On the road again

Spent the last five days or so generally being lazy around my dad's place. It's been good to catch my breath after an insane semester and visit with my dad and stepmom for a bit. Got a lot of reading time in, took care of some minor trip related stuff, caught up on sleep, and even a little bit of Husqvarna love. Will be catching a ride up to Damascus, VA tomorrow for traildays, then getting out to the coast of VA sometime around Monday or Tuesday with any luck.

There are still a few loose ends to take care of before starting the ride. One thing that's been occupying my thoughts a bit, although in the end it shouldn't be that big of a deal, is how to get between the UPS shipping place over to where I want to actually start the trip. Obviously, at that point I'll have the bike, but the two locations are something on the order of 10 miles of what sounds like (sub)urban territory that I'm completely unfamiliar with. From looking at online maps, the obvious routes involve some pretty big roads, and there's no way I've found to figure out how sane it is to ride them (aka if there's a shoulder.) I'm sure a solution will be apparent when I get there, but nevertheless, it's the main thing that I've been thinking about. Also, I still haven't figured out exactly how to get from either Damascus, VA -where Traildays is- or Hampton, TN -where Hardcore is- over to the coast -where the bicycle will be. That little problem will work itself out too, I think.

There are a couple smallish gear items that I'll likely pick up before starting as well. There's some incidental stuff that I always get together at the beginning of a trip; a rinsed soda bottle half full of denatured alcohol for fuel, a small assortment of rubberbands and zipties (super handy,) some toilet paper, and a couple plastic bags. Basically, the stuff that I either can't fly with or that I end up using up and not thinking to get before it's time to get started. In addition, I'm going to keep my eye out for some pepper spray type stuff for stray dogs that like to chase bikes, have heard they're a bit of an issue in Virginia and, from experience, it's a problem in Kentucky. There are a few products made especially for spraying dogs, mostly intended for postal type people, but they're useful for bikers as well. Suppose I could swing by a grocery store and just get a shaker of crushed pepper - good for a laugh, a little safety, and to kick the mac & cheese up a notch! Might also get a second pair of bike shorts, still debating this one and am thinking I might just try one and see how it goes. The backpacker in me thinks having two isn't really necessary, although it does seem like most bike touring types do carry more than one pair. Most bike touring types carry a lot more than ~15-20 pounds of gear though ;)

So, I'll be getting reunited with the bike in something like 5 days now, then the real bike trip will begin! In the meantime, here are a couple random pictures from this corner of the world. First one is my late grandfather's shop, where I spent many hours learning the finer points of taking stuff apart and occasionally putting it back together. Lots of wood chips, scraped knuckles, dirty grease, narrowly averted
explosions, and a few not so much. Now my dad's using it for clock repair type stuff mostly, it's still a fun place to mess around. Second picture is a quick shot up Duke's Creek - where I used to spend a bunch of time swimming and rearranging rocks as a kid.