Headline: Kerosene Kampers Return Triumphant!

We’re back from a night of camping…more to come.

Ahoy, Sailors!

The luggage and accessories have arrived at their destination, and the word is that they look good, and everything appears to be there. So, all that is left to be done is to figure how to install them, which i hope will be easy as pie, and fun to do.

Just like Christmas in June*

After the false start yesterday, my gear arrived right on schedule this afternoon. Ordering anything that relies on best-guess-sizing through the mail (or the Internet) can be a risky endeavor. Usually there’s a bout of disappointment and exchange when one thing or another almost but not quite fits or, worse yet, turns out to be exactly nothing like you imagined from the glossy lil‘ thumbnail. Today the deities of the mail-order were smiling down on us, because every single piece of gear from head to toe fit perfectly.

Anders has experience ordering pants and jackets online (in fact, I remember with new-love glee the hilarious “Bad Ass” pictures he emailed me of his ill-fitting jacket during the first stages of our relationship . . . smile), and we did some in-store research all of which seems to have contributed to great luck this time!

For the curious gear-minded reader, I ordered the TourMaster Women’s Intake Jacket (Small), FieldSheer Men’s Titanium Air 2 Pant (30), and Oxtar Women’s Sunray Gore-Tex Boot (38).

In a just in case type move, I also ordered a cheap ($20 on clearance) pair of women’s off-road style pants (because we weren’t sure how (or even if) the men’s pant would fit me). We thought that as a worst-case scenario I could wear the off-roaders with some individual pieces of armour underneath. Although the pants do fit me well, I’ll most likely wear the proper street bike mesh pants instead for the better protection and safety they’ll provide.

It’s sunny and warm here today, and I’m supposed to be working on my dissertation. Instead, I’m distracted with excitement about the trip and anxious for the experiences to come!

–Stacey

*Thanks go out to Moo for the early gifts this year.

Gear’s Here…We’ll sort of…

We were up at the University today, and checked our email with anticipation for news about the gear we ordered and was scheduled to be delivered today.  Stacey received an email around 2pm, which showed her package delivery had been attempted, and that it was rescheduled for delivery.  We immediately called UPS and had them switch her order to the local UPS pickup location.  Right after that I checked my inbox, and email showing the same package tracking number for my gear ordered showed up.  It said that the shipping instructions had been changed and that it was now going back to the UPS warehouse for pickup.  We were both really excited that they would both be there.

We made it to the UPS pickup area at around 8pm, and they found my package right away.  We opened it and found that it was only my gear.  We asked if they had an additional box in Stacey’s name.  The girl went out in the warehouse and came back empty handed.  We were disappointed.  We had hoped thought maybe they were trying to save on shipping by packaging all the stuff, bound for the same address, into one box.  When we got home, Stacey checked her email again, and found that there was another email with a different tracking number that showed delivery for tomorrow.

I don’t know what happened as far as the tracking numbers, delivery of one of the two packages, etc.  One can only hope it was a honest mix-up of items, etc…Everything else with the order through DSR went great.

I tried my new mesh pants and jacket on tonight, and they fit great!  The pants fit over a pair of shorts very nicely, and I think I should be able to wear a pair of jeans without too much problem.  The mesh on the pants is a more flowing weave than the jacket, which I hope is ok if we should ever go down while riding.  They have pretty good reflective areas on the leg.

The jacket fits great (shoulders, arms, and waist), with the only complaint being a bit more fabric than needed in the stomach area.  This has been a problem in the two other textile-based, waist-length jackets I’ve owned.  It’s not bad though.  The jacket looks great, the liner consists of two parts, a waterproof/windproof layer that zips into the mesh shell, and an insulated part that zips to the waterproof layer.  It’s all integrated very well!  The shoulder, elbows, and back, have multi-density CE armor and are covered on the outer surface by leather which looks quite nice.  The best part is the reflective areas.  There is a white mesh stripe that that goes all the way around the chest and back of the jacket, that has reflective piping following it, a large reflective triangle on the back near the neck, and four lines of vertical piping (two on each side) add to that the fact that the white strip of mesh that goes around the chest/back is really bright, and that there are also two additional bands of white mesh, one around each sleeve, and this jacket really seems to glow in the light.  I’m pretty impressed.  I think the jacket, h2o liner, and insulated liner, should provide adequate coverage and comfort for all but really cold/extremely wet conditions.  I also tried on my lightweight Sierra Designs raincoat over the jacket, and it fit perfect, so I have an additional layer of protection, that packs small, if needed.

In the end, my gear turned out well, I’m happy about that, but I’m disappointed that Stacey’s gear didn’t arrive at the same time.  I hope that the sizes we figured for her actually will fit her perfectly, so that she’s cool, and happy as a clam when we’re riding cross country in the hot sun.  I’ll post the news tomorrow when we get her gear and we’ll get some pictures posted too.  Woot!

Where the Heck Are We 2?

I’m back, a little later than I had hoped. So, the second part of the trip (US part) is going to start by coming into Montana near the Roosville border crossing, then heading down to Whitefish. This was one of the stops on the ride my brother and I took last year.

From Whitefish, we will head over to Glacier National Park and the Road to the Sun. After that the route was to go down through Billings, MT, to Rapid City, SD, the Black Hills, and then the Badlands. But, after looking at the website for America’s Scenic Byways, I found a route that went through the top of Yellostone National Park and goes Northeast out of the park called the Beartooth Highway. After going through Glacier National Park last year, I didn’t think anything could compare, but at least the pictures seem to offer some promise. It looks beautiful, and it will allow us to take the alternate route over Big Horn Sheep Wilderness area over to Sheridan, WY.
Since the change of route will ad some additional distance and time to the trip, we’ve decided to head over to Devil’s Tower, then bypass Mt. Rushmore and the hoopla (for political reasons), and then visit the Badlands. After that it’s basically on the road the rest of the way to Lincoln, NE. Woot! I think it’s going to be a blast, and we’re both excited!

ps. The gear should be here middle of next week!