I’ve been pretty impressed with what people are doing with their bikes lately. From our “What’s the biggest thing you carried on your bike?” contest submissions to TV ads for CSX freight train shipping, we are seeing that so much more is possible with this simple two wheeled vehicle.

So on this vein, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a recent post at k-wall blog about cyclists not only touring with their bikes but taking their campers with them sans car. From this vintage article about a young man that rode from Michigan to Boston to the recent picture below of a European cyclist pulling an Ikea-esque trailer (we’ll call it the röøfstsve or some other silly arrangement of random letter), it appears there is a whole world of bike camping I  hadn’t even thought of. Gone are keeping up with tent parts replaced with a coffin on wheels. While I’m sure this could be made into a sleeping arrangement that is way more comfortable than a tent, this do not appear to be an option for the claustrophobic. Still, there is something appealing to me about pulling this gnome-like home on a long road trip. I’m sure the charm would quickly fade away once I hit the first hill on my intrepid voyage.

As a parent of small children, I think about the vacations I had when I was little and how the trips we take with our children will influence them. I’ve been inspired in recently by the bike camping article of Rivendell Bicycle Works founder, Grant Petersen, as well as the journaling about bicycle treks with children written by the owners of Clever Cycles and the family at A Long Walk to Green.

This makes me wonder when we’ll be ready to attempt a road trip by bike with our kids. We’ve tried backyard camping in the last few months with not much success. We always end up a back inside before the night is out. But maybe we are using the house as a crutch and should just take the plunge and plan a trip. Winter in central Texas is a great time to camp and perhaps it’s time to create new memories (hopefully good ones.)

In the meantime, we can all be impressed with this dad who has taken the family camping trip to a whole new level.

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