Today is the day…departure day…and I just need to vent!  Minor technical issues prevented my immediate departure a few days ago (Ya know, things like I failed to secure my bike properly to my car and ended up with a bent wheel, and torn tire and tube…plus, a bunch of other little issues).  Fortunately, the friend I’ve been staying with kindly hosted my extended stay.

Now as I get set to roll, my cell phone (3 year old smart phone) decided to stop holding charge, so I ordered a new battery (fingers-crossed that’s the problem). I’m having it shipped to the first place that I will be staying.  My first stay is with a person on the Warm Showers.org cycling network and here I am, my first time trying the network, I may be asking to stay extra days while I await the arrival of my battery.

My bags are all packed and wow…holy heavy!  I have serious motivation to complete writing projects so as to drop tree weight (i.e. documents).  My full kitchen setup and the guitar are questionable choices.  It’s much like when I started mountain biking many years ago on my Huffy. I recall that I got in extra good shape, but could thoroughly appreciate the lightweight upgrades.  I’ll see if my friend has a scale to weigh my stuff.  However, based upon my previous lifting of cats, my guess is that my rear panniers weigh 15-20 lbs each and my front about 10 lbs each. I’m going to be in seriously good shape (or at least different from the current chocolate induced shape that has not been on a bicycle in at least 3 weeks).   I’m guessing most brides must put on at least 5-10 lbs before their weddings due to last minute details!

I’d like to say I’m excited, but right now I feel really nervous and a bit anxious…perhaps somewhere in there is some excitement too.  Scattered and scared…that’s what I feel at the moment.  Adios!