We’re planning to spend at least one day in each country we travel through recording all our daily activities. Hopefully it’ll give you all an idea of what it’s like to travel through these countries by bicycle. Also it’ll help us remember how we lived in each country and how our daily habits change from country to country. So here’s the first installment: Life in the USA.
***
July 31st, 2011 – Started at the Morro Bay State Beach Campground
5:58am – Kevin’s alarm goes off. Hits the snooze button.
6:00am – Trevor’s alarm goes off (Kevin’s clock is 2 minutes fast). Hits the snooze button.
6:05am – Kevin gets up and starts packing up.
6:13am – Trevor gets up and starts packing up. Trevor knows he can pack up faster than Kevin that’s why he sleeps a little longer.
6:16am – Trevor quickly to get dressed and rushes off to the washroom to take a leak. This is getting to be an annoying habit—seems like Trevor’s bladder is shrinking day by day.
6:27am – Trevor returns from the washroom and resumes packing up.
6:42am – Kevin goes off to the washroom.
6:52am – Trevor finishes packing up and Kevin returns from the washroom to continue packing up.
6:54am – Kevin suggests having a Pop Tart. Trevor unpacks to find the box of Pop Tarts.
6:56am – We each eat two Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts (400 calories1).
7:09am – Kevin finishes packing. We share a bag of Tropical Trail Mix (385 calories).
7:15am – Trevor turns on the GPS and starts logging the day’s route.
7:16am – Trevor fills his water bottles and throws away the trash. Kevin already filled his water bottles when he went to the washroom earlier.
7:21am (0.00mi) – We start cycling.
7:23am (500ft) – Trevor stops to check a clicking sound his bicycle is making.
7:26am – It turns out the GPS sensor on the wheel was misaligned. Trevor realigns it and off we start cycling again.
8:20am (11.85mi) – Trevor stops to check the map while he waits for Kevin to catch up.
8:21am – Kevin arrives. We take a little breather.
8:23am – We start cycling again.
8:35am (13.81mi) – We stop at Smart&Final for food (this is the first time we’ve checked out this grocery store). Kevin goes in to buy some food while Trevor stays outside to guard the bikes and check the map.
8:44am – Kevin comes out with food:
- 2 Gatorade[Cool Blue] (946ml) – 200 calories each
- 2 bananas (?? calories)
- 1 tub of vanilla yogurt (907 grams) – 840 calories
The total cost of this meal is $4.88 US.
Kevin eats half the yogurt (he always eats/drinks the shared items first). Trevor cleans up the remaining half. We eat our bananas and down our Gatorades.
8:54am – We each use the sanitary wipes find at the store’s entrance to clean ourselves (face, arms, ears, hands).
8:59am – Kevin looks at the map.
9:01am – We start cycling again.
9:30am (21.05mi) – Kevin calls for a stop because his stomach pains are acting up again. He breaks out the Pepto-Bismol.
9:37am – Kevin takes off his fleece jacket and packs it away.
9:38am – Kevin takes a leak on the side of the road.
9:39am – We start cycling again.
10:04am (25.88mi) – Trevor can’t see Kevin behind him anymore so he waits for Kevin to catch up.
10:08am – Trevor feels Kevin should’ve caught up by now so he turns back to go find Kevin.
10:10am – Trevor sees Kevin.
10:11am – Kevin rejoins Trevor and throws profanities at Trevor. It turns out Kevin turned right where Trevor did not. Kevin saw a bike path sign saying turn right whereas Trevor did not.
10:12am – We start cycling again. Shortly we find that Kevin was right and we rejoin the bicycle route.
10:38am (31.73mi) – Both of us stop to take a leak.
10:41am – We check the map and use the GPS to find the next food stop. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything for quite some time (all the grocery stores are on the 101 US [a freeway], but we’re travelling on highway 1).
10:46am – Kevin takes some Tums for his stomach.
10:47am – We start cycling again.
11:11am (36.73mi) – Trevor waits at a junction for Kevin. While Trevor waits he takes off his jacket and packs it away. Kevin arrives. Trevor blows his runny nose.
11:18am – We start cycling again.
11:43am (42.48mi) – We stop at a small market (YK Market). Kevin goes in to see if the prices are any good.
11:46am – Kevin comes out to get some money for $1 cookies he’s found.
11:51am – Kevin comes out with the cookies. We both start eating the cookies. We each have 18 cookies (1680 calories each). After the cookies we both take a drink of water from our water bottles.
12:09pm – We start cycling again.
12:10pm (42.50mi) – Kevin almost falls off his bicycle doubling back for a quarter he spies on the road. Trevor picks up the quarter.
12:40pm (50.69mi) – Trevor can’t see Kevin behind him anymore so he stops and waits.
12:43pm – Kevin arrives and takes a drink of water.
12:45pm – We start cycling again.
1:11pm (56.88mi) – Trevor can’t see Kevin behind him anymore so he stops and waits.
1:13pm – Kevin arrives.
1:15pm – We start cycling again.
1:52pm (62.61mi) – We stop at the top of a hill (according to the GPS, which is known to be wrong when it comes to elevation, the hill was 215 meters high) to have a snack. We share a bag of banana chips Kevin was carrying (525 calories each).
2:00pm – Both of us have a drink of water.
2:01pm – We start cycling again.
2:41pm (71.95mi) – We stop at a 99 cent store in Lompec. Kevin goes in while Trevor waits outside.
2:53pm – Kevin returns with $4.10 worth of food:
- Choco-Choco milk (946ml)
- A pack of Jelly Beans
- A pack of 6 Blueberry Toast’em Popups
- Ruby Kist Fruit Punch
We down the Choco-Choco milk (600 calories total) on the spot. Kevin has the first half and Trevor finishes the rest off.
2:57pm – We leave for Subway and Trevor carries the remaining groceries.
3:02pm (72.29mi) – We arrive at Subway. Kevin goes in to get a sub and Trevor packs away the Toast’em Popups for later.
3:04pm – Trevor puts on his jacket (it’s cold even in California during the summer).
3:10pm – Kevin comes out with a foot long Italian BMT (the $5 sub of the month, or $5.44 with tax).
3:11pm – We walk our bicycles around trying to find a good place to sit.
3:14pm – We find some seats outside a pastry shop that’s closed on Sundays. We sit down to eat our 6” subs. We also have the fruit punch (640 calories total) and the Jelly Beans (420 calories total).
3:33pm – We finish eating and Kevin heads into Burger King to use the washroom.
3:36pm – Kevin returns and Trevor puts on lip balm to soothe his cracked lips.
3:37pm – We start cycling again.
5:05pm (90.25mi) – We stop so Trevor can take a leak on the side of the road.
5:07pm – We start cycling again.
5:43pm (100.8mi) – We stop at a vista point for a snack. Kevin takes a photo and pulls out a bag of Tropical Trail Mix for us to share (770 calories total). Trevor remarks that this is the first time he’s ever seen oil rigs out at sea.
5:53pm – Kevin takes a drink of water and so does Trevor.
5:55pm – We start cycling again.
6:21pm (108.0mi) – We arrive at the camp site (El Capitàn State Beach) and Kevin checks us in.
6:25pm – We finish getting checked in.
6:32pm (108.92mi) – We arrive at the Hike/Bike camp spot. Kevin curses the whole way because of the price ($20 for the both of us) and because of the long uphill distance we have to travel to get to the Hike/Bike spot.
6:33pm – We start unpacking and setting up camp. There are no other hikers/bikers today (usually there are).
6:38pm – Trevor starts charging the GPS. Kevin takes a photo of some rabbits. Trevor breaks out the solar panel to charge the battery pack.
7:01pm – Trevor finishes setting up camp and relaxes looking out to sea. Trevor also takes off his shoes/socks and does his barefoot thing.
7:06pm – Kevin finishes setting up camp.
7:08pm – Kevin starts preparing dinner. Trevor gets out the Blueberry Toast’em Popups.
7:10pm – We both have a Toast’em Popup (200 calories each).
7:14pm – Trevor grabs the maps to plan the route for the next day.
7:21pm – An Amtrak train rumbles past ($20 for this!).
7:32pm – Kevin finishes preparing Trevor’s dinner: Pasta Sides (Cheddar Broccoli) [600 calories]. Trevor digs in.
7:42pm – Kevin finishes preparing his own dinner: Pasta Sides (Cheddar Broccoli) [600 calories]. Kevin digs in.
7:43pm – Trevor finishes his dinner and uses some mouthwash.
7:49pm – Kevin starts packing up the cooking set (and continues eating).
7:51pm – Kevin washes Trevor’s dishes.
7:53pm – Kevin takes a photo for the sunset.
7:55pm – Trevor packs away the solar panel, maps and camera.
8:00pm – Trevor finishes packing and goes off to the washroom to wash up and brush his teeth.
8:02pm – Kevin finishes eating dinner and washes his dishes.
8:12pm – Kevin washes up and brushes his teeth using the water fountain.
8:20pm – Trevor returns from the washroom.
8:21pm – Kevin goes to the washroom.
8:25pm – Trevor goes in his tent and prepares to go to sleep.
8:29pm – Trevor is in bed.
8:31pm – Trevor turns on his laptop to check the maps for the next day, store the current day’s GPS log, and record the day’s expenses.
8:34pm – Kevin return and goes to bed.
8:54pm – Kevin turns on his netbook and watches some of Around the World in 80 Days (the one with David Niven) and a ‘60s Batman episode, and does a little reading on Mexico.
9:25pm – Trevor turns off the laptop and goes to sleep.
10:00pm – Kevin goes to sleep.
***
That’s generally what an average day travelling down the coast of the USA entails. Strictly speaking, though, this doesn’t really capture everything. For example no bike maintenance was performed (the chains only need lubing ever 2-3 days or so) and we didn’t find any electrical outlets so we couldn’t top up our batteries. We also ate a little less than usual because we went through a section were grocery stores weren’t plentiful. Anyway it still gives you a general idea of what a day in our lives is like.
1 We usually share the food equally so all listed calories are per person. In this case Kevin had two Pop Tarts totaling 400 calories and Trevor had another two Pop Tarts totaling 400 calories.
How did you keep all the detail for a single day? Voice recorder? Make notes while you waited for your brother?
ReplyDeleteI expected some flats in there, you must have tire liners. BTW, encountered an annoying problem last week. If your rim tape is off to the side, exposing part of a spoke hole; with high pressure and if you hit a nasty bump (like tracks), the tube can hemorrhage into the hole and blow or make a nasty leak. It took me 5 times to realize this problem (ie. no spoke portruding, no thorn, etc), just in case you run into something similar.