June 28 is the start of our Adventure! Jessica drove us up to stay at the airport as our flight left the morning of June 29 at 6:00 am. It was bittersweet to leave as Greg, Jessica, Esther as we had just settled into an “easy living” arrangement.
We flew into Dallas-Fort Worth with a 2 hour lay-over. We checked 3 duffel bags containing our trailer “Bob”, tires, bike seats, sleeping bags and tent. Our carryon luggage were our panniers containing our clothes and toiletries.
You may ask how does one prepare for this and what do you take with you? Bruce and I have been training since January 1 of this year. We logged 2100 miles to prepare for the trip. Unfortunately this year we were not able to train in “heat” due to the lack of warm weather in the Pacific Northwest. So the first few days of the ride will be acclimating to the humid and hot weather of Alabama. We are taking 5 changes of clothes, toiletries (thank goodness), tool kit, spare brake pads, tires, tubes, sleeping bags, tent and spare parts for the bike. The new thing for us this time is the addition of more electronic equipment. Our technology includes 2 cell phones, 1 net book, 2 GPSs, a NOOK and a Kindle. For the most part we will be “unplugged” but we have found that technology helps us with weather, hotels, campgrounds and places to eat. (We do not carry food except snacks)
We will journey through 8 states-four of which will be new to us. Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee are the states we have biked through before. Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Indiana are new to us.
For those of you who enjoy the “stats” here are just a few:
· Our bike (Bernice with Bob the trailer) is 12 feet long.
· We will average 65 per day. For example some days maybe 35 miles while others will be in the 70-90 range.
· The total miles we will travel will be close to 2000 miles.
· Our panniers weight about 20 lbs. Our total weight to be carried is 70lbs.
· We will ride 30 days with 6 rest days.
We arrived at the hotel to see our bike sitting in the foyer! I almost cried. The clerk said the bike arrived about 1.5 hours before we did. Whew! Everything got here on time. We only had three miss-haps—a broken mirror, a part that holds the chain is damaged and exploding suntan lotion in the duffel bag. (Sorry Bruce I had another bottle in the pannier.) Of course Bruce had to work for 3 hours to put it together at that moment.
Our first night out in Mobile we went to Wintzelln’s Oyster House a local hang out with great food. Wintzell’s has been in Mobile for over 60 years. I had fresh lump crab cakes while Bruce dined on grilled oysters on the half shell. Gumbo was our first course—oh so good!!!! We topped it off with bread pudding-not quite as good as the bourbon bread pudding in Bardstown, Kentucky.
June 30 was spent working on the bike and riding it to make sure everything was working. We walked around “old historic” Mobile for about 5 miles looking at the historical sites. We learned that the city had a lot of French, Spanish, Native American, African American and European influence. The unique thing we saw were “mardi gras” beads hanging in the trees in the plazas. We also visited an old cemetery where the graves were decorated with beads. (Esther would go nuts!)
We will be off tomorrow. Upon reflection about this journey, I decided to dedicate this ride to my granddaughter, Esther Margaret. May Esther never lose her sense of wonder, adventure and joy!
Happy Trails,
Charlene and Bruce
