above Right: Black Sheep.

Above: Boat port properties on the north end of Lake Vättern.

Above Left: Rural mail box conclave.

Above Right: Classic barn red cottage house with Nordic fence.

Above Left: Terry stands next to a groomed forest of medium sized trees.

Above Right: A typical looking wood harvest on the road side; occasionally log ends are marked for owner and/or destination information. The Swedes conduct a lot more section harvesting than in the USA. It really helps to keep forest fires from spreading and it keeps a lot more wood utilized for commercial use (versus what goes up in smoke, like in the USA). Also, the Swedes do not clear-cut, they will leave a very tall, healthy, good looking, fully grown (seeding) tree every 50 meters/yards apart and they remove the slash. Therefore, a cleared lot will still have healthy trees and all of the cutting debris (slash) will be removed except for a few Rabbit piles every now and then (like one per acre).

Above Left: Right turn for Askersund in front of a big red barn.

Above Right: Big Farm Katt (a successful hunter).

Above Left: Signs for autos.

Above Right: Signs for bikes. Oddly, we're going left to Medevi and then coming back to this spot to pick-up the bikeway to Askersund.

It is now raining off and on, a Female Rain (Navajo).

Above Left: STOPP ahead (old Svede versus new).

Above Right: Obviously, this is Grandpa and Grandma's place. That's a playhouse in the background.

MEDEVI

Above: Medevi has the Oldest Spa and Mud Baths in all of Sweden AND Medevi has a Preserved Village. We're visiting for the Preserved Village. We never found a Welcome or Information Center, so we just wondered around. We were the only tourists.

Above Right: We're traveling again.

Above Left: Huge AUCTION and Recycling Center, mainly of farm equipment.

Above Right: We're following the bike sign left. Notice the 'Auction' sign for the area that we just went through.

Above: The view in each direction, light rains on us; of the few cars on the road, they are careful to go around us. It is raining and it is cool outside 50-55F/10-11C; we are acclimated and our body temperatures are just right for pedaling all day long.

Above: No shortage of water or lakes around here.

Above Left: Route change (moving snap shot).

Above Right: Ragweed and fields of grass.

By Mistake, the Next 30 Pictures were taken in Manual Mode,
and Photo Shop could NOT fully restore the Photos.

Above Left: Welcome to Godegård; we will have lunch here.

Above Right: Local swamp.

Above Left: We finished lunch at Godegård and it finally quit raining but the temperature has dropped to about 8C/45F, so now we are adding a layer and breaking out heavier gloves. We had a very pleasant time here and we got to watch trains go by the very nice community picnic area for travelers.

Above Right: Grade School in Godegård.

Remember, the Camera is in Manual Mode (not Auto, ergo dark looking images)

Above Right: At Åmmeberg we go off route about 15k for lodging in a Nautical Hotel on the north shore of Lake Vättern (from which boats from the Göta Kanal can still visit).

Askersund

Finally, the Camera is Re-Set to Automatic Lighting Mode

Above Left: We're in Askersund! We stopped at an ICA (a large chain of medium sized grocery stores in Europe). We're resupplying basic things, nothing special, I cannot remember.

Above Left: The old cobble ride down to the lake.

Above Right: Boats docked on the river mouth.

Above Left: A family going out in the evening.

Above Right: Lakeside Pub and Restaurant.

Above Left: An ocean worthy two mast'er now used as a tour boat - remember, that the Göta Kanal is connected to the Atlantic on one side of Sweden and the Baltic on the other side (ocean access).

Above Right: The important thing to boaters here is the fuel depot abeam that red roof structure on the right.

Above Left: Our Motel's Restaurant Menu (I think this is cool!).

Above Right: Our Norra Vättern Hotel, home for the night.

Above: Our Nautical Themed hotel quarters.

Above: Our Nautical Themed hotel quarters.

Above Left: Wall Plaque: 'If you want breakfast in bed, then sleep in the kitchen'.

Above Right: Wall Inspiration (Aviation Related): 'Open your mind; Show your heart; Lend a hand; Love with everything you've got'.

Above Left: Concierge Area (winter ski rentals and tickets).

Above Right: Casino Area (this is everything, tasteful).

Above Left: The extra 'R' changes this word from feminine to masculine - this is Herr as in Mister. We are in front of the Spa Room (for Men).

Above Right: Venus Choklad. We visited, it's a place of rich chocolate, it's a female thing. Lady Drivers of Mercedes and Volvos were in and out all the time during our brief visit.

I talked to the owner, she was from the American Mid-West (Indiana or Ohio area?); she said that she fell in love with a pretty Swedish boy, married him, and moved to Sweden. They separated long ago, but she had set up this popular Choklad Butik and it was doing pretty well for herself. She lamented about the cold winters and said 'Why couldn't I have fallen in love with a handsome Spanish fellow'? The Proprietress was cleverly funny.

Above: Another Lakeside Restaurant.

Above Left: Fresh [water] Fish - Färsk Fisk.

Above Right: Dinner. We ate Dessert without remembering to take a picture, sorry. This is a nice ending to a very high calorie work day.