clay greene

I've read a lot of touring journals in which folks have sent home items deemed unnecessary, too heavy or whatever in order to lighten their load. Nobody seems to describe what it is they've sent home. I'm preparing for a cross country tour next March and I'm trying to figure out what to take or not take and thought it would be helpful to know what people have left with only to send home later.

Neil_B

I sent home extra clothing and a book I started and didn't like.

antokelly

take a look at nun's (on this forum) packing list lightweight and brilliant.

Meghdoot

Wife

staehpj1

What we sent home from the Trans America... At least one of the three of us sent home the following among many other things:

1. Extra clothing
2. iPod
3. GPS
4. The maps we were finished with.
5. Sunglass extra colors of lenses and case.
6. Mini tripod, that I later caught grief for not having
7. Dental pick
8. Books
9. Pedal wrench after we used it to put bikes together at the airport.
10. Tools we decided we didn't need.
11. Parts we decided we didn't need.
12. Water filter
13. A deck of cards.
14. Cold weather gear after we got out of the Rockies (and had lighter stuff sent to us).
15. Cook pots that we decided to do without (we kept only one).
16. Too many other things to mention, including stuff that weighed an ounce or less.
17. Cards, gifts, souvenirs, and other things we accumulated along the way.

We just went through every item and got rid of anything we decided we could do without, no matter how small or trivial.

Near the end of the trip in the Appalachians I was offloading stuff like crazy, but at that point threw a lot of stuff away rather than sending it home including the ground cloth. That one trimming frenzy was worth it though, the Appalachians were tough and I threw away a couple pounds of stuff including extra tent pegs which we seemed to find more of at every camp, and food that we decided we didn't want.

The last few days we had the chance to offload stuff into the cars of friends/relatives. We got rid of practically everything then and stayed with friends and relatives the last several days.

At one point near the end Lauren even offloaded her rain gear, which promptly brought on the rain!

neilfein

A travel guitar and some extra clothes.

Machka 

Mostly paper stuff. I collect maps and brochures of the places I go through ... great to have when I'm in the area the maps and brochures pertain to, but once I've moved to a different area, they're dead weight, and I'm collecting new maps and brochures for the new area. So I package them up and send them home every so often.

Back in the days of film cameras, I've sent film and/or developed photos home.

I've sent some clothing home. On my 3-month Australian tour, the first 2 months were in the colder part of Australia, so I had cold weather gear with me, but the last month was up in the jungles, so I sent some of my cold weather gear home just before I went there.

jens5

Not totally related, but touring across Italy when they were still using Lira, We were like Lira millionaires. Sent home a shoe box with about 3 Kilo's of Lira in change.

birvine

A few years ago when I was cycling across Europe I sent a few packages home. After a few weeks I decided that hotels were what I wanted... home went all of the camping gear. When I had burned a disc of pics I sent it home. Guide books and maps as I left regions went home. Souvenirs and 'stuff' went home. If you want to keep the stuff but don't want to carry it all the time, why not send it home?

B

gmacdermid

Mainly clothes (as the weather got warmer) and maps and books (as I moved from one country to another). My friend sent home his aero bars after a month on the road, figuring they weren't really needed for touring.

stokell

I like to think I pack really light. On the last trip to Germany, I discovered that the yellow plastic banana safe a well-meaning friend had given me, really didn't fit bananas at all. At least not the bananas I found in Germany, so I gave it to a homeless person. I did that on my first tour. I got back to London with a broken weld on an old clunker I was riding, so I took off the panniers and gave the bum the bike. He was thrilled. The guy with the banana safe was perplexed. I left him holding it in his hand like a ..., well a banana safe.

I guess the bottom line is to do a few shakedowns before the big trip and only take the stuff you actually use.

staehpj1

Maybe, but I think there is still reason to send stuff home on a long tour even if you planned perfectly.

A lot of what gets sent home is because of poor planning, but not all.

If your trip is long enough to take you from one climate or season to another you may find it worth having different stuff sent to you from home and or sending stuff home.

You may acquire things along the way, like souvenirs etc. Also maybe you just ran into some great deal on gear that you liked but didn't need on this trip. One 106F day in Dillon Montana we escaped the heat by spending the afternoon in the Patagonia outlet store. We all had stuff sent home. In that case the store handled the shipping and there was no charge for touring cyclists to have stuff shipped home.

If you are using expensive maps or guide books you probably don't want to carry the whole set on a multi month tour, but also don't want to throw them away. I am inclined to take all of the maps with me so I can look ahead, but send the ones I am done with home.

Some trips you may want to travel lighter than others. Your mood for this may change as a trip progresses. Those who are inclined to motel it sometimes may decide they don't want to camp any more at some point on a trip (I am too cheap for that).

Also if not riding solo... needs may change depending on group dynamics or group decisions.

Bottom line... There are lots of reasons you may want to send stuff home and not all of them are the result of poor planning.

BigBlueToe

Mostly clothes - especially warm ones. On my first tour (down the west coast in July) I brought a down jacket. I sent it home the 4th day.

I only bring one book (and I look for light ones - paperbound), and don't buy another one until the first one is almost finished. When I finish a book I dump it. I give it away when I can, or just leave it in the bathroom of a campground with a "Free" sign on it.

I take notes each tour on my packing choices. I used to carry a fleece vest. On my last tour I decided that my two long-sleeve polypro shirts, under my rain jacket, keep me plenty warm enough. I'm going to leave the vest home next summer and see how I fare.

Take a short, preliminary trip and see how your packing list works.

gz_

Lordy, give the books away. Are you all telling me you never encountered a take-one-leave-one travelers library?

Alrocket

Some stuff I chucked

Books,
ripped relevant (map) pages out of a campsite directory and chucked it,
extra unnecessary maps (my phone is a GPS)
extra jacket (I bought a replacement that was better),
half a notepad (I wasn't writing as much as expected),
torch (my front LED was good enough),
compass (again due to GPS),
extra jersey,
misc extra clothes.


Absolutely! It's under the 4th tree on the right after 67 miles to the north!

(Are *you* telling us you never went anywhere there were no travelers libraries? )

way124

Sent home some video tapes and a book I didn't actually read. Too busy dealing with captured video footage and photographs every time I had a chance

staehpj1

I was thinking the same thing. I have run across them in out of the way places, but you sure can't count on it out in the sticks.

Alrocket

The joy of digital, no more tapes!

BigBlueToe

Nope, can't say as I have. If there's a used book store close, I see if they want it. I've given books to other bike tourers. But I'm not going to ride a long way out of my way to find a "traveler's library." Maybe the community center in a mobile home park. But I don't see too many of those on tour; they're not on every block.

Lou627

+1 on ditching the travel guitar, pawned it, what a pita. Dozens of books. I feel guilty about it, but Id set up a fake library card in whatever town (use passport and a fake in town address) and send them home 6 at a time. made my own library much more full though

Machka 

Am I reading this right ... you stole library books as you toured********** Why?? This is why library card fees go up.

There are perfectly good used book stores all over the place, you can pick up books for next to nothing in one town, and sell/give them to another used book store in the next town, or keep them ... legally.

Lou627

like I said I feel guilty, and its more a result of laziness than intentionaly stealing, as I had intented to just mail them back to the libraries when I got home. But, I never did. Probably never will. Mabey ill just give them to my library as a way to kind of equal out the imbalance.

staehpj1

You ought to. That one boggles my mind.

neilfein

Wow... um, anything I'd say has been said. (Also, caffeine headache this morning, I'd be better off keeping quiet.)

Cyclist0094

You will go to hell for that .....

It does remind of a Jackie Cooper joke " I had a brother who was a bookkeeper... he would borrow books and then keep them"