July 16, 2013
Eco Zones and Equipment Moans
We will be missing Avi and Violet's fifth birthday, July 27. So before leaving Missoula we gave them their choice of any birthday present they fancied. The result was easy to predict: Avi is into super heroes and Violet favours fairies and unicorns. Their Mom also chimed in with some appropriate costumes. Here is our last memory of Avi and Violet for the next three to four months:
We have spent a lot of time going back and forth between the coast and Montana. It usually takes us almost two days, but this time we zoomed back in one day, because of the packing and organizing needed before flying to Amsterdam.
No matter the speed of the Montana commute, the number of eco zones crossed is always interesting to experience. Starting in western Montana, the environment is medium height Rocky Mountain foothill mountains, covered in mostly yellow short grass, with well spaced pine trees. Heading up into the Bitterroot mountains at the border with the Idaho panhandle, it's dense forest of pine and fir. Beyond Spokane, in eastern Washington, one enters a treeless flat desert where good hay is grown with the help of extensive irrigation. Then after crossing the major Columbia River, one climbs the coastal mountains and lush fir forests appear. Finally, on the coast, it's the lush environment of the ocean and the coastal rain forests.
This time, in the dry pine forest section of western Montana, we encountered a small forest fire. Have a look at our shots, which give a good impression of the landscape there.
Back at our (coastal) farm, we are briefly enjoying the lush flowers and the many berries that are ripe now. We have strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, and blueberries all ready this week. Here are a few of them: Note the loganberries, which are like long raspberries, but with their own unique flavour.
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Berries and flowers are great, but now we are really focussed on getting ready to leave. In principle, any squeeze in terms of getting stuff organized and packed can be handled by dispensing with unimportant activities, like sleeping. On the other hand, the time is over (or should be over) for our favourite activity of suddenly getting new gear, or adjusting or tweaking what we already have.
Adjusting and tweaking, though, jumped to the top of the list as two monkey wrenches came flying at us from unexpected directions:
Because we had worn out our rims in the wet road grit on the coastal ride, two months ago we got Bike Friday to build us new wheels. We assumed that because we went back to our bike manufacturer for this, the wheels would be fine. So they sat in the box, until now - time to put them on the bikes. We found that while our rear dropout width is nominally 130 mm, the wheels had been built with 135 mm axles. It is possible to slightly force things and get the wheel in - at least on my bike. But Dodie's bike, while nominally 130 mm is actually 127.5 mm. That's too narrow to force!
So, two days before departure, Dodie has no rear wheel. The answer is simple - find a 130 mm axle and the right spacer bushing and rebuild the wheel. Suddenly that departure clock is ticking louder and faster!
Our local bike shop found an axle, and they "think" they can find a bushing. Tomorrow, day before departure, they will see what they can do. Of course in Amsterdam they know how to build wheels too, but in our experience the large Dutch people do not deal much with teeny 20" parts.
Monkey wrench #2 came from the Schwalbe tire company. We use these because of their durability and quality, and start each tour with new ones, necessary or not. So when Dodie's (poor Dodie) new rear tire went on we detected a subtle, but sinister bulge in the sidewall. Maybe it would be OK, but we hate taking that kind of risk. So we zoomed into Victoria (50 km away) to the good folks at Fairfield Cycle, and bought another one. (The bulgy one had come from Bike Friday in Oregon).
Only thing, in our delirium we asked for and received the wrong width. Only realized it when we got home. So tomorrow (yes, day before departure - did I mention that?) our friend Sandra (and you need a good friend for this) will drive back to Victoria and retrieve the correct tire. And us? (day before departure) will probably be lying on our bed with an ice pack on our heads!
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