Mister Jack

Mister Jack is our travel companion. He is intrepid, though I wouldn't say fearless. He wants to go where we go and he is very adaptable. He doesn't like being left behind. When we kayak, he is Captain Jack. When we cross-country ski, he is Jack of the North. It is only natural that he will accompany us on our big bike trip. Belinda counts on him to be our cuteness ambassador, Dave just hopes he doesn't bite anyone, or get eaten by coyotes. He will be a joy and a trial. He is better entertainment than TV that's for sure. Jack loves to chase things; tennis balls, frisbees, snowballs, and bubbles in the water ... you name it he will chase it ( oh.. let us not leave out cats!). He will travel in a trailer and afoot as conditions allow. He has already bonded with the trailer, in which he sleeps when in camp. We worry a bit about how Jack will adapt to motel culture as he is something of a watch dog. In any case, Jack will add a great deal of richness to our adventure!

New Panniers

Our new panniers arrived and Dave spent part of yesterday fitting them to our bikes. Our old panniers are too worn and tired for a long trip across the US. The new panniers are from Ortlieb and we are very impressed with the quality of construction and material. We can hardly wait to load them up and take them for a shakedown tour. Our touring bikes are made by Bruce Gordon of Petaluma, Ca. and we are very pleased with them. Shortly after getting our new bikes we took them for a tour to Big Sur, Ca. We arrived at the Big Sur campground feeling much fresher than we expected. We think this is at least partly due to the bikes being so well fitted to us. Our other major piece of equipment is a Burley trailer for our companion, Jack. More on Jack in another post, but suffice to say that Jack bonded with his trailer and will be happy with it as his home on our big trip.

First Post

This is our first post. We are preparing for a bike ride from the West coast to the East. We will be leaving sometime in mid or late May. We have been getting everything lined up, but it seems like an overwhelming task to organise the whole thing.