It's Not Over...

I finished A ride to Key West. But because I didn't finish the entire ride, there will be more to come. It has been quite an experience. That's for sure. There were times I didn't think I could ride that kind of distance any more. It's always helpful to learn one's new limits. I'm not 30 anymore. Or 40. Or 50. Or even 60.

Over 1,000 miles in two months. Over 2.5 containers of 55spf sunscreen. We don't care to tell you how much this trip cost! But it wasn't a budget trip by any means. I'll need a new pair of bike shoes, a new helmet, and a new riding vest.

All of the positive thoughts, sponsorships, and comments meant the world to me. I owe a million thanks to DL for putting up with this whole thing. And there are special thanks for those who allowed us to share their driveways, yards, meals, laundry, showers, and more. And to my family who looked after mom in my absence. And friends who looked after our homestead.

Most of all, thanks to the dedicated folks who have spent hours, days, weeks, months, and years, to ensure that there are safe bicycle routes throughout the country. Please consider supporting your local and/or national organizations that make cycling a viable alternative for traveling short or long distances.

Reminder to look at the "pages" section for future daily ride posts. I'll post a comment so you'll know to check out a ride day when it happens.

Thank you.

Reminder Regarding Daily Pages

For those of you who receive e-mails regarding updates, you may not be receiving daily pages updates. I receive an email if I have posted a "post" but not if I have posted a "page." If you're viewing on something other than a phone, you're likely to see a new daily page. But if you look on your phone only, you may not see the daily posts in the form of pages. If you're in this boat, somewhere on your mobile blog site, you should see a link to the "web version" of the blog. This shows the pages over on the right hand side of the blog. Each day (or every couple of days), I post a page related to that day/s ride/s. 

Resuming Ride October 28!

I'm headed back out on the road Monday, October 28. Because of the trip interruption, we have made some itinerary adjustments. Consequently, I am removing the prelim schedule that we had posted previously. 

We are picking up the last third of the ride on a date very similar to where I would have been if I had been riding all along. I've ridden the first third (approximately). I will be riding the last third, ending in Key West as planned the week before Thanksgiving. 

My plan is to try to ride as much of North and South Carolina and Georgia as I can late fall and winter. In Spring we plan to head to Connecticut and ride down to North Carolina, finishing the middle third.

Our hearts are full with the love and support we have felt over the last few weeks surrounding the illness and death of DL's dad. He will be missed. 

We're excited to head South and share our adventures. I'm sure come loading-up-and-heading-to-Savannah time, we'll hum "On the Road Again" at least once.

Thanks, y'all, for hanging in there!

Trip Interruption Update

Loyal followers and barely interested alike...

I woke up with horrible vertigo this morning. Nausea and then, naturally, vomiting. We had plans for the evening to see our dear friends LeeAnne Hutchison and Grant Neale. Alas 7up and saltines are my fine cuisine today.

DL reserved our current campsite for another night, knowing I should not ride tomorrow. 

In the meantime, DLs dad has become much sicker. Hospice comes in the morning. We've decided it’s best to postpone the rest of the trip for now. 

Plans, as we know, are just that. If able, we'll start afresh in a few weeks back up here in New Jersey. Or we’ll start farther south and come back to pick up this part in the spring. Whether or not I can travel in a car tomorrow remains to be seen. Meclizine and Epley Maneuver on board. Much better this afternoon. Even had some soup. 

Our plan is to be home in a couple of days. Playing it by ear from there.

Rest assured, we'll let y'all know when we're back up and running.

Another Update: 2 October

Niantic, CT

Today started as many days start: Coffee and a Nature Valley Oats n Honey Granola Bar. Then I received a text from our host that she had left homemade blueberry scones with some maple butter in the kitchen and to help myself. Wow emoji! So I made another cup of coffee and had an absolutely delicious blueberry scone.

Today was the first day that I had to ready the camper for a trip by myself. Moreover, put it on the trailer hitch and drive it out of the yard, out of the driveway, and drive to Niantic. The driving part is not the problem. I had a pull-through (thank Goodness) reserved, so all good. This is also the first time I have had to set up totally by myself. It all worked out nicely. I never once have taken all the work that DL does in this adventure for granted. Never once. Today reminded me why I don't.

It was one of the hottest days I've had. There were records set here in Connecticut. Here, the weather station said it was 87, feels like 89. The car said 96 when Jack and I arrived, and 90 when I returned from a little shopping expedition to Mystic. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 58. What a difference a day makes. (Understand, Georgia friends, I am not trying to compare the heat to your daily experiences. The local TV weather people were commenting that they thought beach-going weather had come to an end, and fall temps were likely here to stay. I wonder when we can say that back home.)

I visited the Olde Mistick Village in Mystic this afternoon. We had looked all over Connecticut for a souvenir shop, and had yet to find one. Today's visit accomplished my goal. The "shoppes" in the Village were as one might expect. As usual, I made sure to snap a pic with a whatever. In this case a gnome. When I came back to Roxy and looked at the picture, I realized he really did look like he might be after me. I had taken the attack photo first to send to my dear friend who is no friend of the gnome. If one notices the hand reaching out, one can see how there may be something to that distrust.

A nice light rain has been falling off and on, and the temp is delightful tonight. I was hoping to cycle around tomorrow, but I believe the rain is going to keep me from that exploration.

Trip Update: Tuesday, 1 October

The forward progress is on hold, and we hope that is temporarily. A family emergency required her to fly back to Atlanta, at least for a few days. Jack, Mel and Roxy, and I are awaiting news as to our options.

This was a possibility we recognized before we started.. We knew it could happen, and we hoped that it wouldn't. We hope to re-start the ECG riding soon. I'm also looking at places I can park, ride part of a section, and then back to the car. Then the next day go to the end of that section and ride to the place where I stopped the day before, and double back.

I did make good use of the access to seafood today. That was a great choice. Here is an oyster po-boy at a restaurant in Stratford. The oysters were delicious.

Comments Update

I have read what I can read, and I have adjusted what I think I can adjust. I have sent feedback regarding the situation. Bottom line: I don't think you can post a comment on my blog no matter what kind of street cred you might have. It looks like this is not just a problem for me. Many users have posted in the Blogger Community about the issue. Hopefully Google/Blogger will step up and give us some usable information for getting comments back up rather than depending on the Community to solve it for them. (Shrugging shoulders emoji)
Sorry for the inconvenience. It truly is unfortunate that I can't hear your feedback, but thanks for the very kind words from other media!

9/16 Update Update. Looks like comments are live and well. Thanks to the Google for whatever transpired.

Pre-Trip Update

I will be adding to the section, DAILY TRIP POSTS (on the right side of the blog), from here on out. This will prevent one from having to scroll. It's gottin' real up in here, y'all. Thanks for following.

Planning: Update

Wow! It is July already. A lot going on readying and training.

Homebase

After lots of looking and weighing our options, we decided on a travel trailer. We wanted something small enough to manage, but large enough to spend almost every night in a different place AND carry Jack (the old man cat). Traveling with a pet is not always easy. One cannot always stay in a motel without a substantial surcharge. In any event, staying in our own bed every night tipped the scale for us. For this, we needed a car that could tow something bigger than a bed-only teardrop or pop-up.

Our first purchase was the Subaru Ascent with the total tow package and a brake controller. It tows 5,000 pounds. The next purchase was the trailer. We settled on a Sunset Park RV Manufacturing Sun-lite 16BH. It had many of the features we were looking for, but we also added a few.

--separate eating/sitting space from bed

--larger RV-type refrigerator with separate freezer

--toilet and separate shower

--great storage

--Jack-It bike rack for two

--power tongue

--3500 pound GVWR

Roxy and Mel (Melange)

Training

 June was a jump-start to ride training. By the end of the month, I was up to 30-miles. That makes those 40-50-mile days a distinct possibility.

This training coincided with June’s Great Cycle Challenge USA. If you’re not familiar with it, here is some info. Every two minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. And every week, 38 children die. Because over 15,700 American children are diagnosed with cancer every year, those who participate areriding to give these kids the brighter futures they deserve. We believe that any one individual can make their personal impact to fight cancer and save little lives. The Challenge started in 2015, and after just four years, the event has grown to become one of the biggest cycling events in the United States. It is a national fundraising initiative of the Children's Cancer Research Fund (CCRF). Check them out, and learn more at the “About Us” link there.

With the help of my generous sponsors, I beat my modest $250 goal, even though I had to adjust my riding mileage goal due to a knee injury, a road/trail riding delay of 10 days, and some killer heat index numbers during the bulk of my road riding in Wilmington, NC. A couple of days it was already into the mid 80s by 9:00am with heat indices in the mid 90s.

Here is my longest ride in Wilmington, courtesy of Relive.

I’m spending most every day in the saddle for some amount of time. It is tough to ride for hours on a trainer in the living room no matter how exciting the tv or audio book may be. But this flat-road chick would not cut it on the mountain roads around home.

Gear

Active touring always leads to new gear purchases. I have a few that I’m excited about. 

Visibility. The Trek Bontrager Flare RT rear light. It is about a one-inch cube that puts out quite a light. With the three other rear lights at various spots, if someone doesn’t see me, they are either on their phones or their eyes are closed. Feeling pretty good about the headlight and front flashing light on my helmet as well. My helmet is adorned with a multitude of DOT reflective stickers, and there are reflective tubes on spokes for great side visibility. In addition, I will have one of those day-glo orange nerd vests while I’m on the road.

Storage. On long rides where services may be limited, it is important to carry what one might need. Basics like water, food, rain gear, and tools are essential. I really didn’t want panniers, and I thought perhaps a trunk bag for my rack was sufficient. But one never knows.

Enter the Topeak MTX Trunkbag EXP. It is designed to fit my back rack by sliding along the center and latching onto the front of the rack. The inside has a divided compartment inside, and the bag is water repellent. It will hold an additional water bottle, which is helpful since my bike only has space for one.

The sides of the bag unzip and fold out as small panniers. There is a shoulder strap if I need it, but it also has a nice carrying handle on top, bungies, and a mesh pocket. I also added the rain cover for the bag and panniers which fold into a built-in pouch. It slips nicely into the pocket on the inside top of the bag. 

Here is the pannier unfolded.

The pannier with the rain cover on. 

Note the reflective triangle.

The inside of the bag. Note the item in the pouch on the inside top of the bag. That is the self-contained pouch into which the rain cover folds.

Please consider following the blog by one of the methods at the bottom of the page. (Be patient scrolling down, please. If you haven't already read the older entries, now is your chance! )

I'm not sure if there will be any more entries before the ride's start. Check back if you don't subscribe.

Trip start ETA -- September 9.