Organizing
We have spent the last two days continuing to solve our organizational needs. We are getting the last things packed around the house, and we have looked carefully at everything we had brought with us – evaluating it for usefulness and weight. As an example, when Chelsea took her tumble we didn’t have any adequate “wound” cleansing materials, like hydrogen peroxide. We therefore went over a first aid kit we had left behind, compared it to what we had brought, and thought carefully about what we would need. We opted for a more robust first aid kit, and we are pleased about it. I think we might still carry a very small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, because it’s really awful having to clean off road rash with an antiseptic wipe! We are also going to try a sample tube of the Brave Soldier gel. Now the next challenge is putting it where we can always access it quickly and easily, even if we don’t need to use it frequently.
Nutrition
Another issue is nutrition. We had (naively) expected that we would have great cafes all along the way where we could stop and get great food at reasonable prices. We had serious sticker shock – the prices were so much higher than we expected, and the availability wasn’t all that great either. Since we are going on such a long trip, I hadn’t yet made up my mind about what stove to take, so I didn’t order one before leaving. In hindsight, we could have used one right away. (Hindsight’s great, isn’t it?) I solved that by ordering a small stove from REI (MSR Pocket Rocket, with gas canisters), on sale. It was less than $30 and it will hold us over till we decide what to use once we are out of the US. Life should be a lot easier now! While we are here we are going to stock up on some lightweight “bowl meals” that we found last year at Wal-Mart – they are pasta dishes, are really fast to prepare, and work just great.
Still another issue is the energy needed during the ride, like electrolyte replacement drinks and energy bars. The one bike shop in Big Pine Key had eLoad for heat endurance that really worked well, but we really didn’t like the taste, especially warm (which was about 15 min. after I mixed it up). I found a local bike shop that carries Nuun, which we know we like, and he gave me a few samples of other things to try, including energy bars. Then I found an incredible young woman, Symantha, at Whole Foods. She was unbelievably knowledgeable and helpful! By the time I finished with her, I felt completely prepared to face the road again.
All natural
For those of you who don’t know, we prefer all-natural remedies, organic food and so on. We haven’t even taken so much as an Advil in close to 10 years. If we need something we will use herbs or homeopathy (and start looking at why we got so stressed that we got sick!).We aren’t sticklers about organic food, but we do read labels, and we choose the simplest possible foods when we can. We will eat beef jerky commercially prepared, but we’d prefer that it be home-dried. And we avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated as much as is humanly possible. We used to feel like real loners, but now we are seeing more and more natural remedies, sunscreens, insect repellants, energy bars, electrolyte replacement drinks and so on. We’re delighted to start having some choice!
That’s why running into someone like Symantha is so great – she knows her stuff and she can make intelligent recommendations that will save a lot of time. She reminded me about Arnica homeopathic tablets and gel. The tablets are perfect for when we get really stiff muscles (which always seems to happen when the riding condition change a lot – hills, more miles, headwinds, too many days off). The gel is perfect for any strains or bruising, like when Chelsea bruised her neck in the tumble. They are easy to use, non-invasive, low profile, and lightweight. And they work a treat!
One other thing we got was Wounded Soldier, which is a highly recommended herbal salve for sunburn, insect bites, cuts and scrapes (road rash), and even acne. I tried it right away on a vile fire ant bite I had gotten while traversing the grass trying to circle around some road work. It speeded up the healing dramatically. I hope it stays like that!
Symantha also pointed out that the same company that makes EmergenC, which we love and have been using for at least four or five years, also makes an electrolyte replacement drink. We are really looking forward to trying it as it is more natural than the Nuun (which is better than most).
Another big find, we think, is ProBar. It’s an energy bar, and it’s actually made of whole foods. I got to try a sample and it’s definitely the best tasting I’ve run across. At $3.29 per bar it’ll take a sponsorship of some sort to have it more often than as an occasional treat. We opted again for Greens Plus Bars as they really did the job all last summer, and even off our big adventures. The problem is that they tend to “melt”, and we’ll have to be careful about storing them in this heat. At $2.69 apiece they aren’t cheap either, but they do act as a meal replacement while riding.
More organization
So we’re feeling a lot better now with our stash of electrolyte replacement drinks, energy bars, new cook stove coming soon (we had it shipped to a close friend’s house up the coast in FL), and dried packaged food to use on the stove (mmmm…oatmeal for breakfast…).
We also ordered a mallet for the tent stakes (we finally had to borrow our neighbor’s hatchet at the last campground), and we are trying out 3 new lightweight tarps. Everything gets so wet overnight near water (and this is a coastal cultures ride, for heaven’s sake), and then we have so much rain. We are trying the tarps to lay over each trailer (we can keep our Camelbaks and duffle bags under them on the trailers) and to lay over our bikes. We think it will work – we’ll keep you posted…
More bicycle research
We did more research on clothing – we really need some changes in that department. But the biggest thing is that I did is quite bit more research on bicycles. I ran across the Rohloff 500/14 hub, which sounds like a dream come true. www.rohloffusa.com It’s a new concept in gear shifting – there’s no derailleur, and there’s very low maintenance, and the shifting is reputed to be awesome. I also looked extensively at the Thorn Raven bicycles, and wow – they look like just what we want. www.sjscycles.com We still have a few months to go before we have to make a decision, but I love having such great options presenting themselves. After all, our bicycle is a combination of our car and our house, for 3 or 4 years! I want to like it!
Our website and new media “appearances”
We have, in addition to everything else, been updating our website. Our photos are now up, we are keeping the blogs updated, I have started writing some articles, and we have added a media page and a shopping cart page so that donations can be made easily. It’s a great feeling to feel that we are staying on top of things.
I also had a radio interview today with Growing Bolder www.growingbolder.com and Chelsea is answering questions for an interview in South Florida’s City Links. I’ll let you know when they are out.
New website
We are spending today and the next two days on our new website project, and taking the time to make sure it’s in good shape for our part before we take off, as the going live date is next week. It’s very exciting and I want to be sure we do our part in time. We need another laptop if we are to work efficiently from the road, but for now an extra day off from riding is the answer. It looks like we will miss a tropical low, meaning we will miss a lot of soggy weather, too. How perfect is that?
I have to finish writing and packing, so for now I am….
…Signing off from Delray Beach FL