Touring - Lost my job... Get on the bike and ride?

Okay, so I've lost my job. Not that it is breaking me up or anything, I am really sort of relieved that I no longer work where I was working. I have had this recurring dream/nightmare of riding to the four corners. I have read a lot of the on-line journals, where folks share their adventures, and how things just came together and they didn't have to think about it too hard, and got up one morning loaded the bike and road off. That's a little Forrest Gumpish. But the old brain goes right to let's load the Trek 7500 up and go. I have all the stuff to do the trip. I even have sort of a bankroll to do it. Part of the fun of a trip like this isn't affording it, it is how to do it, and keep doing it.
Lurking here I know a bit more than when I first started posting here. I still have a few questions, like what was the biggest trial you faced on the road? Like the loneliness, the tediousness of a week into headwinds in flat Nebraska, or getting hit by bears in Yellowstone, or the drivers in Tennesee, or not showering in a week.
I'm not ready to just head off, there are a couple job interviews this week that could turn into something, one with a bike shop! There is also what to do with my stuff before I head off, and where and how exactly I am going to take this trip, it that is really what I'm going to do...

Well I say, go for it. There really isn't much on the road, especially in American that you can't handle. The loneliness might be an issue, but really it is up to you how much you interact with other people. One thing to be ware of IMO is the compulsion to just press on. You got to get off the road often, walk around, meet people or the cycling trip will reveal little more then the views you can see from the road. The advantage of the bicycle is that you can be on and off it in a few minutes, you can go down paths, ride it across that field to look at the bluff. Don't worry about the mileage, if you are doing much more than 50 miles in a day, then you aren't really spending the time to see the country.

Naisme -

Part of the attraction of a long bike trip is setting aside all the worldly things. I would hate to calculate all the money I've spent (the smaller portion, since I bike cheap) and all the money that I have not earned (the larger portion, by far). What have I received in return?? More than money can buy. I first biked for the scenery and the achievement. Then I biked to meet people. Now I bike just to bike - the experience itself. Kinda like a Tibetan prayer-wheel.

Don't sweat the details - they can be worked out. Sublet your apartment - put your stuff in somebody's attic or storage (It's a good time to have a yard sale and a trip to the dump.) - have somebody look after Fido or Fluffy - and go!

Best - J

PS If the job don't come thru - check this out - You are welcome to come along.
http://JohnnyGunn.crazyguyonabike.com

One thing that would worry me about a deal like this is that constant nagging in the back of my mind saying "what are you gonna do when your done touring." For me to do something like this I would need to have some sort of a plan... something I knew I would be doing when I was done. I can say this after traveling the Country for 3 years in a MH with the wife and 2 kids. We lost our business and just hit the road... but ALWAYS in the back of my mind I wonder what we are gonna do when we are done... and it's detracted MUCH from our experience. I worry about **** too much so maybe it's just me LOL... I would do it though, don't get me wrong, just have some kind of a plan.. something you can tell yourself... "hey, have fun while I'm doing this and when I'm done I'm gonna do THIS" You may not end up doing it of course... it may not even matter...
D

Holy **** Johnny.... Your diary on crazyguy is frickin AMAZING!!!!!!! I'm not sure what I'm gonna be doing this midsummer but if there is anyway I can join you for a couple of days.. maybe even a week or two I'd do it in a heartbeat!!!!! You have a good eye for a photograph too.... nice site
D

Well, the situation is this, I am not married, I have a cat, all the stuff I have in the apartment can go back on the junk pile. I have big van that I can sell and take the money and a bike and get off the grid for a while. I have the tent the panniers, the bike with the racks, the stove, the fuel bottles. I think the one thing that I would like that I don't have is a water filter/purifyier. My fear is that once I get out there I will find that I will continue just to do it. Sort of like Forrest when at the ocean, he turned around and headed back.
I don't know where or how it will end, but it could be fun to just ride, the tibetian wheel thing. I love the bike, I love travel, and then there is writing about it. Crazy guy on a bike is a great site, that's where I got my inspiration. I forgot whose journal it was that I read, but a woman did the ride across country on a folder. That's quite an adventure. Ken Keiffer's site was also one of inspiration. I started reading those when I went to France a few years ago, and did a short tour there.
I have a lot of thoughts and wonder what is going to be next. If I take up the trail, would I be able to sit down like Least Heat Moon, and write a book as fun as Blue Highways, or Studs Trekel and Work? That is sort of the goal, at the end to wind up in some relative's basement guest room with my laptop, and write about the trip.
Oh and my land lord has said he'd take the cat.

Cats are like furniture. Give it to somebody and go tour.

jamawani, what a trip!

Cats are not like furniture.

Uh-Ooohhhh -

I suspect this might become a cat thread. But of my three beasts, Stinkums is totally motivated by adventure - she wants out first thing in the morning - Big Wu is my large economy model who is totally motivated by food - and Betsy needs constant petting and affection. So, my vote is that they're not like furniture.

Best - J

Cats are like furniture.

Careful there, Krispi.

Now, a serious answer. A number of years ago, I was somewhat at loose ends and decided to take six months to tour Europe. All I knew at the beginning was that I had a bike, some cycling gear, and a ticket to Athens in March and a ticket home from Ireland in September.

The tour turned out to be perhaps the single best decision I ever made. I brought a camera, kept a journal and did in fact sell some stories and photos to some magazines. I later became a professional writer and photographer, and that's what I've been doing ever since. I had no clue that this was going to be the way it would work out. If I hadn't hit the road on my bike, I'd probably be selling insurance or running a car wash right now.

One thing about Europe (as opposed to America), there are zillions of hostels, which, if you're on your own, are a godsend. They're cheap. You can usually camp outside for half the price and then use the indoor cooking, eating, showering and socializing facilities. In addition, camping is allowed (or at least widely accepted) in places like public parks, soccer fields, people's yards, etc. In fact, there's a good chance people will, often enough, invite you into their homes for the night. It happened to me more times than I can remember.

If you've ever had a hankering to see the Acropolis, the Collesium, the Alps, the Eiffel Tower, while getting to know an entirely different culture, I recommend considering Europe.

Wherever you go, grab the chance now, before you get saddled down with a mortgage, kids, etc. I can't imagine that you'll regret it. Just make sure your cat has a good home.

Last September I quit the job I had for quite a number of years ... sold, gave away, tossed, and packed up my stuff, dropped it off in my parent's basement ... and flew to Australia with my bicycle to tour for 3 months.

I still have a few questions, like what was the biggest trial you faced on the road?

1. It happened a bit too fast. I didn't realize the magnitude of the departure factor and spent the month of September rushing around in a panic trying to get everything done. As a result, I ended up getting rid of a lot more stuff than I'd planned on (which was tough for me - security stuff), and in the chaos, I had very little time to keep up my training, and no time to take practice runs with my bicycle and panniers to weed out all the things I really didn't need to take with me.

2. I took WAY too much stuff, and then after all the heart-break of getting rid of so much stuff just before I left, I had to leave behind (in Sydney) a whole bunch of the stuff I had brought with me shortly after I started the tour.

3. I wasn't prepared for the style of touring my cycling partner had in mind. He is a "press on" type of guy who wanted to cover a certain distance every day and over some of the toughest terrain while I had in mind a slower more relaxed pace. I spent a good part of the tour in a state of exhaustion.

If I were to do it all over again, I'd take the time to make sure everything back home was settled (the chaos I'd left behind was constantly on my mind); I'd pack a lot differently and take the time to go on some practice rides/short tours with the load so that I could work out the bugs (thus saving myself some extra stress, work, and the money I spent mailing various things home along the way); and I'd ride at my own pace so that I could really enjoy the whole thing.

You sound like you're at a good time to do something like this ... think about it ... and start preparing soon even if you don't plan to hit the road for a while.

just sell you stuff and go. I did it three times ,twice on a bike across the country. once around the country in a old Volvo for nearly a year with a witch(wiccan) named judy. Each time I came back and put things back together within a few months. This time of Year I would suggest starting in Southern California and working your way northeast to Maine

I'm actually planning the same thing. Gonna sell 'donation' brochures and have a photographic journal website with a donate button. See if I can't do it started on less than a thousand, and almost self-sustained the whole way.

I figure, having a set of tee shirts that say something along the likes of "In the Footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Heinz Stucke" in the front, and "This Acolyte of the Road asks of your help" or something shorter and bigger with the same effect. However, I don't know if anyone has tried this in the USA yet, and I heard Heinz Stucke (http://www.bikechina.com/ct-heinzstucke1z.html) never really did try it in the USA, although that didn't stop people stealing from in the USA when he did go through (hitchhiking).

So, good luck, and maybe we'll meet on the road somewhere and trade notes.

-Dio

DO IT
The positive influences that will enter your life once you start will FAR outweigh any negatives
A job when and if you return?? A minor poblem plus you may find someplace to live that is far better than where you are now living
Lonliness? Smile a lot whenever and whereever you stop. Talk to every one. Bicycles bring out the curiousity factor in most people.
Weather?Alter your schedule so a down day if its raining, or worse.isn't a minus mileage day
Keep a rich, rich treat in the bottom of your bags to eat when things look kinda bleak. For me its an apple with REAL P-Nut butter,or M+Ms if I'm in the country... and when in a city if I can locate a Whole Foods Store, or Wild Oats Store REAL chocolate from Belguim.
Start living out of your bags a month before you leave, best way to cut down on things and weight. Sleep in the tent and sleeping bag
Pets are the biggest problem. It breaks my heart when I have to leave him with friends, and it breaks their hearts when I return to reclaim him.
Unusual, unfamiliar situations become the norm.During a real "trash mover and gully washer", I took shelter under an overhang of what was a "heavy biker" bar and was eating something when some guys came out and said to bring my bike and self inside out of the rain. So I did,one of the best rest stops of my trip,They were friendly, curious as kittens,about my bike and gear and insisted that I share their pizza

Starting off the first morning was the hardest part until I put my mind in the frame that this was the start of a NEW day and time. Now the first push off with a loaded bike means I can head anywhere I want to go

I was stopped once in a rest area in the upper midwest when hi-way patrol man stopped and started chatting with me.He said he often did it because cyclists seemed to him to be the most relaxed travelers he had a chance to meet, and allowed him to put his mind in neutral for a short time. Few things fazed them, and obviously were not in a hurry.
The oddest thing about a long bike trip is meeting folks who think riders are destitute and offer to buy something for you to eat or offer a few bux, "to help you out".Lunch I ocassionally accept, but the money I always refuse.Many seem to equate a bike as being a bike, you know like their kids have, instead of a fine piece of machinery when loaded as mine is when traveling being worth a few 1000$

Your trip, when you do it will be the most rewearding thing you ever accomplish

I agree. just do it. I know I am. I lost my job on feb. 14 ,2005 I started riding a whole lot after that and plan to leave next mon 3-21-05 . I am not sure how far I can go but the first leg is a little over 200 miles to the wifes aunts house. if that goes well I'll backtrack to the northern teir and head west. I dont have any money to do this,and intend to work my way across. ok I lied I have around $500 to start ,but i figure most larger cities have day labor type places, or I could fall back on my farm hand skills.most farmers will feed you and pay you a bit for cleaning out the farring house on a hog farm,if you dont mind that kinda work.

I have been wanting to do this since I was 16. now I am 33 and decided that there cant be a good enough reason not to do it. I am still overweight,unemployed,basically have no money, married with pets. right now I have no reponsabilities that cant be put off for a couple month's. or longer if she dont like it!.

good luck with the job situation and make sure you enjoy what you do,no matter what that is

I saw you post in the fixie/ss forum and remembered reading this with great interest last year.

endless summer new jersey to mexico on a single speed (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?o=as&doc_id=339&v=0)

Man, I don't know. I love this idea. I am not really sure that it is the idea of the ride, or just the romance of the road. I tend to be a romantic, and Keroac really held interest for me, but so does Sommerset Maugham, the Razor's Edge, is a great follow the road less traveled by story. It is too bad it seemed cheapened by Bill Murray's portrayal.
I have a couple irons in the fire. The day before I got fired, a bike shop I'd sent a resume to, called to set up an interview, that's this week. And my part time job is suggesting that I might come back full time. That's all going on in the back of my head, while I sit and read books on traveling, hiking, getting off the grid. I sort of feel like I'm on the edge of the cliff looking into the abyss, and wonder is it safe to jump. Of course posting here I will get the answers I hope to hear, DO IT. And we all know how difficult it is, to just do it, yet it just sits there eating at me. It's been eating at me for a long time, 16? Yeah that's about right, and life has always seemed to get in the way, and yet it is also that very thing that I long to explore on the bike. I probably won't be happy until it is saited. I'm 47 and I have always wanted to go off and do this. I did it with my family as a kid in a station wagon, with a futon mat to sleep on. We did summer car tours of the south, saw all the Civil War Battlefields. And my grandparents did the same thing. But some how I can't see this bike thing as a viable way of touring, like it can't be successful unless there are comforts of home with me, a bed, a shower, food, checking account, cell phone, a pay check reminding me that I am underpaid and over taxed. And what will I do if I'm bored, respoke my wheels?
I have a couple months to think this out and figure out if I really want to head off or not. I appreciate all the advice. I don't know why I'm putting it off, but I am. Funny though, I woke this morning and rather than get out and work on getting a job, I sat around the apartment fooling around until I could go get my check at my part time job.
I have expressed this desire with friends, and they have said they are jealous. that's not a bikg help. I think in a way I am looking for someone to talk me out of this.

naisme, why don't you plan to go for a short tour and see how it goes - plan something for a few weeks, or a month, or so. It's not so long that you've got to uproot your entire life, and it will give you a good idea if you actually like touring or not. I don't know if you've mentioned anywhere, but have you ever done any bicycle touring? If not, go for a long weekend, or a week first.

See, the idea of touring is romantic ... but touring itself has moments that are far from romantic. There are those times where you're in a cold, driving rain with nothing to look forward to but trying to set up a wet tent and get a few hours of sleep in a damp sleeping bag. Or those times when the sun has set and you're still out in the middle of nowhere with no sign of civilization (and food!) in sight. Or those times when you've crashed and injured yourself and you've got only what you've brought with you to stave off infection for a couple days till you get to civilization. That's all a part of a long, long tour.

Of course, on the other hand ... there's something to be said for swimming in a tropical ocean while everyone else is slaving away at their desks back home in the middle of winter ... :D


And what will I do if I'm bored, respoke my wheels?

If you ride the pace I did on my recent tour, you won't be bored! It was all I could do to help set up camp and eat before collapsing into bed to sleep.

Naisme - Lots of folks here cheering you on... touring is great. BUT...

Only *you* know if it's the right thing for you. I could relate my own experience of stepping off the treadmill, and believe me, if you give me half a chance I will. However, you write "I think in a way I am looking for someone to talk me out of this." But you're also looking for people to say "DO IT." Are you looking for permission, or a reassurance that it will all work out? Look inside. Advice of strangers on the internet is not going to steer you where you need to go. If you have good friends, listening to what *you say to them* about your decision making process might help you decide. Maybe you know in your heart of hearts, but you don't like the answer. I bet you know yourself enough to know how to figure it out - are you a baby-step-taker? A deep-end-jumper?

Loneliness and boredom? Headwinds? Scary drivers? Bears? That stuff can happen, but for me, anyway, worrying about it is way worse than dealing with it. You may find great personal growth in overcoming your fears. Or you may find great discomfort. Or both. I found bike touring to be an amazing learning experience.

Want all the comforts of home? Well, how much do you want them? There's a time-money trade off... you can buy as much of that stuff as you want, but the more you spend the sooner you'll have to get a job. Bed/shower/hot meal every night? Stay in motels. Want to stay on the road forever? You'll need to conserve $, might have to free camp and eat beans and rice, learn how to dumpster dive. Everyone as a different price point, different stuff that's important to them in terms of comfort.

To answer your original question, I guess the biggest trial was that I got tired of every conversation being a first conversation. It's wonderful to meet so many new people, but there is a lack of depth of relationship that becomes wearing. But your biggest trial will likely be something else.

good luck with your decision...

Anna
PS, iodine tablets are way cheaper and lighter than a water filter... only had to use them a couple of times on my XC trip. I was road-based though - if you are going off road/wilderness, that would be different.

The hardest part of a big change like a long bike tour isn't the rain, or the headwinds. It's now. Trying to choose you're path. Once you make a commitment and you're on your way, that's when you you feel empowered and energized. I agree with Valygrl. It's you're trip and you're decision. And I'm just a stranger on the Internet, pencil pusher in an office. But I have been in you're place and a part of me wants you to experience the good things I did. Whatever you decide, good luck!

Man, I don't know. I love this idea. I think in a way I am looking for someone to talk me out of this.

Honestly? You've already decided to not go. This is just public hedging... you're looking for reasons to validate your decision- yep, the one that you've already made... and that's to stay at home.

You wanted some truth & honesty... ya got it.

PS... That's just it if you think about it... you love the IDEA of it but the reality is a different deal altogether.

If you were going to go... there would have been no post from you at all... you'd be 210 miles down the road by now.

Not being a hard@ss about this or you... just cutting through the thick haze of reality vs. fantasy... truth vs. dream.

Man, I don't know. I love this idea. I am not really sure that it is the idea of the ride, or just the romance of the road. I tend to be a romantic, and Keroac really held interest for me, but so does Sommerset Maugham, the Razor's Edge, is a great follow the road less traveled by story. It is too bad it seemed cheapened by Bill Murray's portrayal.
I have a couple irons in the fire. The day before I got fired, a bike shop I'd sent a resume to, called to set up an interview, that's this week. And my part time job is suggesting that I might come back full time. That's all going on in the back of my head, while I sit and read books on traveling, hiking, getting off the grid. I sort of feel like I'm on the edge of the cliff looking into the abyss, and wonder is it safe to jump. Of course posting here I will get the answers I hope to hear, DO IT. And we all know how difficult it is, to just do it, yet it just sits there eating at me. It's been eating at me for a long time, 16? Yeah that's about right, and life has always seemed to get in the way, and yet it is also that very thing that I long to explore on the bike. I probably won't be happy until it is saited. I'm 47 and I have always wanted to go off and do this. I did it with my family as a kid in a station wagon, with a futon mat to sleep on. We did summer car tours of the south, saw all the Civil War Battlefields. And my grandparents did the same thing. But some how I can't see this bike thing as a viable way of touring, like it can't be successful unless there are comforts of home with me, a bed, a shower, food, checking account, cell phone, a pay check reminding me that I am underpaid and over taxed. And what will I do if I'm bored, respoke my wheels?
I have a couple months to think this out and figure out if I really want to head off or not. I appreciate all the advice. I don't know why I'm putting it off, but I am. Funny though, I woke this morning and rather than get out and work on getting a job, I sat around the apartment fooling around until I could go get my check at my part time job.
I have expressed this desire with friends, and they have said they are jealous. that's not a bikg help. I think in a way I am looking for someone to talk me out of this.

Well this is what happened to me in 2002 my then 16 year old son and I decided to ride our bikes down the Oregon Coast it was an incredible exsperience. We really didn't know what we were doing but we learned as we went. This past summer we decided to start in Canada and ride to the California border. All I can say is I remember thinking that if I didn't have a family to have to provide for that I would just sell everything and live on my bike. Don't mis-understand I love having a family and providing for them. But most of our lives are spent buying things, maintaining things, insuring things, housing things things things we live in "things" hell.

On a bike you get rid of all the "things", it is this wonderfully liberating feeling. I believe a bike trek would allow a chance to clear your head and get a new perspective of what you want to do in your life. Now regarding the comforts of home, you have all of those they are just simpler. I love my cozy little tent, you can bring your cell phone just don't turn it on all the time. You may want to try the Pacific Coast as a first tour as it is really set up to do this with campsites and showers evenly paced. Being bored, what are you thinking everyday is an adventure. Being lonely? Well I did have people riding with me and that was fun. But I liked riding on my own, being on a bike people tend to want to talk to you and find out about your trip. I found people treated me like a super hero. Yes the life of a biker is truly the good life. You need to stop with the worrying and get out and do this.

I'm 47 as well, my bike treks have just been one of many great adventures. We were watching our slides with our kids the other night it was of when my wife and I were first married and we took backpacks and headed off to the south pacific for 4 weeks. Hitch hiking, sleeping on the deck of freightships, sleeping on the beach, traveling to such cool places as Tonga, Cook Islands, New Zealand ect. Later that night my youngest was laying by me and says, dad you have done so many cool things how were you able to do it". My answer was this, I said Mark most people are always saying someday I'm going to do such and such, but the somedays never comes. I've never allowed the somedays to ever stop me from just doing it.

MBD

Well, the situation is this, I am not married, I have a cat, all the stuff I have in the apartment can go back on the junk pile. I have big van that I can sell and take the money and a bike and get off the grid for a while. I have the tent the panniers, the bike with the racks, the stove, the fuel bottles. I think the one thing that I would like that I don't have is a water filter/purifyier. My fear is that once I get out there I will find that I will continue just to do it. Sort of like Forrest when at the ocean, he turned around and headed back.
I don't know where or how it will end, but it could be fun to just ride, the tibetian wheel thing. I love the bike, I love travel, and then there is writing about it. Crazy guy on a bike is a great site, that's where I got my inspiration. I forgot whose journal it was that I read, but a woman did the ride across country on a folder. That's quite an adventure. Ken Keiffer's site was also one of inspiration. I started reading those when I went to France a few years ago, and did a short tour there.
I have a lot of thoughts and wonder what is going to be next. If I take up the trail, would I be able to sit down like Least Heat Moon, and write a book as fun as Blue Highways, or Studs Trekel and Work? That is sort of the goal, at the end to wind up in some relative's basement guest room with my laptop, and write about the trip.
Oh and my land lord has said he'd take the cat.Oh for God sakes, GO!!! Go - before they get the shackles back on you. Take it from me - I'm 55 years old. There are very few times in life when you have the freedom and oportunity to take off and live for the moment. Go now while you still can! You will never regret it.

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each." Henry David Thoreau

I agree with the last couple posts. GO, GO, GO! The odds of you regretting going are very slim but the odds of you regretting you didn't go are very very high.

I am 46, wonderful wife and two kids. I can only dream about what you are thinking of doing (maybe after the kids are in college in a couple years). It sounds like the time is ripe for you to do this now. All the cards are in place. Take the next month to get your personal things in order and go for it. There will always be another job waiting for you when you get back. And then let us all know how it went.

The hardest part of a big change like a long bike tour isn't the rain, or the headwinds. It's now. Trying to choose your path.

So true . . . a major difficulty of a tour is getting started. What worked for me is that I had told everybody I knew that I was going to do this huge tour. But when the time came to leave, I was super worried, didn't think I was ready, my life was in chaos, etc etc . . . I really didn't want to do it. BUT, by that point I couldn't back down and let everybody down, so I had to leave. It was all "downhill" from there.

PS: cats are for all intents and purposes equal to furniture.

PS: cats are for all intents and purposes equal to furniture.

If only you knew what cats said about people.

Okay, so I've heard back on the interview this week, don't have the job. And Jamawani's extended an invitation to ride with him. I've pulled out my maps, and am sitting here in a coffee shop wathcing the snow coming down, wondering what the first steps should be.
I don't have the bike running yet, I have that as a project this weekend. I have tyres to get. I don't have much more than what I have at the moment that I am going to need to get. I have a bunch of stuff to get rid of. I can use April to get some of this stuff taken care of do some shake down rides, and sell the stuff I can, and then I guess it's hit the road. Hopefully the snow isn't going to be much of a factor. but it has me thinking better about heading west from here, that maybe heading south would be more advantageous, getting through some of the hotter states while they are still cool, and move north from there. This is just strange to be considering this as an alternative.
I could move faster but I figure that I'll take the time to get it all in some sort of order. I've been considering setting up mail drops, from what I've read it seems the average speed of most tours is 60 miles a day. I had thought I could manage 100 miles, having done a couple centuries, but I wasn't riding fully loaded, or having to find a spot to set up my camp, cook and the like.
When planning a trip what are you averages. When looking at the maps what do you plan for for that day's ride? Do you pull out the atlas and see what's of interest to see on the route? Do you just wing it? If you've used mail drops what's been the longest the PO held your mail for you to pick it up? Did it help marking it "arriving by bike?" Is a laptop too much to bring along?
My mind is racing with the ideas here, and the possibilities that lie ahead.

naisme, cool. you will have a blast... maybe i'll even meet you, i am sitting here reading jamawani's crazyguy future-journal, thinking about joining in.

Happy riding...
Anna

...I've been considering setting up mail drops, from what I've read it seems the average speed of most tours is 60 miles a day. I had thought I could manage 100 miles, having done a couple centuries, but I wasn't riding fully loaded, or having to find a spot to set up my camp, cook and the like.
When planning a trip what are you averages. When looking at the maps what do you plan for for that day's ride? Do you pull out the atlas and see what's of interest to see on the route? Do you just wing it? If you've used mail drops what's been the longest the PO held your mail for you to pick it up? Did it help marking it "arriving by bike?" Is a laptop too much to bring along?
My mind is racing with the ideas here, and the possibilities that lie ahead.

My opinions only: Don't worry about mail drops; you'll be on the roads and can easily find places to get food and anything else you need. I average 75 miles a day when touring fully loaded with camping gear. I usually have the general route laid out of where I want to go for the trip, but I don't worry about the exact roads and route until I get there . . . in short, I wing it and stay adaptable as far as route goes. I never had the need for a laptop. Every town no matter how small has a public library with computers and you can use those to check email, write a short journal online, and keep in touch with friends/family. Lots of other threads in this forum deal with these subjects in more detail :)



If only you knew what cats said about people.

I imagine mine says "hey can you believe how sweet a deal I have: somebody feeds me, pets me, plays with me, and I can just claw the cr** out of his _other_ furniture all the time in return"

I've just found this website and I'm reading the more I can before leaving home for some months...
I'm 24 and have started doing tours on bike 3 years ago, and now I can't stop ;) Last summer, as I was returning home I was already thinking about the next departure...
A friend of mind wanted to do a "big" trip after his graduation, and now we are going together...
I have to say that from all my experiences, travelling alone is the most rewarding... In the other hand there's nothing as doing a journey together to prove and enjoy how good friends are the people with you.

My advice is to gather enough optimism, determination and desire of being surprised... and then nothing will make you weak on the road!

I'l be leaving 23rd of this month from Lisbon to somewhere in Moldova...
Just bought a PDA in 2nd hand and I'm trying to find pocketpc software to take with me and do some mileage logging, blogging and emails... and I'm still looking for solar power options (with few hopes)
If someone knows some information that can help, please share ;)

I say go for it. If you come though Fayetteville, AR your welcome to crash at my house and we will cook you dinner give you beer and tune up your bike in exchange for your stories of you trip...

Good luck.

Kevin

This is getting strange. I decided to get to pulling the equipment out for the trip, before I'm even close to leaving, "just to see." My living room is looking like an outfitter. I have compression bags, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and panniers all strewn through the living room. The cat hasn't got a clue, I keep finding his fur mouse in a bag.
Meditating this morning was different, all I could think of was pedaling and combining it with breathing meditation, one of my favorite ways to commute, so there will be a lot of time on the bike for meditation.
I'm finding packing is easy, but as I pack and see what I am not taking and what I have that needs a home, I feel this is the tough part about leaving, it isn't the road or the wind, the elements the new places, or that home is going to be a tent for however long I'm on the road. It's looking at the 36 inch TV and wonder why I bought it in the first place, oh yeah to watch the 12 hour DVDs of the Tour De France, that I'm not going to be able to watch while I'm on the road. You start to see the stuff we collect, that at the moment of purchase was something we had to have right then, at least for me, but then for some reason I think spending money fills a hole in me.
This tour has already changed me.

It's looking at the 36 inch TV and wonder why I bought it in the first place, oh yeah to watch the 12 hour DVDs of the Tour De France, that I'm not going to be able to watch while I'm on the road.

But now you'll be living it instead of watching it on TV.... well OK, lance ain't gonna be riding next to you but you'll be LIVING an adventure much larger than lances paid for/catered to race.
I went through the same things you are experiencing now when we got rid of everything that would not fit into an 31' older motorhome... and we have 2 boys, 12 and 7. I found it liberating...
D

my two cents
as for me i would start by doing a three-day tour or something l ike that to see if i have the stamina to ride for 8 hours a day /7 days a week
that is something that requires one to be in top physical shape
anyway you might find on a 3-day tour that touring by bike is passe'
it may be fun initially
acorn

The new wrinkle.
The part-time gig has offered me fulltime. I have considered it, and the more I think about it with the cut in pay and the rising cost of living (humus went up 20 cents), I am not sure that working with them is going to be any better than being out on the road. I mean I'll be getting a paycheck that might cover my expenses, at best, and offer insurance. I'd be back where I was when I took on a second job and worked 7 days a week. There is a grace, if you can call it that, that work is now 5 blocks from my apartment, and walking to and from will be a nother activitiy that I don't need a fossil fuel burner for. I found a site of a couple who were out on the bike for 7+ years. They have quite a site, I think I found it through cycling 101.com. It has added to my thinking about this trip, and as I have time, and sort of employment at the moment I can use a different perspective. I can also use the time to train and tweak the bike for touring.