Many of the Three Hundred Zeroes readers are radio amateurs (hams). The previous post describes my wanderings around Europe this summer. If you’re a radio amateur, I’d want to invite you to try and connect with me while hiking/biking this summer.

Starting in early May, until possibly mid-October, I should be active on Morse code (CW) from Spain, Portugal, U.K., Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Holland and possibly Germany and Denmark. As yet, there are no firm plans, so many things can go wrong on a journey of this magnitude, so it wouldn’t be wise to plan too precisely. If you’re a ham over there, please do contact me, maybe we can meet along the way!

I will attempt to operate from each of those countries and as a rule will operate on the 40/30/20 meter bands. Most often, I will be found on the 40 meter band, that seems to be the most popular and reliable. I managed to work four stateside stations last time, and I didn’t have that much time to actually operate, this time, I should have considerably more time.

Whenever possible, if I can find a WiFi connection, I will post my activity on the QRPspots.com site. This is a site that “Tweets” short messages about operator activity. Since I won’t have a cell phone that works in Europe, I will have to hope I can find a WiFi connection so I can Tweet from my Kindle. I was fairly successful doing this in 2011, on the Spain tour, so it should work well again.

So, dust off the old Morse code key, keep an eye on QRPspots.com and I hope to hear you while out there.

73′

K1YPP

I’m currently trying to finish up work on the next book, A Few More Zeroes: Lost with the wind and the stars on the Camino de Santiago. It has been a long time in coming. Authors should always work to make the next book better than the first, and that is the case here.

Life always manages to get in the way of any project, and this is no exception. There are already readers that have ordered a copy, and it isn’t even in print (or Ebook yet!). Hopefully, this will change soon.

Here is what the future holds: Jane and I are heading off to Europe for a while. We’re taking a “transition” cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, the Epic. It leaves Miami in late April, and arrives in Barcelona at the beginning of May. I see this as an 11 day period to finish up the work on the book and get it off to the editor. The editor will take the time necessary to work her magic and transform my scribblings into something enjoyable and legible.

Once the editing phase is completed, it is a matter of DAYS to take the completed manuscript and have it into print and on Ebooks. Such are the times. Not too long ago, in the traditional publishing world, that period of time could have been years. With POD (Print On Demand) Publishing, this is no longer the case.

Once we arrive in Spain, the cruise destination, we’ll disembark with our bicycles at Barcelona. We plan to then ride the bikes from Barcelona to Logroño, Spain and then onto Santiago. In Santiago, we have arranged to store the bikes, and then take a train to Lisbon, Portugal. From there, we will walk back to Santiago, something like 400 miles. This is known as the Portuguese Camino.

From Santiago, we’ll take the bikes to Santander, Spain, and a ferry to Portmouth, U.K. Plans get somewhat fuzzy beyond there. We plan to follow the wonderful bike routes in the U.K., known as the www.sustrans.com network. This network is a series of bicycle “superhighways,” and covers all of the U.K. We plan to ride up to Hadrians Wall and walk it. We’ll then go back, get the bikes and possibly go over to Ireland for a while.

This is where things really get obscure. One of my ulterior motives is to research places my father visited during World War II. He was in the 82^nd Airborne Paratrooper Division and the 101^st and 505^th airborne regiments. He saw action in five combat jumps: North Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day (Ste. Me’re Eglise, Normandy, France) and Nijmegen, Holland. Additionally, he was trucked into Bastogne, Belgium for the Battle of the Bulge.

If you readers have ever read the book by Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day, or seen the movie, you may not have been aware of it, but my father played a part in that book. I was a young lad, when I recall Mr. Ryan coming to our home to interview my father for the book. My father would have been 100 years old this year, I figured I owe him a tribute for all he went through. I have other books that have photos of the tree he landed in during the D-Day invasion. He was hanging about 25 feet above the ground, with a Nazi machine gunner shooting at him. He cut his parachute cords and fell to the ground and they didn’t hit him. In the panic, he did cut off the top of his thumb, but didn’t even feel it.

He was also injured in Nijmegen, and due to that injury, he eventually met my mother, a nurse with the British Army. At Bastogne, he nearly froze to death.

It will be interesting to trace his steps and see what I can find. Maybe you’ll enjoy reading his story? Hopefully, it won’t take as long as the current work has. In his case, I do already have tons of material to work from. I’ll guarantee, it is a very interesting story.

Stay tuned.