For several months Frances and I have been generically talking about taking a trip out west. Last Fall we purchased a Silver Shadow 5x10 Teardrop trailer. Frances has wanted a Teardrop since she first saw a documentary about them over 10 years ago. Now we have one. At this point in our life, we are free to travel and we intend to do so. We don't yet have a specific itinerary, and for my part, I'm not sure I want one. Frances can tell us her own thoughts on the matter. There are some prime destinations, several natural parks and the 4-5 states that I've not visited, but not a checklist. I hope to discover new desires to pursue as much as I hope to fulfill long standing ones.
I think we are in agreement on our basic organizing principles. We plan to start about 1 April. I will have turned 60 on 23 March. We will pack up our trailer and put our bikes on the back. We will head west, staying south for the first few weeks/months as we make our way out toward Tucson. We expect to backtrack some of the route that we traversed on our Coast to Coast bicycle trip. I hope we can encounter the 2017 C2C group along the way. We will stay at spots that we find appealing, for as long as we are having fun. I plan to do a daily bicycle ride to get back into good form, and to discover the area in more depth. When there are no more interesting bike routes to ride, hikes to hike, or other sights to explore, I'll be ready to move on. From Tucson/San Diego, we'll head north. At some point, we'll turn East. Hopefully, we be able to follow the weather, and stay south in April and May, reaching the northern tier for the summer.
I hope to take time to explore rural Canada and have heard that the Willamette Valley is an amazing venue for cycling in British Columbia.
Today, I decided to start the blog to record my surprise at how little I have thought this through. I realized, I've got to get someone to cut the grass. What about the mail? Will our friends in Huntsville forget about us? We expect Maggie to spend the summer at home, so that will take care of a lot of this. Still it is time to get to work with our planning for this. April 1 is about 40 days away.
I recently took the camper to the dealer. We took it out for a trip to Tishimingo State Park in MS last Fall, and discovered a small water link in the supply line. Normally I'd repair this myself, but access to the leaky hose is almost impossible, and since it is under warranty I let someone else tie their spine into a pretzel instead of doing it myself. So far, the repair is holding. I will add a mount for a 20# propane tank on the tongue. The trailer was set up to use the 1# disposable tanks, but they are more expensive and there is the waste problem associated with disposable products.
I hope we can make this blog entertaining and interesting, as well as building a record that Frances and I can look back on once it's over. Of equal importance is any input from readers. I'd like to crowd source our travels to the extent that the broader knowledge of a group of readers is sure to lead us to visit places that someone we know is passionate about that we would have otherwise missed out on.
I've created a short video to show you the Teardrop. Many folks who have asked about the trip have never seen one. You can find the video on my YouTube channel. Teardrop Trailer Video
