Geared up and pretty much ready

August 11, 2014

Despite years of experience showing that their stuff is not necessarily all that great, we still feel a big lure and attraction to REI, the U.S. outdoor equipment co-op. Maybe it's the co-op structure, or maybe it's the universally friendly (if not always knowledgeable) staff, or maybe it's the still fairly liberal guarantee of satisfaction, but we always gravitate to REI when we are anywhere near.

The "in-house" forest and waterfall at REI's main store.

Uh, uh - clearly we are back in North America.

Uh, uh Clearly we are back in North America - this qwark tasche was truly despicable.

Avi and Violet have now moved just down the street (if can call Interstate 5 a street) from the "mothership" store, so naturally we paid it a visit. Cycling sandals for the kids were our objective. We find the ones by Keene to be both attractive and good:

REI also has a semi-reasonable selection of cycling and outdoor books, though of course there is nothing like the wall of Bikeline books we found in the Globetrotter in Hamburg. One book, about cycling in Washington State did catch our eye. The reason was mostly the cover photo, which shows a "proper" loaded bike. Even if we eventually cut back on camping and cooking while cycling, we think this image of a touring bike will always be what we look for.

A "proper" cycle tourist on the cover of this guide book.

Back on Vancouver Island, we set about readying the WeeHoos and the Fridays. It was good to look at the now reasonably clean and adjusted equipment, safely preparing for the trip, under a roof. We have seen cyclists cleaning their bikes daily while on the road, but ours just seem to sink into a dirty mess.

Gearing up in this case also includes thinking about food and snacks for kids. For Amelia's whirl out to Sidney and back (tomorrow!) we will not be bringing the cooking gear. Still we paced up and down in the grocery store for a long time today, looking for things that are reasonably shelf stable and that she will like. It was more exercise than maybe the actual cycle will be!

So now at 9:00 p.m. we feel fairly ready. In the morning we will load the van and head down to where Amelia is staying, with Darlene and John, her other grandparents. Sabrina says Amelia's wake-up time is 9:30. She will need her rest. It's not exactly all that easy to cycle from Aunt Karyn's to Sidney!

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