Aftermath 1

I’m writing from my bed and I missed home a little bit.

Just finished unpacking and that leads to two things:

• laundry
• thinking about next time

The first is pretty self explanatory but the second is somewhere between regrets and planning.

First, What did I bring and never use?

A disturbing number of unnecessary things, in categories:

Food:

• one tin of fish (ate the other one)
• one tasty bites pre-cooked indian meal (ate the other one)
• all-purpose seasoning (not sad I didn’t use it, to be honest)
• 3 sports-foodsy things (2 cookie-like stroopwafels and 1 set (2-3 servings) of gummies
• a pound of almonds (I ate another 1/3 pound)
• some dark chocolate granola (I ate half of it)

Misc thought-it’d-be useful stuff:

• 3 bungees (used the other 3)
• fanny pack (ended up emptying and using small pannier for in-town travel)
• extra water bladder (I was never very far from water, barely used my nalgene in addition to two bike mounted water bottles)
• clean shorts not-for-biking
• swimsuit
• USB charging cable from my wheel generator. Battery pack worked well enough.

Luxuries I should have known better about:

• chair frame I also used only once on my tour from california to texas
• used razor (as I went to the store to buy cream and bought razors too since the 2-week beard was no match for the used razor I’d packed thinking to toss out)

Then, some things I was glad never to use:

Clothes for warmth. Was ok with not needing them!

• wool gloves
• wool long underwear
• wool skullcap
• wool buff

Bike fixin’ stuff!

• toolkit
• extra spare tube
• spare tire
• pump

Person fixin’ stuff:

• First Aid kit
• gold bond powder for chafing
• gold bond cream for chafing
• body glide to prevent chafing
• hand sanitizer (should have used this more)
• nesporin

Second, what did I use only once and could get away with less of or maybe without?

• headlamp. OK, not bringing less of it! just didn’t move about in the dark outside much.
• lighter. Only started one fire. Worth it.
• that duffel bag that I only used on the train was only used that one time. But I would have used it again on the bus home had I bussed which was the fallback plan.
• shower wipes (for cleaning without water - kinda like wet wipes for kids but sturdier and able to make you feel substantially better when no shower was available which was only once and there actually was one I just hadn’t found yet :P)
• at least a pound of change. I used cash when making small purchases like a gatorade and ended up with at least a pound of change and that’s after using 3 bucks of quarters at the laundromat!

Third, any MVP’s? How about additions during the trip?

• I think the only things I bought this trip were replacement gloves and water bottles and chain lube.
• electrolyte pills, gatorade, battery pack, wool bike clothes, all used constantly
• laptop was up to the task, got battered around and didn’t complain, and had great battery life, worth it.
• bike and bags all worked pretty well though the front panniers aren’t quite waterproof so not sure I’d use them again.

Written by Chris McCraw who resides in Portland, OR but maybe his heart is on the bike?