Ole Cape Cod

Old Silver Beach, Falmouth, MA. Back on Cape Cod for final prep before our departure on June 10th.

When we recently had dinner with our good friends Gil, Nancy and Jodie, the topic arose regarding which creature comfort we will miss the most on our bicycle trip. The obvious things like a comfortable bed, warm showers and chocolates on the pillow came to mind.

Later that week Gary and I made our shake-down camping trip to Nickerson State Park, a lovely camp ground here on the Cape. We rode the 25 miles or so to get there with all of our gear in tow including two new panniers. The equipment all worked very well. We’ll have some fine-tuning to do in the packing of the gear so our overnight trip proved helpful practice. After we set up the tent we went for a walk to the pond just down the path from our site. While we were gone a furtive squirrel chewed a hole in our pannier trying to get at a small baggy of trail mix we had forgotten was in the pack. It was a good reminder to us to never leave the food unattended and that critters are tenacious about getting at it.

When I got to the end of the path leading to the pond, I was delighted to find what appeared to be a new park bench with an engraved plaque honoring a couple who frequented and loved Nickerson State Park. I went back to our site, grabbed my book and captured the remaining sunlight from my perch on the bench. And then I realized that the creature comfort I miss the most while camping is a chair. Anyone who has tented for any length of time understands that after awhile rocks, stumps and picnic tables don’t cut it for comfortable seating. My bench had a back to it (no flat slab that you can’t lean back on here!) and I even stretched out for a nap. Heaven.
Now I wish for fair skies, a tail wind and an occasional chair along the way.

W. Pittston, PA

Pop, Sassy & Gretchen.

Central PA

Ouerlooking the Susquehanna Riuer near Marietta, PA.

Pop H

Cathy & her dad at her dad's apartment, E-Town, PA.

Duke Chapel

Cathy at the Chapel at Duke U.

Mr. Larry

Greetings from Amy & Meg's in NC. Enjoy the picture of a retired Mr. Larry.

Where Does the Time Go!

Hello All! This is our first entry to the blog since we’ve set it up and can’t believe how quickly the time is going! To those of you who have been keeping watch on the blog site waiting for updates, well, we’re finally at it. Thanks for your patience.

Today was Gary’s last day at work so we are another step forward in our plan. One change we have made is the date of departure. We are aiming for the second week of June, most likely the 8th or 9th. There are some family things to take care of first before we go.

Life has been busy during these months of preparation. First, we took a bicycle maintenance course at Wheelworks in Belmont. Thanks to our great instructor, Sean, fixing a flat, truing a wheel, and changing a gear cable, among other things, can now be added to our resumes. We learned so much from this course and got lots of good advice on the best way to travel with minimal tools for bike repairs. The first thing Sean told us to do if (when!) we do get a flat is to get off the road, take a deep breath and drink some water – we’re not in a race to get it done fast and this will remind us to be safe.

The highlight of our prep period, hands-down, was the Wilderness First Responder course we took through the SOLO program in New Hampshire. Gary and I are now official WFR’s (pronounced "woofers"). There were 11 of us in the class for this intensive 10 day course taught by an amazing instructor, Josh, with assistance from Katey (see photo of the gang after we all passed our final exam!). It is difficult to truly convey how impressive this group of people was to us. Our classmates represented such a wealth of talent in terms of outdoor skills and life experiences. We gained a tremendous amount of knowledge in wilderness medicine and feel so much better prepared to handle any injuries that we may encounter.

In our WFR course the emphasis was on learning to make an accurate assessment of a medical emergency in the backcountry and then figuring out the best course of action to treat it. There was a protocol that we were taught to follow and were given scenarios ("oh no…") in the woods every day in order to practice what we learned. Many of us were quite nervous about having to demonstrate our newly acquired skills. Like anything new, it felt awkward and many times we were unsure if we could remember the right thing to do or do it quickly enough. The best advice came from one of our seasoned backcountry classmates (and my dorm-mate) Sigrid. It was similar to the "take a deep breath" advice above. She said something like "don’t forget to smoke a cigarette" – not literally of course – but take the time to step back, breathe and figure out what to do next. Good to remember when life gets crazy.

In addition to the wisdom shared, the support from all of the class gave us confidence as we pulled for each other to do our best. To our fellow WFRs, Betta, Sigrid, Anthony, Ann, Brad, Mike, Josh, Matt and John, Gary and I are so grateful for your friendships and support on our next BIG adventure.