Interview with Jerry and Dick Smallwood

Name: Jerry and Dick Smallwood

Age (be as vague as you wish!): In our low 70's now, we are just beginning with ExperiencePlus! They have opened a new door for us in terms of bike trip experiences. We're ready to ride!

How did you become interested in bike touring?: We began touring on our tandem 22 years ago when our children were mostly grown up. These almost yearly tours, mainly in Europe, were our way of having a great vacation in a foreign country and meeting people of different cultures, getting some serious exercise, and being able to eat anything we wanted...all day! Being laden down with paniers was a challenge, but we enjoyed the freedom of being on our own.

What is one of your most memorable events on the bike?: One of our most memorable events during our many years of bike touring occurred two years ago in France when we arrived at our destination town and stopped to retrieve a map of the town from our rear bike bag -- only to find it missing! The missing bag contained all of our valuables: money, credit cards, passports, airline tickets. What to do? We turned around and started retracing our route as fast as we could go to see if we could find the missing bag. After several miles, as we whizzed by a parked car we spotted two young men waving at us, and we stopped. To our great relief they had found the bag and identified us by Dick's passport photo. It all ended well, but it took us days to get over the emotional shock of losing everything.

Where is your favorite travel destination?: We have been fortunate to be able to do a good deal of traveling. When not biking, our favorite destination is Africa. Nothing can compare with camping next to a hippo pool and listening to the hippos "talk" to one another during the night as they come on land to feed. Another highlight was visiting the mountain gorillas in Congo (then Zaire).

Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know: Our major volunteer activity at home is organizing and running a scholarship organization that gives four and five year scholarships to financially needy high school seniors so they can attend college. How fortunate we are to meet so many outstanding and determined young people.

What’s your favorite ride or hike in your hometown?: Living in the Bay Area, we are fortunate to be able to bike all year round. I think our favorite day ride is one that includes a 3.3 mile (but who's counting) ride up a steep, quiet, and scenic road through coastal redwoods that ends at a delightful breakfast spot. From there, it's all down hill to home.

What question do you wish we had asked, and how would you have answered?: [How was your first trip with ExperiencePlus!?] Now, we are spoiled! We have just returned from a marvelous trip in Andalucia, Spain, with Experience Plus! This was our first experience with them, and it will not be the last. Their willingness to accommodate our tandem and to bring along the two large bags it travels in were a big positive, as was the sunny nature of the people whom we talked with in the ExperiencePlus! office. Our guides, Loreto and Joan, took care of all details, leaving us the freedom and fun of being on our own when we wished. Oh, those chalk arrows! We were able to cruise through little and big towns alike, confident that we would not get lost or spend frustrating time with our noses in the map. The ride itself was a little tougher than we had expected, but we hung in there and completed all the rides...with the help of Loreto who cooled Jerry down by pouring water on her head during those hot first days of riding. The high point of each day for Dick was that five minutes after finishing a ride when he took that first drink of a cold beer before stepping into a hot shower! Now that was heaven. Now, it's time to think about what trip we're going to take next year.