Okay, I have picked a date. It's about 60 days in the future, if things don't pan out. So I have to ask the seasoned tourers here, what is your time line. When do you call to turn off the electric, dump the cat off on a neighbor, do something about mail, make sure the tent, the sleeping bag, mattress, tarps, cooking kit, water bottles, etc is ready. You put it away last fall is it still good? Then kiss everyone good bye and leave?

Make a list right now of things that need to be taken care of, and assign dates to them. That way you don't have it all bubbling around in your head and making you anxious you'll forget something.

Most things have a natural time they need to be done by, and some things have a natural order of operations. Like, don't give notice at your job and your house until you are sure you are leaving, that sort of thing. Checking your gear can happen early so you have time to get repairs/replacements. You probably want to hold on to the cat and the mail a little longer. (Really, you're giving up your cat? Awwww)

Everyone has a different set of things, depends on if you are renting or own, subletting or moving out, what your bills are, how long you're going to be gone for, what you're doing about your job/school, what gear you have & what you need to acquire, etc.

What do you mean "if things don't pan out?"

When I did my "big" tour and return to Uni, I started planning all that in February, and finally hit the road at the end of September. I chose the end of September because of an event I wanted to ride held at the end of October. That gave me a month to cycle from Sydney to Melbourne for that event.

Usually my tours surround events or have to fit into work/school schedules or have to work with the seasons, so I have a pretty good idea when I'm going to travel months in advance, and I can start making plans.

As for checking the gear, that's what weekend tours, in advance of the big one, are for.


Have a look at this thread I started recently ... it may give you some tips:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-Extended-Trip

There are a couple irons in the fire, a couple jobs that I have applications in, and if they pan out I won't be taking off on an ultra tour, if they don't I've been working on a uber tour for some time now, and have been wanting to just go do it, and it may be the time for it. The first leg would take me to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in mid June, after that?

I am a planner. We will be heading to Montana from the east coast on June 29th for an 8-day tour. Booked the flights already to avoid fare increases due to escalating gas prices. Already thought about the cat situation after a bad cat-sitter experience last year. And since we will be travelling during the July 4th "weekend," I have already started to make lodging arrangements where I feel space might be at a premium. (You might consider doing so if you plan to be in Telluride for that festival. The town can get very crowded in summer.) Soon I will also be making arrangements with a LBS at the start/finish point for bike receiving and assembly. As for gear, we usually take a 3-day tour over Easter weekend. This allows us to make sure gear is in useable shape. Easter is late this year, so that will put it closer to the tour than usual. Since we'll be shipping the stove along with the bikes, I will do some routine maintenance on it a week before the bikes are shipped and test it. Even with all that, we will probably be packing things the night before our flight.

For my first long tour, I gave up my apartment 3 weeks before the trip started and flopped with mom. Mail forwarding was taken care of at that time. I made a set of instructions and left mom with a checkbook to pay my credit card bills and other things that might come due. My gear was all new and I had tested it at home. The night before I was to catch the train to the west coast, I went drinking with some of the guys and said "See you in about 4 months."

I tend to plan and plan and then at the last minute do something else that strikes my fancy. I guess I am very lucky in that I have a very understanding wife who keeps things together on the home front. Her support eliminates the need to really plan much or worry at all about a lot of the usual concerns.

Forget the jobs, go to Telluride! Just the mention of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival makes me long for days gone by. Twenty years ago, or so, was telling myself, I'm going to Telluride next year, it was a must, never made it. Never made it, YET!! Just kidding about the "Forget the jobs" stuff, good luck with how ever it works out.

Man O man, the "ta hell you ride" festival, it's time to put on some music.

I plan as much as possible. I keep everything on the computer. I usually make a few mistakes. When I get back from my tour, one of my first tasks is to write a "Memo to Myself" about the trip - what went well, what didn't, what I forgot to plan, what I would like to add or subtract to my packing list in the future, etc. I have a bunch of these so for each new tour I just refine my planning; I don't have to reinvent anything.

I don't have to worry about my house. I have family members who don't go on the tours with me, so they take care of everything. I have my wife email me with the amounts of all the bills that come due. When I get to a library or other place with internet access, I open the email and pay all the bills via my bank's online billpay service.

As Valygrl said, make a list and then organize it.

The planning I do is proportional to length of the trip. For a week trip, I'll have a more constrained route figured out but no need to turn off electric, etc. I've also found that I'll pack more if I do it too early - so typically wait until two nights before departure and then pack things from my checklist.

For trips over a few months, I'll have been anticipating them long in advance. I'll typically have a web site set up including links to other journals I've read on the area. I'll have done short shakedown trips with any new equipment. I'll have my own checklist of what to wrap up when, when to get visas/immunizations, etc. That length of time typically coincides with a job transition, so I'll have that wrapped up. I'll have found someone to house sit. I will also have gone through some contingency planning.

I'm also a little cautious about over-planning. Except for the shortest trips, I don't like to pre-establish my stops or lodging setups - at least beyond perhaps a hotel first night on arrival in a new country. I'll know an approximate route, but certainly not down to individual maps or turns. Even for shorter trips, I'll sometimes leave my endpoint with flexibility by booking two different car rentals (that I can cancel) or returning via train with knowledge that I should be able to adjust a ticket to do a subset. I might have done some research about various road choices, crossings of major rivers like Mississippi, which towns have accommodations or bike repair/resupply possibilities. However, I plan with a level of flexibility in mind.

I like to plan, but the planning isn't so micromanaged. I would like to go out this way, but if it doesn't work then this way, sort of thing, have the alternatives weighed out in advance. And plan for the 4th day on the road a rest day.
The Telluride Festival is a high light (two MN bluegrass bands will be there: Trampled by Turtles, Pert Near Sandstone). Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Custer Battlefield, Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons, Salt Lake City, and Dinosaur National Monument are also highlights. I hope to do it all, at least that's the plan. It is what to do with everything else. The apartment will be okay, worked out with the landlord, its just the junk of living that we collect. I need to get it out of the apartment, just like I need to get out of town for a while.
One of the jobs is for a bike tour company, it would be cool to get paid to bike tour(not going to get rich). I wouldn't be going to Telluride, but might get the chance to pedal the Northern Tier, and get paid.

As for the stuff, when I went homeless for my first big tour, I donated/sold everything I could bear to part with and got a storage locker for the rest. Years later, when I finally moved into a real place of my own, it turned out that 90% of the stuff I had been storing wasn't worth moving half way across the country, so I got rid of it after storing it for years (d'oh!). That would have been different if I was staying in the same town, though.

Your highlights are great, I hope you get to do that route.

Prior to my 12 month trip, I got rid of as much as I could and condensed the rest to fit in one bedroom of my two-bedroom condo. I then rented out the condo for an inexpensive price to a friend of mine. After a year on the road, I took a look at all those things I thought were important enough to save - and did a second cleaning...this time getting rid of a bunch of the rest. Nothing like a year with nothing but your bike an panniers to get some perspective on possessions we accumulate.