The grandkids for this "Grand" adventure are split into two groups, on either side of the continent. In Seattle we have Avi and Violet, already veterans of two years' riding. Our daughter Laurie's new partner Dave also brings seven year old Evelyn as a potential rider. So in terms of kid count, that's three seven year olds on the West coast!
Violet also has one of the "Cleary" light weight bikes. However we think their first tour with solo bikes will need even more advanced models than these.
On the East coast, the riders are younger. Four year old Amelia has already ridden with us, last year. Now stepping up is two year old Evelyn (Evee).
Evelyn is gearing up for her first ride. (Note her tee shirt, which came from CERN, near Geneva. The equation shown is the Standard Model Lagrangian (of course).
Evee had been reluctant last year to join Amelia. But Amelia came back with a box of "treasures" collected on the trail, and this has been a major factor in Evee's thinking. This year, she is out for treasure!
Quite aside from what might be found while actually on the trip, each kid starts with a bag of amusements. So just by signing on, Evee is already the proud owner of one of these:
We call these in family tradition "Missoula Bags". The only reason is that we bought a pile of the base bags in Missoula, Montana. However Missoula bags always hold treasures on bike trips. Mostly they look like the ones pictured. The exception is Steve's, which is full of electronic doodads. He seems to enjoy these as much as any other toys.
