This is the first part of a multi-part trip report. Remember that you can click on any of the photos to see larger versions of them.
It’s a busy summer. The end of the school year is difficult and I find myself spending a lot of time in June doing paperwork and interviewing for new jobs. While I have a two-week internship with Central Arkansas Water, Bryan puts an enormous amount of time into finding the perfect packing setups for our mountain bikes and even buying new shorts and shirts and gloves for both of us. He plans an awesome eight-day gravel cycling loop starting and ending near Tofte, MN, including a day off the bikes to paddle in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and another day off to be tourists in Grand Marais, on Lake Superior. A mysterious entry on the cue sheet says “Secret Date” on that day.
One time-consuming part of getting ready for a big trip is prepping food. Years ago, Bryan ran across a website (Backcountry Foodie, though they are in the process of closing up shop) with recipes put together by a backpacker who was also a registered dietitian. Her meals are cheaper and tastier than the name-brand dehydrated stuff and have more calories, too. I will never go back to Mountain House.
The week before we are scheduled to leave, I’m hired for the job I wanted, which frees up time and energy for me to help more with last-minute preparations. I arrange for sprinklers and neighbors to help water plants while we were gone.
Our friend Robin agrees to check in on Alfred Wegener (the rabbit) and Seldom Seen (the cat) and spend the night occasionally while we’re away. So the details are in order, the route is planned, the bikes are ready, the reservations have been made. I even have a job waiting for me when we get home.
But we’ve both been so busy, and it has been so damned miserably hot, that we haven’t actually ridden the loaded bikes. We find ourselves only a few days from leaving to ride 180 miles of gravel roads, with enviable gear and a flawless itinerary but completely unprepared middle-aged bodies.
We have trouble riding the bikes up our own damn hill in our own damn neighborhood. But the two of us have many, many years of experience doing things we’re unprepared for, so we load up the van and we start heading north to Minnesota.