I really enjoyed reading your journal! I wish I had read it prior to my own Transam journey in 2015 (which I just got imported here from that other site). I just discovered it due to a link in a forum post on this site. I recognized so many of the places along your journey, even a lot of your photos (some were almost the same I had taken). And I definitely related to the difficulty you had with the forest fires. We slept in almost the same spot at the Dayville Church - I noted that it was only fair that I should sleep in the front of the church since I had grown up sleeping so much in the back row. Thanks for jiggling my own memories again.

Buddy Hall

Hi Ron,
The Pocketmail didn't last long. It was one of the first things I sent back. The next year, someone gave me an old Palm Pilot to try instead, but I sent that back, too. I do still use a separate camera, though, as a way of preserving my phone battery and not needing to carry extra power, but I'd guess that my gear weighs half what it did a decade ago. I do more backpacking than bike touring now, so that was incentive to lighten the load. And I'm no longer a broke grad student, which helps, too! My last tour was with my husband (Jeff Lee on this site), and he carried almost all of our shared gear on that trip so I had a slightly better chance of keeping up with him, but we both agree we'd try to lighten the load further next time around.

I know this is several years too late, but I might have some ideas about this tire wear mystery.

Let's meet later tonight and I will "mansplain" it.

I can’t get enough of equipment lists! There is something to learn with every one. It’s interesting the difference in some of the items back in 2006, such as Pocketmail and a separate point-and-shoot camera rather than smartphones.
I’m enjoying your journal so far.

Hey, I like your style. Maybe we can get together sometime, and you can do some work on my bikes.

I need a good mechanic.

That's a really good look!