I was still working at getting last minute things done this week. I started the week with my official ride to the Atlantic Ocean, and I'm finishing by packing. In between I spent time with friends, and I got my pre-trip haircut. I usually get my hair cut every 4 to 5 weeks. I wear my hair very short normally, but Alan gave me a super-short haircut this time in the hopes that it will last me a little longer. He thinks I should come back with long hair (long for me, that is) - but I think I'll have to do something with it partway across the country. I did promise him that I'd upload some pictures of me with a good case of helmet-head. That will have to wait a few weeks though, because right now it's too short to have my helmet create ridges in my hair!
My house has pretty much looked like a cyclone hit it all week, but that's all changed now. The trailer is packed. Or maybe I should say it's in the first version of packed. Space is a bit tighter than I'd hoped. Bruce was right when he told me that the trailer was both too big and not big enough... Tomorrow's task is to take everything out and do a little reorganizing.
I'm carrying the stove, fuel, cookware, and food in a single pannier, and everything else in the trailer. At least that's what I'm planning right now - it could change tomorrow. Based on the way everything fits in the trailer (tight), I may take the tent out of the trailer and strap it to the rack. I guess it's a good thing that I decided to get a rack for the bike so that I could carry the stove along with the (smelly) fuel in a pannier instead of in the trailer, because there is no way the cooking gear would fit in the trailer with everything else!
Update on Sunday morning
I just repacked the trailer. I was carrying packing materials for the bike - felt bags and assorted tubes to slip over bike components to minimize (prevent) damage from packing. That was pretty silly, since I don't need the materials until I come home, probably in September. I removed that package, and now the fit in the trailer is much more reasonable. I'll give the packing materials to my friend Barb and ask her to ship them to me at the end of my trip. (Or I'll just buy some cheap towels or fabric and wrap the bike with that...) I also moved the spare tires to the bottom of the case - instead of taping them to the lid. I've packed my emergency materials (spare bike parts, etc.) - stuff I hope not to need to often - in and around the tires. That seems to work well.
I feel much better now. Everything seems to fit, and I shouldn't have any problems repacking each day. I know the first attempt at packing is usually not the last one!
This looks like a lot of stuff - is it going to fit in the trailer? And no, the Concept 2 rower is NOT going on this trip!
Packed in the trailer... it's tight, but it seems to fit, and it is possible to close the case. The pile of stuff in the trailer seemed to get smaller as the trip went on. I sent a few things home, and maybe everything else compressed!
