We last rode with good bicycle buddies Jim and Genny in 2016.  We had a touch too much rain that trip. Genny says this tour we are due a rain free trip so we can see the scenery that was hiding behind all of the clouds.

This summer I've been living the easy life. Oren put together the routing on our Utah/Arizona Tour and Jim did all of the routing for this trip. Aren't we lucky to have such good touring friends?

As usual for the past few years, this will be a motel only tour. We always make our reservations far in advance as we do not carry camping gear. Most of the reservations for this tour were made in January. Even that was not good enough. Heather Mountain Lodge canceled our January reservations after they received a wedding booking. Yes, I'm still frosty about it.

Jim and Genny are taking the Amtrak to Spokane, where friends will retrieve them from the station. We are driving from Colorado. Just because driving is so fun, we are adding to the trip. Jacinto has decided his ten year old LHT is ready for retirement. We are driving first to Rodriquez Bicycles in Seattle for Jacinto to be fitted for a custom bike. He has always had trouble with bike fit. If Jacinto chooses a derailleur bike, they can have it ready for us to pick up at the end of the tour. If Jacinto goes with a belt drive Rohloff, then they will have to ship when the bike is ready. I understand Jacinto's desire to have the experts do the measuring and have an in person conversation about all of the bike details. It adds another four hours driving each direction . . . I drive school bus for a living, but that's not the same as sitting in a car for hours at a time. Some people enjoy road trips. I don't. I even went so far as to check one way airplane ticket prices to Spokane. I could be there in a slick four hours (for $600.) - it's not going to happen . . . but I did entertain the idea of how nice it would be to wave to Jacinto as he started the long drive, alone.

We've been home eight nights since our Utah trip. It's been nice to come home and regroup. We've added the underseat rack to my bike. I got used to the weight sitting up higher, but packing the heavy stuff down low is the way to go. It looks like I will have four panniers. Ridiculous! I have the lightweight Ortlieb Gravel panniers on the underseat rack. One side is overfull with tools, tubes, and foul weather clothing. I hope I don't open that pannier the entire trip. I'm erring on the side of caution and bringing a heavy layer of winter clothes. I remember FREEZING in the cold on our last Canada trip. I hope we have fair weather and that pannier stays closed.

I've toured with two panniers since we started motel touring. I'm the queen of reducing bulk. This last trip I wore the same off the bike clothes for 25 days in a row . . . . it can be done. One set of on the bike clothes, one set of off the bike clothes. One set of foul weather clothes. I do bring a MacBook Air - it's officially 2.98 pounds and my one indulgence. I don't need the four panniers, but the Arkel DriLites that are on the rear rack weigh next to nothing and the extra space will be convenient.

I took a 10 oz. soft jacket on the Utah trip. I debated that, but it's nicer to snuggle in than layering a heavy shirt with a rain jacket as I usually do. I wore the jacket almost every day that tour - sometimes it was just in the room because Jacinto had the AC turned too high for my liking. I've reached that always cold stage of life, which is one more reason I hope we have good weather this trip. The soft jacket is definitely coming along to Canada.

Jacinto has been debating about bringing his coffee fixings. He carries a percolator, his favorite coffee cup, and all of the fixings. The Utah trip was a good trip - Jacinto started off each morning happy. I was surprised to hear him debating taking the coffee this trip. Jacinto wanted to reduce weight on the bike. What? The guy who's always looking for extra miles? I think he would embrace the extra weight as it's an extra work and he likes extra exercise. I'm feeling guilty about the gallon bag of oatmeal fixings and another gallon bag of specialty snacks (dried mangos with chili, anyone?) that I'm hoping he will carry.

We have the van all loaded and are planning a 7 AM departure in the morning. We are getting the routine down on what goes where when loading up, so it's a faster process. The plan is 12 driving hours tomorrow to Baker City, OR and then to Seattle the next day for our 3 PM appointment with Smiley.