 Hey, Aljopa and welcome to my big Swedish adventure I'm riding the length of Sweden from north to south in the previous episode I had a pretty tough day, but I was saved by some wonderful Swedes and in this episode I promise a lot less whining about mosquitoes Good morning Guess what? It's not raining, yes But I can still hear mosquitoes There's one in this room that I could not get last night Little ninja mosquito. I am so incredibly thankful for this family and this roof Whoo Today's a new day. You haven't had a biker come by in 30 years. No one in that state That one stayed for 17 days So every 30 years you get a couple of wet bikers through here Next time I'm 77 Yeah, that's funny Yeah, hey, yeah, so how many more days do you have to you finish the European divide six six days? And when did you start it first of April first of April how many mile how many kilometers? total So far the house how long is the whole thing? 7600 that's a big deal man. It's a lot of miles. I'm proud of you only 21 right. Yeah That's so cool, man You get to the end of the road and you just like let out those tears of joy. Yeah I'm sure I will That's awesome. So good to meet you my friend. Taxi yet to meet you Have a nice trip. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Hey, no Oh, it's always hard to say goodbye even if you've only known somebody for you know, 12 hours or so I kind of want to hang out with them all day But I've got to get down south and I'm a long way So here we go. I'm so grateful to be warm and dry and well-fed. Oh Yeah, I didn't bring He just yelled at me. I don't have my backpack with me Got a little distracted that might have been important to have my hydration pack and all my gear Whoops Thank you my friend And go until What was I saying earlier, I'm just so grateful So grateful such a warm kind generous family and I needed it. I was desperate. I was miserable yesterday Made have been one of the most miserable days. I've ever had on a bike trip and today I am going to get off the European divide and ride some pavement And the reason is because I don't want to get stuck in mud I think it's still probably really wet and my new friend who I haven't met yet in real life bike touring Mike is Gonna come meet me at a town down here, which is exciting There's a little bit of blue up there in the sky. I Really don't want to deal with rain today. That was kind of traumatic yesterday. Whoo. No flat ease No crash ease. No whammy's. No rain storm ease and Hopefully less mosquito ease I feel so much better so relaxed yesterday morning. I was Just tense. I was hunched over my bike and my shoulders hurt. I was just so It's amazing how quickly I can develop an emotional connection to a complete stranger Somebody like Andres and his family who you know immediately. He's like, okay, we got you you can stay in this So much do a guy and we can give you blankets and whatever you need and we'll feed you meals and we hung out all night Just talking and it's like we've been friends for a long time You know and I'd never met him before and good chance. I'll never see them again You know, this is pretty far from Colorado But I'll never forget them It's these moments on bike tours That stick with me forever, you know, I love the beautiful roads and the scenery and all that but it's the people Definitely the people You know what this is? It's my shadow. Oh, it just disappeared. I was gonna say It's sunny it's sunny enough to cause shadows. Whoo. Wow, it's quite an echo in these trees. I Like warm weather and I cannot lie I don't want to get too excited about things and jinx myself, but I'm wearing sunglasses right now And I feel really good about it Hello, son, you know how to say son in Swedish Sule S. O. L. Sule Sule in Queen on it dog That's a little line from a skonish Summer song skona is the southern part of Sweden where I lived You're brought a little sconeska I have the sconish accent and Kind of like in the United States Where we make fun of southern accents all the Swedes also make fun of the southern Swedish accent Oh boy Vilket vaquet vero su linheen on it down I just rode by this patch of wild lupin flowers lupines and I could hear The bumblebees buzzing and I remember one of my very first days in Sweden My Swedish dad Yodan taught me how to say bumblebee in Swedish and it's humla I'll never forget that word. It's funny how we associate those memories and they're so visceral and they can just come back You know 20 plus years later. I'm like, oh, yeah, there's the humla. You're at a fork in the road and this is kind of crazy Yokmok is 54 kilometers away So that means if I had stayed on the road that I was riding on my way out of Yokmok I could have been here in 30 miles, but instead I went on a little death march But I'm glad I did it. I really am but now I'm going to Avid's Yauer That way 60 miles I am in the little village of Kobdali right now and this is where I was hoping to get to yesterday when I woke up I'm like, okay, this town is 50 miles away Maybe I can find accommodation. So this was going to be the spot where I was gonna Search out something and it's a tiny little town and guess what there's snow behind me Looks like a ski resort or something up there. Pretty cool. It's very quiet. I Don't know where everybody is. I don't know if I would have found a place to stay Doesn't seem like there's anybody here Might be just like a winter ski town This might not last long, but I have sunshine on my arms and it feels so good Ah, I love warmth. I love dry warmth and the mosquitoes in my mouth Oh, look at that. Look at that beautiful sky I'm singing in the sun I'm singing in the sun You can't stop me from singing. I've done this on every single bike tour. I sing to myself Just to put a smile on my face and I don't know. It's just fun. You know, that's why we sing in the shower It's fun and a lot of times I sing Christmas carols Because those are the very few songs that I know pretty much all the words to I'm not one of those people who knows who can memorize songs Like I'll know a few lines few choruses And that's it But Christmas carols. Oh, yeah, you got me with those ones and Swedish ones, too Hey, Tom, the goobas lowy gloss in a lotto slustigavada This right here Is a really nice moment I'm doing something that I didn't think I'd be able to do just sit and eat something without mosquitoes hammering me I'm thinking these larger roads have less mosquitoes. It's the deep woods that really are Mosquito infested. So I am so happy. I'm just sitting here eating a wrap that I picked up at the Ika the grocery store And the Sun is shining on my face. Oh Gosh, what a great day seriously What a great day yesterday. Remember what I said that when the Sun does come out How good it's gonna feel and you know what it's gonna feel so good Once the Sun finally does come out that moment is right now and it feels incredible I've been riding through the woods for a few hours now. It's just me and the trees and maybe some trolls and My thoughts I always do my best thinking on the seat of my bicycle And I was thinking that if I had gotten a hotel on Friday night in Yokmuk Which I was regretting not getting when I was camped out in the rain If I had done that I most likely would not have met Andreas and his family And it just goes to show that Life always seems to work out You don't know how it's gonna work out in the moment. We're in you're in the thick of things But it does it it seems to work out And I'm really grateful for that and so sometimes I Can get all stuffy and fussy about not getting big miles and not staying on my predetermined itinerary and that goes for this ride or daily life, you know but It always works out It does you're gonna be where you need to be you're gonna end up where you're supposed to be This e45 road has turned out to be better than I could have imagined There's really not much traffic It's pretty much only people and campers Going slow just On vacation enjoying life and giving me plenty of room when they drive around me. Today has just been easy going In a lot of different ways And I needed an easy day and you know what it's sunday Sundays are meant to be easy, right? It is time to get off my bike and learn something about the local culture. I'm in Arvid's Yauer now I'm about 80 miles into my day And I'm in the Lappstaden and this is an old Sami village that's like an open-air museum doesn't cost any money. I walked right in Check this place out fascinating. These are the houses That they lived in And I still think to this day Live in similar houses like this the houses are made entirely of wood No nails like a Lincoln log cabin I find this information the most interesting it talks about how The sami people have been hurting reindeer For 1500 years and even today there are still three groups of sami who still actively heard reindeer in fart It's time for a young boy ryan humor when I first moved here I thought this was the funniest sign and they're everywhere. You know what it means Entrance it's not a dirty word like it kind of is in english in fart Check this out. I am at Seville. It's a hamburger chain all over sweden And I usually don't come here because they don't have vegetarian options, but now they have a soy burger And I'm so excited to be eating this. It's been a Been a great day and I'm celebrating with a soy burger and check it out. This is called lingon They have this lingon juice lingon berries are very famous in sweden And uh, pretty much you can only get them over here. I can't really find them in the united states, but lingon berries Dev a goat that was really good Now my belly is full. I got some Supplies over there at the grocery store. I'm gonna keep on riding a little bit and meet up with my man mike I'm gonna go another 12 miles And going to arbor tresk And that's where mike is gonna get off the bus He's taking the bus from where he lives and he's gonna meet me and it's gonna be great I cannot tell you how glorious This evening sun feels on my skin Be careful, mr. Reindeer. Look at that A white reindeer watch out for traffic Okay, I've made it to arbor tresk. This is where mike's gonna get off the bus And he told me there's a place to camp like right in the middle of town. This is a tiny town I have not even seen a human. I don't even know who to pay at this campsite. I am very thankful for today I needed a day like this after the last couple days I remember drinking this beer when I was an exchange student norlands guld gold of the north And now here I am in norland I'm gonna go walk down toward the lake. This looks beautiful Check this out Nice little dock here That's what I'm talking about Peaceful peaceful. I'm just so happy to be in sweden. I really am You know yesterday and half of The day before that I was too stressed out really to enjoy myself. It was just pretty uncomfortable Now I'm just like, oh, yeah, I'm in sweden. This is awesome. I'm on vacation kind of You know, I'm working but like I came here because I love sweden and I want to get to know it better Sweden holds a very special place In my heart and I'd always wanted to get to know it From north to south and here I am Making dreams come true All these wildflowers here smell so good. I feel like I'm walking In a greenhouse full of fresh flowers Oh, check it out. This is the bus that is delivering Mike There he is, it's Mike. How you doing, buddy? Good to see you. All right The bro, you have come it Till me again, yeah, do you have this many mosquitoes where you live? No, no, no, no, absolutely not I live up by the coast so so we don't hardly have anyone really. I should go that way then And look at this bike. You got the big beefy tires Ready. I'm so glad to meet you. They're very little trefas All right, he's got his pants on Smart guy now get some long long arms on maybe a hat The mosquitoes are out in force. So what are we doing here? Yes, I touched this thermos all to my gas canister and And that takes care of the mosquitoes Hopefully in a couple of minutes All right, work your voodoo magic little thermosel machine So my friends I've been talking about bike touring Mike here. He is in the flesh We're gonna ride bikes together. We're gonna have fun. Tell everybody about your channel and what you do Yeah, I mainly focus on trips around the Scandinavian countries up here in in sweden norway and finland But I also go on trips in europe like france spain and so on and Right on that's what I do. That's what you do. That's great. I'm excited to ride with you He said he has something special in his bag for me. What do you have? I have a couple of gifts for for a ride He found his beans, but oh, wow, there's my black beans. I couldn't find them and you brought them to me. Thank you And I also brought some swedish. Oh, that's my favorite chocolate. Oh, you're the man Okay, good night. Me then we're gonna get some sleep and wake up in the morning. Hopefully Hopefully no no more mosquitoes get going and Yeah, and hopefully not that much rain tomorrow either No rain no rain no whammies no whammies no rainies and like it's 11 p.m. Right now. Look at that sky And the next trick is going to be getting in there without letting in A ton of mosquitoes. Let's see if I can do it. So I want to open it up a little bit and just kind of Dive in really quick and then close it up really quick I seem to be safe There's some other bugs in here, but they're not mosquitoes Oh my god After a day of relatively few mosquitoes, they sure came on strong at the end of the day here I'm enjoying sitting here watching them try to get in my tent. Haha suckers Here it is my friends my first black bean swedish burrito Hello there and thank you for making it to the very end of this video You get a high five I am here to say hey, thank you for watching my videos But also if my videos bring value to your life If you love them with all your heart and soul or even just a little bit of your heart and soul Please consider joining my patreon. You will help keep this channel alive But you will also get stuff you will get early release videos with no ads Which is very cool And I sometimes do zoom calls with my patrons You will have direct access to me through patreon to ask me any question you want and like I said You're keeping this channel alive and also hey, I wrote a book. It's called the long way home It's about my very first adventure from Honduras to colorado and it talks a lot about how it inspired me to live An interesting life to say the least my mom loves it. So maybe you'll love it too I will link all this down below But more than anything. Thank you so much for watching my videos. You are awesome Now it's time for you to get off that couch and get out there