A TYPICAL BIKE + CAMP DAY

This is the kind of stuff I always want to know--not the exciting stuff, but the little stuff in between....

Wake up: in tent, guest room, motel...
Find water. Brush teeth. Pee. Light campstove.
Boil enough water for coffee + oatmeal. Pour water for coffee, use remaining for oatmeal. 
Roll up sleeping mats. If the tent is up, break it down. 
Eat. Sunscreen. Put on cycling clothes.
Pack, unpack, re-pack paniers: try to evenly distribute weight. Try to keep important things on top, heavy things on bottom. What if it's important, and heavy? Shit outta luck. Bury it. 
The day is all about packing and unpacking and repacking. 
Fill up all water containers. Bike.

Feel wind. Sense freedom.

Stop and have a snack, trail-mix, maybe a couple of pitted dates. Bike some more. 
Stop for a photo of something pretty. Pee behind a bush, keep your eyes open for POISON IVY. 
Bike some more. 
Stop and have an orange. Bike some more.
Stop for lunch, beans/sprouts/hotsauce...sardines? Talk to someone for a bit. 
Bike. Stop at a gas-station to see if they'll let you fill up water-bottles. 
Talk to someone. Explain why in the world you'd want to torture yourself like this. (People do ask all the time...)
Bike some more.  
Someone gives you a cold soda from a cooler in their trunk. 
Bike, stop, search for a place to pee. Always searching for a place to pee. 
Decide you can (or can't) make your intended destination. Figure out where you're going to sleep if you can't make it. 
Setup tent. Unpack your life. Make your bed, blow up mat.
Pull out camp stove, sautee some onions....chop some kale, soak some more beans for tomorrow.
Put on headlamps, clean up. Pack stuff into tent. 
Fall into bed.  Massage sore muscles. Look at maps. Make grocery list. Contact future hosts, call campgrounds, research. Think about calling home, too sleepy. 
Feel satisfied.
Hope a snake doesn't come into the tent. 

Sleep.  

Soak Cotton-balls in Vaseline and BURN THEM!

Part of our research, preparation and education over the past months has included listening to a podcast from the Traveling Two. A couple that travels the world by bike interviews other touring cyclists doing all sorts of awesome and crazy things (like cycling for 3 years with twin 9 year olds!).

We've been getting all sorts of good tips and stories--last night we listened to an interview with a Dutch-Austrailian couple who have been biking the world for years and years. Their blog has some great camp cooking tips. One of my favorite ideas was their pharmacy inspired fire-starter: soak/cover cotton balls in vaseline, store them in a zip-loc bag and use them as fire-starters! Sounds not only handy, but FUN too! I can see skewering one of these little things and using it like a torch, good for frightening wolves. The crafty little things people come up with while living the nomadic life....these two are also hilariously obsessed with thier tea-towel, they even cook rice in it. They sold me, tea-towel is officially now on the packing list.