Aug 10/11 - prep and rolling

Basically I spent all day on Wednesday packing, well, prepping and packing.

The prepping was for my bike.  I changed out the bottom bracket, chain, rear derailleur and tires.  I took the bike out to 522 with the car and rode from ESS Narrows to Osprey and back again, just to ensure that the shifting was working ok.  I'll do more riding in Italy once there and can fine tune if necessary.

As for the tires, I'm taking a chance on new tires, moving up from 28's to 38's.  They look like balloons compared to what I've been riding on the the last few years.  I could change my mind once in Italy ... I've brought along a set of 28's just in case !

The new RD isn't the "shadow" version, so it has an adjustment at the back.  That made it easier to setup.  It requires a longer cable section from the chainstay to the RD, so I had to change out the cable from the splitter on the downtube to the RD and a longer section of cable housing.  Hopefully it's all ok -- there could be a little "stretch" that takes place once I use it some more but I've got lots of adjustment room at the back and front.

The new chain is my first time with the directional 6700 chain.  Shimano isn't making the 7800 chains any more so I've had to change over.  This is probably a  better chain anyway ...

I didn't bother re-wrapping my bars or adjusting the brake squeal.  I'll do that in Italy. 

Then, of course, I had to take it all apart and pack.  It seems that every time I pack the bike it's slightly different.  The wheels and triangles go in the same places, but I experiment with different places for the fork and seatpost & saddle.  I don't really like the way that the pvc standoffs work; I think that I'll invent something that screws together so that they'll stay in place better in the final packing.  I expect that if the baggage inspectors opened the case, it wouldn't go back together as they wouldn't know how it's supposed to be setup.  Some sort of clip or screw arrangement would be better.  Hmm ... perhaps a pvc union ... hmm.

That bag, once tools were included, came to 43 pounds.  Our weight limit is 88 pounds total across two bags, so that works out nicely.

Then, of course, I had to pack the other bag with the bars, helmet, shoes and rear rack with my clothes all around.   That came to 48 pounds plus.  Ok, I expected this, I moved some clothes and my toiletries to a carry-on and got it down to 43 pounds.  The backpack weighs a ton now !

Once the ride is over, I'll pack all the biking stuff in the two bags and use the personalized 31 bag that Sara gave me as my in and out of hotel bag, along with the backpack of course.

Sandy is bringing her big bag and shoulder bag.  Had we been traveling together outbound, this would have been easy and we'd probably bring another wheelie bag, but I don't think that they'll go along with splitting our luggage allowance with Sandy traveling a week later ...

Jason and Lorraine came over around noon to say farewell.  We won't see them until we're back in mid September.

Packing and organizing continued, getting to minor stuff like computer backups etc. and that continued into the next morning.  Packing the car was a bear; it was right to the ceiling with my two big bags and small bag.  I also have a very small bag with today's change of clothes for the trip and that will stay here in Hemmingford.

Sandy's big bag, red duffle, the grandma plant, Cassie's kennel and pad, two big bags of puppy food ... we were totally loaded down.  Sandy had garbage at her feet and we stopped at the dump; only one bear in sight.

We got away around 9:30 and to Hemmingford at 6pm.  Traffic was actually pretty good.  We weren't idling behind RV's at any point in the trip, which is fairly usual for summer travel. 

Jim had buried the invisible fence wire and we hooked up the transmitter and voila ... the loop light didn't light up.  Ugh.  We checked one connection and then I went to the box and fiddled with the control and it lit up -- don't know whether that was due to fixing the connection or the fiddling.  Sandy's job is to plant the flags and train her.  That may or may not start today -- it's raining at this point.  In the meantime, she doesn't go out alone.

Today's agenda is simple -- mostly nothing then go to the airport for my 10:30 p.m. flight.  I do need to go close to the U.S. to access Verizon and turn on wifi calling, which can only be turned on from the Verizon network.

Onward ... soon upward !