Monday, August 4, 2008

Packing Perils

On August 11th I'm heading to Montana, with a friend and a bike to ride through Glacier National Park. Now I don't know about you, but I don't usually get psyched for a trip until I am on the plane. The preparation for the trip is exhausting. I have been on quite a few long distance bike trips before, so hills, weather and all the other incidentals don't really concern me. What's different about this trip is that it's just Karen and I. Which means there will be no support van. For those of you who don't know the importance of a sag wagon, let me just explain a few of the perks I will be doing without on this trip.
1. I will have to carry all my own clothes in 2 small panniers, that pretty much means no new outfit for each evening. Who am I kidding? After biking these hills, I'll be lucky to make it to dinner in sweaty bike clothes. Hell, one of my sports bra will fill up 1 pannier, stuff it with socks and there's my 50lbs. of checked luggage
2. I will have to carry all water, water purifying tools, snacks for fuel and BEAR-B-GONE spray. That's right, "Ther's bear in them ther hills".
3. Carry all my own tools, fix my own flats, pump my own tires. Now, these are all things I can do myself, but it really was nice to wake up every morning and just hop on my tuned up, ready to go bike. The things I do in the name of adventure....
Now as far as the packing goes, believe me when I tell you I will be packing as little as I can get away with. So what if I'm in the same clothes all week? Waaahh! For those of you who know me well, you know how hard that is. Good heavens! I'm going to one of the most beautiful areas in our country. Life is good. To be continued....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was offered a job at the reservation that borders glacier national park..let me know what you think of the area. Val. I'm packing for my cattle drive as we speak...cowgirl up!