If TheTravelzine were to give awards for the longest-running lurkers, I have a feeling Dave and I might receive one of the top prizes. But after enjoying GTG's with John Rule in San Diego last year and this year, and with some gentle prodding from both John and Linda, I thought it was time to get my fanny moving and introduce my husband and me. This year's GTG was especially nice because it included Lou Matthews and her friend Emily Barton and was held at a terrific restaurant John arranged for us overlooking the San Diego harbor. We're now looking forward to the GTG this Saturday in Toronto. Since I'd hate to show up and hear the words Dave and Gladys WHO?, here goes.

My husband is retired, and we have two sons and 4 grandchildren, all out of town. For the last three years we've spent March in the Anza-Borrego desert, just NE of San Diego. We especially enjoy cycling and hiking, so many of our travels revolve around these activities. For our California trips we pack the bikes in special boxes, have UPS pick them up at our door, and a week later find them delivered to our vacation address. It's relatively inexpensive, hassle free, and certainly much easier than dragging them to the airport and then having to assemble them in the airport at the other end. A nice thing about having our bikes in San Diego was that it enabled us to cycle with John through Balboa Park and Mission Bay, with John leading the way and showing us all the good things to see.

We love the southwest, so the first year Dave retired we spent six weeks hiking in seven national parks. We went in October when the weather was perfect and the crowds non-existent. It's a perfect time to travel.

I've also taken two cycling trips overseas with friends. The first was to the Dordogne area of France, and the second to Austria to cycle down the Danube from Salzburg to Vienna. My contribution to the first trip was to plan the route. I collected names from an internet cycling list of people who had cycled in that area, then wrote asking if they thought 4 women in their 50's (one of us lied) could do this trip alone or should we join an organized tour. The internet was new then, and I was amazed when my first response came in 20 minutes. Of the many, many e-mails I received, all said go for it, or words to that effect. When we had assembled our bikes and were riding out of the airport we kept saying to ourselves Can you believe we're really here and doing this? They were both great adventures, and I'd do them again in a minute.

We're really looking forward to the GTG this Saturday and putting faces to many familiar names. And I'd like to thank all you ziners who have made so many wonderful contributions to the list. We now dream of trips that we once never knew about.

Cheers!

Gladys Buffalo, NY