Originally Posted by
simplygib
I am in a similar situation. I am planning a tour with my gf, who has been on a bike maybe 5 times in her entire life. I have one primary goal for this tour: When it's all said and done, she will look back on it as one of the best adventures she has ever had. My motives are selfish - I want her to love touring so she will want to do more of them with me.
We are going to ride roughly 1,000 miles, loaded. The preliminary schedule is for an average of 30 miles/day, taking two days off per week.
As far as what to do with our down time, we'll bring a couple of small games, a few books, work on our journal and explore the areas in which we find ourselves.
I'm fairly certain that a schedule such as you laid out would send her packing home within a day or two, and I'd probably join her.
It's not just about the riding.
Downtime: We've got four kids. We know what to do with down time, the world needs us to find more productive things to do
- I'm a reformed gaming addict. So gaming is off the table. As far as table top games, we play every Friday with our children. Which oddly kills the idea of just sitting down playing between ourselves. She doesn't know how to play chess, or checkers and has no ambition or patience to learn at this stage in her life. I currently design newspapers and write for a living. Being that we're both in university (still) we read a lot at this point - so much so that I think adding books for her would probably push her off reading too (sorta kidding).
As far as the exploring...dangerous at least, deadly at worst.
This is the crossroads of Texas/Mexico. There are no "sites" to see - because this is King Ranch. The largest ranch in the U.S. You tend to see 10-to-2 odds that the vehicle about to pass you is a CBP vehicle. Drugs and undocumented workers use the landscape to smuggle themselves, or their payloads into the interior of the United States from here. It's not Iraq dangerous, but it isn't simply forest and wonderful scenes. I wish it was to some extent, because that would be way better....
I miss my grandparents cabin in Crestline Village, Ca.
/homesick