What a trip. Would I do it again? Of course. Would I change anything? Yes.
The planned lack of plan mostly worked OK. Where it helped was that there wasn’t an overriding sense of urgency to get to the next destination to “check it off the task list” along the way. Where it didn’t help was that we missed some stuff that could have been really cool to see along the way. We zipped right by the Lassen Volcanic Monument and could have planned the route better to go through Ukiah.
Lesson 1: Don’t plan lodgings more than a day out, and make sure to identify things along the path.
The original napkin sketch plan also had us traveling into Nevada, down to Yosemite National Park, and back up the California coast. By the time we were approaching the California/Nevada border I’d seen just about as much scrub bushes that I’d ever wanted to see in my life. The decision to go directly into California saved us aggravation, and ultimately time. If we’d stuck to the original napkin plan we’s still be on the road.
Lesson 2: When wandering, be willing and able to adjust the plan because it’s likely that I’ve looked farther than I could reasonably hope to get.
I love Angie dearly, but there just isn’t a way to say this without it sounding like I’m dissing her in some way. Trust me, I’m not. Riding with extra baggage can be tricky in wind. Riding with extra baggage, and a passenger in wind is even trickier. I adored her presence, and being able to chat on the intercoms made a lot of the passenger frustrations (leaning too far, not leaning enough, lean forward/backward, etc.) go away. But even with all that gone riding with a passenger is still trickier than solo.
Lesson 3: For longer trips, and especially on trips where wind could be a consideration, try and ride solo.
We lugged a lot of stuff around that we ultimately didn’t use, or could have dealt with differently on the road. For the entire trip there was about 1 liter of water in my panniers. I’d brought our metal water cans and trucked around with them the entire time. I think we only drank about 1/2 a liter while on the road and it was only because we had it, not because we needed it. Likewise, with the video camera. It came in handy since I’d forgotten the digital camera card reader, but we could have done without that and the accompanying charging cube. Normally I pack my clothing so that I don’t have much spares, but somehow I ended up with several days extra.
Lesson 4: Pack only what you need. Then before taking off, reassess to see if you really need it.
All-in-all I think the lessons above are pretty benign. They could read “call the cops sooner” or “bring handgun” so we got through it pretty well. Way back when I’d decided to do a ride over this past week I’d planned to ride back to Illinois, and then return to Oregon — all on the bike. I’m glad that I didn’t follow through on that plan because there was a lot that I learned on this trip that will prepare me for that kind of trip. Maybe next year I’ll do the Illinois loop, but not without a couple more long rides over the weekends.