The trip (DayOne)

At the end of August,2005, I traveled from my home near Buffalo New York, to Amsterdam in The Netherlands to pick up my first velomobile, Versatile#24. It was designed by the Flevobike Company in Dronten, about 50 miles away. Flevobike makes many of the parts which are peculiar to the versatile, and the velomobile is assembled by Ligfietshop Tempelman, also in Dronten. The manufacturer of the Quest and Mango ( Velomobiel.nl) and Allight, which makes a version of the Alleweder are also located in Dronten, just around the corner from Ligfietshop Tempelman, and right next door to each other.

I arrived at Schipol, the airport in Amsterdam, at the crack of dawn, and dragged my suitcase downstairs to the train station. I used my ATM card to get 250Euro, and also to purchase train tickets to Central Station in the heart of the city. I got change at Centraal Station, and locked my luggage up in a locker. after having it x-rayed on the way in.

The first thing I saw upon exiting the biulding was this huge bicycle parking ramp. It sent chills down my spine. Bikes everywhere. I wandered around the city looking for a coffeeshop so I could get supplies for my stay. I had neglected to bring the address of the particular coffeeshop I wished to visit, which specialized in the music of Frank Zappa, so I wandered into the first place I found open. 25Euro for 5 grams of very good quality smoke. Now I KNEW I was in heaven. I sat at the bar, and did a few bongs, had a can of pop. and found my way back to Centraal Station.I neeeded to take the train to Lelystaadt, where I would use a bus to get to Dronten. What a wonderful place. You get off the train, and the bus station is right there. I had time to go across the street to the VVV (like our AAA) and purchase an Atlas of all the major bike routes throughout The Netherlands (NL) . I had to do a transfer on the bus, then got dropped off right across the street from Ligfietshop Tempelman, where I was to pick up my velomobile, and the trailer I would use to transport my luggage and camping equipment.

When I arrived, they were still working on it. It seems a faulty connector for one of the headlights had caused some delays. The shop is beautiful. They have hardwood floors, a wide selection of all the coolest recumbent bikes, trikes, and even an Allight Alleweder.

Here you can see the headlight problem being corrected. As you can see it's rather a tight spot to get into. The next bunch of pictures didn't upload, so I'll continue later........