A Hectic Week
I've spent most of the last week running around trying to get everything in order before I leave. All of my possessions have been moved out of my office, off the boat, out of the van, and into my parents' garage. The stuff I decide to keep will soon move into storage. I could probably just have shoved all of it into a storage unit a couple of days ago, and in that case I probably would have been on the road by now. But I've decided to take some extra time for the tedious tasks of organizing things and donating/selling/giving away a bunch of stuff I really don't need anymore. It will make things easier when I return, probably result in smaller storage bills, and now is a perfect time to do it when everything is in one place and I have a pretty good mental inventory from just having moved all of it. Plus I don't really have any hard deadlines at the moment, and it will be satisfying to know things are in order and my life even more simplified.
As far as larger possessions, the van, which has mostly served as a small storage unit for the last several years, is in the process of being donated to charity. There are some complications with the boat, so I'm not quite sure how that will work out yet. I am hoping to get rid of it soon, since I'm ready to live elsewhere when I return, and I'm not so thrilled about the prospect of paying storage for it while I'm gone and it is sitting empty.
On a somewhat related note, I'm also in the process of trying to finalize my gear list and decide what I should take with me and what I should leave behind. Over the last couple of weeks I've been mentally weighing the relatively large amounts of gear I was thinking of taking, and have been considering leaving the panniers and tent behind. Instead, I'd just go with a lightweight backpack strapped to the rear rack to hold most of my gear, together with a handlebar bag to hold stuff that I'll need frequently while riding. Not exactly a conventional bike touring setup, but it does have some advantages that seem appealing. I'd still have full, if rather minimal, camping gear, and the gear list would be similar to other lightweight backpacking and cycling trips I've done in the past, so I know it all works pretty well, at least for shorter trips.
Since it looks like I may need to come back to Seattle for a brief visit to unload the boat in a month or two, I'm thinking I may give the lighter gear list a test run until then, and re-evaluate things after I've spent some time using it on the road.
Speaking of which, I've also been watching the weather and the extended forecast for the Canadian Rockies, and am thinking that I might just head down the Pacific Coast instead. But we'll see what happens when I'm actually ready to leave, hopefully by the end of next week.
As far as larger possessions, the van, which has mostly served as a small storage unit for the last several years, is in the process of being donated to charity. There are some complications with the boat, so I'm not quite sure how that will work out yet. I am hoping to get rid of it soon, since I'm ready to live elsewhere when I return, and I'm not so thrilled about the prospect of paying storage for it while I'm gone and it is sitting empty.
On a somewhat related note, I'm also in the process of trying to finalize my gear list and decide what I should take with me and what I should leave behind. Over the last couple of weeks I've been mentally weighing the relatively large amounts of gear I was thinking of taking, and have been considering leaving the panniers and tent behind. Instead, I'd just go with a lightweight backpack strapped to the rear rack to hold most of my gear, together with a handlebar bag to hold stuff that I'll need frequently while riding. Not exactly a conventional bike touring setup, but it does have some advantages that seem appealing. I'd still have full, if rather minimal, camping gear, and the gear list would be similar to other lightweight backpacking and cycling trips I've done in the past, so I know it all works pretty well, at least for shorter trips.
Since it looks like I may need to come back to Seattle for a brief visit to unload the boat in a month or two, I'm thinking I may give the lighter gear list a test run until then, and re-evaluate things after I've spent some time using it on the road.
Speaking of which, I've also been watching the weather and the extended forecast for the Canadian Rockies, and am thinking that I might just head down the Pacific Coast instead. But we'll see what happens when I'm actually ready to leave, hopefully by the end of next week.
posted by Matt at 11:05
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