Last Night in Town.
It’s officially Friday the thirteenth, just half an hour past midnight. I should be getting a full night’s sleep, but instead I’m up on a mixture of excitement and nervousness while trying to figuring out what’s left to prepare.
The bike is set: full fenders installed, a strong rack mounted with (likely overpacked) waterproof panniers, freshly overhauled drivetrain ready to be stripped in the rain, extra spokes taped to the non-drive chainstay, clipless pedals treated with silicon spray, frame bolts secured with thread locker, and a good-luck blessing bestowed.
I’ve got everything I need, and likely more: tent, sleeping bag, inflatable pad, cookstove, white gas fuel, pot and pan, fork, a small collection of tools and bicycle consumables like cables and tubes, camera, waterproof notebook and pen, sawed-off toothbrush, organ donor identification, headlamp, maps, hardcore rain gear, a change of warm clothes, rope, flip-flops, bike lock, and a book.
Much of my gear is borrowed, and I’m so thankful to the friends who have pitched in to help me put this all together. I couldn’t be doing this without their help.
Later tonight I’ll be getting on a Northbound bus around 9pm with my boxed bike in the carriage below. By tomorrow morning I’ll be in Oregon and on my way to see my brother. While in PDX I’ll stock up on some foodstuffs for the road (and other things I’ve forgotten), call my parents to remind them that I love them, cut off all my hair, and eat lots of pasta and cake.
Sunday morning I’ll hit the road early; it’s a long day’s ride to the coast from Portland. I can’t think of a better way to start the trip, or a better reward for the end of my first day in the saddle, than to pitch my tent by the Pacific ocean.
From there on out it’s a week of riding South. No emails, no RSS feeds, no video-chatting, no friend requests, no homework, no work work, nothing usual. Okay, I admit that there will be a little bit of the usual web activity. I plan to update my twitter feed from the road via SMS messages, which I guess will also show up on my facebook status. Modern messages from affar, feel free to follow along.
Even though my first tour hasn’t yet begun, I feel as though by passing through all these different emotions while preparing —excitement, anxiety, worry, joy— I’ve somehow already passed over a large hurdle. A few weeks ago the idea of going on tour seemed so distant and hard to understand, how do people do it? I wondered. But now that I’m dead set on hitting the road it feels so much more concrete. I feel like I can easily handle this tour, and much larger challenges to come.
And so, bon voyage internets, I’ll see you when I get back.