I had to clip all the photos. That looks like an Anaerobia jersey like my wife and I wore some days during our 2-week tandem tour of the Czech Republic. We got some weird looks from the locals. I've never seen another one before. A tiny reality note: we camp toured a few times. Through serious diligence and money, we were able to shave our total load, everything not counting us and the bare bike, down to 44 lbs. We were in our 60s and my wife is a willing but not strong stoker. I swear every village in the Republic is at the top of a 10% grade and every side road goes through every village. We did not ride main roads. Let's hear it for a 26X36 low gear. Some of the most fun in my life.

Yeah, you seem totally normal to me. I'm known locally as The Demented. That descent from Rainy - not the only time that happened. RCC used to run a 2-day Marblemount-Mazama ride, an ordinary road ride, not touring. They had to move it to later in June after an event just as you describe, where lives may have been saved by an RV parked on the highway. Riders filled it up - heater was on full blast. I once did a Colonial-Mazama out 'n back when it was 105° in Mazama. Memorable experiences are not sufficiently appreciated by those who have not had them.

Tuna and sardines in mustard sauce were our staples on big wall climbs. Eaten, of course, using an old piton.

Good eye. My GF got me the jersey and matching socks and hat as presents. I used to take the jersey on tours because it has lots of room in the pockets for things like my camera and phone.

That’s only because nobody but the people you are riding with know. :D

Our X-country group included an alcoholic bigot and a guy who would shirk his share chores whenever possible. I learned early that I’d rather tour alone than with strangers.

Yeah I wouldn't want to do it with strangers. It was bad enough when I did it and one of the guys turned out to be a pita. The other 2 were great and I think I was ok.:p

Our club used to rent a 15 passenger van and travel around the state. Each person would take a turn driving and stay back to support the riders. They would travel from town to town this way. This one guy acted like he was paying. He expected others to load his bike, etc. On his day to drive he just drove to the next town and didn't sag. He never got invited to go again.

Incidentally, I saw the guy who wrote that book on the road a few months ago..He was climbing hills and not on an e-bike. He's over 90.

At the hairpin parking lot, right before Sunrise, one of our training rides before the Czech trip in 2012.
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late to the game.....(been up in montana being mosquito bait)

for your consideration

1) Look at indyfabz set up, simple and elegant
2) Try doing a one day trip of the same distance you plan on averaging
3) after that look at all gear critically and see what you can cut

I guess a lot of "bike packing gear" like frame bags is geared for suspended bikes, see if you can avoid those (back to point 1)

have fun

That's what I miss about touring. Each and every day is an adventure and you never know what's going to happen, either on the road or at the campground. And those were the days without GPS or cell phones, so the adventure was real.

Yesterday I sat down and tried to list where we stayed each night 25 years ago and remember something about each day. I got the days in order from WA through to the first day in MN. After that, the order became somewhat hazy, but I could still remember something about each day and place we stayed. Camping at the ice cream parlor in Tonasket. The snow at breakfast in Republic. The boat tour on the lake at Camp Pennington. I quit after the first day in IL.

I don’t have to really remember anything. At the end of each day, I sit down and write a “letter” to my wife…yes, on paper with a pen! Every few days I stop at a post office and send them home. When I get home, I take the letters and use them to create all that stuff below in my signature line.

Back in the days of bike computers, I logged my miles as well as where I started and ended in a pocket calendar. I still do although not every day. Now I have a GPS unit that does the logging for me but I still transfer the mileage, time, average speed, and locations to my pocket calendar every few days. I have 36 of those silly pocket calendars in my files which seems silly. However, I have used them since during a photo scanning project. Came in handy to find exact dates and locations.

I carried a small spiral bound notebook and I wrote notes every day. Mostly about the route but some anecdotes, too. I took a few rolls of pics and mailed the rolls home. I think my ex accidentally took the pictures when she left. She took everything else she could get her hands on.

I shot over 70 rolls of film crossing the country. I would mail the film home and have my mom mail me fresh ones. That number is a bit misleading because the medium format rolls were only good for 15 images, not 36 like the 35mm.

I ran into a buddy a couple of months ago on an MUP. His daughter rode across the country for Habitat for Humanity the same year. We took a couple fo training rides together before our trips, and I visited her at Yale on my way home from ME. She took a more southerly route, so we never crossed paths on the road. My buddy told me she was recently cleaning out some stuff in the house and found letters I wrote to her. I told him to tell her to save them. Hope she did.

Probably my favorite photo from that trip. We camped in the city park in Harlem, MT, which had a public pool and showers. This young girl was mugging for the camera while waiting for her mother to pick her up. Notice her shoes. They look like "old lady shoes." I imagine they were hand-me-downs.


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Harlem is 20 miles east of Chinook, where I grew up. I think you had pics of kids in front of the museum in chinook also

what camera.... (I took 5 rolles of tri-x with a OM-1 laste weekend in chinook (50th class reunion and all class reunion)

I did post that photo from Chinook.

I shot the above with a Nikon 6006 35 mm. My medium format was a Mamiya 645 Pro TL with metered viewfinder and Power Grip. Brought lenses for it. Developed all the film myself and printed all that I could of what was worthy, which wasn’t as much as I had hoped.

We did a short day to Harlem. Spent the night before at The Duck Inn. We were going to spend the night at the truck stop/campground. Jerry and I were the first to arrive. The camping area behind the building was infested with mosquitoes. Less than a minute after walking onto the grass Jerry had at least a dozen of them on his tights. On the other side of the fence was a huge BNSF rail yard.

The people in Harlem were nice. The police left the vestibule of municipal building unlocked overnight so we could use the restrooms. Bought some postcards at Don’s Drugs, which also sold cattle vaccines. According to Google Maps, the place is no longer in business.