On the Road...soon

You know you're actually leaving when your departure date is printed and pressed on page fourteen of the newspaper. Ana Korgan of The New Times, our local arts, news, and entertainment weekly paper, wrote a little article about our upcoming trip:
http://www.newtimesslo.com/strokes-and-plugs/7845/kinda-like-kerouac-but-by-bicycle/

Although Brant ain't no Dean Moriority and I ain't no Neal Cassady (thank god), we do appreciate our literary fathers and all those who have put into pen the attractiveness of an open road.

Here are a couple of our favorite quotes:

“They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of every thing at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’ ” 

 --Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 1, Ch. 1

“When I was very young and the urge to be some place else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.”   

 --John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley, Ch. 1, Page 1 

Lauren has a bike!

After months of figuring out exactly what bicycle I would take on our adventure, it is here, and it is dreamy!  We decided to purchase a bike built by a small German company called Tout Terrain, which makes super burly, beautiful bicycle frames that have an integrated rear rack. "The Silkroad" is built specifically to incorporate a Schmidt dynamo hub and a Rohloff internal hub. If you want a bicycle built with these components in the United States, you have to go through a custom builder, which would have taken more time than I had, and a little more money. I started speaking with Tout Terrain two months ago, and couldn't be more thrilled with the company.

We went and picked the bike up at our local bike shop, Flanders Bicycle (one of our incredible sponsors),  and immediately went to the Bike Kitchen to start putting the lady together.   

At the moment, my little bike is a glorified "Scuut" with a Chris King headset. The bike should look like a bicycle by the end of this weekend. John Cutter, the custom builder of Brant's bicycle, is making my handlebars and front rack. And my brother Ethan (who graciously gifted me the rest of my bicycle's bells and whistles) has just mailed me the rest of the necessary pieces. 

Basically, I am a happy, thankful woman, with a bicycle to ride till I am an old lady. 

SLO Tweed Ride 2012

The SLO Tweed Ride was just as fabulous as the last.

Less than 30 days!

As you all may have noticed, our little countdown has thinned from months to days. And with that, Brant and I had to put in our 30 days notice last Friday. Leaving this big beautiful green house and the intimate connections we have created with our 19 person family is probably going to be the hardest thing to leave behind. Within these old walls is the most sense of home we have ever felt since leaving our families many years ago. And so, like getting dropped off by our parents and set free at the dorms, our family here is sending us out into the big colorful world. Only 27 more days of house dinners, floor parties, early morning cribbage games, sunset clubs, movies in Bo's room, late night chats, and all the other silliness that abounds...

SteriPEN: Montezuma Has Had His Last Revenge

So much of our upcoming adventure is going to revolve around water. We are going to write about how communities attain their water; however, the beauty of our mobile education is that we are going to have to source water alongside these very communities.  As you all know, riding a bike sometimes makes you thirsty.  Because of this, I think that our work is going to be a very intimate experience--searching for clean water as we move throughout the different curvatures and cultures of the earth.

Most everyone, after hearing about what we are doing, is excited, but also a little scared for us. And most say, "You know, you're going to get sick," period. And yes, we will, despite all of the preventative vaccines, there will come a point where we will feel deep down under the weather.

So how shall we prepare for purifying water in the boonies of South East Asia?

This all brings me to our next point, our personal water purification system. We have been the lucky receivers of a Steripen sponsorship. Steripen is a a battery operated hand held UV sterilizer.  The pen uses the same UV that gives you cancer to disable those pesky bacterium that might result in rapid and frequent liquid expulsion.

Some people have made comment that once the batteries are dead, you're dead.  This point has been considered and we will be able to charge additional batteries on the road through the use of a dynamo front hub.  There will be more details on this power system in a later post.

Operation of the Steripen is simple: first unsheathe, then press the button twice to treat half a liter or once for a full liter.  When the ready light flashes green the unit is submerged in water and the light comes on.

A visible blue light indicates that treatment is taking place.  Simply swirl in the contaminated water until the light terminates.

Once treated, drink and enjoy, knowing that the water will stay down, ensuring proper hydration.

For our type of travel the real benefit of the Steripen over a traditional water filtration setup is the ability to quickly and discretely disinfect any suspect water no matter where we are.  We will no longer live by the montra of "Don't drink the water."  Thanks, Steripen.

Twins

"The Twins" are what Sara and Katie, long time friends and cycling buddies, call their bicycles with matching yellow Ortlieb panniers.

Brant received a phone call late yesterday afternoon from Katie and Sara looking for a place to camp or crash. The Warm Showers website directs a cyclist or two to our house every few months or so. We usually end up meeting wonderful people that have much to teach us and tell us of our future life on the road.

Katie and Sara are an unlikely cycling duo: in their forties, female, and from two distant continents. These women are an inspiration. They both have ridden the Trans America cycling route; and their current adventure began in Portland, OR, and will "end" in Baja California.

Katie is a retired military woman who grew up in Applegate, OR and Hawaii. Sara grew up in Thailand. After a horrific accident as an adolescent, Sara has pursued life with a fervor, and gushes a contagious positive attitude. She works in order to travel on her bike and wishes to live every moment of her life to the fullest. Sara invited Brant and I to stay with her and her relatives in Thailand; and we will most definitely take her up on it. (Although she can't guarantee she'll be back in Thailand by next year,  depending on the adventures she rigs up for herself; and in that case, she said she'll just tell us where the keys are!).

Katie and Sara only got to stay one night with us. This morning we made eggs together. And Brant escorted them out of town on his way to school.

What wonderful cycling goddesses these women are. I will never forget them.