The journey begins

Chances are, by the time you read this dX and I will have left for the beginning of our trip. Yes, that's right- for the few of you who didn't know, we did not get to leave Monday as expected.

This was probably better though, as we got to have more time for packing and bike tuning, etc.

And boy, did we need it- check it out:



We ended up leaving a little bit of the stuff we bought behind- we only took something like 18 packs of ramen instead of the whole 24. For shame- thats 78 cents just wasted! But you should see the ramen I have managed to cram into that pack already- I have practically created a super structure for the pack by bracing it horizontally and vertically, using exclusively ramen noodles. We also have a lot of jerky and these other preserved tasty meat products.

Oh, and somewhat impulsively, we decided to get smore supplies... we were walking down the aisle and saw the marshmallows and hersheys and sort of made a dash for it- reason be darned.
I don't know how it will work out, but I tried to pack the breakable stuff- pop tarts and gram crackers- surrounded by marshmallows. My idea is that it serve as a sort of edible shock absorber. We shall see.

Speaking of impulse buys, I also got a bike computer! It was only 8 bucks at walmart but it was so cool- has a speedometer and a odometer function, as well as some other stuff. We also decided to kill two birds with one stone- instead of getting kindling or lighter fluid, we just got an extra big pack of isobrupo-something... thats nasty stuff you put into your cuts to clean them. Its 91 percent alcohol, so it should serve as fire starter just fine. Actually, its already been tested. Trust me- it works like a charm. ;)

I know its hard to tell from this picture, but this backpack is totally crammed:

...and I haven't even been able to fit my Bible in there. I know the blanket can go on the outside, but I'll have to see what I can do about getting a pocket Bible for the trip... I dunno. Really wanted to bring one.

Oh, and here is our method of contact with the outside world:

Great, eh? Except this bring us to our mandatory "last-minute-crisis"- we left the charger in Fitchburg, MA. So yeah, hopefully we shall pick one up early in the first leg of the trip.

Well thats it for now... like I said, by the time you read this we should on our way!

See you on the road everybody!

(dX performs an unsolicited display of pyro-technics at an undisclosed location while bored last night)