Welcome to the January 2007 ExperiencePlus! Rambler E-Mail Newsletter

• Dear Folks, A letter from the owners
• More About Us
• Corsica and Sicily
• Our Staff & Tour Leaders
• An Evening with Ed & Al
• From Our Customers: Helen Holmes
• Four Stories of South American History
• From Paola's Kitchen - Focaccia Pizza

Dear Folks,

2006 ended with a flurry indeed here in Colorado. As some of you may have experienced, or heard on the news, the Front Range was hit with two snow storms in the last weeks of 2006. Rick and Paola just missed the storm as they flew off to South America to spend Christmas in Buenos Aires before heading to Chile to begin our Expedition from the Pacific to the Atlantic! So far news from down below is of a bit of rain, but happy spirits. You can follow their progress as Rick sends in pictures (when he finds time & web access) to www.ExpeditionPlus.com.

2007 is gearing up to be a big year for us as we launch our new Eastern European tours. We still have some room on those, so as you dream about where to go in the summer don't forget to take a look at the tour finder. If winter weather has you looking for something a little more immediate, there's still time to escape the cold in Costa Rica on one of our tours in the sun!

Here's what we have for you in this issue.... We realized many of you may not know all the faces that work behind the scenes at our offices, so this month we are excited to present our expanded ExperiencePlus! Staff Page. In preparation for his trip across Argentina and Chile, Rick reviews a quartet of stories about the region's history. Jacey, our new intern, contributes a quick and tasty recipe for Focaccia Pizza in Paola's absence. Customer Helen Holmes contributes her answers to our customer interview. And Rick continues his reflections on global warming in "An Evening With Ed and Al," imagining how a conversation between Edward Abbey and Al Gore might unfold. The bottom line: we all should ride bikes more.

Meanwhile here at the office in Fort Collins, we dug ourselves out of the snow and enjoyed a white New Year. We hope that, wherever you are, your New Year is off to a great start!

Sincerely,

Maria Elena Malpezzi Price

Sicily and Corsica are both popular destinations by virtue of their status as warm Mediterranean islands. We asked our own Diane Vella, who's ridden our tours on both islands, to explain the similarities & differences between them. Here's some of what "Deedee" had to say:

Whichever you choose, you'll find there's more to Europe than the mainland!

• France: Cycling Corsica, the Island of Beauty
• Italy: Cycling Sicily

We wouldn't be able to offer the intimate, authentic experience of other cultures that makes our tours special without the hard work of many native tour leaders, in addition to our domestic and foreign staff. If you're interested in knowing more about the people who make up ExperiencePlus!, our new staff pages are the place to go.

Read more about our tour leaders & staff here.

Never mind that Ed Abbey passed away a few years back, or that Al Gore has been so busy giving the climate-change slideshows featured in An Inconvenient Truth that he hasn't actually sat down in several years. Rick swears he recently overheard the two conversing, one table over from his at Eddie McStiff's in Moab. Who are we to doubt it?

Al: "The twentieth century has... led many of us to wonder if survival - much less enlightened, joyous, and hopeful living - is possible."
Ed: "Whether we live or die is a matter of absolutely no concern whatsoever to the desert."

Read more about Rick's thoughts on Ed Abbey & Al Gore's different brands of environmentalism here.

Our interview this month is with triathlete, grandmother and 2006 ExpeditionPlus! St. Petersburg to Istanbul participant Helen Holmes. Take it away, Helen!

What prompted you to join ExpeditionPlus! this past summer? Unexpectedly I had to stop running. So it has occurred to me - what if someday I couldn't bike? It's definitely that time of life that if you have a dream you better not put it off. I was enthralled by the idea that it hadn't been done before, the personal challenge, and the many countries we were going to see.

Read the rest of Helen Holmes's interview here.

As he spent early December preparing for his coast-to-coast traversal of Chile and Argentina by bike, Rick found a novel and a handful of movies that each illuminated a different period in South American history, and each with its own flavor:

How do you prefer your history? Straight up like a strong shot of espresso, maybe a double? Or would you prefer to soften the impact with a little milk and some chocolate mocha? This list includes three movies and one just-published novel that are about as good a starter set as you could find for Chile and Argentina.

Read Rick's full review of these four stories of South American history here.

Jacey Roche, our newest intern, fixed a round of these simple and delicious pizzas for lunch one day. They're mighty tasty and go together very easily!

This is the most basic way to make a Sicilian-style pizza, but we recommend adding any sort of toppings you find tasty.

Click here to read the rest of Jacey's Sicilian Focaccia Pizza recipe.

If you would like additional recipes, visit our online recipe archive. You'll find recipes for European and Latin American specialties like Panzanella: a Tuscan Salad, Tapenade, Gallo Pinto, and more.

Happy Walking and Cycling until next month!

E-mail us at tours@ExperiencePlus.com with comments and questions. Or give us a call at 800-685-4565.

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